REROUTING

Tomorrow is the first day of June but one would not say on this 3 degree Celsius day. So I take the locals' advice: don't follow the Danube through the higher, and thus even colder, parts of the Black Forest but take the Rhine path to Basel instead.

Without a map (or guidebook or internet) for the unexpected detour, I am at the mercy of the train station employee's sightseeing advice. He says Freiburg is nice and not too far from the Rhine route. So Freiburg it is! After a one and half hour train ride I am there, just long enough to dry out my shoes on the train's heater. In the rain I find my way to the Black Forest hostel. A former odometer factory now houses one heck of a cool hostel. There are huge spaces to hang out (and to set up a tent that needs drying out), little design vignettes throughout, shrines in hidden corners, fresh flowers, and an uplifting brightness because of both the design and the daylight pouring in through the glass roofs. The hostel's neighbor is a vineyard, right there in the city center. All my clothes are wet and smelly so I choose a new outfit from the H&M sales rack and then the sun breaks out, right when I am ready for the evening. Summary of my Freiburg detour? In the very unlikely event that I will ever move to Germany, Freiburg will be the place!

The next day, when I bike through wine country towards Basel (after a night of bar hopping, tarte flambee, hazelnut cake and live French music) I can see this area makes a perfect weekend trip from Holland: stay in Freiburg, hike in the Black Forest one day and go wine tasting the other day.

The ride along the Rhine is easy, beautiful and rain-free. Biffy from New Zealand is awaiting me in her Basel apartment. Not only is she offering me her guestroom through warmshowers.org, she even cooks dinner and takes me on a bicycle sightseeing tour. This morning, after buying maps for the next 3 weeks of my trip and drooling over Swiss design in the bookstore, my umbrella disintegrates. I give up on any further exploring in this crappy weather and instead I wait in the cafe next to the station for the train to leave. I will be visiting Nicole for the weekend!

PS. Switzerland is not for the budget traveler: my bill just arrived and the cappuccino is 6 US dollars.