Living in Freiburg

Life in Freiburg is pleasant. But not equally pleasing everywhere. The other day, our local Badische Zeitung (BZ) published an article about the citizens' satisfaction in the various districts.

Quality of life in Freiburg's city districts
"Do you like living in your current neighborhood?" (©BZ)

To make it short, Red Baron, or better, my city district, won the silver medal. The neighborhood where I live, the Mittelwiehre, is only surpassed by the Oberwiehre.

The BZ wrote: All Freiburg city districts are rated positive - but there is a wide spread between the top district Oberwiehre (+90) and Weingarten (+26) at the bottom of the list.

If one compares the result with past years' surveys, it becomes clear that the gap is widening. While the districts in which residents were already satisfied continue to improve, the situation is precisely the opposite for those at the bottom of the table, where satisfaction is falling more and more. Opfingen lost the most (-15), followed by Rieselfeld and Weingarten (-10).

When I moved to Freiburg in 2001, the Herdern district was the nec plus ultra to live in.

That changed over the years. Now the Wiehre is at the top in terms of the satisfaction of its residents. Look at the Herdern ranking now. 

Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres, and so is the Wiehre: Unterwiehre (lower), Mittelwiehre (middle), and Oberwiehre (upper).

©City of Freiburg

On the map, the Mittelwiehre is the centered dark blue area. Note the train station at the bottom. The Unterwiehre is on the left, and the Oberwiehre is on the right.

©VAG

Public transport is excellent. The Stadtbahn (streetcar) serves the Oberwiehre by the red line 1, the Mittelwiehre by the green line 2, and the Unterwiehre by the orange line 3.

The small advantage of the Oberwiehre over the Mittelwiehre is undoubtedly related to its large shopping center Zentrum Oberwiehre.

In the Mittelwiehre, the stores with the most essential goods for daily needs are within my walking distance, but the sales areas are small, and the shopping experience is diminished by this narrowness.

©Wiehrgefühl

Cafés are plentiful. Kaisers Gute Backstuberuns the Café Wiehrgefühl*, the most pleasant place to sit and sip your coffee.

*Play of words with Wir-Gefühl (feeling of togetherness)

With all these conveniences, I use my car very little. It serves me well on my infrequent trips to France and helps when buying larger quantities of bottles in a distant supermarket.

Mittel- and Oberwiehre are located at the foot of the Black Forest and are popular urban neighborhoods because of their hiking opportunities. The train station Wiehre of the Höllentalbahn (hell valley train) leaving for the Black Forest is within 4 minutes of walking distance from my apartment.

Unfortunately, Red Baron is no longer fit for long walks, but I consistently fulfill my daily 30 minutes of forced walking.

*