Freiburg Germany stranded in hitch and discovery of fabulous graffiti

On my hitch from Germany east of Stuttgart to southern France, I stopped in Freiburg, Germany. I arrived at night, and walked around checking out the town, the craftsmanship, the canals, the river. Had already heard about this town as a pretty cool place; progressive, liberal, open-minded population. Also that 100% of its energy is derived from renewable sources.

Freiburg, Germany graffiti
tunnels

Freiburg, Germany graffiti

funky elephant Freiburg, Germany

miniature puppet swinging beneath bridge
Freiburg, Germany

lovely detailed inlaid stone sidewalks
Freiburg, Germany

I intended to hitch out of the town early the next morning. No ‘daylight savings time’, I was shocked to see that the sun only rose at 8am. I started nevertheless at 6:30 or so in the darkness. Lots of traffic, no one picking me up.

Freiburg, Germany fantastic graffiti

Freiburg, Germany style

Decided to purchase a coffee, then espresso, pretzel and the pastry. Went back to the road. Hours later, still not getting picked up, though this was the feeding point to the entrance to the autobahn several kilometers away.

Freiburg, Germany graffiti bridge art

Walked forward, no place for cars to stop. Asked someone if there was a gas station anywhere near this road, and was told there was one behind me, about a kilometer. Went there, still no rides. Saw some colorful graffiti, ran across the street to look at it. Then started walking down these stairs to a tunnel, and discovered loads of graffiti. I decided to myself that this was why I couldn’t leave town. I was supposed to discover this while getting stuck there.
I took pictures until my phone was almost out of space and battery.

Feeling very content with this discovery, and as the hours passed, now I was interacting more with people and just hitching from any random place along this road. I discovered the cool little mini person (puppet) swinging on a swing under the bridge. Chatted with a few people. Then a man approached, saying that he saw me that morning when he was on his way to work, and now was seeing me again after he returned from work. Having hitched himself, and knowing the difficulties of this particular town and the fact that this was mostly local traffic, he offered to drive me to a service station on the autobahn outside of town. I thanked him profusely. Turns out he had a lot of information to deliver. Said that Freiburg, years ago, was a town with a lot of squats, just like Berlin was a decade ago, but that in both towns, they’ve been cleared out, became rentals or just now not allowed to exist.

Freiburg, Germany graffiti

What I hadn’t known, is that where he dropped me off, now bypassed the place where I had mapped out that I was going to take as my route. It was a truck driver who said after I asked him and showed him my hand drawn map, that I had already passed that particular road, but that I could get off at such and such exit. It sounded like ‘German’ to me. I was inside starting to get worried, that I was going to be stuck here too, going way out of my way. But I consulted maps and found the names he spoke of.

Lots more story to tell, but I’ll just at least get these pictures out and describe more later. It was a fascinating hitchabout as far as insights into human nature and the whole gamut of types of people. It was also one in which I was stuck two nights in a row with no housing or food, and yet improvised and really enjoyed myself, even with the challenges.

Freiburg, Germany fantastic graffiti

I really do feel like a survivor, who can improvise and find means through creativity and resilience, to make things work, and even laugh about it. Of course, I’m not a refugee who has been forced to leave behind everything to seek a new life, nor someone who has just had my home burn down, ravaged by the exigencies of climate change. Just someone who has chosen to go on an adventure, who knows that I will bounce back into an accommodation I had planned – the workaway – host I was heading to in the south of France near Aix-en-Provence, from the host I left behind in central-southern Germany near Stuttgart.

The one I left behind was a nice learning experience, the one I’ve just surfed into is already exceeding my imagination and really fantastic. I feel very fortunate and appreciative.

Freiburg, Germany graffiti

carol the blogger March 24th, 2017 in New Mexico

Carol Keiter aka nomadbeatz ~ As an avid blogger who is presently picking up where I left off with my eBook to complete it and and beginning again to compose music, I ask you rather unambiguously and unabashedly to please donate, if you are able. !-))