Freiburg—04.08.2010
So there is a story that goes along with that heading....be patient!
We’ve made it to Freiburg and already our last day is tomorrow! I should say that we only had one full day here (today), but yesterday worked our way from Altensteig to Freiburg on a tour of sorts.
Yesterday, we visited various hydro-electric plants along the River Rhine as well as a salmon hatchery that is maintained completely on a volunteer basis. Salmon was the magic word of the day yesterday! The main concern with the electric plants along the Rhine is creating fish ladders at the plants/dams for the salmon to migrate back to their spawning grounds. Our guide, Fabian, (no not Fabio!) has played a crucial part in trying to reintroduce Atlantic salmon into the Rhine system and to create a new Rhine River salmon since that sub-species of salmon became extinct in the 1950s.
In addition to losing the last of this species, the Rhine has also been a fairly polluted river and became more so in about 1990 when many chemicals were accidentally released into the river, virtually making it an aquatic desert. Literally, it was not able to support any life forms. Since then the Germans have been working with France, the Netherlands, and other with ties to the River Rhine in order to clean up the river.
Now, however, the river is clean and fish are abundant. Salmon are of particular interest as they require a specialized habitat, much like Pacific salmon, so they are working toward making it easier for the salmon to migrate through river systems. The first hydro-plant we visited had a very intricate fish ladder system and large electrical output-as any as 185,000 homes received electricity from this one plant! The subsequent fish ladders we visited were not quite as large or industrial looking, but much more "natural" with stones to facilitate the ladders.
The salmon hatchery we visited in between the hydro-plants was probably THE highlight of the day. I didn't realize before we got there that the entire hatchery is maintained on a volunteer basis and Fabian has had a large part in this also. Basically they are working to create a new Rhine River salmon using the genetic strains from a France and the Atlantic salmon. There are a few salmon used purely for breeding purposes while others go through their entire life cycles from the streams they hatch, to the time they spend in the ocean and then back to the streams. There was a holding pond of about 10,000 five month old fry that we were able to see, which was neat. Think of a small minnow you fish with and that's how big they were.
Now onto today, we had Fabian as our guide again to show us around his "juvenile" habitat where he grew up and the spawning ground where he and his family live. It was one of those you-had-to-be-there moments, but it was really funny at 7.30 in the morning either way. We went on a good hike today along the Kaiserstuhl, a ridge of sorts in between the hills of the Black Forest and the Rhine Valley. In this area, there are a lot of vineyards, so naturally we spent half the day hiking and wine tasting! :)
In the vineyards we visited, they use a hybrid grape that has American roots and a European trunk and shoots. The American roots are grafted on to the European trunk because they are more well adapted to a lice in the soil that feeds on the roots of the grapes. It was interesting, especially since I know next to nothing about wine in general. All the wine we tasted was amazing. I even got a little light-headed after six different wines and then a special wild cherry liqueur after the picnic we had.
There will be more photos to come and more updates of course! I leave for Ireland tomorrow and can't wait!
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