European Vacation... Part 2
After arriving in Germany, boats and cars became our new mode of transportation.
September 23rd
After an "interesting" day in Brussels, we arrived in Cologne later in the day. Known as Köln in Germany, it was the first stop of an amazing adventure through Germany... The centerpiece of Köln is the gothic architecture of the Dom, it's historic church, remarkably the church was one of the only surviving buildings after a massive bombing during World War II.
Our stay in Köln was short, as the next day we took a short train ride to the town of Koblenz.
After some touring around it's unique location at the junction of the Rhine and Moselle rivers,
we boarded a Rhine River boat for a unique tour of the trade route of medieval Germany.
You slowly wind your way down the Rhine river, sitting in a lawn chair on the top deck,
as you make your way past amazing hillside castle after castle after castle...
Several hours and a few stops later, we are in the tiny riverside town of Oberwesel,
up above Oberwesel is our evening destination for a night's stay in the Schönburg castle.
Everything appears great as we walk from the dock into the town, and try to find a taxi. Struggling with a language barrier, we finally phone a taxi company, the only taxi in the town, it must have had a good fare, because an hour later it never showed, so we decided to hike it on foot. Our bags were on wheels, and our backpacks were hoisted as we started our trek up the steep hill.
A perfect stranger stops, asks us if we are going to the hotel, and loads us into his car, the kindness of a stranger on his way home with his son, and he drops us at the front door of Schönburg. He tells us it's quite common to see people struggling up the hill, the young people can do it, we shouldn't. Apparently our youth is behind us, and German strangers can tell.
Our Room Key
After checking in, we use our Knight key to unlock a castle room overlooking the Rhine river, a bed fit for a king, historic decorations, and a stereo including classical CD's finish the picture. We are spoiled with an amazing 5 course dinner, and discover this is wine country not beer country. That evening we explored some of the walls and balconies of the castle, in the morning we are treated to a great breakfast, and explore hidden passages of the castle.
September 25th
After our last secret passage, the hotel arranged taxi arrived and we had to leave OUR castle.
We are dropped at the dock and we continue the boat ride past more unique castles,
such as the Mauseturm. Initially setup as a toll castle on the river for passing ships.
The owner began hoarding all kinds of food, until the mini-castle was over-run with mice, spoiling all the food.
We continue our river tour to the town of Mainz, where we boarded a train to Frankfurt, to get our rental car.
We are given a set of keys for an Opel, I ask if the trunk will fit our luggage, and we are given another car.
When I am handed a set of keys imprinted with "Mercedes" at no extra charge, I am quite excited...
In the lot we find the tiny cute little Mercedes Van, although "Van" probably makes it sound bigger than it is.
The first thing you learn about German roads is how fast everyone is going, you are amazed at how efficient it us, and how fast a Mercedes Mini-Van can go (about 140). You also learn, especially on the Autobahn, that it's not near as fast as the Audi's and BMW's. Soon we will stop giggling at the German exit signs
The Romantische Strasse (Romantic Road) is a winding stretch of highway through historical Germany, starting in Würzburg, past towns that time forgot, and making it's way to Füssen, eventually.
Wurzburg
Our first nights stop on the Romantische Strasse is one of necessity, but we end up in a cute little hotel, the Hotel Walfisch, a family run hotel since 1919... a nice stop to check the sights, before driving into history. After checking out the lavish Baroque palace, the Marienberg Fortress and some of the other history, we get a good nights sleep, and have yet another complimentary breakfast before leaving.
September 26th
The story behind the complimentary breakfasts goes way back in European history, when travelers came to stay at your home, you always had to make sure they were fed before leaving, so they could continue their journey with a full stomach... the tradition stuck, and it's a good one. With our stomachs full, we pile into our "Mercedes" and continue our road trip through the past.
Bad Mergenthem
Weikersheim
Weikersheim's odd "Game Room"
Rothenburg ob-der-tauber (above the river)
After winding our way through a series of unique historic towns, our first stop is Rothenburg ob-der-tauber,
a 13th century medieval walled city complete with cobblestone streets and preserved ancient architecture.
We stay in a quaint little Bed and Breakfast called Hotel Garni Hornburg, including a free breakfast.
Every evening the Night Watchman wanders the town, telling us of the amazing history,
stories of kings, invading hordes, the oil and tar that is poured out of the mask above to repel them.
He tells us how the gates are locked every night, and not opened again until the morning.
He tells us about the hundreds of years of time that was lost, that makes Rothenburg what it is today.
Maybe most unique is the story of how the leaders of the town met with the invading Americans,
behind the German armies back so that the town could be spared from the ravages of war.
The unique element of Rothenburg was it's massive Christmas stores, open year round,
and the unique hand-made souvenirs, especially the Smokers. We brought home a winemaker smoker.
A smoker is a wood carved figurine of varying styles that holds a piece of incense inside,
and when lit comes out of a strategically placed hole to look like their smoking.
There is one for every occupation, even some that seem like burning dinners or outhouses,
a unique souvenir to bring home from a very unique location.
September 27th
After our complimentary breakfast we get back on the Romantische Strasse and continue our adventure, through the unique and ancient walled and moated city of Dinkelsbühl, and the Harburg Castle.
Dinkelsbühl
Harburg
After wandering the city we stumble on an available room in a man's house at the center of town.
September 28th
From our home base of Füssen we drive to the amazing castles of Mad King Ludwig.
Bavarian History 101
Known in English as "Mad King Ludwig" and as the "Märchenkönig" (Fairy-tale King) in German,
Bavaria's King Ludwig Friedrich Wilhelm was king of Bavaria from 1864 until his death in 1886.
The first castle 'Schloss Hohenschwangau' was the summer/hunting home of his father King Maximillian II,
an amazing neogothic castle reconstructed in 1830, overlooking the town of Schwangau.
After inheriting the crown at the age of 18, King Ludwig started construction of Neuschwanstein.
Schloss Neuschwanstein is probably the most popular and photographed castle in Germany,
it was featured in "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" and is the basis for Disney's Sleeping Beauty's Castle.
He never lived to see his castle completed, and it wasn't opened to the public until many years later.
In 1886 King Ludwig's enemies in the government plotted to overthrow the king,
and Ludwig was officially declared insane by a psychiatrist that never even met him,
based on stories told by the government about his eccentric and gay behaviors and castle expenditures.
(Ludwig actually used his own money to finance the construction of his castles)
Soon after being detained Ludwig mysteriously drowned in Lake Starnberg. Ludwig's death was officially ruled a suicide by drowning, but Ludwig was a good swimmer, the water was less than 3 feet deep where his body was found, and no water was found in his lungs. Ludwig was either assassinated by his political enemies or killed while attempting to escape. After wandering in amazement through the fairy tale castles, we jump back into our car and head south.
We cross the Austrian border to go see the Ehrenburg ruins in Reutte, Austria.
Crossing the border was rather exciting... we drove past a little white sign, no Austria stamp either.
The ruins are the exact opposite of Ludwig's castles, some rocks and ruins of a fortress,
built in 1290 it survived some of the fiercest battles including the 30 year war against Sweden.
We hike up a wandering trail, passing pieces of walls and rubble along the way to the remains of the main fortress, and enjoy the lack of tourists that we had seen at Neuschwanstein.
Eventually we make our way back to the car stopping at a quaint little road side food shack/trailer, before making the drive back to Germany where we hit the heaviest rain I have seen since Port Hardy. The rain was coming down so hard we had to pull over and wait for the downpour to stop.
After a short break we end up at King Ludwig's smallest castle, the over the top Schloss Linderhof.
A mansion full of gold, mirrors, chandeliers, incredible fountains, and in the woods behind,
the "venus grotto" a cavern created specifically for it's acoustics,
so King Ludwig's good friend Richard Wagner could play his concerto's there.
The Castle was undergoing some renovations while we were there, and rather than surround it in ugly construction materials,
they cover it with a tarp stenciled with a photo-real picture of the building.
On our last night in Füssen we do some washing, so we have some clean clothes for the next stage of our trip. When we get up the next morning we find our clothes are still wet, and try to find a dryer. We go upstairs to our German host and ask him for some help, trouble is, we speak very little German, and he speaks very little English. I try to explain with hand signals... hair dryer... but for clothes (my shirt). He grabs his German-English dictionary... dryer, drayer, dryer, drier... 20 minutes later we figure out "trokkener", As soon as we figure it out and we all have a good laugh, he tells us to bring our clothes to his apartment. We dry our clothes in his dryer... excuse me... "trocknet die wäsche", and with our freshly dried and clean clothes we take our Mercedes on it's last drive .
Amazing small towns like Weikersheim, Harburg, Rothenburg ob-der-tauber and Dinkelsbühl, are severely contrasted by the wild beer-drinking party of Oktoberfest in Munich, our final German destination, we drop off the car, and wisely WALK to the madness of the fair.
The landmark of München (Munich) is the Frauenkirche (Cathedral Church of Our Lady)
Along the way we discover the eery Asamkirche, the Church of the Asam Brothers,
nestled right in the middle of an apparently normal city block... it was the creepiest church I have ever seen.
We follow the wandering crowds and find our way onto the grounds of the Oktoberfest.
Oktoberfest, the worlds largest beer festival, we are surprised not only by the size of the festival,
but also that it is setup like a family fair (PNE style) with rides, exhibits, and midway games.
Down one side of the festival is many huge tents each owned by one of the local Munich breweries,
down the other side is your typical country fair, including lots of food, rides and other displays.
The entertainment is not from riding to the top of the massive ferris wheel,
it's not from drinking the massive beers brought to you by the massive beer wenches,
it's from watching the people, the crazy mixture of people, from locals in their liederhosen,
tourists in their tacky souvenirs, to the partiers wearing signs around their necks... "If found passed out, I am staying at the Munich Hotel on Aveterzein Strasse"
The locals call these tourists "Bierleichen" (German for "beercorpses").
After checking out some of the rides and displays we make our way through to several of the tents,
trying to find the right brewery to make our commitment to... there is six major breweries to choose from;
Löwenbräu, Spaten, Augustiner, Hofbräu, Paulaner and Hacker-Pschorr,
they will sell 6 million mugs of beer over the 16 day festival, I did my part choosing Augustiner,
not as famous as Löwenbräu (here's to good friends, tonight is kind of special), but better beer.
We order a couple half chickens and sit with a group of locals at a large, but less rowdy, table outside, a young kid from Germany is there as part of his volunteer program to avoid joining the military. He brings handicapped people to Oktoberfest, seems like a nice alternative. He is covered in piercings and tattoos, but a really nice guy, he makes us laugh when he asks...
"Is it true that Canadians don't lock their doors?"
Apparently he saw Michael Moore's 'Bowling for Columbine', and we were from Canada, so...
A very interesting day at Oktoberfest, but due to the huge # of tourists, we can't stay the night. We end up back on the train in Munich, making our way to Innsbruck in Austria.