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Published: December 10th 2013
Lisa's Welcome basket!
Lisa is such a great hostess! She left us this amazing basket of snacks, water, toiletries that we my have forgotten, a few small trinkets and souvenirs, the wi-fi connection info....I'm so stealing this idea for my guests! Thanks again Lisa!!Berlin - Bavaria - Paris - Bastogne - Christmas Markets -- our German vacation was so full of spectacular sites, that I just would not be able to fit it all in one blog! Therefore, I will write this in sections, with each major segment of our trip having it's own post. This is segment 1: introduction to Germany! We have been planning this vacation for years! Well, sort of. My friend and old co-worker, Lisa, is stationed in Germany. Ever since she moved there I have been threatening that I am going to come visit. It was always "maybe in the Fall", then "maybe in the Spring", "maybe just after I graduate"...you get the idea. Well we finally decided it was time and purchased the tickets...no going back now! We planned our trip in the winter on purpose...to coincide with all the German Christmas Markets! We spent 10 wonderful days touring the area, taking in the sights, eating the food, and learning more about their culture! To give you a little overview, we flew out of DC direct to Frankfurt. From there, we took a shuttle to Spangdahlem Air Base where Lisa met us and took us to her home
Dudeldorf
The original entries into the city. Village, Dudeldorf. We spent the first night there, then drove to Wittlich to catch a train to Berlin, where we spent 2 nights. From Berlin, we took the train to Munich. We didn't stay in Munich...that will be another trip I guess...but we got our rental car at the train station and drove down to Garmisch-Partenkirchen in the Bavaria portion of Germany, where we spent the night. The next morning, back in the car we drove a brief stint in Austria to get to Hohenschwangau (back in Germany) where 2 of Mad King Ludwig's castles are nestled amongst the trees and rocky bluffs of the surrounding mountains. By mid-afternoon, we were back on the road and driving back to Dudeldorf for the night. The following day, we drove to Paris! After spending the next 2 nights there, we drove back to Lisa's, just in time for Thanksgiving. The rest of our trip was spent on day trips; first to Trier, then to Bettendorf and Diekirch in Luxembourg and Bastogne in Belgium, and to Bernkastel for our last night there. (Have a look at the map!) We took the shuttle again back to Frankfurt, and flew direct back to DC. It
The restaurant in Dudeldorf
ok, not the restaurant in Dudeldorf! Just random building! The restaurant is called Torschanke's (and now I want their ravioli! Yum!) ! seems like a lot, but it really was pretty relaxing. We walked a lot. And ate a lot! And I took A LOT of pictures! Over 1100! I won't post all of them, to save you some time, and I will try to narrate as best I can. Please be sure to notice the page numbers... I'll post this intro on all the entries...incase someone doesn't start from the beginning. 😉
Ok! So let's start our journey! We were incredibly fortunate to have my mom fly out from Montana to house and dog sit while we were gone! You all know how I love my babies! I hate to leave them even with people I trust! And we still have not found a boarder we like in Virginia, so having my mom here was a huge weight off my conscience! We had a nice "Thanksgiving" with her before we headed out! Our flight out was an evening flight, so we had all day to pack and get to the airport...which translates to super easy to procrastinate and lose track of time! I didn't though! I was packed with 20 minutes to spare thank you very much! We flew out
Wittlich
Waiting for a train... around 9pm local, and landed in Frankfurt around noon, local. You can imagine the zombie-like state we were in! I can sleep on planes, but not very well. J decided he would watch movies almost the whole flight! Blah! So we get to Frankfurt-- tired, confused, and trying to read the German signs. We bought a "Learn German Fast" CD that we listened to the week before we left. It taught us the polite words, how to ask for directions to the bus, train, and taxi, how to talk about skiing....wait, what? As if we will need that! Turned out all we really needed was the polite words....many people speak English, and almost all that are working in job related to tourists speak some English! So...the female bathroom (Damen) has a dress, and the Male (herren) has pants! And bathroom is toiletten. Easy enough. Even if I couldn't remember the word, I could ask for toilet and the words are similar enough that they could figure out what I was asking. Anyway...enough of the language lesson!
We found our shuttle driver to Spangdahlem (the Air base that Lisa is stationed at), and I slept almost the entire 2.5 hour
Views of Germany
Taking from a moving train so sorry for the blur and reflection! drive! Lisa met us at the shuttle drop-off and took us to her house in Dudeldorf. Dudeldorf is one of the many picturesque little villages on the outskirts of base. They are all very small and all have the picture-perfect church spires! Ahhh...I loved the little villages. Dudeldorf has two giant rock arches that reside at the entrances of the heart of the city. During WWII, General Patton brought his tanks through Dudeldorf and had to wedge them through the narrow entries. They carved huge ridges and gouges in the rocks. The scars are still visible today! The streets are paved with brick and cobblestone that is probably original to the town! I love history and ages! I love to be able to see and touch something that has been around and seen so much time, that so many others before me have touched--to be able to stand in the same spot and touch the same wall as someone from history....so impactful to me! Anyway...straying...
Lisa offered us a nap, and of course we took it! She had made dinner reservations for us at the local German restaurant they like. It is an intimate little restaurant. I don't even
Views of Germany
Taking from a moving train so sorry for the blur and reflection! know the name of it....the picture I took is hard to make it out. They had it decorated for Christmas with a little tree and scene set up outside the doorway, and another little tree in the entry. The dining room was very cozy...intimate and dimly lit. All of the tables had a candle. The walls were adorned with black&white photos of the city and building through time--pictures of the war and people. I was wondering of they were just pictures they found, or it they were people the owner knew. We were seated in the back by the window on an old built-in bench that had little handmade pillows thrown on. I wish I would have taken a picture so you could see how incredibly quaint and totally non-commercial this place was, but I felt that it would have been very rude of me in that setting! It was like someone's home dining room, filled with little tables. If you every watched Newhart, or have eaten at a Bed&Breakfast...kind of like that, but the tables were closer. (European personal space is much less than American personal space!) The menus were put together like scrapbooking...each cover was different, the inside
Views of Germany
Taking from a moving train so sorry for the blur and reflection! was in handwritten calligraphy--in German. The waitress spoke enough English (and some words were similar enough--like ravioli) that I knew I ordered the ravioli with chicken. J got a wienerschnitzel (in German, the "w's" are pronounced like "v's"...so it's 'viener'--not 'wiener') and the potato soup....it was all amazing! J said the potato soup was the closest he had ever had to his Grandma Kohnekamp's! Again...no pictures because it would have been rude! A few notes about eating out in Germany though...most of which we learned over dinner conversation with Lisa and Mike (oh, Mike is Lisa's husband. He came home from work while we were napping, so we met him just before we walked over to dinner!) So...German's (and Europeans in general) take their time with dinner. They don't tip there, for anything (I'll touch on this later), so there is no rush to get you out the door and get the next customer in. In the US, the waiter is constantly bugging you..."how's the meal? Do you want more drink? Can I get you anything else?"...not so in Germany. They will come take your order promptly enough, but then they leave you alone for a long time. They come
when they bring you food, but leave you alone after that. And the food takes longer to get out. Everything is made fresh so it takes awhile and tastes amazing! You just have to learn to get your waiter's attention if you want to be out in less than an hour! Also, there is a common stereotype about how rude the service people are in Europe (France in particular) because they don't work off tips so don't need to please you....so not true in our experience! They were all very friendly and patient with us Americans. It may be a fluke....it may be because even though they spoke to us in English we still used the German polite words, or it may be just a lie! At any rate....we had nothing but good experiences dining out in Europe!
So after an amazing dinner, we went back to the house and prepared for the next portion of our journey--2 nights in Berlin and a night in Garmisch! We packed what we would need into our small suitcase, and just chilled and visited with Lisa and Mike the rest of the night. Our train to Berlin left from Wittlich the following
morning. Lisa drove us to the train station, which was about 25 minutes from her house. It's a small station with only 3 tracks, so easy enough to navigate. Reading the ticket is not so easy! We just matched words from the ticket with words from the board. So match the "gleis" on our ticket with the "gleis" from the board....which is the gate, or track. Once you do it once, it's easy. The doing it once can be confusing though! Our first train (and my first ever passenger train ride that was not a subway or the little 10 mile scenic train in Verde Valley RR) was not assigned seating, so you just take what you get. Fortunately, there was a lot open. There were a lot of stops on the way to Berlin. It's like a Greyhound bus....it stops at all the little towns along the way. We had to get off the train and connect to another one somewhere along the way. That train did have assigned seating, and we got a first class cabin! It was like a compartment...like the Harry Potter train--two bench seats facing each other with a window on one side. I tried
Hotel in Berlin
There are so many things that are different in Europe, I couldn't possible take pictures of it all! But, I could take a picture of this--2 options: 1 for #1 and the other for #2. lmao! Some toilets have flush then stop, and the toilet in Belgium just had a little pole on the top that you pull up to flush. to take some pictures along the way, but the glare from the lights on the window, and the blur from moving made for some tough picture taking! One thing to note though---I didn't get motion sick! At all! The whole entire trip!!! Not on any of the trains or car rides! it was awesome! 😊
So we arrive at the hauptbahnhof (haupt=main; bahn=train; hof=station) Berlin and make our way to the taxi stand that is out front ('taxi' is universal). I ask the guy, do you speak English (because Lisa says it's rude to just start speaking English to them. It's polite to first ask. 😊) He's says "yes, of course!" Ha ha! So we get to our cushy American hotel....the Marriott Courtyard Berlin City Center, where of course they all speak perfect English! We had a very nice room...with it's own bathroom! This is something one needs to consider when booking a room in Europe...does it have it's own bathroom, or do you have to share one?! We also checked for wi-fi 'in the room' and a 'double' bed. A single room in the US means one bed. A single room in Europe means one twin-size bed for
a single person. Also, the beds are hard as boards! All of them! Ugh! So our Berlin room was very American nice. We payed extra to have the breakfast in the morning, but did not pay to watch tv. This was the only room where free TV was not included though.
We got in to Berlin in the late afternoon. I forget the time cause I was still jet-lagged and the sun sets in Germany around 4:30pm this time of year. We decided to try to find somewhere close for dinner and just walk around a bit...close! Didn't want to get lost! We asked the desk clerk for a recommendation for pizza....because when in Germany...you eat Italian! Ha ha! She directed us to a nice little restaurant about 15 minutes walking distance from the hotel...and gave us a map...and put x's on it to mark the hotel and the restaurant! The restaurant ended up being right next door to this very old, very ornate, very big building. We were pondering over some amazing German-Italian pizza napoletana (for me) and whatever J had...spaghetti I'm sure {😉} what the building might be. A museum? A church? A pretzel factory? I looked
a the map we had and it was listed on there as Konzerthaus....so I figured it must be a concert house? Fast forward to me writing this blog at home and trying to get my facts strait and I find that it was indeed a concert hall, and we were eating in the heart of the Gendarmenmarkt (markt= market), which is the main historic square in central Berlin! 😊 Wow! After dinner we walked around, took some pictures of the incredible architecture, and stopped by my new favorite chocolate shop in all the world! Did you see the chocolate sculptures!? Fassbender & Rausch Chocolaterie...the largest chocolaterie in the world! (again, just learning this now...after the fact!!) There was so much to see! It reminded me of the FAO Schwarz store on 5th Ave in NYC...except in chocolate! We purchased a little box of 12 truffles, but had I known that this was the biggest chocolate store in the world, or that the truffles would only last us the rest of the night, I would have bought more!
We walked back to the hotel, a little warmer. Oh, I forgot to mention how cold it was! Well, not that cold,
Berlin
This was across the street from where we had dinner our first night there. The map says it was a Konzerthaus, which I thought might mean "concert hall"...I googled it...I was right! It's the Konzerthaus Berlin, and hosts orchestras and operas! Pretty building too! They were setting up a Christmas Market around it, but sadly, it did not open before we left Berlin. It is located, I am now learning, at the Gendarmenmarkt, which is regarded as one of the most beautiful squares in Berlin. but I was jet lagged and tired, so I was cold to begin with. The weather in Berlin was gloomy the whole time. It never rained on us, but the ground and sidewalks were always wet! It was in the low 40's, no wind. J and I have said about the whole trip, how we were incredibly lucky to have the perfect weather for whatever area we were touring. For Berlin, it was gloomy, but it suited Berlin with it's tumultuous, gloomy history. It wasn't windy or rainy, which is the norm for this time of year, and it wasn't too cold or too warm. We could walk around comfortably in our coats and not freeze or sweat! That first night though, being so tired, it felt cold. We got back to the hotel and I hopped in tub...the amazing porcelain over iron, super long and deep European tub! Ahhhh! I loved it! I wanted to bring it home! Two nights in Berlin and I was in it both of them! I kept falling asleep in the tup, so finally just went to bed. J just read his Kindle the whole time. This was the first night that I actually
slept for more than just a few hours. And the following day I was free from the jet-lag, rested, awake, and feeling myself, and was the first real excitement and realization I had of being where I was! It was the first time I really looked at my surroundings and thought, "whoa! I can't believe I am really here!!"
I had booked a Berlin Walking tour online that we had to meet up with the following morning. We were considering a few options; just walking around and finding stuff ourselves (would not see much that way!), taking a tour bus (less walking, more expensive), or a walking tour (less expensive, more opportunity for photos). The tour was only about 4 hours long, so we didn't think the walking would be too bad. I'm very on the fence on whether to recommend this or not. Our tour guide was a young hipster-type who liked to tell bad jokes. We saw the things that he thought were important for us to see, not necessarily the things we might have chosen to see. He walked fast most of the time, he walked right past many interesting buildings without so much as an
French Cathedral
This cathedral flanks the Konzerthaus Berlin on the right...or left. lol explanation, and there was not much time to take pictures. I was taking pictures as I was walking for the most part. On the other hand, when you have one day in a foreign city, and don't know your way around, and don't want to spend a ton on taxi's and metro, then a walking tour is a good way to see some of the main sights! You can do what we did...go on the tour, then go back to the places that were interesting! 😊 So we didn't go into any museums (that would have swallowed a whole day itself!), we didn't make it to Potsdam (that will definitely be on the list for the next time!), and we just looked at Checkpoint Charlie from across the street (we didn't bother going and getting pictures with the faux guard and seeing the museum). If you are thinking "ugh I can't believe you didn't see/do..." please refer to the part where we had ONE day, and that it was our vacation, our preferences mattered. 😊 (also please remember this when we get to the Paris blog!)
We were to meet our tour at Hackescher Markt, which would have been
about a 25 minute walk from our hotel. Well our route was blocked by construction, our directions that we printed before we left home were confusing, and I wanted to stop all the time and take pictures! 😊 We got there on time though. Oh, that is another thing....Europeans are very punctual! They are always on time...so never be late! We had time for me to use the restroom, and J went and bought me a bottle of water. Turned out he bought the one with gas. Europeans like their water carbonated, like soda water. Gross! So when you order water, they will ask still, or with gas? Order still water for normal drinking water! J gave me his water and he took the gassy water. So nice of him! 😊
We headed off on the tour under a grubby train overpass that was covered in graffiti (graffiti is everywhere in Europe!), and across a park to stop at some nondescript location where our guide proceeded to tell us his story of how he came to live in Berlin and become a guide, and a little about the city, where we were from...blah blah blah! Honestly, I wasn't really
paying much attention. I was too busy wondering if it would be rude to snap photos while he was talking! Ha ha! He walked us over the river and through the stone walkways of the Old National Gallery, without any explanation as to what the building was or what it housed (I've had to to a lot of research for this blog), and brought us to a stop in front of the Old Museum. The Old Museum is beautiful! It's wide stone steps lead up to massive pillars that dominate the entire front facade of the building. Our tour guide told us some of the history of the building, how most of the stuff is now in the New Museum "over there" and this collection was not very impressive. Adjacent to the museum is the Berlin Dom (cathedral). I have been drooling over this building since I first saw it, and our guide gave it maybe 3 sentences. If you look at it closely, you can see the lighter patches of concrete on the facade where the bullet holes from the war were repaired, and you can go inside and climb to the top. That's it! That's all he said!
He then led us our the other side of museum island and stopped in front of Neue Wache (New Guard House). This was built to be the guard house for a near-by royal palace. The palace is gone, and the guard house now is a memorial to the victims of war and tyranny. It houses the remains of one unknown concentration camp victim, and one unknown soldier. So, essentially, it is Germany's version of the tomb of the unknowns, and their tribute to the victims of the war.
From there, we walked past many interesting buildings, including Humboldt University, to the Brandenburg Gate. This was the original entrance into the city. It was built in the late 1700's and the Quadriga, the Goddess Victoria and horse sculpture on top, has a history of being stolen by whichever force overtook the city. It was returned to Germany in 1814 when the Prussians overtook Paris and reclaimed it, and has been in Berlin since. The square it looks down upon was renamed Pariser Platz, so Victoria overlooks Paris square to signify Victory over Paris...so our tour guide said anyway. The Berlin wall was just on the west side of the Brandenburg
Gate (we were on the east side the whole tour). There are bricks built into the roadway to commemorate where the wall once stood. The US embassy is just east of the gate, and the Hotel Adlon (Where MJ dangled his baby) is about a block further east. Leaving the gate, we walked south to The Memorial for the Murdered Jews in Europe. Eloquent, yes? It's the Holocaust Memorial. It's huge blocks of concrete of varying height, set in a grid the size of a city block. Our guide said that the government had a few designs to choose from and this is what they went with. He thought it was sort of dumb, I didn't think so. He said the designer wanted to leave it nondescript so people could come to their own conclusions....see in it what they wanted. Most people see a graveyard (J included). He said that some people look at the negative space as a symbol of what was missing. I viewed it as a journey and road blocks. Like just when you think you have been put to the test, been through the worst, you find that the next hurdle is even higher, and the
next one higher still. I see it as the journey of a Jew during the Holocaust...one roadblock after another, and the next always worse than the last, with no end in sight. I thought it was very moving...and J thought it was boring. There is a museum underneath of it that I would like to visit sometime.
We had a bit of a break at this time. We grabbed a coffee and paid .50€ (50 euro cent) to use the bathrooms. Another little tidbit...public restrooms are pay to use in Germany! Unless you are using one at a restaurant you are eating in (and most of them are pay too). So stock up on the .50¢ pieces! Our guide walked us to the location where Hitler committed suicide and told us some history of the events leading up to that day and the discovery of the body. It's just an apartment complex now. From there we walked down to where the remainder of the Berlin Wall is still standing. There is quite a large portion of it still standing! It was really amazing to see! Our guide told us how it was erected almost overnight. That people were sneaking
back from living on one side, to work on the other because pay was better on one side, and living was cheaper on the other. They woke up one morning and the wall was up and they would never be able to go to work, see their families, or go home again. There was some trial and error in the construction of the wall. The concrete over steel bar construction was created because people were able to just ram though concrete with their cars if they got going fast enough. The semi-round steel top was added because they found that the barbed wire was actually helping people climb over. It was giving them something to grab onto and hoist themselves up! The smooth round steel was slippery and did not offer anything to grip. The final design was with the addition of a second wall running parallel to the first. The in-between left no room to hide and was patrolled by guards and tanks, and guard towers were placed every 20 or so feet with armed guards that had shoot-to-kill orders for anyone found in the in-between. It was lined with sand to make it more difficult to run, and
to show any footprints. It was called the death strip. The wall didn't fully come down until 1990, and this portion has been left standing.
Our final stop on the trip was Checkpoint Charlie. This was the most well-known of the border crossing checkpoints (crossing East and West Berlin) and was controlled by the American Military. There is a guard shack there, but it's not the original. This is also the site where in 1961, 10 soviet tanks, and 10 American tanks stood facing each other with "fire when fired upon" orders. This stand off lasted about a week and ended peacefully, as did the Cold War itself.
So wrapping up the tour, we got directions back to the hotel where we warmed up, rested our feet, used the wi-fi, and maybe took a bit of a nap, before heading back out! This time we took a taxi to Hackescher Markt. It was just before sunset, so maybe 4pm, but we decided to have dinner anyway. We looked at the wide range of eating options in Hackescher Markt and decided on Am to Pm where I had a burger and J had...you guessed it: schnitzel! They put cucumber
wedges on my burger...omg so so so good! I could eat there every day! So after our meal, we followed our path from earlier in the day and went back to museum island where I took many pictures of the Old National Gallery, Old Museum, and Berlin Cathedral. I really should find a light travel tripod for taking night photos! So difficult to remain completely motionless and not blur the photos! J found a public toilet that cleaned itself after each use!! Ha ha! We went inside the the Berlin Cathedral and paid to take the self-guided tour. Wow! I can't explain to you how enormous this chamber was! And so incredibly detailed and beautiful! You could take the stairs to the top overlook....4 different sets of stairs totaling up to about 7 floors (267 steps!)! My legs were burning! It was so worth it though! To see Berlin spread out before us at night....so gorgeous! And the clouds had cleared and offered us unobstructed views! I even got to see the little cherub butts up close! 😉 After the balcony, we went down to the crypt in the basement where the Prussian Royals' remains are housed. There was a
story behind this. Something about the Prussian King trying to convince the Germans that he wanted peace and liked the Germans, so he had his family interned in Berlin at the Cathedral....or something. Here is a short video of the bells! 😊
From the church, we just walked down to one of the main roads and made our way back to the hotel. We walked though some of the shopping areas, and looked in the windows. The next morning we were up bright and early to have a quick breakfast, and catch a taxi to the hauptbahnhof to catch our train to Munich! We had more time than needed, so had a Starbucks and croissant and sat on a bench in the train station just people watching. This time when our train came, we knew what to expect and how to find the right number car! It was much more relaxed. We had second class tickets this time, which seats just like a bus for the most part. But our seat were vis-a-vis, which meant facing each other with a table between us. I slept some...J read. It was about a 4-5 hour trip--no changes this time, so
we just relaxed.
J and I have always said how perfectly everything fell into place with our trip. Most times, a person can say, "well, it could have been better if we just..." but not for us! It seemed that everything fell precisely into place to give us the best trip possible! I've already said how the weather was perfect for the situation, well consider that we had the smallest train station possible to use to learn the trains, so when we got to the big train station, it was a piece of cake! We used a train first, which allowed us time to understand the road signs before J had to drive (with some help from Lisa too!). And we visited Berlin first, which I am so glad we did! I would never have been able to appreciate Berlin if I went after seeing Paris's architecture, or the traditional German architecture of Bavaria and the small towns! Berlin was very block-like....like a fortress, with some interesting things thrown in. It's a very artsy city, with a storied past. I really enjoyed Berlin, and I don't think I would have been as open to it if we had gone
after Paris! I hope we visit again!
So next installment---Munich on to Garmisch and the Castles! 😊
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anonymous
non-member comment
Launie, you and Jeremy were great guests! I am very happy you came and had a nice stay:-) I look forward to reading about the rest of your journey in Europe!