Fast food history of Freiburg's old town

Yesterday afternoon, I took part on the first day of a moderator's training seminar. It's one of the perks I get while working as a part-time technical assistant for the environment department of the university. The discussion went into the bowels of garbage, water, and recycling systems, or lack of which in Brazil and Cameroon from where the participants. We parted ways at the end of the day.


Here's a clip of the start of our tour

In the evening was another kind of talk that brought us back together, not from one of us, but by a tour guide. A walking tour of Freiburg's city center and the beginnings of the university is part of the 'training' program. Despite my semi-busy schedule, I told myself, why not? I've only known the history of Freiburg through the countless Google searches I made weeks before I arrived here. In addition to a visit to the university museum, I haven't made any intentional attempt to know the city and its thriving past.

The tour was in German. It was again one of my "I get the drift" engagements. I got the drift of the tour- the beginnings of the university, the life, deaths, and the murder plots to and of students and Freiburgers. I resorted to taking photos and wandered away from the group while listening to the gist of the oral criminal report. The drizzle did not stop us to zip through alley ways where perhaps once, Freiburgers, luminary students, and murderers bumped into each other.

Behind Freiburg's quaintness and touristic feel (just wait until you see the crowd on weekends!) lies some funny and some bloody episodes in the city's history. The one and a half hour tour of Freiburg left us wanting for more slices of the past. Our guide fueled this curiosity as he ended our walking tour. We were introduced to many names and stories, yet there's even more names and stories waiting to be told and spoken.

A bunch more photos is in my flickr site.