Markus and Brian's Excellent European Adventure

Deutschland Continued

I'm still in Germany as I write this, and will be until tomorrow morning at the earliest. I couldn't travel to Dijon, France on a Tuesday evening night train because of the French rail strike, but I could go during the day, I was told. Then yesterday, after saying goodbye to Markus and his extended family, I found out rail travel during the day wasn't possible, either. So I opened the guidebook, waved my finger blindly over the map before jabbing at a spot, and hoped on a five hour train ride to Freiburg, deep in the Black Forest in southwestern Germany.

It's a small city of about 200,000 people, over 10% of which are students. It makes me cry to see the kind of place Waterloo could be if students weren't overcome by active apathy. And I'm not even seeing the full picture; I chatted on the whole second half of my train ride with a German student who lamented that I was visiting his beloved student town during a school holiday week. I really would have seen the city in action if I had come just 3 days later. But even still, the place was alive on the streets, especially around the university quarter. So many hang-out spots, cafes, bars, bike paths, trees, old well-kept buildings, and energy in the people all around.

My German friend on the train was studying something to do with sports health, and we talked about everything. Particularly interesting was that Germany youths used to be obsessed with everything American. If you wore a t-shirt with the American World Cup soccer team's logo on it, you were sure to get several girls, at once. Now, all the American clothing and expressions are mothballed.

Also, Germany youths (possibly just the men, I don't know) have been required to serve in the military for 18 months for some time now. But now, the time requirement's been dropped to 9 months, and there's an alternative option to do community service for 10 months instead. My German friend opted for the latter. It was tough work, he said, especially when he was working in a hospital and the old World War II veterans condemned his choice of community service, ranting that if he had been around during the war, he would have been lined up and shot. Great to see some things never change.

Anyway! Today, since the French train strike is still continuing, I took a cable car up to the nearby mountain in the high Black Forest region. The slopes are covered by a canopy of trees, and a maze of hiking and biking paths wind their way everywhere. I packed a bottle of water, some bread and cheese, and hiked around all day. The Black Forest wasn't quite totally dark as night, but the tree cover was pretty dense in many areas. It was also almost deserted today, making for a very relaxing trek. Insert some long-winded comment about spiritual growth and being one with nature here.

And now, I'm waiting for a train (after missing my first train, oops) to take me to the nearby small town of Baden-Baden, renowned for its two huge ritzy and glitzy health thermal spas. Waterfalls, pools, saunas, grottos, both hot and cold. I'm looking forward to it after a full day of hiking. One of the two spas has a strict no-clothing rule; I'm not sure if I would have gone, but since it's the far more expensive of the two, my decision's been made for me. (Phew!)

Erk, I better run and catch my train. Tschuss!

Posted by Brian at June 12, 2003 04:49 PM