Three Nights in Freiburg, via Basel

The Travelling

The departure gate at Edinburgh Airport for the Basel flight was quite chaotic this afternoon caused by a combination of strange decisions made by the easyJet staff and the most bizarre set of would be passengers Hector has encountered in some time.

Passengers were invited to check-in their hand luggage at the gate free of charge as easyJet somehow believed there would be an excess of hand baggage on board. It was not quite a frenzy at Gate 3, but the semblance of queues for Lines 1 and 2 was now disrupted. ‘There will be two queues’, Doris then informed us pointing to where we should assemble, I counted three. Doris repeated her offer, this time with Speedy Boarding as the Carrot. A bigger frenzy, almost. I now counted five queues by the time she separated those with children.

An attempt at restoring order

We were then informed that passengers should only have one piece of hand luggage and those with more than one would have to check it at the gate and pay the extortionate fee which in the case of Ryanair, one might think becomes the staff bonus, such is their manic enforcement of this rule. But not easyJet, and certainly not today as nearly every female, except Marg had a hand bag (!), hand luggage and maybe even a polybag too. Not one person was challenged. Which part of one piece of hand luggage do people not understand?

Aboard the ‘plane, the emergency exits were free so Hector secured his usual seat. The people in front nearly panicked when the Swiss Steward told them they might have to open the door. During the safety Demo, some stupid female stood up and started waving too, very strange. But not as strange as Basil Airport.

Basil-Mulhouse-Freiburg Airport is located in Basel, most of which is in Switzerland, or France. The Airport website gave no information I could find about getting directly from the Airport to Freiburg, our destination. Instead, it was made clear that one took Bus 50 to Basel SBB and then a train back north. EasyJet normally offer transfers from Airports to the named destination, but not Freiburg.

On arrival in the baggage hall there were signs as to where to buy the tickets for Bus 50, good, so no need to purchase Swiss Francs. There were signs too of a bus to Freiburg, yee ha! One can exit the baggage hall in two ways, to Switzerland or to Germany and France, yes both, or is that all three?  There was a bus due to take us to Freiburg, at €23 each not cheap, but it saved an hour. We checked in to Hotel Bishofslinde and were back in the Zentrum by 21.00.

The Bier – at last

The Martin’s Hausbrauerei was discovered right beside the Martinstor, how sensible. This was the first example of simplicity in practice observed today, but this is Deutschland.

We found the only comfortable seats beside two young Chaps who were drinking what looked like a Pitcher of Unfiltered Helles. When Bert brought the Karte it turned out to be a Pils. I checked with the Chaps and they confirmed that indeed they were drinking Pils. Hector does not drink Deutsche Pils, it is an unspeakable Bier on a par with any Euro-Fizz and usually tastes of Perfume. The sign above the tanks said ‘Bottom Fermented’, this suggested Lagering had occurred. Instinctively I took the chance. Just as well, this was cool, refreshing, tasted dry and hoppy and is by far the best Bier I have tasted since the Bradford Beerfest in February. Marg had an Apfelsaft, or two. I have not been kidnapped by Aliens.

 Time to Eat

On my last visit to Freiburg in 1980 I was treated to a mass of Pork. This was significant having spent five months in Israel. A Pork Fest indeed. As a tribute to that memorable evening I ordered two Schweinesteak with Bratkartoffeln. Marg, who fancied nothing too heavy, had the local version of Liver – Cheese with the same Side. The Pork was minimal, but the Krauterbutter made it a worthwhile experience. I ended up helping Marg finish her German Spam.

Then there was the Olives

As a Nibble we ordered a portion of Olives. These came, small but excellent Black Olives with a coating of nothing we could identify. Whatever it was it made the meal. Neither, dry nor sweet, not Spicy either, something new and we have no idea what it was.

Time for another Bier

Enjoying the Pils so much, there had to be more. I then turned to the Export Dunkles, this was excellent too. A dark Bier Tony would hate, still dry, hops to the fore and like the Pils absolutely no sign of the home-made Yeast flavour that can spoil the Micro-Brewery experience.

 Time to move on

We went a wandering, found one or two places that Mr Google had suggested, dismissed these, then finished the evening in grand style at the Eis-Café Capri. An Ice-Cream Shop, perhaps, by day and a Jazz Café at night. Time for Marg to have a Baileys. They had another new Bier for Hector, but only in bottles and it was served on the warm side.

The Alpirsbacher (Alpirsbacher, Baden-Wurttemberg) at 5%(?) was advertised on the bottle as Hoppy. Sadly it did nothing after the splendour of the Martin’s experience. What made the visit was Mein Host who discussed Jazz Artists of my era, the 1970s and 1980s. He knew about Terje Rypdal, Weather Report, Rainer Bruninghaus, Eberhard Weber, Charlie Mariano, the peopleI grew up listening to. I pointed out that back then people looked back to the 1940s and 1950s as the great days of Jazz. I was doing the same thing from a now perspective. I also had to accept that since the rebirth of Progressive Rock, I have not been an active explorer in the Jazz scene. Curry and Bier, I think I do well.

We promised to return for an Ice-Cream.

En route to the Tram was an opportunity to sing the National Anthem, which of course we did.

 Brewery and Bar visited today:

Martin’s Hausbrauerei – Erste Freiburger Gasthausbrauerei, Kaiser- Joseph- Str. 237, 79098, Freiburg.

Eis-Cafe Capri – Gerberau 30, -79098, Freiburg


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