Upon parting ways with the Barber parents in Paris, the Morrows and junior Barbers made our way back to Freiburg! Elise and her parents had a wonderful time re-exploring Freiburg- it was quite different than it was the first time around, lacking Christmas markets but having the bonus of beautiful flowers everywhere. After reuniting with everyone’s favourite German city, we took the Regiobahn off to the Rothaus brewery, where we enjoyed some beer, hiking, and brewery tourism.
Dave rented a wonderful car with A/C that lasted all of about an hour, which was unfortunate because Germany was in the middle of a 35C heat wave. We visited the Bodensee, or Lake Constance, where we saw real zeppelins and a strange variety of tropical plants. We finally got our money’s worth with our Flöhmarkt sunglasses, and enjoyed some nice summer weather with the Morrows.
Here’s the one that everyone talks about… Schloss Neuschwanstein! Driving to the Castle requires crisscrossing the border with Austria and competing with tourist-laden horse-drawn buggies, but the view was all worth it. The Castle was built only ~130 years ago by King Ludwig II, partly as a tribute to Wagner, and put the kind into massive debt from borrowing (but of his own personal wealth, not the State’s).
With about a week left to spare, we beat the heat wave by travelling to Baden Baden and swimming in the Caracalla Therme, which has proven a favourite of the Morrow/Ruhl family. We climbed the Altes Schloss again, and were treated to some of the nicest weather we’ve seen yet. Quinn beat Dave in speed chess, but if you ask Dave, Quinn went over his time limit. I think we both know who won, Dave. With not enough swimming yet, we rented the Morrows a tandem bicycle and rode to Bad Krozingen, a nearby town with a lovely thermal spring and a lovelier park. Some hiking in the Black Forest, a whole ton of Spades, and the Morrows sadly left us behind.
Our year in Europe is drawing to an end, but not before we see Poland and the Czech Republic!
Barbers in Freiburg 