Memories of our European Vaction

Europe » Germany » Hesse
March 8th 2011

Published: March 8th 2011

Edit Blog Post

Noella Bujold

Notre Dame de Paris

Paris, France

EUROPEAN VACATION ON A BUDGET

The year is 1994 (July), Eddy and I had been a couple for a little over a year. Eddy is originally form Frankfurt Germany, so we decided to visit his family and to tour a few other European cities and areas on the way.
I had two requests; Switzerland (the Alps) and Heidelberg, Germany. As a teenager, I had seen a movie called “The Student Prince” It was a musical starring Mario Lanza and I thought it was sooo romantic!!
So our itinerary was as follows: Paris, Bern, Interlaken, Constance (on the border between Switzerland and Germany) the Black Forest, (Eddy had lived there during the war), Heidelberg and finally, Frankfurt.
Now! I , as most normal people, had always been a meticulous planner: where to stay, how much money to bring, etc. etc. But not my Eddy! Oh no! That was for wimps! We would stay in youth hostels, travel by train (on the continent) and withdraw whatever cash we needed from local banks NO PROBLEM!! “Trust me” he said!!!
So we set off for Paris aboard Air Transat on July 8th with each a backpack for our

Eiffel Tower

Paris, France

entire three week’s stay. The plan was that we would each carry our backpack, but by the first day in Paris eddy was schlepping both. One on his back and one on his front!

PARIS

We arrived at Orly, mid-morning and took the metro (or train, not sure) into the city. Remember, we had no idea where we were going to stay, other that we would look for a reasonably priced accommodation. The train took us above -ground into a neighborhood called Denfert-Rochereau.
Looking out the window, we spotted what looked like a nice little hotel, so we got off and went to check it out. It turned out to be just what we were looking for: economical and within a twenty-ish minute walk up Boulevard Saint-Michel to Notre-Dame and the Seine. In the room, we had a sink and a bidet, but no bathroom. Not a problem, we just had to share one with the other customers!
We stayed three days in Paris and visited Notre Dame, the Louvres, the Champs Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe. Of course we did the Eiffel Tower and Montmartre and took a Bateau Mouche tour

The Louvre

Paris, France

on the Seine. We walked A LOT, but it was fun. We really enjoyed it and our little hotel turned out to be quite nice.
So far, so good!

Our next stop was to be Bern, the capital of Switzerland. We took a 4-5 hour train ride to that beautiful city.

BERN

The rail system in Europe is wonderful. It is efficient, punctual and will take you practically anywhere on the continent. BUT, one blemish that we found was the fact that most stations seemed to be the hang out of homeless vagrants, dopeheads and other lowlife forms. The Bern Hauptbahnhof (main station) is no exception. Actually it was downright scary, so we didn’t hang around. We got directions to the Youth Hostel and headed there.
The hostel was very nice, quite close to the beautiful Aar River. We were lucky to get what is called a “family room” as opposed to a dorm. Which means we had a room to ourselves, with a shared bathroom of course.
They also offered very reasonably priced breakfast. However, we had arrived mid-afternoon and by the time we had settled

Montmartre

Paris, France

in, it was supper time and we were hungry.
We headed for a nearby restaurant which turned out to be a mistake. It was quite expensive, AND it would not accept American credit cards. We had only a few Swiss franks with us at that point, so we ended up having a very scanty meal. If I remember correctly mine was a chicken drumstick. That’s it no vegetables, no potatoes, nada.
But we did witness an interesting tidbit. There was a couple at a neighboring table, and at one point, the lady got up threw her drink in her partner’s face and stalked off!! I had seen that happen in movies, but never in real life!
Bern is a beautiful city and we explored it the following day, from a stroll down the historical area, with it’s famous clock tower, to the Beren Graben (bear pits, from which the city gets its name), to a park where older residents were playing lawn checkers, to the beautiful Aar River, with its emerald water and beautiful swans. We were in Bern a day and a half.
But Bern is not in the Alps and I wanted to see mountains,

Off to Switzerland

La Gare de Lyon, Paris.

so we proceeded to our next destination, Interlaken.

INTERLAKEN

The town of Interlaken is a popular tourist destination at the foothills of the Alps. It is situated between Lake Brien to the east and Lake Thun to the west. Hence its name which translate to “between lakes”. It is absolutely gorgeous.
We arrived around mid-day and headed for the youth hostel, which was a good walk away from the train station. When we got there, we found it closed, only to reopen at four P.M. A little disappointed, we headed back toward town, and lo and behold there was a sign on a front lawn that said “Zimmer.... room for rent!” We decided to check it out.
It turned out that the price was about the same as what we would have paid at the hostel, and it was oh so much nicer!!! From our window we had a wonderful view of the snow-capped mountains AND breakfast was included!
The owner was a very nice lady. She suggested we take a day trip to nearby Grindelwald. It is just a short train hop but oh what a beautiful place!!!! It was

Breakfast in Bern

Bern, Switzerland

exactly what I wanted to see! It is one of the points of access to both the Eiger and the Wetterhorn. You get off the train and there they are, the majestic Alps, right in your face!!
We hiked from the town, across a narrow valley (maybe one kilometer) where cows with bells were just hanging around, and right onto the mountains themselves. It was wonderful. We took oodles of photos. When we got back into town it was almost dark. We had supper there, and took the train back to Interlaken. I will be forever thankful to that lady at the B&B for her suggestion.

KONZTANZ (CONSTANCE) AND THE GERMAN BORDER

Next day’s train ride took us through breathtaking scenery. Over hills and around lakes whose waters were emerald green. Through farmland populated by sheep and cows. We finally came to the German border at the city of Konstanz. Situated on Lake Konstanz or the Bodensee as the locals call it, Konstanz is a picturesque city. The architecture is particularly interesting. The buildings are typically German, with mansard roofs and wooden crossbeams.
As usual, we headed for the youth hostel and

The Beautiful Aar

The green color of the water is due to the fact that the Aar flows down from the high Alps.

found it to be in an old tower. We thought that was really quaint, until we found out the sleeping arrangements. It was strictly dorm accommodation, with the women on some floors and the guys on others.
I ended up sharing a room and bathroom with Japanese ladies and their children. To say they were noisy, would be quite an understatement. They chattered on and on and on. Of course, since I couldn’t understand a word of their chatter it was quite annoying. They were also very pushy when it came to monopolizing the bathroom and shower.
On his end, Eddy was sharing with a bunch of young guys who were hot to trot. Late into the night, these kids were lining the stairs (it’s a tower, remember) yelling up or down to the girls on the other floors.
This night turned out to be the only one on our whole trip where we were less than happy with our living conditions.
Bright and early the next morning, (5 A.M. to be exact) we were out of there and on our way to the train station, heading for a town called Oberkirch in the Black Forest.

Chess Game

Park chess.

OBERKIRCH

Eddy was born in 1938 in Frankfurt, Germany. In 1942 when the allies started to bomb German cities in earnest, his mother and family, along with many other civilians were evacuated to the Black Forest region of Southern Germany. It was a rural area, and the local farmers took in the refugees and put them to work on their farms.
The town where eddy’s family was relocated is called Oberkirch. It is a peaceful little town. Situated in a valley bordered by vineyards. Eddy had good memories of that period and wanted to share them with me.
We arrived there in late afternoon after multiple transfers to smaller and smaller rail lines. We walked through the town and passed several inviting looking hotels; but eddy kept saying “ no not here, trust me”.
Well, we finally came to a very long driveway which led to a hotel way up on the hillside called “Haus am Berg” which translates to House on the Hill. Well let me tell you it was well worth the extra kilometer walk!

Since we had no reservations they put us up in their only available

Magnificent Alps

Grindelwald, switzerland

room which was in the older section. It was huge! Complete with boar skin rug and balcony overlooking the vineyards and the town below. After supper we went for a walk, first through the vineyards then onto a wanderweg
which is a well tended walking path through the forest. It was dark by the time we got back to a small pavilion which was part of the hotel’s property. There was a full moon, it was perfect!!!
The next day they transferred us to a more modern room with our own bathroom, but it also had a private balcony overlooking the valley. It turned out that this particular property had belonged to the farmer that Eddy and his family had worked for during their stay there in 1942; that’s why he really wanted to see what it had become. It couldn’t have turned out any better. It really was the highlight of our trip.
That next day we walked the entire length of the valley first on the north side then down into town then up to the other side and back again. We must have walked at least 15 kilometers that day and it was a hot

The Eiger

Grindelwald, Switzerland

one! We visited the ruins of a medieval castle called the Schauenburg and then on the opposite side of the valley , we found the house where his family had lived . It had been renovated, but was still quite recognizable. We finally crawled back to Haus am Berg, where we had a great dinner and retired to our balcony with a pitcher of local wine.
The accommodations were pricier than what we had set for ourselves , but boy, what an experience! It was well worth the splurge!
We left the next morning for Heidelberg. We would have loved to stay, but we did have an itinerary to follow!

HEIDELBERG

We got in to Heidelberg and headed for the tourist information office in order to find out where the youth hostel was only to find out that it and most of the hostels were full. At a loss, we hung around trying to have someone direct us to suitable abode when a couple told us they had stayed at this real neat boarding house. They said it was very cheap if we didn’t mind sharing a room. They said it was

Konztanz

Border city, between Switzerland and Germany

located right in the Altstadt (old city) and within walking distance of the schloss the famous Heidelberg Castle. It was where that movie that had inspired me had been partly filmed.
So, we decided to check it out. Again, this turned out to be one of our highlights!
It was a 3 or 4 story house (I don’t remember for sure) We got a room on the second floor in which there was a double and a single bed. We were told that we were the only occupants for the time being but there could be someone else sharing with us later on. We claimed the double bed, and left to explore.
It’s a beautiful city on the Neckar River and its historical section goes back to the middle ages. It is a university city. (The Student Prince, remember?) Possibly its most visited attraction is the ruins of Heidelberg Castle, a very famous renaissance structure.
When we came back to our room after supper we found that we were indeed sharing it with a young student who was a little shy at first, but we all decided the price was right and made the best of

In the Black Forest

Oberkirch, Germany

it. The bathroom and showers were also something else. They were situated one floor up and the showers were coin operated, so you definitely did not get to linger in the shower. You were lucky if you got 2 minutes worth of hot water before your coin ran out.
Nevertheless we stayed on a second night because we hadn’t had a chance yet to visit the Schloss. It was raining, so we got into our yellow slickers (we looked like Big Bird) and took the elevator up. The castle is on a hill overlooking the city. The ruins are very well administered and it was quite an interesting visit, although I was a little disappointed that it wasn’t quite as romantic as it was in the movie, when Mario Lanza stood on the table and sang “Drink, drink, everyone drink”
That night, we had two roommates, one on the single bed and one on the floor. We almost tripped over him when we came in. I guess not everyone would go along with staying in this kind of establishment, but we thought it was a lot of fun. Mainly, it was safe and reasonably comfortable and oh so

A view of the Vineyards

Haus am Berg, Oberkirch

different!!!
We had come to the end of our roaming and were now heading into the visiting with relatives part of our trip; so the next morning, we hopped the train for Frankfurt.

FRANKFURT

At that time, Eddy had 4 brothers, with their families and an elderly aunt and uncle living in Frankfurt. Sadly, 2 of his brothers, a sister-in-law and his uncle have passed away since then. True to form, we had not told any of these people that we were going to visit them.
We checked in at a small hotel called Wald Hotel in the suburb of Oberrad, where Eddy grew up. Then he called his youngest brother Phillip and told him we were in town. Of course, we were told to come over to his house right now!
We agreed we’d go the following morning, and went for a walk downtown. Eddy was anxious to show me around his city, and it is a beautiful city. You couldn’t tell that it was almost destroyed by allied bombing during World War II.
We were walking on a pedestrian bridge over the Main River, when suddenly this man

The Shauenburg Ruins

Ruins of a medieval castle in the Black forest.

ran up and grabbed Eddy ! I thought he was being mugged, but it turned out to be Phillip. He and his wife Debbie, had guessed correctly where Eddy would go first, and tracked us down. We had dinner with them and the following day, we moved into an apartment that Philip was setting up for his daughter and her fiancé who were to be married in the near future. The apartment was not quite finished, but it had a bed, and they had stocked the fridge for us so we were all set.

We stayed in Frankfurt for a week before taking the train back to Paris and our flight home. While there, we of course visited with the rest of the family, but we also took two day trips. One was a cruise on the Rhine with his brother Karl and his wife Herta. That was quite enjoyable, the Main River which runs through Frankfurt joins up with the Rhine. Our cruise took us past vine covered hillsides, dotted here and there with old castles. It was beautiful. We turned around where legend has it that a siren called The Lorelei lured sailors to their death.

On to Heidelberg

Oberkirch, Germany.

Our second day trip was to a medieval town called Rothenburg. A short train hop away from Frankfurt. The crooked streets and medieval architecture were just so charming. Again, we took oodles of photos and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

In conclusion, I have to say that although I had some serious qualms about undertaking the trip with nothing preplanned, it turned out just great and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. In fact, we have taken many trips since then and none of them were planned . I’ll tell you about them some day.

Additional photos below

Photos: 28, Displayed: 28