~ Germany - Switzerland - France ~
by Patti - pnmille@yahoo.com
~
Planning a European vacation is a lot
of fun and Ben’s website was a huge help. I owe Bill H and Paul F many thanks because they provided so much help
and insight in my planning. They answered so many questions for me and made Germany seem like not such a "foreign"
place.
June 7th - Minneapolis - Amsterdam - Munich - Eching
After months of planning, the big day arrived. There were five of us traveling on this trip. My husband Darryl,
myself, 20 year old son and 17 year old daughter and sister-in-law Sharon. We had allowed our son Andy to choose
a trip someplace in the world for his graduation present. He had seen a mini-series "The Band of Brothers"
and had decided that Bavaria would be a great place to visit.
June 7, 5:45 p.m. we boarded our Northwest flight at Minneapolis and arrived in Amsterdam approx. seven hours later.
What a great airport! Had approx. a 1½ hour layover before boarding the flight to Munich.
June 8th
- Arrived Munich at approx. 1:30 p.m. local time. We went to the EuropeCar desk and the young man there was very
helpful. After looking at all of our luggage he decided to upgrade us to a larger car. When he said that he had
a Mercedes Benz that he would let us have, alarm bells shot off in my head because I had been warned of something
like this! But it worked out well for us, the car was a Mercedes Benz station wagon and was able to handle all
five of us with our luggage. My husband was happy because it was an automatic.
|
We pulled out our map and headed toward Eching and the Gasthof Huberwirt. It took only about 10 minutes from the Munich airport to arrive at Eching. |
|
The Huberwirt was easily spotted and we
were at our first destination without any problem. The lady at the desk spoke a little English and in just a few
moments we were in our rooms (a triple room and a double room). We were all amazed at how clean they were and how
roomy and comfortable.
June 9th - Eching - Dachau - Berchtesgaden
I recommend the Huberwirt highly. The rooms looked as
if they might have just been renovated. The bathrooms were very clean with heated towel racks and hair dryers supplied.
The proprietor was extremely kind and helpful. We all had a good nights sleep and were ready to head to the Dachau
Concentration Camp. The breakfast offered in the morning turned out to be the best of the trip! Very traditional
with breads, cheeses, yogurt, eggs, granola. We left at approx. 9:45 a.m. in partly cloudy, cool weather.
We discovered that German roads are extremely
well marked and it only took about 20 minutes to arrive at Dachau from Eching. There was no charge to enter the
camp. This was an extremely moving place and even though it was hard to see, it was an important historical place.
We departed from Dachau about 11:30 a.m. and headed
south towards Berchtesgaden and the Königssee. The farther south we drove, the more overcast and colder it
became. Again, we noticed how clearly the roads were marked. We learned very quickly that cars really do go fast
in the left lane of the Autobahn!
|
Hotel Schiffmeister |
|
The Hotel Schiffmeister appeared to be
in a tourist area and at first glance, I was a little concerned. It seemed to be crowded with a lot of people and
a lot of shops but the scenery was breathtaking! There were mountains all around and we could not believe the color
of the lake - teal green! It was not long before I was extremely happy with this choice (thank you Paul!!) We had
two rooms again - one triple and one double. Both had balconies overlooking the beautiful lake. (There was a rumor
that Hitler had stayed in this hotel.) It is very quaint - with squeaky hardwood floors and ornate woodwork. Once
again it was extremely clean.
We ate supper at the Echo-Stüberl. It was a nice walk to the restaurant from the hotel and we walked right
by a huge bobsled run. The restaurant was quite nice and we had a great meal. An English gentleman took us outside
to show us where the Eagle's Nest was located and the mist cleared just enough at that moment for us to see it!
June 10th - Eagle's Nest
Slept very well at the Schiffmeister. Up at 8:00 a.m. and breakfast at the hotel. It was very acceptable with another
meal of meat, cheese, yogurt, granola. It had turned colder in the night, but we decided that it was perfect weather
for sight-seeing and we decided to take a ride on the electric boats.
|
|
The water was crystal clear with towering mountains on both sides. There was a guide on the boat and he was very entertaining, according to all of the laughter, unfortunately it was all in German! At one point the boat stopped, the engines quieted and the guide took out a flugel horn and played a few notes. When he stopped there was a perfect echo of what he had just played. He did this several more times and to our pleasure, the echo was perfect every time! |
June 11th - Berchtesgaden - Füssen
|
We also stopped at Ramsau and took photographs of one of the most photographed churches in Germany. |
|
June 12th - Füssen - Freiburg
It was a very short drive from Suzannes to the castle. Unfortunately it was drizzling and the views of the mountains
were obscured. The skies cleared a little bit by the time we reached the castle and were able to get some decent
photos of the castle. Took a tour with an English guide of the inside of the castle and I would recommend this
highly. After taking the time to reach the castle, the tour is well worth the time and money.
Departed approx. 11:00 and headed toward Freiburg which was going to be our home for the next four nights. It took
approx. 5½ hours to Freiburg where we stayed at the -
|
|
Ferienhof Walter 5 Apartments - 3 Doubles - 1 Single |
|
|
We also recommend the Gasthaus zum Löwen in Opfingen. It was our best German meal of the entire trip. Great Spätzle! |
|
June 14th - Black Forest - Triberg - Titisee - Todtnau
|
Early rising today because we want to visit the Black Forest. We departed for Triberg and had a beautiful drive through the heart of the Black Forest. Triberg is the center of the clock making industry and sure enough, we bought a cuckoo clock. It had a wonderful shopping area and we bought many souvenirs here. |
|
|
|
We ate at the Italian Ristorante Pizzeria "Pinocchio" and had our first Black Forest cake. |
After lunch we headed to Titisee. Once again the drive through the Black Forest was wonderful. Titisee was very commercial - I would skip this stop if I were to visit this area again. There was a lake there, but too many tourists, too many gift shops, all of the same variety. I didn’t see any reason to stay longer in Titisee.
|
On our way back to the Walter farm we stopped in a small town called Todtnau and photographed another old, beautiful church. |
|
There was a huge ski lift there with a bobsled type run
(Sommerrodelbahn) down the mountain. Looked like fun. Our first stop was Augusta Raurica near
Basel. The Roman ruins were very impressive and worth a visit if you are into history.
June 15th - Rheinfelden - Augusta Raurica - Regensberg (Switzerland)
Today is Switzerland. We entered Switzerland into a town called
Rheinfelden
and didn’t realize until our return trip that we had
crossed the Rhine River!
We then headed toward Aarau with plans to visit a castle. When we arrived the navigation system was useless as the town was preparing for a large festival and many of the roads were closed. We didn’t find the castle and headed toward Regensberg. This is a wine growing village and one of the best preserved medieval villages in all of Switzerland (northwest of Zürich).
We stopped in a restaurant in Regensberg
and found that no one spoke English. It was the first time that we pointed at an item on the menu and hoped for
the best! It turned out well and while we were waiting for our food we had a great view of the Zürich airport
and Zürich in the distance. When we returned through Rheinfelden we crossed the Rhine and decided to walk
back over into Switzerland. The border patrol stopped us and we got our passports stamped.
June 16th - Colmar, France - Neu Isenburg
Prepared to leave the Walter farm and head to Frankfurt through France. We left at approx. 9:45 a.m. after many
purchases at the gift shop. We then headed toward Colmar, France. Took approx. ½ hour to reach this quaint
village where canals are running through the streets and flowers are everywhere! We ate the best eclairs in Colmar
and thought the French pastries were better than in Germany.
|
|
We walked through the streets and got a real flavor of an old European city in Colmar. Really worth a stop... |
|
We then headed north along the wine route toward Le Château du Haut-Königsbourg - a fully restored medieval castle. It was huge! One of our favorite stops of the entire trip and we recommend this highly!
Along the wine route we were able to see storks feeding their young in nests sitting high above houses on special
platforms built for them. An amazing sight.
After our sightseeing, we headed toward Frankfurt which took approx. 3 hours. After the beautiful wine route, the
trip was fairly boring and uneventful. Our hotel for the night before departure was the Hotel Sauer in Neu-Isenburg.
|
Hotel Sauer Garni |
|
|
|
Our German adventure was over - for this time! |
|
