Bavaria
AUGSBURG, GER - Tom and Wendy had decided to end their trip to Europe with a whirlwind tour of Bavaria. After renting a car, they drove to Augsburg for their first night.
BERCHTESGADEN, GER - The next morning, they drove around Augsburg, looking for the old Army base that Tom had been stationed on. Although everything had been turned over to the Germans, they thought they found the hospital where Tom used to work. After that, they went to see the concentration camp at Dachau. Wendy thought that the museum, which had pictures and descriptions of what the Jews went through, was especially moving. Next, they went to Munich to see Oktoberfest. Wendy thought that the beer halls were impressive sights, with their decorations and throngs of people. Afterwards, they left Munich for Berchtesgaden, where they stayed the night.ETTAL, GER - The next morning, it was foggy and drizzling, so Tom and Wendy cancelled their plans for the Berchtesgaden area, and headed over to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, for their next overnight stay. The hotel that Wendy had booked on-line ended up being on the top of a mountain, with access by tram. Tom wasn't too thrilled about that, so they went to Ettal, and stayed in a hotel across from the Ettal Monastery. Before the day ended, they went to Oberammergau to see the painted buildings. While there, they walked around town and did a little shopping.
FÜSSEN, GER - For their final day in Bavaria, Tom and Wendy headed towards Füssen. The road they had intended to take was blocked off at the Austrian border for construction, so they had to backtrack and ended up taking the Romantic Road over. They stopped to visit the Wieskirche along the way. Once in Füssen, they headed to their destination of Neuschwanstein Castle, where they found out that if they stayed to take the next English-language tour of the castle, they wouldn't get back to Baumholder at a decent hour. They decided to climb the mountain anyway, and they ate lunch at a cute restaurant right there in town. They headed back to Baumholder after that.Wendy enjoyed her trip through Bavaria, even though she didn't get to see everything she had planned to. For photos from Bavaria, go to page T41.
The trip ends at this point, but you can read about Wendy's previous stops in Paris, the Rhein River, Luxembourg, and Italy.