Our Swiss Summer: Freiburg

The day after our Schwarzenwald adventure, we spent time in Freiburg before catching the train home. While I packed up our belongings, Chris took the kids to the hotel lobby where they have a small kids' area.

Before we headed out, Layla stated (without any prompting from us!), "When I was little I thought the whole world was Lexington and that everyone spoke English." We are so happy that we were able to give our kids this experience and we are proud of their adventurous spirit.

When it was time to go, it was first things first and we asked the hotel staff where the nearest playground was. They directed us on a short walk over a bridge and we were delighted to find not only a playground, but a farmer's market, too!

The night before, we'd seen some folks hanging out on top of the bridge.
Those crazy college kids!

So the kids were delighted when Chris showed them how it was done.

This playground doesn't even come close to the Swiss playgrounds!

Small farmer's market with everything from produce to fresh pasta to pastries and honey.
Chocolate croissant and fresh blueberries for breakfast, anyone!?

Oh, and there was coffee, too!
Served from a truck that doubled as a pop-up coffee stand.

After breakfast we headed off into the old city with the following agenda: souvenir shopping, large farmer's market, and beer garden. It's tough being on vacation!

Mosaics like this one can be found on the sidewalks throughout the old city.
They typically depict an image related to the shop close by.
The kids loved hunting for all of the mosaics, but this castle was definitely their favorite.
Since there was no castle around, and we saw this image repeated elsewhere,
we quickly figured out that this is the seal of Freiburg.

"Look, mom, another mosaic!"

When we saw a wedding party outside of the beautiful town hall, we first mistook it for a church.

The bride.

All around the cathedral is a huge market.
The kids couldn't resist a fresh mid-day snack.
I also scouted out the sausage vendors so that I'd know where to get
the "lange rote" that Simone had recommended for lunch.

At some point in our wandering we made our best discovery of the day....baechle boats! These wooden boats on a string make for great entertainment and also wonderful souvenirs. For the rest of the day, whenever the kids had to wait for something (if I went into a store or their pizza was cooling, etc.), they had automatic entertainment!

Princess-themed boat for her. Pirates for him.

The kids enjoyed the many street performers, including this man and his stuffed-animal band. Bonus - when you drop change in the box, it opens to give you a candy treat!

Next stop was the Feierling beer garden. The beer garden is right on site with the brewery. Feierling doesn't bottle their beer so this was perhaps a once in a lifetime tasting for us. At 11:00 the place was hopping! The beer garden is conveniently located right next to a playground so that's where I headed with the kids when they'd had their fill of beer....i mean, water.

We had to leave Freiburg in the early afternoon so that Chris and I could get ready for our one date night of the summer! Remember Domenique, the tea party-making, berry-picking daughter of Chris's friend, who entertained the kids so well a few weeks back? Well, she graciously offered to babysit and we didn't hesitate to take her up on the offer!

We went to Cantina Don Camillo, a really cool restaurant with a roof-top dining terrace. Don Camillo's is definitely not a place your average tourist would know about; it's not in a heavy-traffic area and there is no large sign outside. But Chris had been here with a coworker (Domenique's father, actually!) and he knew it would be fun to return. The restaurant is in a former brewery that, from the outside, looks kind of like an abandoned building. It now houses the restaurant and some artsy spaces.