After a hectic week and a half of way too many meetings (three separate group projects running simultaneously, including the initial breakdown of our 40 person group project), Saturday, November 11th was a much needed day of rest. Since Armistice Day is a bank holiday in France, meaning that everything is closed, the obvious solution was to do a little cross-border shopping. Thus, $15CDN and one hour later, I found myself free roaming the streets of Freiburg, Germany, a town just a little South of Strasbourg.

Freiburg, as I wasn't previously aware, is a shopping Mecca; basically a very large shopping mall in city form. Of course, to keep these malls filled, the Freiburg government wisely keeps the large university around, as well as a couple of tourist attractions and museums. The beautiful weather, and the backdrop of the Black Forest with its mountains, filled me with an urge to... actually, since I had no ideas about what there was to do in Freiburg, I had very few urges. This left me free to wander.

First stop was the Cathedral, mostly because it was the easiest landmark to find. Fortunately for me, the Freiburg choir was rehearsing as I happened to be perusing the interior, and I was thus audience to a resounding edition of Verdi's Requiem, sung by a 200 piece choir accompanied by a 50 piece orchestra. Cathedrals, I must admit, are particularly suited to this type of ensemble, and the effect was awe-inspiring. As Cathedrals go, I have to say that I really liked this one, as it contained beautiful entrance pillars, a gorgeous ancient seating area for the congregants, and a newer but very tasteful area for the clergy. Besides, there was a farmers' market going on right outside the cathedral, so the experience like a time-warp.

Back to the farmers' market: Browsing around this market was great fun, even though there's farmers' markets the world over. Fall was in full season, and everything smelled great. Nothing quite like wandering around being barraged by the aromas of fresh produce, roasting sausages and bratwurst, and watching everybody get into the action. Of course, a feast for the eyes quickly leads to a feast for the belly, so I had to avail myself of some of the aforementioned bratwurst and some fresh-pressed apple cider ($1CDN for a litre). Thus fortified for further travels, I reluctantly detatched myself from the friendly vendors, and continued my journey.

After a quick wander past some Bavarians wearing silly hats made of poker chips with a furry tail sticking up (apparently this signified that they were members of a wandering band, although I have noticed that Bavarians are very proud of the silly costumes they manage to find and wear continuously), I made my way to a camera store. The short of this part of the story - I bought a new camera, the Canon EOS 300 (I think it's the Rebel 2000 in North America).

I didn't end up doing much else in Freiburg. I wandered a bit, then checked out the Museum of Torture (very gruesome in an incredibly cheesy way). I did a little bit of window shopping, stopped to watch some ducks in a pond, and gave up on the cable car (it was such a weenie mountain, although apparently there's a much bigger brother mountain 15 minutes away that I didn't make it to). Anyways, to conclude the day, I grabbed some more schnitzel and spatzle, then took the train back to Strasbourg (playing Palm Pilot chess all the way), so that I could finally watch Amistad and The Blues Brothers.