Day Six (December 28)

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It was with much sadness that I woke up at 7:00 this morning. I really didn’t want to leave this part of Germany. The Berchtesgaden area has always been my favorite area but after our brief two day stay this year, the Oberammergau area really climbed in my estimation. There was so much I really wanted to see and there was no way we were going to be able to do it all. I wanted to spend time in Downtown Oberammergau, tour Linderhof and Neuschwanstein, shop around in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, go inside the Wieskirche (yes, visit another church), stand in front of the webcam in Füssen and visit Bavaria Ben’s favorite candy shop somewhere in downtown Füssen, check out the historic town of Kempten, drive up the Romantic Road, and go inside the Abbey in Ettal which we must’ve passed ten times in the past two days. The night we had arrived at the Friedenshöhe Herr Schmid had walked into the lobby carrying a couple of rifles. He explained that one of his dinner customers was a gun collector and wanted to check out Herr Schmid’s old hunting rifles. While the guest played with the bolt action and studied one of the rifles, Herr Schmid told me that this guy had recently migrated to Oberammergau after retirement in England. Herr Schmid had known the husband and wife for a few years because of dealings with the NATO school located in town. The Englishman had been considering retiring to France, near Provence, but Herr Schmid advised against it. “You know how the French are. Why would you want to live there?” Apparently Herr Schmid helped the husband and wife in finding an affordable home in the area (much cheaper than France according to Herr Schmid) and so far after two years these Brits were loving it. I really envied them.

Waiting in the room while Gail made herself beautiful, I started looking through the pile of brochures and information that Herr Schmid had given us when we first checked-in. We had been too busy and too tired to look at it before. Mixed in with the pamphlets I found a “Gästekarte” made out in our names. It entitled us to free entrance to most of the attractions in Oberammergau as well as free torch-light and guided walks plus discounts to everything else in the area including the huge indoor waterpark and the Passion Play Theater. We simply didn’t have nearly enough time to enjoy all the things Oberammergau had to offer.

After another great hot shower, we tramped down for breakfast at 8:00. I don’t remember how I got waylaid but somehow I didn’t reach our breakfast table until after the rest of my party had visited the buffet table. I saw that they were bringing back one of my favorites, soft-boiled eggs. But when I got to the buffet they were all gone. I figured the kitchen would bring out more later. I waited in vain. I chowed-down pretty well on rolls, cheese and meat. I didn’t need the cholesterol anyway. When we finished we went to the lobby to settle our bill for the rooms. The total for three double rooms for two nights was 351.60€ - the exact same price quoted in Herr Schmid’s e-mail back in September. Throughout the trip I was charged exactly what I was quoted via the Internet. We chatted for a few minutes with Herr Schmid. We learned that like most of the townspeople, he had acted in the World famous Passion Play held every ten years. He played King Herod in the last enactment in 2000. He very kindly took a program down from his bookcase and autographed it for us. A really nice guy. He also gave us ten free Fridenshöhe stickers for our cars. Just before we left he mentioned that there was a prediction of 14 inches of snow later that day. “maybe he doesn’t really know how to convert centimeters to inches” I thought. There was no way he could be so nonchalant about that much snow coming.

Although I was perplexed with so many things to see and do, there was one thing I made a mandatory site for the day - the Abbey at Ettal. I had never visited despite numerous visits to the area. I read about the Abbey and its beer on the Internet. The Abbey is one of the most unique structures in Germany. It was intended to be a Benedictine Monastery when first conceived in 1330. It was constructed initially in the Gothic style, then Baroque touches were added in the early 18th Century. The interior was decorated in the 1750’s in a Baroque style. This was going to be Stop One no matter what.

We arrived in front of Ettal Abbey in less than ten minutes. At 9:15 am there was nobody in the parking lots and apparently no one awake at the Abbey. We trudged through the fresh snow and quickly found our way to the church itself. I found it very reminiscent of the Wieskirche. Both are in the ostentatious Baroque style and both sit beneath domed roofs. I also found both churches to be cozy and welcoming despite their extravagant trappings. I think a local 17th Century peasent would feel comfortable attending services in either church. Unlike the dark and intimidating cathedrals we had visited previously, Ettal Abbey seemed bright and cheerful. The Catholic preoccupation with death didn’t seem to overshadow the building. We were the only people in the church so we had a great opportunity to videotape and film to our hearts’ content.

There was one other order of business I wished to accomplish in Ettal. I wanted to at least try some of the Abbey’s beer. Better yet, I hoped to be able to buy some to take home. Within the Abbey complex itself, facing the main street, was the Abbey’s bookstore and souvenir stand. We looked around inside for a few minutes marveling at the abbots (priests, monks, brothers, friars ?) working inside. At first I thought they were shoppers, but when Tyler bought a calendar, one waited on him.

Even though the Abbey gift shop had a 5 liter metal can full of the Abbey beer for 9€, I wanted to check out the shops across the street first, simply to see if they had more of a selection. I knew that the Abbey produced a number of different types of beer but the gift shop only sold this one style. In one of the non-Abbey gift shops across the street we found more than we needed. I not only saved .50€ on my 20lb can of beer (actually Tyler bought it for me for my birthday), but I also found a nice metal sign advertising Ettal beer which I knew would look great in my den. Gen bought her brother-in-law a beer stein with accompanying local beer. Tyler bought Gail a Neuschwanstein calendar. Grandma also found more postcards. I bought a tacky little stuffed Bavarian hiker doll that yodeled and burped for a colleague at work. At the check-out I saw an assortment of Ettal Schnaps for tasting. I asked the clerk for a taste, but when he said it was 5€, I changed my mind. Like I said, we prefer to travel cheap.

When we rearranged all our new purchases back in the VW, I was getting ready to program Helga for my proposed route past the Wieskirche, through Augsburg and Dinkelsbühl , to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, when Gail, looking at her new Neuschwanstein calendar, asked if that was where we were going next. When I explained that it wasn’t in my plans for today Gail was very disappointed. We took a vote and everyone wanted to see Neuschie instead of the Romantische Strasse. I spoke nicely to Helga and entered the appropriate data then started the van. We only had to drive a couple hundred yards before the GPS directed us off the main road and on to the same road we had taken the day before on our way to the sleigh ride. We passed Graswang once again then proceeded toward Linderhof. The cross-country skiers were still out in force. The roads wereonly partially plowed, but the weather was decent enough with no snow in the air, yet. At the turn-off for Linderhof I expected the half dozen cars behind me riding my butt to all exit toward the Castle, but three stuck right behind us. I pulled-off at the first siding I saw. Of course they flew past me oblivious to the slippery snow on the road. This ride through the forests and low mountains was one of my favorites in years past. The road leads into Austria and back in the Good Old Days, you used to first pull up to the German Customs kiosk where they very carefully checked your passports. Then you drove almost a half mile before getting to the gate leading into Austria. Surely not as intimidating as Check Point Charlie in Berlin, but this was the closest Gail and I felt to the whole Cold War-Border Tension thing. Now when we drove through, all that remained was the abandoned German guardhouse. There were a good many people hiking down the middle of the road carrying their single skipole. The road became a little more winding and treacherous the farther we went into Austria, but my VW even with it’s supposed non-snow tires, handled things quite nicely. Soon we arrived on the banks of the Plansee, a large alpine lake. For the first time in all my trips this way I noticed a big resort on the shores of the lake. It was open but looked kind of dead at this time of the year. I propose to return sometime in the summer because it has to be absolutely gorgeous when the weather’s warm and people are out on/in the lake.

As we drove along the lake headed toward Reutte, I was amazed that there were no homes or cottages built on the shores of the lake. There didn’t seem to be any recreational areas at all along the way. Also surprising was the fact that the lake wasn’t frozen despite the fact that the temperature hadn’t gone over 30 degrees the entire time we’d been in Europe.

Many years ago Gail, her Mom and I had stayed in Reutte one miserable, cold Winter’s night. After a day of touring the Royal Castles we were unable to find a place in nearby Füssen. We continued into Austria and happened upon Reutte’s visitor bureau which found us a cheap hotel with no heat. About that same time Gail developed the Mother of all Toothaches which further added to her misery. As time has passed Reutte has become a sick little joke among us. Today I wanted to surprise Gail and Grandma by driving through on our way to Neuschwanstein.

Like all things, time has changed what I recalled of Reutte. Instead of a little hole in the wall village it now looked like a bustling ski resort. There were ski racks on every car and the pedestrians walking around town all seemed to wear ski parkas and furry boots. Nothing looked the least bit familiar. Making another executive decision I opted to get out of town and head for Neuschwanstein. On the edge of Reutte we spotted a Lidl store. We had seen them in France, Denmark, Germany and Ireland but never shopped there. I wanted to get more candy and to get Grandma Phoebe her soap. I felt like I was walking into my local Aldi. The layout in the store was exactly the same. I later learned that Aldi is in fact Lidl’s major competitor. We found all manner of cheap, cheap liquor. Gail grabbed a bottle of Amaretto for 3€. I was tempted by the 4€ brandies, but with my 5 liter can of beer it was already going to be a pain hauling that through the airport. I wished we were spending some time in a vacation home so that I could buy some of the pre-made frozen dinners featuring sausages and Spätzle.

Each of us kind of wandered around on our own in the store. Within a few minutes we all met up in front of the candy aisle. I am nuts about Bounty candy bars. They are milk chocolate versions of Mounds bars or almondless Almond Joys. I grabbed two bags of them and 5 hazelnut chocolate bars. Gail forced me to take even more. Cassie decided to try that German favorite, Tortilla Chips. Tyler got some Mezzo Mix (a vile concoction of Cola mixed with Fanta orange soda). Gail wanted pesto as well as shampoo and some hard candies. Of course we had to have a couple of diet sodas to go with our healthy foods. We even splurged and bought a shopping bag for .30€. No sooner did we get in the car than I said, “You know, I should’ve gotten more Bounty bars.” Gail made me turn around. We went back in and got even more candy. The total cost for our shopping binge didn’t exceed 20€. Yes we are cheap.

The highway from Reutte to Füssen was much improved compared to the two lane mountain road I remembered back in the 1980’s. I had hoped to spend a half hour or so in Downtown Füssen just looking around but snow was beginning to fall. Remembering Herr Schmid’s weather report I pushed on toward Neuschwanstein on the other side of town. For the past few years I had read many horror stories about the big crowds at the Royal Castles but attributed that to the busy Summer months. When we drove down the narrow lane toward the castles I was aghast at how things had changed. There were pay parking lots everywhere and they weren’t cheap. There were tourists everywhere too even though it was noon on a snowy Wednesday. We could barely squeeze past the hordes of Japanese and American tourists. I only wanted to stop where I could get a good photo of Neuschwanstein, but it was too packed to pull over anywhere. It would’ve been fun to stop and walk up to Neuschwanstein but it was just too insanely mobbed for me. With the snow coming at a heavier pace, I drove us toward the St. Coloman church where I thought we might find a good vantage point. Before we got there I found a small residential area where I could see Neuschwanstein towering above us. I let everyone out to take their photos. This was a smart move because once everyone got back in the vehicle I drove up to the church to park. At that distance the heavy snow and overcast skies totally obscured the castle. Not wanting to take any more chances I decided we better get away from the mountain area before this big snowstorm came.

As I drove along the Romantic Road toward Landsberg I ignored all of Helga’s pleas to turn left and link up with the Autobahn. This stretch is another one of my favorite areas. A few years back we had stayed in the tiny village of Hohenfurch. We spent two nights at the Schonach-Hof which I will never forget. You hardly notice the town is there and it seems to be an after-thought to the tourists and tour buses heading down the Romantic Road toward the Royal Castles and Füssen. No one in the little Gasthaus spoke English but they were among the friendliest Germans we ever met. We had a huge family room comfortably sleeping the four of us for under $60 per night. The meals in the little restaurant were out of this world. The locals must have agreed because both nights it was packed with people in their traditional peasant gear. I had tried to book with them this year but they have no e-mail address and they never answered my snail mail request. Today I made a quick spin through town. Nothing at all had changed here. I think the same trout were struggling against the current in the tiny stream running through town.

We detoured through another of our favorite towns and one that Gail’s Mom especially enjoyed, Landsberg am Lech. Before it became popular and subsequently too expensive for us, we must have stayed at the Hotel Goggl at least 5 times. As we drove through town we checked to make sure it was still in business (it was) and vowed to come back when we won the lottery. As we reached the other side of the Altstadt I was reminded once again of what a great shopping town this was. Being only about 40 miles outside Munich it had the same cuckoo clocks, beer steins, loden coats, souvenir calendars, wooden carvings, and Bayern München soccer merchandise but at a much better price. Once again I decided to move in despite the urge to stop. The GPS was promising two and a half more hours until we got to Rothenburg. We took a potty break at a McDonald’s just outside of town. I regret not getting a McRib when we stopped but I was pretty full of candy at this point. Another interesting point about this Mickey D’s was the separate coffee shop located inside. Most American tourists get all huffy about McDonalds in other countries claiming that America is ruining their culture and identity but I always found foreign McDonalds to be unique with many items we don’t carry in the American stores. The fact is, if the Germans really resented McDonalds they wouldn’t be as crowded as this one.

I would have liked to continue to Rothenburg using the Romantic Road but since it was after 3:00 and still snowing I deemed the Autobahn a better route. I checked with the GPS and Helga agreed. I got on the A96 and headed West toward Ulm. During the long boring drive all my passengers passed out. Helga kept me company with her intermittent comment: “Setzen Sie Westen auf der Autobahn fort”. When we reached Ulm Autokreis I turned on to the A7 North. With everyone asleep and absolutely nothing to listen to on the radio (the closing of so many U.S. Army bases has virtually eliminated any Armed Forces radio reception), I started playing with the GPS controls. I figured out how to have the unit display all the hotels in the area, how to zoom in and out with the map’s scale and was able to convert the display from the metric system to miles instead. As I was playing around I discovered the “language” settings. Imagine my joy and surprise at learning that Helga could speak English! It only took me 4 days to figure it out. Wow, it was so much easier to follow directions when Helga spoke in a language I understood.

With the snow now tapering off to a light rainy mist, I was constantly having to clear the windshield with the washer solvent. A few miles from our exit a different idiot light came on indicating the need to add some. Unfortunately where we left the Autobahn seemed to be way out in the boonies. We were running out of gas and I was really having trouble seeing out the windshield. Washer solvent still came out when I needed it but only in a trickle. After about 15 minutes of driving virtually blind I finally found a gas station. The van took 41 liters of diesel or 44.29€. The washer solvent came in a tiny liter bottle, about ¼ the size of the gallon bottles we get at home, and cost 4€. I told Gail to keep that receipt too because I felt it was Alamo’s responsibility to keep that reservoir full. Like I said, I am cheap. There was no way I used all that much washer juice in 4 days. I only fill my tiny Toyota’s washer reservoir once an entire Winter.

We reached the outer walls of Rothenburg ob der Tauber around 5:30. I had typed our exact address into the GPS after we left Füssen and we had no problem at all finding Pension Becker. Once again this was a place I found after months of playing around on the Internet. There were less expensive and maybe nicer outside the city walls but I wanted a place within the town itself. Part of the whole Rothenburg experience is sleeping in a creepy old building in an old Medieval town. There was nowhere to park on the narrow street in front of the Pension so I illegally stopped in a nearby alley. Leaving the group in the car, Gail and I walked up to the Pension’s entrance. It was locked but there was an intercom. An English-speaking German lady answered and told us that her husband would be there shortly but in the meantime she buzzed us in. We had to wait in the little breakfast room about 10 minutes until her husband arrived. It turned out that Gaetano and Lydia Di Vivo operate both this pension and vacation apartments elsewhere. Gaetano’s English was a bit limited but he was very helpful and friendly. He showed us our rooms and explained where we could safely park the van. We had to lug our suitcases up one floor to our rooms, but we deliberately left most of our heavy souvenirs and junk in the van.

The rooms themselves were, well, rather unusual. Our room had a tiny side room for the toilet only. The sink was out in the open while the shower looked like a phone booth in the corner of the room. The other rooms were similarly laid-out. It looked to me like this floor had once been either one big room or maybe two rooms that had been partitioned off to create 5 smaller rooms. Plumbing was added later. The rooms weren’t cramped and although the décor looked a bit worn, the place seemed clean and we were comfortable. Only Gen and Tyler had a TV in their room, but we didn’t miss it. We also made sure that they had the one room with a private shower.

We were eagerly anticipating taking the Nightwatchman’s Tour of the old town at 8:00 pm. We were also pretty hungry having not eaten anything except candy and soda for lunch. I drove the van just one block and was able to park beneath the town wall. I was a little leery about this as a free parking space, but a couple other vehicles were parked there also. At this point the snow had started falling again and the temperature had dropped into the teens. It was bitterly cold and we needed sustenance to warm our bodies. Since the Nightwatchman’s Tour left from the Market Square we decided to look for a restaurant in that part of town. Using only my sense of direction, which hadn’t been working like it once did, this time I led the group maybe six blocks straight into the center of town. We perused a couple of the outdoor menus and settled on the second place we saw, the Goldenes Lamm. We walked in at 7:00. I wasn’t sure we could actually eat a German meal AND pay the check in only one hour. Back in 1998 we had enjoyed Balkan specialties in this same restaurant, but now the menu featured German and Swabian specialties. No need to mention our usual drink order except to say that my Weiss Bier was twice the size of Gail’s Pils and for only .20€ more. Gen, Gail and her mother each ordered the Bratwürst plate with sauerkraut and potato salad for 6.40€ and the rest of us got the ever popular Jägerschnitzel which came with Spätzle and a big salad for 9.50€ each. Our food came very quickly and we wolfed it down promptly. In the rather uncrowded restaurant it took us only about 15 minutes to get the waitress’s attention and the bill. We were out of the restaurant 10 minutes before the tour was scheduled to start.

The town was positively other-worldly. Or more like other-timely. It really seemed to be another era. But not Medieval or Renaissance. There were a few too many electric Christmas and street lights. I felt like I was back in the 1960’s when I was a kid. Christmas passed by three days before but it was still in the air in Rothenburg. The snow was falling, traditional Christmas decorations were everywhere, a huge real Christmas tree sat in the Market Square, the half-timbered buildings around the Square looked like something out of my old train set and there was almost complete quiet in the town. We moved just off the main square to check out Käthe Wohlfahrt’s Christmas Store’s window displays. The Germans are masters at store window design and this was a grand prize winning display. We have more Christmas decorations and ornaments that we could ever need sitting around in boxes at home, but I was still drawn to the items in the windows. The motif seemed to be red with gold accents. Just looking in that window I knew we were in trouble the next morning when the store would be open. I made a quick adjustment to the day’s schedule allowing another hour just for the girls slow progress through this store. When I turned away from the window and began to walk back to the Market Square what should meet my wandering eyes but a second Käthe Wohlfahrt store across the street. Aye Carumba!

By this time people were beginning to gather in the Market Square - lots of people. When we took our previous Nightwatchman Tour back in 1998 there were no more than 20 people in the group. George the Nightwatchman’s business has definitely grown. Tonight there were more than 50 waiting for him. While we waited in the square and mugged for the Rothenburg ob der Tauber webcam Tyler pointed to one of the second floor windows surrounding the plaza. Holding a wine glass in his hand and looking down on the crowd in full regalia was George. No doubt he was busy computing his proceeds for the night.

When George came down to the Square he spent the first 5 minutes posing for photos. He’s quite the celebrity now. George soon led us across the square then down the Herrngasse where he pointed out some of the Patrician homes lining the old street. George speaks perfect English while affecting a bit of a theatrical tone in his voice. He kept everyone entertained and amused. I tried to keep myself inside the milling crowd just to keep warm in the freezing night air. Even with a woolen sweater and Cabella’s down coat I was still cold. Even though I had taken the tour before I guess I had forgotten that Rothenburg was a Protestant town during the Thirty Years War. Because it stood at the crossroads of important trade routes like Berlin-Paris and Hamburg-Rome, it was seen as a vital military objective. George told a number of amusing anecdotes concerning the town’s resistance to the invading forces of Catholicism in the early 1600’s. Ultimately they were unsuccessful in staving off invasion with the result being the nearly complete pillaging of the wealth of this once prosperous trading town. The town was virtually abandoned and left for dead. It wasn’t until the 19th Century that the spirit of Romanticism sparked renewed settlement in this Medieval treasure. George wove this storyline expertly as he pointed-out the old walls, battlements, towers, homes, churches and streets of Rothenburg.

At our final stop on the tour he explained how the town was spared from total destruction by an American diplomat toward the end of World War II: German troops had holed up in the walled city and the rapidly advancing Yanks didn’t want to waste much time on their race to Berlin. They were prepared to level the town, but a State Department official remembered a photo his Mom had kept in his childhood home depicting the old town of Rothenburg. He interceded and the Americans somehow negotiated a German withdrawal from the town without any further damage. Nevertheless, after the War much of the Northern side of Rothenburg had to be rebuilt because of damage from American bombers earlier in the conflict.

As the tour reached its conclusion George reminded us that he would be collecting his 4€ and “if you enjoyed the tour”…then reaching under his large, dark cloak, he pulled out a small plastic case saying “You can also purchase my DVD”. He had them made by an American company when he was vacationing in Florida. It turns out that George goes on vacation from January 1 through early Spring. We were lucky to catch him before he took off. In case anyone is worried about who is watching the town in his absence we saw another Nightwatchman leading the German-speaking tour as we passed the main square at 9:00 pm.

After the tour we were all feeling rather exhausted after such a long, cold, cold day. We sauntered past the closed shops all appealingly decorated for the Holidays as we made our way back to the Pension Becker. While the others fussed around with some of their purchases made earlier in the day, the driver who didn’t get a two hour nap in the car went straight to bed. While I slept and dreamt of Medieval knights chasing Bounty candy bars through magnificent castles, everyone else went to Gen and Tyler’s room to watch TV.

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Photos

American tourists heading for Ettal Abbey
Once again the morning brought another fresh blanket of snow. Like everybody else in Germany and Austria, the monks of Ettal didn't bother shoveling their sidewalks.

Inside Ettal Abbey
We got to the abbey so early that we were the only ones wandering about. But even this early in the morning lots of candles were lit.

If it isn't Baroque, why fix it?
Despite its small dimensions this little church was full of gorgeous paintings and ornamentation. Everywhere we pointed our cameras we had beautiful photos.

Nativity Scene
Like every other church or cathedral we visited on this trip, the abbey church also featured a large creche or Nativity scene.

Hohenschwangau Schloss
Although it wasn't built by King Ludwig II, he grew up in this castle located a few hundred meters from Neuschwanstein.

Neuschwanstein Castle
This was Ludwig's Mangum Opus even though it was never finished. If we had more time and if we had gotten here much, much earlier in the day, I would have liked to have taken another tour. We'll save that for another trip too.

St Colomon's Church
This quaint little church sits alone in a big meadow below the Royal Castles just outside Füssen.

Rothenburg ob der Tauber
Gail snapped this photo on our way to dinner at the Goldenes Lamm. Of course the sidewalks aren't shoveled.

Käthe Wohlfahrt’s Christmas Store’s bus.
Everybody was taking pictures of this thing. I felt it distracted from the town's Medieval ambience to have this thing parked in the middle of the town square, but it certainly served as a lure for tourists.

Market Square in old Rothenburg
This is the meeting place for the Nightwatchman's tour of old Rothenburg. In the building on the right, just above the clock, the camera for the Rothenburg webcam is aimed down on to the tourist crowds below.

Georg, the Nightwatchman, weaves another tale.
I enjoyed Georg's tour so much that the next day I bought his DVD.

Just outside the city walls
We froze our butts off everytime we stopped along the way. This was another spot where it seemed like everywhere we pointed our cameras we found a photo opportunity.