We'd decided to space our trip home out a bit. After our horrendous last day in Spain (4 hours on the bus, and straight on to a plane is not fun), we'd decided NEVER AGAIN!
So our first stop was Freiburg. The city was a dramatic change after we'd become so used to the quaint little villages throughout the rest of the Black Forest.
It didn't help that it was bucketing down with rain and freezing cold. We had left Schiltach after breakfast as we wanted to be able to take our time and wander round, which we were now regretting since it was sunny when we left Schiltach!
Once we made it into the centre of the city, we managed to find a lot of older buildings which went some way to easing us back into big city living...
The Martinstor, one of the original city gates in Freiburg
While the City itself was much busier than anywhere else we had been in The Black Forest, it still wasn't too busy. Everyone was rushing around trying to get out of the rain, and since it was Easter Monday, most of the shops were closed so we couldn't go inside for shelter!
The Historisches Kaufhaus, or Historical Merchants Hall
The Freiburg Cathedral (still not bored of churches)
We came across the lovely Freiburg Minster, which was built in 1200 and managed to survive almost unscathed through the bombing raids of 1944 to the present.
We spent a while admiring the stained glass, and it was nice to be inside where it was warm and dry.
The Minster was the last place we visited in Freiburg before continuing on towards Basel where we hoped it would be a bit dryer..
We had to hop across the border one last time to Basel, Switzerland. When we'd first arrived we'd rushed through Basel, but this time took a bit of time to see some of the sights.
Basel is a lovely city on the edge of the river Rhine. As with all of Switzerland, the first thing you notice is how extremely clean the entire city is. Basel is also filled with amazing old buildings, and it's small enough that we were able to walk around most of the city in just over an hour.
First stop; Basel Rail Station!
The Elisabethen Church may not be the most famous church in Basel, but that doesn't mean it's not an impressive site to see.
Basel's Historical Rathaus (Town Hall)
We didn't make it to Basel Munster due to time constraints, but got a good view of the bell towers from the river.
The basilisk; the guardian creature of Basel
This little boat was tied by a string to a guide line across the river keeping it from drifting too far down stream. It was ferrying people across the river, though I'm not sure if anyone was actually steering it.
We took the scenic route to the station, heading across the Rhine and upriver, before crossing back and jumping on a tram. Ours (sadly) wasn't quite as cheery as this one...
Even by breaking up our journey home by visiting two cities in two separate countries, we still managed to arrive extremely early to the airport. We forgot that Swiss public transport is extremely efficient, so we allowed time for delays, of which there weren't any. We then allowed time to visit the duty free shops at Basel Euro Airport... of which there weren't any...
But it was still a nice relaxing end to our Easter weekend. We really love Germany, and would love to travel around some more. We're actually going back to Munich over the June Bank Holiday, if only for a short time enroute to Austria.
yes we agree Germany is fun and easy to travel around
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