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Enjoying White Asparagus in Freiburg, Germany with AmaWaterways River Cruises

One year ago, Carol and I were strolling the ancient streets of Freiburg, Germany enjoying our fourth European river cruise; this time with AmaWaterways.

To read our review of AmaWaterways, click here.

Freiburg is situated on the edge of the Black Forest, is an energetic college town, and is renowned for its cathedral which possesses what some have called the most beautiful spire on earth.

The Germans call their cathedral Freiburger Münster and right outside the doors of the church is the Münsterplaltz featuring an open-air farmers’ market every day except Sunday.

When Carol and I are traveling, we make a concerted effort to visit the local farmers’ markets.  It’s a beautiful way to mix with the locals and it is also a fabulous way to sample the fresh local produce.

YUM!

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We spent around 90-minutes gawking at displays of spring flowers, sampling local cheeses, noshing on German bratwurst; and we topped it all off with a tasty sampling of the local gingerbread.

My grandmother was of Dutch descent and every year she tended to a massive garden.  And every year, the first thing from her garden was asparagus.

As we were making our way to Freiburg, our guide was sharing with us the fact that this was an agricultural region and one of their famous products was white asparagus.

White asparagus is produced by covering the asparagus plants with black plastic so that no photosynthesis takes place, thus producing a white stalk.  I was taken back by the size of these stalks.  They were much larger than my grandmother’s.

But the best part of being in Germany during white asparagus season is that our ship’s chef was also in the markets and in the evenings we enjoyed white asparagus soup and white asparagus stalks alongside our proteins.

Carol and I have grown very fond of river cruising and this is just one of the memorable experiences we’ve enjoyed in our adventures.

In about a month, Carol and I will be experiencing our fifth river cruise. This time with Avalon Waterways sailing from Paris to Normandy.  And, we’re bringing 8 other boomer travelers with us.  It should be lots of fun.

Travel Tip: Best Way to Book an Ocean or River Cruise
 
To learn more about European River Cruises, please call Roaming Boomers Travel Services at (480) 550-1235 or use our convenient online information request (click here) and we’ll reach out to you.
 
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