Leutasch Valley, Austria

The second half of our trip was base camped in the Leutasch Valley in Austria. It was absolutely beautiful. Of course, getting there was another matter. We ended up stuck in traffic for 45 minutes plugging along only to find that this was the source of the major back up.

From Leutasch Valley, Austria - Hiking

Moving on from there we were smooth sailing until we got to Mittenwald, one of the gate keeper towns before arriving in Leutasch. We had a GPS system in our car that worked great throughout our whole trip until this town. She failed us miserably. We think the roads were so close and her somewhat spotty directions on curved roads caused most of the trouble. We finally made it through that town and crossed into Austria only to find ourselves on the craziest mountain road ever with a Porche who wanted to drive much faster than Rob parked right behind him. We are talking one and a half lane roads with pull offs for traffic in the other direction. Rob managed to do that drive well, although it was nerve racking. I think our destination more than made up for the crappy drive in though.

View from our room:

From Leutasch Valley, Austria - Hiking

View from our pension:

From Leutasch Valley, Austria - Hiking

The next fews days we spent around this town were fantastic. Stay tuned!

Dachau Concentration Camp

After we left Munich, we went to visit the Dachau Concentration Camp, the first concentration camp and model for all others. It was something that Rob and I felt was important to see. I don't know how exactly to describe the experience, but it was a very somber place of remembrance and history. They documented the rise of Hitler and the concentration camp evolution in great detail within their museum. Most things were in German and English so we could read along. We were able to watch the English documentary short film on the camp as well.

From Dachau Concentration Camp

I have a new appreciation for how the war turned out and what those people went through. We do not have those kinds of sites and therefore the ties to World War II as they do. We do not see the scars of bombs or the sites where such awful things took place. Reading about it in a book and being there really are two different things and really sheds a new perspective on things.

Munich

From Munich, Germany

Our next stop on our itinerary was Munich, the city of beer, and other stuff. We checked into the hotel and headed out into the great city of Munich in search of food and this said beer. We ate dinner that night at a hidden place in a museum which offered pretty good food. I tried ordering in German, but our waitress quickly informed me that she spoke English. This of course made me feel like an idiot, but Mike tells me this is a good thing, I at least tried.

After enjoying a liter of beer with dinner, we meandered off in search of our first beer garden for more. The Hofbräuhaus is one of the most famous beer gardens in Munich and is a popular tourist hot spot. Even so, it serves delicious beer and has nice ambiance. We ordered another liter of beer each and I managed to hunt down a pretzel girl who was wandering around in dressed in dirndl to get my perfect pairing.

From Munich, Germany

The following day we went to downtown to the Marienplatz to see the town square and some churches. St. Peter's was in the middle of ceremony, but the Fraunenkirche was open. This church, along with many other sites in Munich, were bombed during WWII. While the church sustained substantial damage, the two onion domed tops remained in tact. The church's structure has since been rebuilt, although, it's interior is emptier now than before the war. This church contains the crypt of the Archbishop and some members of the Wittlesbach family. This crypt used to hold a prominent position in the church at the altar which demonstrated how close royalty was to religion in those days.

From Munich, Germany

After touring around the church, we made our way back to the Marienplatz to watch the Glockenspiel which tells the story of the marriage of the local Duke Wilhelm V (who also founded the world famous Hofbräuhaus). In honor of this marriage, there is a joust between the Bavarian knight (blue) and Lothringen knight (red). The blue knight wins, and then the townspeople in the lower half rejoice (spin around). This was way better than the show in Rothenberg.

From Munich, Germany

We decided to take a break and look for somewhere to eat lunch. We managed to find a soup place in the market square close by that was actually really yummy. Of course, we ordered another half a liter of beer to wash it all down with. About half way through lunch, Rob decided to snap this awesome photo. I wasn't mad, I was just caught off guard, but I think it's a hilarious photo of me.

From Munich, Germany

With our bellies full, we pressed onward to the Residenz, which is the Wittlesbach family palace, once ruling family of Bavaria. To be honest, when I first read the description in the Rick Steve's book, it didn't seem that interesting, but boy was I wrong. I think this family defined opulence. The palace is broken into two parts, one is for their treasury and the other for their home. The treasury holds the most lavish jewels, gems, stones, rock crystal, and china. Some I wouldn't mind having myself! The Residenz was unfortunately bombed during WWII as well and therefore was reconstructed in places throughout the palace. Some rooms were almost empty which depicted the loss they suffered from the bombings.

From Munich, Germany

When we left the Residenz, we decided to head to another beer garden in Munich; The Chinese Beer Garden located in the English Gardens, the largest green spot in Munich. The walk there was pretty nice as we went through the park. Once we were there, we ordered another liter of beer and sat down to enjoy the nice weather and pondered the next activity while giving our tired feet a much needed break.

From Munich, Germany

After our break we went back to town to look for dinner places and enjoy the rest of the city with shops and such. After dinner we went to our final beer garden in Munich, St. Augustiner Beer Garden. While we were quite pooped and this was on the other side of the city (read lots more walking), it really was quite worth it, but Rob and I were running out of steam. I would reccommend anyone going to Munich to put it on their list. This completed our beer tour of Munich with a consumption of 4.5 liters of beer in a little more than 24 hours. Not too shabby.

My Very Own Town

From Rothenberg, Germany

On our way to Munich, we made a small detour to visit Behlingen. My family actually has ancestral roots in Germany in the town of Behlingen, however, it's not this Behlingen. There is a Behlingen in northern Germany above Frankfurt where we have an ancestor buried in a church. Sadly, this was about a 4 hour detour and not feasible to fit into the schedule. I still wanted to stop in a town that shared in my last name. And what do you know, it was on my birthday too!

Winnweiler & Arrival in Rothenberg

We said goodbye to the delightful Rhine Valley and hit the road for the world tour of Mike's old town. We passed his old bus stop and toured the neighborhood. I will skip over the turtle graveyard because I think the wounds are still too fresh. (The turtles had been.... relocated). We spent the morning around town and wandering through some parks. While out walking we spotted this headstone in the most up kept cemetery I have ever seen. We had no idea the Diehl's had relatives in Winnweiler.

After that quick stop, we were on our way to Rothenberg! The only city that still has its medieval wall still in tact. We weren't allowed to drive into the city upon arrival, so we went in search of parking outside the city. Apparently that is pretty normal. We snagged a great spot thanks to Amanda's watchful eye and parked. They were hosting a festival that weekend and parking was absolutely nuts. We decided it would be best to just leave our stuff in the car and meander around the city unburdened while we located our hotel. Probably one of our better ideas. We found the hotel, went back to the car and got our stuff, and then back to the hotel. From there we went to the Christmas Shop which is Rothenberg's famous store.

From Rothenberg, Germany

The picture is a little blury, but I think you can get the idea. It was an amazing store. :) After that we puttering through some other stores and then set out to try and find dinner. This was probably our least successful night with dinner. Because the aforementioned festival was going on, we had a hard time just getting hotel reservations and didn't think what that would mean for dinner. We found out however that it basically meant that every place we went to was booked. Of course it was rainy and getting cold as well, so combined with hunger, we were in really cheerful moods. We ended up at an imbiss outside a church who had not anticipated the crowd they got because many other people were in our same boat. Good to know we weren't alone. Anywho, we had some chow and then wandered around town a little more and went back to the hotel.

Even though dinner was not too impressive, our hotel had a very awesome vending machine. This vending machine would give you beer if you put a 2 Euro coin in it. :) It was actually decent beer too! Notice the bottle opener conveniently attached to said machine.

From Rothenberg, Germany

Back at our room we watched some really terrible German movie with a gas tanker explosion that was over dramatized and then we heard fireworks. We were able to watch them from our room out of the cold and in our PJs. They went all out for this fireworks display, nothing pansy about it.

The next morning we went downstairs for breakfast and found tables with names all over them. I thought once again we had run into the "you didn't make a reservation" issue again. Thankfully, everyone else knew better.


We dropped our stuff back at the car and toured the Criminal Museum and walked the wall around the town. It turned out the be a beautiful day with bright sunshine and warmer weather.

From Rothenberg, Germany

We also took a stroll through the gardens which occupy the place the castle once stood.

From Rothenberg, Germany

We said goodbye to Rothenburg and headed onward to Munich!

Burg Eltz & Rheinfels Castle

Our adventure in the Rhine Valley continues with our second day in Germany. We had kind of a rough start after our first night because Mike hit the snooze on his alarm a few times and/or turned it off. :P Rob and I of course were no better off as we didn't realize a travel alarm clock would be so crucial (none of the hotels had one except our last hotel). We were relied on the Pennock's to knock on our door to wake us up. The church bell going off in town reminded us we should be at breakfast and not in bed. We threw on clothes and tried to look conscious as we went to the restaurant.

We grabbed a table and got some delicious coffee (nectar of the gods) and experience our first German breakfast. Fresh baked rolls, ham, salami, other pork meats, cheese, medium boiled eggs, and spreads (honey, jam, nutella). It was definitely different that cereal and a banana, but it was so good!

After we finally got ready for the day, we were off to our first castle viewings. First on the list; Burg Eltz. This castle is still family owned some 33 generations later, although the family only comes for a few nights during the summer (according to our tour guide). This castle was constructed to house different branches of family in separate parts of the castle because none of them could afford to build one on their own. Apparently only the very rich could do this. We grabbed a quick lunch here and continued onward to our next stop.

From Burg Eltz & Rheinfels Castle

When we left Burg Eltz, it was overcast and trying hard to rain. We we arrived at Rheinfels Castle, it was of course raining pretty good. It figures that Murphy's law would apply in Europe just as well as it did here. Burg Eltz is still completely in tact. Rheinfels Castle is in ruins.

From Burg Eltz & Rheinfels Castle

We climbed around the caslte with Mike and Rob both narrating at different points around the castle. Even though the castle is in ruins, it's in huge ruins and only taking up a fifth of the land it used to cover. With it's prime location on the Rhine River, they taxed the ships that brought goods on it. This river appears to have been a very heavily taxed river with castles all along it. Of course, this always sparks confrontation and war. This castle had been rebuilt at least once in it's time. After the French won it over in 1797, they destoryed it to prevent furutre battles/wars over it.

After climbing around in the rain, we headed back to the hotel/town to grab some souvenirs, wine, and food. With the crappy weather we created our own wine garden at our hotel. :)

From Burg Eltz & Rheinfels Castle

Guten Tag!

Rob and I recently got back from a 10 day trip to Germany & Austria. This marks the first overseas travel either of us has ever done. It was truly a trip of a lifetime and it was awesome. It was so awesome in fact that I will have to break up the tale as to not overwhelm anyone with all that awesomeness. :)

Day 1:

We begin our journey with a long plane ride. Theoretically we were supposed to sleep on the "overnight" flight over, but well, that just did not happen. I think they served us dinner around 11pm and there were movies playing and just a lot of commotion. I also think I was too excited to sleep. We arrived in Frankfurt, Germany at 10:30am German time which is 4:30am EST. After we deplaned, I waited in line for the smallest woman's bathroom in history and then we made out way to baggage claim, passport check, and customs. Rob and I proudly got our passports stamped for the first time. We were so excited. We then went to the airport meeting area to await the arrival of our travel companions, the Pennock's.

From Bacharach, Germany

While waiting, I decided to test out the ATM and get Euros which worked out great. They arrived about an hour later without trouble and we proceed to pick up our rental car. After getting our paperwork straightened out and getting Rob signed up to be a driver, we went in search of our car; a Mercedes C220. Not to bad! Rob was up first to drive to our first hotel. After figuring out where reverse was and avoiding hitting the wall we were parking within inches of, we were good to go!

We arrived in Bacharach, Germany for our first 2 nights. Mike had made reservations for us at this bed & breakfast, Hotel Am Markt.

From Bacharach, Germany

After we figured out where to pick up our hotel keys, we were shown our rooms and then went to get the rest of our luggage. The only trouble was, none of us could reopen the door to the hotel. After all four of us had a go at it, we went back in and asked to be shown how to open the door. Rob learned what the magic trick was and proved why we brought him along on this trip. We were located on the top floor on the hotel, which was beautiful for views, but not so kind to bring up luggage. :P

From Bacharach, Germany

After we got settled, we decided to set off on a walking tour of the town. With the help of the Rick Steve's book, we were able to get a fairly decent detailed tour of the small town and enjoy great views from the hill top.

From Bacharach, Germany

We had the best dinner later that night and even hit up a wine garden. I don't know how we had energy for it all with not sleep the night before, but we made it! Rob sort of dozed off in the wine garden, but hey, it's all good. :) It was a great start to vacation!