My gig at Freiburg

We are back from Freiburg – an excellent trip. First let me say how pleasant I found the Frieburg people. All absolutely charming and helpful and most people we spoke to able to help us with queries in English if we were lost. Can you imagine the majority of the English population turning to another language to help a visitor?

M & I travelled with Irene on Wednesday, and met her friends in the evening when we arrived from Basle (Basel) airport on the bus. We deposited our luggage and all went out for a pizza.

M & I were in a small hotel, The Minerva, catering probably for a dozen families – once again, very friendly. Only one problem. We awoke at 6 a.m. Would you believe the curtains were like ours at home with a very thin lining letting in the morning light? And we had left the masks back in England. So we rose with the lark, and during the morning in the town square outside the Rathous (Town Hall) watched and listened to a group of young Ukrainian dancers.

Frieburg, in case I didn’t say, is twinned with ten towns - Besancon, Innsbruck, Padua, Madison, Matsuyama, and Lviv in the

Ukraine – hence the dancers, Granada and Isfahan; it’s a historic town and you can find out all about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freiburg_im_Breisgau. It is also known as an "eco-city". More of that later.

The dancers overran their slot, and as the day got hotter and hotter, finally Irene came to read from her two

books in the tent for the performers. Sometime during the afternoon we went to a lecture on the environment, a subject of great concern in Frieburg. M was very interested and went on to an estate fitted with solar heating. I bowed out in view of my evening talk, and went to the Cathedral with Irene’s friends. Alas, it was really too hot to be out in the street and I got more and more uncomfortable as the day wore on. By the time evening came, when I was to meet Nadine of the German-British Society http://www.debrige.de/), who had invited me to Frieburg, I was already feeling decidedly queasy. Nadine, who was much younger than I had expected, had invited M & me to dinner. M ate enthusiastically, while I picked at a salad. After the heat, and with my talk in front of me, food was the last thing I wanted. Poor Nadine must have thought I would faint away, possibly throw up, by the time we arrived at the venue the Schwanhaeuser Bookshop.

Fortunately, adrenaline got me through the talk, and it was very well received. I also answered questions and, to my surprise, there was a great deal of interest in my non-fiction book, The Fruit of the Tree, and in the topic of cot death. For the second time, at one of my talks, M was full of praise. Refreshments followed and then we went with Irene and her friends for more drinks.

Actually, the queasy stomach remained with me for almost the whole time we were away, which may have been the day in the sun, or the meal the day before, but was certainly not just a case of stage fright.

Friday morning was wet and cold and Irene’s reading was abandoned. We had hot chocolate, and after Irene had returned to the Twinning tent, to the Guildford/Frieburg stall, M & I took a trip by tram and bus and then on the cable car to the Black Forest. All transport, except the cable car, was free with a ticket from our hotel. It was freezing at the top, and we had another hot chocolate, and Black Forest Gateau – as you would – to compensate.

On Saturday, after a walk around the old town, which is lovely, we found there was another solar heating trip – to a factory. M said, his face all eager like a little boy’s, ‘Can I go?’ So off he went, and I joined the Guildford contingent in the tent. I didn’t have lunch, but was happy to have tea and cake, provided by the Anglo-German society. (Lots of societies, there.) I enjoyed being part of the team promoting Guildford – much more fun than a solar heating factory. We all had a meal out in the evening.

On Sunday, we went with Irene and another lady to the Black Forest by double decker train, and took a boat on the lake. We returned to Frieburg to collect our luggage and took the airport coach back to Basel. Back in the UK, Irene’s daughter picked us up – and now it’s back to the old routine.