Freiburg | Muenchen
Today we toured the city of Freiburg. I went to the Musikhochschule there, haha. But still (my personal opinion please) nothing beats Muenchen's.
We returned to the Schwabentor (some historical city gate) by the Strassenbahn and alighted at Oberlinden. We walked the area by instinct and ended up at the foot of Schloss Berg, lol. When there's a hill or anything climbable, I gave in to my weakness. Kikiki~~ Up we goe~~ and reached Ludwigs Hoehe. The view was fantastic!
Schwabentor
Freiburg's drainage system - really impresses me, and the water's so clean!
Way to Schloss Berg
There's something about the buildings in Freiburg that I really like
Schloss Berg lies pass the gate... of some kind...
Muensterplatz, from halfway up Schloss Berg
The city of Freiburg - from Schloss Berg
Going downhill, we reached Stadtgarten and later, Karlstag, which is a windy pedestrian bridge built over a road function. I think it's a unique idea.
Destination Muensterplatz. And the Muenster of course. There was a busy marketplace in front of the Muenster. I believe it was because today was a Friday. Found the cylindrical packing I wanted - all the way at Freiburg... Kyaaa~~
The marketplace in front of the Muenster
Part of the Muenster
And at the cafe Max we experienced the Germans' pastime -
Kaffee und Kuchen (coffee and cake). Parents ordered a Torte, and me? I was just fulfilling a dream - BLACKFOREST CAKE!!!! The authentic one, woohoo~~ The cherries are more sour, but ooooh there's really brandy (or some sort of liquor) in the cake. YEESH! That should be how the Blackforest cake should be! Lalala~~~
Blackforest cake! I overindulged and oops... too late for the cam! XP
Torte and Latte Macchiato = Kaffe und Kuchen Time!
A stroll towards the Hauptbahnhof - we went passed the Alte Universitaet, then the current Universitaet, Stadtheater and the university library. Freiburg is dominated by its university; that's why the city is labelled "university-city".
Alte Universitaet
The current Universitaet
At 17.40 Uhr we board the train to Neustadt... T___T Farewell Black Forest!! And crazy train transfers again:
18.35 Uhr - Ulm
22.17 Uhr - Ausburg
23.45 Uhr - Muenchen
And checked into another hotel. Think everyone slept after 2am this night. Geez.
Lindau | Freiburg
Today's destination was Freiburg. We transferred in Basel, and thus travelled through Switzerland! It was a completely different feel between German and Swiss sceneries from the train, but both are fantastic. ;)
Five minutes after alighting at the Swiss station Basel we were on our way to Freiburg. My regret then - we didn't get to spend more time on Swiss soil, lol. Our hotel in Freiburg has great facilities, and of course that includes Internet access. That explained for that comment in German at my tagboard, hehe.
12.10 Uhr and we caught the train to Titisee. I really caught the sight of the legendary deer sculpture and the cross between
Himmelreich and
Hinterzarten! :D At Titisee the weather remained obviously freezing. Hiked a little of the nearby Black Forest, but I had to spare a thought for my parents so I stopped before it got too taxing. Was rather disappointed.
Titisee in the Blackforest
Titisee - the lake itself
In the Blackforest :D
The lake from the Blackforest. And it's not as freezing in the forest :)
More Blackforest. Doesn't seem so black when close after all eh? XD
Took the train to Schluchsee, a larger lake and located even higher than Titisee up in the Black Forest - however we didn't stay there for long. The rain came down even harder on us, the cold stinging. We returned to Freiburg. :(
Watched the broadcast of Wagner's
Die Walkuere from the Bayreuth Festspiele 2007 on TV. Lengthy (duh), but awesome singers. Sir Simon Rattle was the conductor.
Regensburg | Lindau
Today was another day of travelling, from Regensburg to Lindau - meaning travelling from the most eastern part of southern Germany to the most south-western part.
At 7.44 Uhr we took the train to Munich, and from there boarded the 12.21 Uhr train to Lindau. We reached Lindau, an island on Bodensee (or "Lake Constance" in English) at 15.15 Uhr. The weather was still crazy cold, and it seemed like it was brewing up a storm on the island. After checking into our hotel for the night - a huge apartment, and with a tub! :D (However I did not bath that night, sadly, because the temperature had dropped drastically).
Our bedroom, and stove!
We still have more than six hours before darkness falls. Hence we went strolling along the coast line, but seriously that wasn't a wise thing to do. It was SUPER WINDY, till my ears hurt. >_<
The railway tracks
And finally the sun...
..but the wind blew on
I'm not exactly sure with the direction, but the opposite mountains/coasts are Switzerland and Austria (and even France?) at certain angles. *shrugs, because I'm confused myself*
The harbour
Ahaha... I have to post this. And no, I do not believe the fairy tale originated from Lindau... XD
Threatening rain clouds were gathering ontop on the island, and it did look really intimidating, so we had instant noodles back in our hotel room (lol - since we were provided a kitchen, why not? XDD). The weather improved a little and we went out again, this time to the harbour. Mum said that the lighthouse at night was beautiful. Okay... I did feel a little
deja vu here... Lol. And obviously the weather had to spoil it for us. 20 minutes later the rain and wind returned. And since Lindau's an island and we at the harbour completely exposed to the nature elements, it was worse than Regensburg.
The tempest approaches. Awesome.
The harbour as the light faded
It was actually very dark, but I used ISO to snap this. Hence the pixilated effect. Eeks.
I didn't want to waste our precious time here, regardless of the weather. We walked round the island before returning to the hotel when the temperature dooped. (XD;; what an expression.)
We found the narrowest alley here, hehe!
Regensburg | Passau | Regensburg
Woke up real early this time at 6.45 Uhr. We planned to catch the 9am train to Passau today, but a shocking event happened while we were still in bed sleeping at 2am. The train workers in the whole of Germany went on strike! I was still so stunned - the announcement at the display board was in German, so in disbelief I thought that I must have read wrongly or something. It was only when I read the papers did I realise that it was all for real.
Never thought we would be caught in this situation.
The first train listed on the display board at the station was supposed headed for Munich at 7am - but it had been delayed for more that 90 minutes. The same goes for the trains down the list, with the words "wegen Streik" beside every listing. Of course, our train was not spared as well.
Our train to Plattling (our transfer point) only set off at 10.25 Uhr, and when it reached there the train delays became worse and worse. We were at the platform waiting for the train to Passau and the announcements came now and again - "the train at Platform One (our platform) will be delayed for 5 minutes", then "...will be delayed for 30 minutes".
The train came 37 minutes later.
Platform Nr. 9 - that's our train. But the neighbour Nr. 8 got a worse situation; the train to Munich was scheduled to leave at 9.44 Uhr, but there will be a 45 mins delay. Ya, the train just sat put there. Poor passengers...
So the WHOLE morning was spent on waiting for trains. We reached Passau only at 13.10 Uhr. And since we expected the strike to go on for the rest of the day (it was really quite a serious matter; many trains did get cancelled - we were just lucky we ain't that unlucky) we decided not to spend too much time in the city just in case we get stranded here without trains back to Regensburg (back to our hotel and luggages).
I hope you do recall the River Donau at Regensburg? Well, it reaches Passau just before entering Austrian territories.
The Donau
The castle up there is the Veste Oberhaus
"To the Blue Danube", it reads. But... the river was behind me, not up ahead... Were those words made to only look pretty?
"Flood water levels". Floods are inevitable in cities lying next to rivers, so there are a lot of these signs in these cities like Passau, and also Regensburg.
It was all in good timing that we passed by the Rathaus at 14 Uhr sharp when its glockenspiel (Bavaria's largest) started playing. It wasn't very interesting but I thought at least it's more in tune that the one at Munich's Rathaus. Lol.
We continued our walk to the tip (also the end) of Passau, a sceneic spot called
Dreifluesseeck (lit trans: "three-rivers-corner") where the rivers Inn, Donau and Ilz converge.
Pretty, deshou? Also note the colours in the waters differentiating the two rivers - something I find so cool and intriguing :D
I suggest clicking on this picture if you haven't been doing so to the pics I've posted. I think this should explain the unique location of Passau. :)
The coast of Austria. I'm not joking. Just a swim away.
Climb to the Veste Oberhaus
To catch an even better view of the convergence I suggested making a steep trip up to the Veste Oberhaus. Very tiring climb. The best view is located halfway up the climb to the top, where the steep path suddenly opens into a rather spacious area surrounded by the Oberhaus' wall. Climb up the parapet and a gorgeous view awaits you. Here's mine:
And at the top of the Veste Oberhaus...
Passau sandwiched by the two rivers you're seeing
Back down from the hill - the Donau again
We returned to the city and proceeded to Dom St. Stephan, where it holds the world's largest Domorgel.
Only a third of the organ
Passau is a really small place; we were done with our city tour before the train arrived after 17.11 Uhr, bringing us directly back to Regensburg. It already started raining there - to pass the time I went to their shopping arcade to shop for gifts and a cylindrical container for the Liszt posters I'd bought from Weimar.
21 Uhr and I was standing before the Steinerne Bruecke waiting for nightfall. I really wanted to see Regensburg in all its splendour at night, but the cold from the rain and the winds was so unbearable! I could barely feel my hold on my umbrella anymore so I gave up waiting for complete darkness to set in. Even my face was getting numb... I think it was still rather beautiful at half-light, though of course if I were to wait there for another 20 minutes (I had already stood there for an hour) perhaps I would have experienced it. Sigh... Wasted effort ne?
It's a bad shot, I know. The result of numb fingers, lol. The video turned out better, but I'm not going to upload it...
