Grand Tour for 30th Wedding Anniversary - Karlsruhe and Freiburg

Karlsruhe, Germany. Monday/Wednesday 16/18-October-2023. 

Table of Contents:

• All posts
• Bari, 02-October-2023.
• Trieste, 03/06-October-2023.
• Padova, 06/09-October-2023.
• Tirano, 09/11-October-2023.
• Bernina Pass, 11/12-October-2023.
• Salzburg, 12/16-October-2023.
• Karlsruhe and Freiburg, 16/18-October-2023.
• Cologne, 18/20-October-2023.
• Amsterdam, 20/22-October-2023.

Confession - I was a muppet, again! We were on the train from Salzburg to Karlsruhe (change in Munich) when it stopped at Rosenheim and the police boarded to check passports. I looked in my man bag: no passport! F**k. A panicked call back to our hosts in Salzburg revealed that it was still there. 

Whilst Mary continued her journey I jumped off the train at Rosenheim and took the next train back to Salzburg, taxied to the accommodation, grabbed my passport, back in the taxi to the station for the next available train. Made it back to Munich but the connecting direct train from Munich to Karlsruhe was cancelled so I had to make an extra change in Stuttgart finally arriving in Karlsruhe four hours late. Just in time to join Mary for supper at Erste Fracht Braugasthaus directly opposite the station. Traditional bier keller food and atmosphere - just what was need after a long day travelling.

One very small, silver lining is that all the extra train journeys cost nothing as they were all on the same day!

Originally the plan was to head to Freiburg to spend a couple of days there and be poised for maximising the trip along the Rhine to Cologne. However the German railways do not have the best reputation for reliability much to my surprise. So rather than risk missed connections we deliberately stopped in Karlsruhe - just as well given my passport muppetry!

We spent the day wandering around the town and, as we first came across in Warsaw, spotted street signs advertising the establishments' wares.

More craft beers! Supper and tasty beers in a microbrewery, VogelBraeu, Karlsruhe.

After a couple of nights in Karlsruhe we took the train to Freiburg and had a few hours to look around before boarding the train north again.

Lots of interesting buildings in Freiburg including this very fancy church.

This typeface is Fraktur aka German Gothic is still seen on some street signs. This typeface has an interesting history - first popular in Nazi Germany as a true German script but then subsequently prohibited.

One of the sights in town in the lovely St. Martin's Gate, Freiburg, shame about the McDonalds.

Thanks to advice from the Man in Seat Sixty One, we booked seats in the EC8 panoramic coach on the old Rhine route and on the best side of the train for the views. It is a bit difficult to capture the landscape through the windows and cloudy skies however the views were lovely.

It was especially scenic north of Mainz with the lots of cute villages, imposing castles and steep vineyards.

The main purpose to this leg had been to start heading homeward using the Rhine route. Our time in Freiburg was too short so we plan to revisit for a longer stay and a chance to explore it properly. Next stop Cologne!