TRAVEL JOURNAL
Ed & Jackie's Germany Vacation March 28, 2000 - April 7, 2000 |
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The photos below, plus many more, can be viewed in our Vacation Photo Album |
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| DAY 1 - Rothenburg |
| Our flight was one hour late leaving
Charlotte due to high winds, 40 mph. Because of this
delay, we missed the scheduled departure time out of
Chicago, but the plane had mechanical problems and was
still at the gate. We waited 30 minutes and were told
that the flight was cancelled because the problem could
not be corrected. They indicated that we could take a flight to Munich, instead of the scheduled one to Frankfurt, and it was leaving shortly. We went to that gate and found that the flight had not arrived in Chicago yet. When it finally arrived, we left for Frankfurt. Due to the delay getting out of Chicago, we arrived at Munick with about 10 minutes before the connecting flight to Frankfurt was scheduled to leave. We ran to the gate, after first going to the wrong one, then held up a few minutes by customs to stamp our passports, and by the time we arrived at the gate, that flight had left just a few minutes before. The new flight we were booked on was late arriving
from Frankfurt, which again delayed our departure. We
finally arrived in Frankfurt |
We picked up our rental car,  but instead of the promised
Opal Omega, they gave us a Mercedes Benz. ........Ah
Shucks. Gas was about 191.9 DM per Liter or $3.82 per
gallon; and we thought it was high in the US. |
Our directions said to follow B43 from
the airport and A3 from Frankfurt for about 100 KM. We
looked and looked for B43, then A3 without seeing that on
any signs, and finally figured out that they leave off
the B and the A. From then on, we found that Germany has
wonderful road sinage even on secendary roads.   . These signs were on all of
the roads and really helped in finding our way around the
country. The blue signs are for the Autobahn and the
yellow for federally maintained roads.  |
| We found Rohenburg fine, but got very
lost locating the hotel. Asked at a local shop and were
directed right to it. The back alley leading to it was so
narrow, that it was very nerve wracking just entering. No
damage to the car. Rothenburg is on the Romantic Road
and is Germany's best preserved walled town. We walked around the wall of the old city and located
a very nice restaurant for dinner for a very traditional
German dinner. This view is from the wall that was built
to protect the city. |
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DAY 2 - Munich |
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| - Awoke the next morning to snow. It had
covered the ground and was still coming down hard with
about 3 inches on the ground. The view of the valley and
the Tauber River from our room was beautiful. - Ate breakfast and left for Munich. Snow was still coming down hard, and it made the drive to Munich and the country side beautiful. - Snow turned to a cold rain and lasted the rest of the day . |
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We stopped in the small town of
Dinkelsbuhl  . The
fully preserved town walls were completed in 1450, but we
could not enjoy it because of the very cold rain / snow.
(Temp was 1 to 2 C).  . We
bought an umbrella (had only one with us) which came in
handy several times before the trip was over. |
| We went to Dachau to visit the Concentration Camp Memorial, but again due to the cold and rain (and getting lost), we did not get to visit it. |
We arrived in Munich in after getting lost several
more times and checked in hotel.
We walked, with umbrellas, to the large
pedestrian walkway that was just a short distant away.
The enterance to this area is Munich's oldest gate, the
Karlstor, We decided to eat dinner at the "Deutsches
Theater" restaurant which was right across the
street from, After dinner we asked for the menu again so we could order desert, and they handed us a full English one. So much for our German. Jackie ordered Decaf coffee even though we were not sure at the time of the word for decaf, but were told that they had it. Well, again we did not make our self clear for she was awake most of the night. Learned to ask properly for "no caffeine"; Kaffee Hag. |
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* Interesting things we found * Found most of public bathrooms (WC - water closet) had an attendant that asked for a tip on leaving. Discovered that this assured us of very clean bathrooms and was w welcome way to spend a DM or so. * Found that hotels do NOT have washcloths nor do they supply soap. They have the "body shampoo" squeeze bottles. * All hotels that we stayed in included breakfast. This was always plates of meats and cheese, cereals, rolls, juice, coffee, scrambled eggs and always, soft boiled eggs. |
DAY 3 - Munich |
The famous Glockenspiel 
in Munich is located in the pedestrian walkway we visited
the day before. The Marienplatz glockenspiel (Chiming
clock) is in the tower of the neo-Gothic Neues Rathaus
(City Hall). We were told that it played at 11 AM daily
so we made plans to get there a little before that. The
weather had turned out great so spent the time taking
pictures on the way. When that roll was completed, I
found that it was stuck in the camera and could not be
removed. (This had happened once before and had taken to
a camera repair shop to be fixed). Right across from the
Glockenspiel was a photo shop where I bought a new camera
and was back outside just in time for the 11 AM show.
Spent the rest of the day exploring the local sights. 
Sights along Neuhauserstr.   Munich's
main landmark and city symbol is Frauenkirche (Church of
Our Lady). |
| Although we left the list of hotels we were staying in along with their phone numbers, we wanted to communicate with family and friends while we were on our trip. We asked if there was a local "Internet cafe", and sure enough there was. We spent about an hour using E-Mail with very quick responses back and forth. |
We ate lunch in the famous beer hall, the Haufbrau
House  which is the
father of all German beer halls.  . We enjoyed listening to the
oompah band and watching the interresting people. I ordered their local beer that was listed on the menu with a 1 L beside it. I found out how LARGE a liter is. We also returned later that night for desert after eating dinner in another local restaurant drinking wine this time. |
* Interesting things we found * Used my hairdryer with proper adapter the first morning with no problems, then on the next day it knocked of the electricity to the room and overheated the dryer. It was no longer useful. Next trip we will purchase one after we arrive. * We found that many people spoke English and were very willing to help us. I discovered after returning that four years of English is mandetory starting in the fourth grade. |
DAY 4 - Fussen |
Continued down the "Romantic Road" to
Fussen 
stopping at Oberammergau which is at the foothills of the
Ammergau Alps. When we arrived in Fusen we decided to
wait until the next day, due to the rain and the cold, to
tour the Neuschwanstein Castle, which is about 4 Km away.
We walked the city for several hours We ate dinner in another local "beer hall" and desert back at the hotel's restaurant. |
. Ate lunch in a wonderful small
local restaurant. | TREFF HOTEL LUITPOLDPARK, Füssen This hotel is centrally located in Füssen at the city park near the old town. Only minutes away from the world famous castles "Hohenschwangau" and "Neuschwanstein".
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* Interesting things we found * Smoking was allowed EVERYWHERE. * We found that in every restaurant there was a place near the door for the patrons to hang their coats. No one took them to the table. * Found that on most tables was a small round bucket that is used to through the paper waste from the table like butter wrappers, etc. * Nothing is served with ice. |
DAY 5 - Friedrichshafen |
We toured the Neuschwanstein Castle  under clear and warmer
skies. This involved a 30 minute walk up a very steep
road then up about 300 steps in the castle.  The "fairy-tale" Neuschwanstein Castle was built between 1869 nad 1886 to suit the whims of Bavaria's King ludwig II (Mad King Ludwig). Rain was threatining when we arrived so we delayed our visit to the castle until the next day. It was a wonderful tour and views from the Castle were
worth the climb. |
At lunch time, on our way to Friedrichshafen, we were
in the middle of nowhere and ran up on a roadside
restaurant, the Adler, and decided to stop.  What a find! The Adler was built in 1400 and was named after a castle in the area. It was used for many things over the years, but became a restaurant in 1908. One waiter spoke English so was able to help with the
menu. Found a framed letter on the wall next to our table
that was from Buckingham Place, dated 1987, thanking them
for the experience the Princes Ann had during a stay
there. I had local fish which was well prepared, and Jackie ordered what we thought was beef but turned out to be pork, but delicious. So much for the waiter's English. |
* Interesting things we found * Discovered that if you motion to a waiter by holding up your index finger to indicate you want one more glass of beverage, you are very likely to receive 2. The Gremans use their thumb to indicate 1 and their index finger to indicate 2. Enjoyed the additional glass of wine. * We never worried about stopping at any eating establishment. All were found to be extremely clean and the staff always helpful and friendly even if no English was spoken. |
We continued on to Friedrichshafen stopping at Lindau
on the way, which is an island in Lake Constance.  Lots of people  and an interesting town.   |
| We ate dinner in the hotel's restaurant and what a
surprise. Had strolling violinists. Bought one of their
tapes that is billed as "International Salon Music,
Romantic Violin" by Bertalan Loso. We had a light
supper of potato soup and bread. We ran into our first person that was not helpful. Our waiter was arrogant and not helpful at all. It was made up for the next morning with a very nice waitress. We did find out how to order decaf - Kaffee Hag. |
| HOTEL LANDGASTHOF ALTES
RATHAUS, Friedrichshafen - A nice typical hotel in the green outskirts of this city. |
DAY 6 - Friburg |
- Left for Friberg with first stop at Meersburg.
Toured the "Old Castle". The little town of
Meersburg on Lake Constance,  is noted for its wine. In
the upper town  stands the oldest inhabited
castle in Germany, the Altes Schloss or meersburg, has a
history going back to the 7th century. The lower town  is on the shores of Lake
Constance.   |
* Interesting things we found * It took 5 days before I realized that it was not the law that you had to drink wine or beer with every meal. I found a Sprite in one of the shops. * This is one of the more interesting road signs
we saw. * All over Germany are these "sidewalks"
running beside many of the rural roads. |
We drove on to Friberg and found the hotel up on top
of a mountain with a great view of the city  . Checked in and drove back
to the city for a stroll through the "old" part
   to locate another
"Internet Cafe" to communicate with family and
friends.Friberg has water running In the middle ages, Friburg used these "streams" to clean the city and water there animals. These still run through the "old" city today. |
| HOTEL MERCURE
PANORAMA, Freiburg Perfectly situated on a hill above the city with panoramic views of the city.
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DAY 7 - Friburg |
We ordered a taxi to take us to the train station for
a side trip to Basel, Switzerland.  I have heard how "on time" the trains are in Europe, so arrived with plenty of time to spare to insure we could purchase our tickets and be at track side at the scheduled departure time. The train did arrive exactly on time. It was a great 45 minute trip to Switzerland and about
3 hours strolling through the "old" city with a
nice lunch at a Tea Room restaurant. - Headed back to the train station for a 3:20 departure and arrived 20 minutes early. Found the correct track with plenty of time before the train was to arrive. To our surprise, it arrived 15 minutes early and left immediately. It did slow down to almost a stop before arriving back in Friburg and got to the station exactly on time. (So much for relying on the trains). - Spent the rest of the day enjoying Friberg with dinner of Bratwurst and fries from a street vender and desert at in a small place we found on a side street. |
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DAY 8 - Hidelburg |
| We continued on to Heidelberg driving through the
Black Forest; again in the rain. - Stopped in a cuckoo clock store in Triberg "the clock city" and found a wonderful Black Forest clock that we had shipped home. - Arrived in Heidleburg and because of the cold and rain, just toured the "old" town with dinner at the Hotel restaurant. |
| BEST WESTERN HOTEL ALT HEIDELBERG,
Heidelberg Located in the city center and is within walking distance to the old part of the town.
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DAY 9 - Rudesheim |
- Toured the Hidleburg Castle (Schloss), which was
first built in the 13th century and added to over several
centuries using the local Neckar sandstone.     |
- On to Rudesheim which is located on the banks of
the Rhine in the middle of wine producing region. The
hotel was actually just outside of Rudesheim, in the
small village Assmannshausen.    |
| HOTEL ALTE BAUERNSCHÄNKE,
Rüdesheim - Located in Assmannshausen
near Rüdesheim on the Rhine. Hotel restaurant - first
class food - sun terrace and beer garden, night bar and
cellar bars with live music every evening with our own
singing "Kellermeister".
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DAY 10 - Depart Frankfurt Airport |
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Drove to the Frankfurt Airport  and turned in the car. We
drove a total of 1,575 Km or 979 miles.Our flight left Frankfurt 30 minutes late arriving in Chicago in a heavy snow storm. Had to gather our bags to be checked through Customs, then on to another Terminal for our flight to Charlotte. We were already past our scheduled departure time, but saw on the board that the flight had not left yet. When we arrived, we were told that the crew had not arrived because of slowdowns at the airport due to the snowstorm. Finally left for Charlotte 5 hours late.
Travel Summary WE LOVED IT. We found Germany to be extremely clean and the people friendly and always helpful. We plan to return soon to revisit several places we visited this trip and to see other parts of the country. The help that DriveEurope.com gave us was invaluable. The hotels were clean and comfortable and the maps and directions were very helpful. We used a number of there suggestions of places to visit on the way and they proved to be well worth our time. |
