FREIBURG Co-Founder, Hasn’T Been Heard from in the Black Forest Capitol Is a University Town with a Network of Narrow, Winding Streets These Pages Since Late ‘80S
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Voice from the past Having been involved in other, more remunerative activities, Consult- ing Editor Tom Bestor, a Gemütlichkeit FREIBURG co-founder, hasn’t been heard from in The Black Forest capitol is a university town with a network of narrow, winding streets these pages since late ‘80s. This 17th lined with restaurants and shops and where fresh, clear water runs in narrow channels. anniversary issue seems an appropriate here’s a Freiburg saying that time for him to step to the podium and Pride is expressed everywhere. perhaps is a bit of an exaggera- says a few words. — RHB. The sidewalks are paved with dark T tion: “There are two kinds of pebbles from the Rhine. In front of One of the best things about people in this world: those who live each shop, quartz and other stones Gemütlichkeit readers is their attitude in Freiburg, and those who wish they form mosaics of medieval trade sym- toward travel. You don’t simply share did.” After a few days in the town, bols: a boot for a shoe store, a mortar our love of Germany, Austria and you may feel that way. At the very and pestle for an apothecary, a bear Switzerland, you also seem to share least, you won’t want to in front of the Gasthaus Zum Roten some of our philosophy about how By Jim leave. Bären, and an ice cream cone — with you experience places foreign to you. Johnson Quite simply, the city is three scoops — in front of an ice A few weeks ago, as my brother and I cream parlor. This is no easy task: sat late one evening on his deck, shar- a joy to visit; relaxed but electric, calm but alive, a small city dressed in three men are employed full-time ing a bottle of wine with his friends, and each day can complete only a the discussion turned to just this topic; smaller-town clothes. It’s German but with an almost Mediterranean cli- small area of sidewalk. The shops how does one maximize the travel share the costs. experience? Time and money, after all, mate and the ambiance and joie de are in short supply. vivre that goes with it. France, after The Minster — the city cathedral all, is just 15 miles away. The Austri- — is further evidence of civic pride. My answer is simple: travel deep. ans, too, left their cultural fingerprint For more than a century, its upkeep The cliché of American travelers here, thanks to the city’s 400 years has been supported purely by dona- (and like virtually all clichés, it’s under Habsburg rule. Continued on page 3… based in truth) is that we tend to skip from place to place, cramming as much variety into a trip as possible. Gemütlichkeit:1987-2004 This penchant was epitomized in the 1969 movie “ It’s Tuesday, This Must he first issue of Gemütlicheit place we know. It is somehow reas- Be Belgium.” The British version was January 1987. The lead suring that this modest inn has might be Monty Python’s famous T story was about driving Eu- changed so little. The atmosphere is travel agent sketch, in which Eric Idle rope’s backroads and, though we still as we described it 17 years ago. talks non-stop to a travel agent about didn’t intend it, the first wordy sen- Perhaps it's just the beer, but some- wanting to avoid the sort of package tence, Surely the greatest of the consider- thing transforming happens right around tours where one is “carted around in able pleasures of automobile travel in 10 o'clock. It is similar to the moment in busses, surrounded by sweaty mind- Germany, Austria and Swit- "The Wizard of Oz" when the movie less oafs in their cloth caps and their By Bob zerland lies in exploring the Bestor changes from black & white to color. One cardigans, complaining about the tea, maze of backroads which is drinking the same beer, in the same ‘Oh they don’t make it properly here overlay the countryside like a vast net- place, served by the same waitress — but do they — not like at home.’” work of fine capillaries, established a somehow everything is different. Continued on page 2… tone and philosophy — though that’s It is about this time that Josef and much too grand a word — for the Friedl begin to sing and yodel as well as next 200 issues. A few years later we in this issue play their instruments. Deeper into the soothed the ire of a substantial per- night their harmonies begin to include 1 Traveling Deep centage of our readers by acknowl- achingly sad songs of unrequited Alpine edging — after discovering for our- 1 Freiburg im Breisgau love. The tourist tables are emptying selves — the joys of rail travel. 1 The First 17 Years and one or two large tables reserved for Another accidental portent of Continued on page 6… 4 Key Websites issues to come, was a story on Exchange rates as of 11/19/03 Garmisch-Partenkirchen’s Gasthof 8 Readers’ Forum 1 euro = $1.19 Fraundorfer, still the most gemütlich 1 Swiss franc = $.76 http://www.gemut.com December 03/January 04 http://www.gemut.com DEAR SUBSCRIBER the major sights (the Louvre, Musee the place. Get around the way the d’Orsay, Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower, locals do – often by public transit. Go Continued from page 1 Pompidou Center, etc.) and had gone to a cultural or sporting event. Pick On a first trip somewhere, it can be deeply into second tier sights, as well: up the local paper. Read it if you can. valuable to spread your net wide in the Rodin Museum, Victor Hugo’s Go shopping for mundane things like order to see what calls to you, to make house, the catacombs, etc. Thus freed shoelaces or writing paper. Go to the mental notes of regions to which you from my normal desire to “bag” at- same place often enough and you want to return and explore more fully tractions like I was on some sort of might even be invited to sit at the on subsequent journeys. But I still hear cultural safari, I was able to experi- Stammtisch, the table reserved for of people who trot off to Europe for ence the city in a different way. regulars in many German, Austrian three days in London, three in Paris On the first three mornings I was and Swiss restaurants. Order food and somewhat less than a week in there, I tried three neighborhood and wine that comes from the region. Northern Italy, which gives them time bakeries. When I had decided which Stay away from places with translat- to do Florence, Venice and a day trip to I liked best, I went there for the next ed menus, and from other tourists. Siena and/or Pisa. Short attention span 11 days for a morning baguette and travel. • Avoid Americanized places brioche. I spent hours in the Parc Sure, locals go to Starbucks and If that satisfies you, fine, but ulti- Monceau reading and people-watch- McDonald’s – they’re now global mately, all travel is about choices; after ing. I wandered through department brands — but hanging on to such all, you can’t go everywhere. The “travel stores and watched Parisian kids lifelines of familiarity prevents you deep” philosophy simply means choos- whining about what their moms from fully experiencing the foreign- ing to narrow one’s focus. Like many wanted them to wear – and didn’t ness of a place. And isn’t that at least philosophies, it doesn’t have a lot of even need French to know what was partly why you’re traveling? rules – just guidelines. And only three being discussed. So on your next trip out of the at that: The point is, focus brings free- country, think about traveling deeper • Stay longer in one place dom. Suddenly time seems to stretch – you might be surprised at what you For example, you could take a two- out in front of you. And that makes find below the surface. week trip consisting of three days in vacation time (which is precious for Berlin, three touring the Mosel valley most of us) more relaxing. And it all Using Gemütlichkeit (Trier, Bernkastel-Kues, Cochem, ), a comes from narrowing your options. • Hotel prices listed are for one night. Discounts are couple of days in Munich, two more in This works no matter how much often available for longer stays. Salzburg, two in Zürich and two for time you have – if you have only a • All hotel prices include breakfast unless otherwise traveling between those places. Or, you day in a city, you can decide to con- noted. • Local European telephone area codes carry the “0” could choose to spend a full week in centrate on one neighborhood, maybe Berlin, and another week at the Chalet required for in-country dialing. To phone establish- even a single intersection, rather than ments from outside the country, such as from the USA, du Lac near Interlaken. Or do a couple trying to cover it all. If you have a do not dial the first “0”. of weeks in Vienna. Or rent a house in month, try spending it all in one Logging on to our Website the Ticino. country, or even one region. Back issues in text format from January 1993, except for One of my favorite trips was two • Live like a local the most recent 12, are available free to subscribers only at weeks in a studio apartment in Paris, Even if you’re only in a place for a http://www.gemut.com (click on “Members”).