Walk to Breisach

I interrupt the Bayern hike photo dump yet again to blog about walking just short of France the other day for the sole purpose of being able to say (eventually) that I walked all the way across southern Germany.

Why not cross the border, when I was so close? Because I've done it before, and it wasn't exactly scenic. But my route from Freiburg to Breisach had varied and appealing scenery to offer.

I started from our home-away-from-home-away-from-home in the Vauban neighborhood of Freiburg:

Trash cans! I photographed this to note that in Germany, trash is separated into paper/cardboard, lightweight packaging (plastic wrappers, composite materials, aluminum foil, etc.), residual waste, and COMPOST. People compost here--and not just people with space in their backyards. Glass and plastic bottles usually have a cash deposit, so people return them to stores for recycling.

Have I already mentioned that Germans take water management seriously? Why yes, yes I have.

Komoot had a really really hard time pronouncing Zum Tiergehege Strasse (roughly, tzoom teer-geh-hay-geh shtrahsseh) as though it were English, so it said "zumm teersh strass" and then gave up.

Bicyclists for scale. These were tall trees. 

The dandelions were tall too. Several were over two feet tall. 

Wood art by sculpture artist Thomas Rees, near Waltershofen. I happened upon a trail near our apartment yesterday with a whole slew of his work, and will include photos of those in a later post.  

Exiting the woods, I learned that flowers are the smile of the Earth:

I stopped in Waltershofen to tank up: strawberry cake and a pumpkin-seed roll. I forgot that rolls in Baden-Wuerttemberg are called Broetchen rather than the Bavarian word Semmel, but the proprietor politely clarified by asking if I wanted the pretzel shape or one of these here **>>Broetchen<<**.

I ate it before I thought to photograph it.

From Waltershofen, I hiked over the Tuniberg, through terraced vineyards... 

The first trail sign I saw for Breisach...

According to tourist signage, archeological evidence dates viticulture on the Tuniberg at least as far back as Merovingian and Carolingian times (6th-9th c. CE), likely introduced by Romans expanding the empire north of the Alps.

The first view of Breisach--that hazy hill on the horizon in the center of the photo below. This was actually the only view until I was in Breisach itself, since trees and hills are hard to see over...

Past Merdingen, I passed this prepped farm field. As a kid from central Illinois, fresh from watching field prep in Bayern, I was struck by how light and sandy the soil is here.

Outside of Ihringen, I thought I must be passing a farm where pigs were being abused, but it turned out to just be a ditch full of horny frogs:

I was facing west for most of my hike. When I eventually turned around to look east, I understood why rain was in the forecast.

Bayern is beer country; Baden-Wuerttemberg is wine country:

In Breisach:

Before heading up to the Muenster, I spent some time outside of the old city walls looking for some Jewish history. This city website has a helpful historical summary. Much more detailed information can be found on the Blaues Haus website; the house itself was closed on the day I was there. 

A Stolperstein made of stone rather than bronze. Michael Eisemann was the last cantor in Breisach. Breisach had a long and heated debate about whether to allow Stolpersteine; the city eventually signed off on the project, but I wonder if the Blaues Haus community got tired of waiting and installed this one on their own.

Walking up the hill to the Muenster, I passed these mementos of death--artillery from wars dating back to the 1600s. Being on a hill above the Rhein makes a town a great target when empires fight.

The St. Stephen Muenster plaza...

Europa greift nach den Sternen by Helmut Lutz

Death working hard at war:

France is on the other side of the Rhein:

Breisach's Hexenturm was destroyed in 1675, but here's a lovely model of the tower where women accused of witchcraft were imprisoned, tried, tortured, and often executed. (Does it bother anyone else that many websites say "suspected of" rather than "accused of," as though some of the accused were actually witches?)

In Breisach, I hopped on a train back to Freiburg, then walked home. This fearsome dragon is hanging out on the St. Georgen bridge over the Dreisam river.