Or
My 2 weeks in German-speaking Europe with two micro-bladder industrial
smokestacks and an old Friend
by Mark
We departed Orlando with little fanfare or difficulty on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Due to air traffic, weather,
or some other excuse of the day, our Continental-confirmed 43-minute lay-over in Newark evaporated. I made it a
point to closely monitor the same flights all week and the arrival and departure gates were generally close. Not
today! After hoofing through the airport and thinking I may soon need one of the defibrillator stations activated,
the crew literally closed the aircraft door ONTO my wife. The flight was un-eventful and thanks to the assistance
of some chemicals, I slept through a major portion of what I was told was a quite bumpy ride.
Our arrival at Koln-Bonn airport was a welcome sight as the smokestacks were climbing the walls after 10+ hours
without a cigarette. The ladies smoked and the men sprang into action, finding an ATM, the DB service point. My
Wachovia debit card worked flawlessly (only 1% ATM fee as I’ve since discovered). We then went down the stairs
into the bowels for the airport DB station and on to Koln to see the Dom.
We stashed our backpacks and duffel bag (all 4 of us) into one of the nifty locker/kiosk contraptions, very neat
indeed. We proceeded out of the station and up the stairs to the Dom, my wife and I in the lead. After topping
the stairs and heading to the front of the Dom for a magnificent view, I noticed our friends behind us verbally
engaged with a couple of young men. Since they speak NO German, I had to see what was going on so I wandered over,
only to find my friend’s wife being fined 25 Euro for littering (cigarette butt). No talking their way out of it,
very strict and to me, a very good policy. Less than 1 hour in country and my friends are nearly locked-up! What
a way to start! Thankfully, they got over the trauma in short order and took in the magnificence of the Cathedral.
Back to the Bahnhof, collect our luggage and off to Bacharach using a combo of PTP and Lander ticket we go. Our
friends were amazed at the scenery as we headed south from Koblenz along the Rhein. It was my first time in this
area of Germany and I was very impressed. To think I was partially re-tracing the steps of Robespierre’s trip earlier
this spring made the trip even more meaningful. We arrived in Bacharach and after a very short walk, arrived at
Hotel-Pension Dettmar.
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Hotel-Pension
Dettmar |
The next morning I arose very early so I left my wife to recover. I walked down to the river edge (K-D dock) and strolled and took many pictures of a lovely, serene village just beginning to awaken. I went to the train station and purchased our Lander ticket for the day while out, using the Automat was quite easy thanks to Larryincolorado’s advice. Upon my return, my wife had gotten up and was deep into her 1st (probably more like 3rd) morning cigarette. Our friends joined us shortly for their first German breakfast with warm, oven-fresh Brotchen. They were magnificent! Off to Moselkern and Burg Eltz!
The weather was as good as it could possibly be! Very few clouds and unseasonably warm so it was a perfect day to hike to Burg Eltz. Well, it could have been a bit cooler, even us Floridians were slightly uncomfortable in the heat.
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We followed BavariaBen’s walking directions to Burg Eltz and soon found ourselves having a Bitburger before heading through the woods. |
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The castle was as wonderful as everyone has described.
On the return hike, we met a couple from the Netherlands and walked and talked with them for a while, a most pleasant
couple. We had another round of Bitburgers before we headed back to the train station. I don’t know the actual
distance from the train station to Burg Eltz but would estimate between 2-3 miles each way. My wife claims it was
15 miles, but perhaps the 6-inch lie applies here as well. Back to Bacharach and another fantastic meal, wine drinking,
town walking, and cutting-up with some dear friends.
Today we take a short cruise on the Rhein to St. Goar. After we docked, I noticed Rheinfels was WAY UP on the hill
and thought we might just shop in St. Goar as none of was was prepared to climb that hill after yesterday’s walk
to Burg Eltz.
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Thankfully, the tram was sitting right there and cost only 3 Euro each so we decided it was a bargain and gladly handed-over our money and headed up the hill. |
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About ½ way up, my friend and I agreed, this ride was well worth it, even if it had cost 5 or 6 Euro. By the time we reached the top, the value of that ride up the hill was close to 20 Euro!
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We all enjoyed the Rheinfels ruins, taking many, many photos. |
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The Tram driver arrived at the pre-arranged time and
took us back into town for some shopping. We had a bite to eat and sent the ladies off for some shopping while
we sampled more of the local brew. Our wives found a place that would ship wine to USA so one of my major goals
was about to be met. 12 bottles of wine, 3 bottles of brandy and a cuckoo clock should be arriving at our door
within the next month. We trained to Mainz for the DB service point to validate our rail passes (IDIOT! Why didn’t
I do it at the airport DB service point upon arrival?), returned to Bacharach and ate dinner at the same place
we ate upon our arrival, drank some more wine and prepared for tomorrow’s journey to Switzerland.
NOTE TO SELF and all other Rail Pass users: BUY THE INSURANCE! $14.00 is NOTHING compared to the loss of a pass.
Today we’re off to Mürren. Our final breakfast with those Dettmar Brotchen is wonderful and we picked-up some
ready-to-go sandwiches from the Backerei. I was checking my wallet every few hours to make sure I hadn’t repeated
a misadventure from 2004 and left it somewhere. Unfortunately, that opens the wallet to the potential loss of other
items. Just before we arrived in Basel SBB, I confirmed my possession of my Swiss Flexipass and passport. When
the conductor arrived to check tickets, that damn pass was nowhere to be found! Subsequent searches of everything
yielded nothing. I bought 2 PTP tickets and replaced the pass upon arrival in Interlaken. That was an expensive
mistake! BUY THE PROTECTION!
We arrived in Lauterbrunnen, took the new cable car up to the terrace and the BLM train across the terrace to Mürren. We should have taken the Post bus to Stechelberg and used that cable car as the Hotel Alpenruh was right next to the station.
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Mürren wasn’t awake for the Summer season, there were only a few hotels open and few restaurants, fortunately our hotel’s restaurant was open and the food was good. While our friends went to their room to freshen up before dinner, my wife and I had a couple of beers and some wine. We met the inventor of the Epilady and had a nice visit with he and his wife.
The next day we wanted to rent bicycles, ride down to the valley and visit Trümmelbachfälle but there were only two bikes available in Mürren, must be a “too early” thing. So we BLM’d and cable car’d back to Lauterbrunnen and took the Post bus to Trümmelbachfälle. It was an amazing site but my wife and I think the Tamina Schluct near Bad Ragaz was more impressive (and cheaper). Lunch in Lauterbrunnen followed by some shopping and back up the cliff we go. The following day we decided to use that middle day of our train pass so we visited Wengen and then back to Lauterbrunnen to head to Grindelwald. For some reason I was under the misguided impression that the rail pass covered us all the way to Kleine Scheidegg, I was mistaken. Our friends were growing weary of fresh food and wanted something they thought they knew… a Hamburger! So we found a place with hamburgers on the menu and they thought relief from that “different” food was on the way. Long story short, it was their worst meal in many months!
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They regained their senses and had another wonderful
meal that evening at our hotel. We settled our bill with the hotel the evening before we left because we were leaving
early the next morning before the front desk would be staffed. When they heard we were leaving so early, they offered
us each “lunch buckets” for our next day’s journey. They figured since we wouldn’t consume the included breakfast,
they would compensate us with a travel lunch, what a nice gesture! Each of us received 2 sandwiches (one ham, one
cheese), an apple, an orange, and a drink. The weather was generally good while in Switzerland, but I heard that
there was snow a few days following our departure and scenery killing weather the next week or so. Our timing was
impeccable! Next comes the much-dreaded day-long journey to Berchtesgaden.
I really tried to make this part of the trip as painless as one can considering a full day’s journey by train,
lots of research and questions posted on the Fodor’s Europe talk forum. I finally decided to take the route back
through Germany, crossing the Bodensee at Romanshorn.
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We could use our German rail pass, 3 fewer train/conveyance changes, a nice boat ride in Europe, and we wouldn’t have to buy a PTP ticket across Austria. We were among the last people off the ferry and missed our connection from the port to Friedrichsafen Stadt by 2 minutes. We arrived in Berchtesgaden almost 4 hours late because of this miscalculation. |
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We finally arrived in Berchtesgaden where our friends from Budapest were waiting for us.
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We took a short walk to the Hotel Bavaria, a most wonderful place. The owner and staff were fantastic! I highly recommend this establishment for both accommodations and meals. |
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We arrived too late to eat at the hotel that night so we climbed yet another hill and found a Gastatte open and had a good dinner with lots of beer, wine, and schnapps. We returned for another meal later during our 4 day stay in the area.
Berchtesgaden is my favorite place, not only in Germany, but probably the entire world (I haven’t been to EVERY place but I have been around a bit).
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The next morning we were blessed with wonderful weather and a parade of Saltminers thought the streets of Berchtesgaden, complete with marching band and the townsfolk decked-out in their traditional Bavarian finest! |
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After the parade, we took the Seilbahn up to the Obersalzberg, rode the summer rodelbahn, and then hiked about 2km over to the Documentation center where we boarded a bus to the Kehlsteinhaus. |
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The weather was closing-in fast on us so we ended the day with a most excellent dinner at the Hotel Bavaria and planned the next day’s activities. Our friends from Budapest wanted to see the Salt mines, our friends from home wanted to do the Sound of Music tour in Salzburg so we split for the day. I was proud of our friends for striking out on their own, speaking absolutely no German… they did just fine, even taking the bus back from Salzburg on their own. The weather was perfect for an underground tour, cloudy, rainy, and cool. After the mine tour, we drove out to Maria Gern and had yet another tremendous meal at the Gasthaus next to the chapel. That area was so beautiful!
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I simply MUST take a motorcycle tour of the Alps before I depart this life. (This is how I train...) |
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The morning we left Berchtesgaden was a beautiful morning, almost wished we could stay another week (or lifetime) but had to get moving toward our departure point. The Munich Hbf was much more manageable this time, at least we knew the layout and had plenty of time to make our connection to Nurnberg. I wanted to get to Nurnberg before noon to see the Glockenspiel on the Frauenkirche but our timing today wasn’t impeccable so we missed it by a few minutes.
Upon arrival at the Nürnberg Hbf, I decided to get reservations for the next day’s ICE train to Bochum. I was shocked when the question “Smoking or No Smoking” was asked! My friend and I looked at each other and decided that if we didn’t get the smoking car for our “smokestack” wives and they found out we didn’t, we would find no further peace in this life. So Smoking car it was, more on this later.
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We found our Hotel Pillhofer right inside the wall at the base of the Königstor and trudged up 4 flights with our luggage in hand and on back. This was a nice, clean, well-located hotel. Exactly what we needed (except the lack of lift) for a quick overnight in Nürnberg. |
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After a quick lunch, we were off to see the major highlights of the Altstadt. My father was stationed in nearby Furth between 1966-1968, the time when I was 12-14 years old. I know the Altstadt fairly well (for touristy stuff) so we hit the 3 major churches and the Kaiserburg and generally wandered about the Market and surrounding area. We returned to our hotel for dinner, wine and beer. The food was good but wasn’t the right place for good old Nürnberger brats. I had eaten too much to force another meal into me so I had to live with it. I wanted to get out to see more sights the next morning before our train left for Bochum but I was getting pretty seriously worn down by this time.
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A few pictures and some wandering after breakfast was about all the energy I had remaining! |
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Now we’re onto the train just before noon in the good old SMOKING car. We weren’t 20 minutes into the journey and the one of the smokestacks says “this is too much, we could have sat in a NON-SMOKING car with no problem”. TOO MUCH?! The smoke hadn’t even begun to build yet and it was TOO MUCH!? The folks that were bugging conductors on previous trains to know how long each stop would be so they could briefly exit the train for a smoke!
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By the latter half of the journey to Bochum, my friend and I had donned masks and exited to the Bord Bistro for a few beers and a brief respite from the overwhelming smoke. It wasn’t difficult to find our original car, just look for the hazy, smoke-filled car. The ICE got up to an indicated 297kmph, got us to our destination and we met our friends in Bochum. |
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The return to the USA was just another long, boring flight through Newark but getting home was nice. Now I will anxiously await that shipment of wine and brandy from St. Goar.
Accommodations:
Bacharach – Hotel-Pension Dettmar
http://www.pension-dettmar.bacharach-rhein.de/river/index.html
Lovely couple, Hans and Annelie Dettmar. 50 Euro per night including a wonderful breakfast featuring freshly baked
(on-site brotchen). I can recommend this B&B and will stay there during future visits.
Mürren – Hotel Alpenruh
http://www.alpenruh-muerren.ch/
Very clean, very quiet (except when WE were there, noisy Americans). Reasonably priced, good restaurant, helpful
staff, beautiful views, and immediately next to the Stechelberg/Gimmelwald Cable car station. Again the Hotel Alpenruh
gets my recommendation and would most definitely stay if in the area again.
Berchtesgaden – Hotel Bavaria
http://www.hotelbavaria.net/index1_e.htm
This place was fantastic! Great staff and ownership, great, friendly service! Very close to the Bahnhof, right
at the foot on the hill leading into the center of Berchtesgaden. We negotiated a great rate so try your skills
if you venture forth into the area. The restaurant was wonderful and served a magnificent breakfast. Another HIGH
recommendation and I WILL be back, hopefully on a motorcycle.
Nürnberg - Hotel Pillhofer
http://www.pillhofer.net/
I chose this place for the rates, best I could find in the Altstadt. A very nice, clean accommodation, 100 meters
from the Hbf, good food (go elsewhere for the Nürnberger brats) and ideal for short visits because of the
central location to the sights and transportation. The Strassenbahn station, U-bahn, S-bahn, DB, and every form
of local transport is only 100 meters away.
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I was born in Würzburg Germany to a career U.S.
Army 1st Sgt and CSM. My family returned to the USA when I was around 3 months old but we returned for a second
tour (Fürth Germany) in January 1966 and remained until August 1968. My wife and I planned a trip in the
summer of 1988 as we had friends stationed at Hahn AB and that would have lightened the financial load a bit.
That trip was cancelled for good reason (birth of our daughter) and we finally got to take our first return trip
in May-June of 2004. After we returned, our traveling companions on this trip asked if they could go with us on
our next adventure to Europe with seeing the Alps as a primary focus. I couldn’t let them down, thus this trip
became my obsession for more than a year.
We traveled exclusively by train, with the exception of our German friends returning us to the Köln-Bonn airport
on our departure date and our friends from Hungary taking us to Bad Reichenhall by Skoda Superb for the second
part of the salt mines tour. We used a combination of Lander tickets and rail passes and it worked out well for
us, except for the LOSS of the Swiss Flexipass… BUY THE INSURANCE!
I took German in 7th and 6th grades while living in Fürth, then again during part of my junior and all of
my senior years of High School. That was 35 years ago so back in 2002, I took 2 semesters of German at the local
Community College, bought the Pimsleur CD, and two other computer-based German language programs. I think the
CC course coupled with the Pimsleur CDs did more for my language skills than any of the other methods. During
my first return trip in 2004, we were hosted by friends about 75% of the time so my language skills got very little
use. This time was a different matter and I am pleased to report that I feel I did quite well! I found myself
actually trying to converse with folks on the trains and out and about places. There were several transactions
where NO English was used and all went very well!
A quick word about the title of this report is in order. I am the type of person that needs to be prepared for
FORESEEN circumstances. That is, if I am in unfamiliar territory or venture into new “waters”, I like to gather
my bearings and get a feel for my surroundings as quickly as possible. If I have short connection time (not necessarily
short) at a train station or airport, I like to get to the platform and re-check the schedule and understand exactly
where I will need to be in order to catch the next leg of my journey. Even if I have plenty of time, I like to
check things out so there will be no surprises. I have no problem sitting on the platform for up to an hour waiting
for the next train. I don’t want to miss a connection or an announcement of any potential delay or changes. This
is even more critical with a tight connection.
Two members of our traveling party (female types) were/are smokers (smokestacks). Upon exiting the train, they
HAD to get to a smoking area… IMMEDIATELY! Upon arrival at the train station prior to travel, they had to go to
the smoking area, IMMEDIATELY! That made me uncomfortable given my unnatural need to be at the exact position
on the platform I would need to be to board my next train. That is solely MY problem, not theirs. I was also
a bit impatient with the frequent WC breaks (thus the micro bladder in the title), again entirely MY problem, not
anyone else’s. Given the very close proximity and traveling with friends, all went very well indeed! I don’t
think anyone got on anyone else’s nerves too much and it was a joy to see and hear the expression of awe our friends
experienced on this journey. The food was magnificent (save a “Memory Burger” or two) the beer and wine flowed
copiously (I could have had a few more beers, but just another reason to go back!). My friends decided that our
next journey to Germany-speaking Europe will include a search for bad beer, bad food, bad scenery, and unfriendly
people. Given those requirements to end the trip, our return may take considerable time.
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The question remains - "Bier oder Eisbecher?"
BOTH! As you can clearly tell!
Auf Wiedersehen!
