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Published: October 19th 2016
Check out the video of Germany and Austria which I uploaded.
Germany and Austria in 30 seconds Click here for the video. Password is warta It's our last day in this stunning country as I sit to commence the blog it has been a whirlwind of beauty, adventure and valuable catch ups with our German friends and family. It feels like we have been here a lot longer than we were. Last night Mum departed Munich home to Sydney having arrived 33 days ago in Frankfurt, only hours before we flew in from Russia.
Cologne, the Romantic Rhine and Heidleburg Our first German summer days did nothing to make Ralph feel homesick as they were wet and cold. Cologne was destination number 1 and we were greeted by the familiar bright smiling faces of Jens and Aline just back from their summer camping trip in northern France. Our second visit to Cologne took us to the beautiful coloured glass ornate Cologne Cathedral, the quaint old town peppered with the famous Cologner beer halls and their slightly taller than a nip glass sized kolsch beers. Small so you drink them fresh and quickly. They are constantly replenished by the efficient waiter if you don't top the glass
with a coaster. There is also the hip shopping district complete with the flagship store for 7411 eu De Cologne - the roll on scent which took me back to my 1970s Aussie childhood. We enjoyed delicious food including a delightful homely breakfast at Aline and Jens, and mum on her first night in Deutschland was easily swayed to order a huge pork knuckle in the local beer hall that night.
Aline and Jens joined us in one of the most scenic parts of the journey on a 100 year old ornate paddle steamer for a 5 hour trip along the Romantic Rhein river. Mum had wanted to do this scenic journey for a long time and none of the Germans had done it either. We commenced the journey from the pretty riverside town Koblenz about 1 hours drive south of Cologne. The river itself is a very pretty cloudy aqua colour, free flowing and framed on either side by green countryside. Along the journey the river banks are freckled with petite German villages with many tudour Style houses ornately coloured with bright potted flowers on their windowsills. The occassional campsite passed us by. As we travelled further along
the land became steeper and this is where the vineyards began to emerge. It seemed that in every spare pocket of land from the top of the steepest mountain to the river bank, grape vines had been planted, the scene of which was very memorable. The highlight were the numerous castles perched high on steep hillsides overlooking the villages and river. Majestic buildings I would say not, rather large stone structures protruding over the hillsides built for wealthy elite (non-royals), we wondered how in the world the inhabitants (and their livestock) ever managed to climb the hills every day to get home.
Our destination was the popular old town of Rudesheim. We spent a few hours wandering the narrow "pedestrian only" streets and viewing the famous 2 meter wide pedestrian Drosselgasse with its quaint shops. Bidding farewell to Jens and Aline who returned via train to Cologne, we stayed the night in a neighbouring river side village in an extremely old tudor style hotel circa 1570, built into the side of the mountain. Our back yard view was onto the neighours vineyard racing steeply back up the mountain. Mum and I enjoyed a nice tipple of Riesling that night
in the old pub to accompany our rather large schnitzel.
Who has heard of the German Cognac beverage Asbach? We were the first to arrive at the distillery doorstep at 9am sharp the next morning. Clearly a household name in Germany and I would later discover that it is not a beverage consumed by many Germans other than our Aussie-German friend Patrik. Hard to drink at the best of times, we tasted a selection for breakfast and purchased the desert wine which was quite delicious and then later picked up a cheap bottle for Patrik at the bottlo around the corner. But before leaving we finished our breakfast off with an Asbach liquer chocolate which was originally created for women in the times when drinking alcohol amongst the feminine sex was frowned upon. It was on this morning some six days into her trip with us that Mum began her commentary about Ralph's strange breakfast habits.
We continued our trip through the vineyards and discovered a large 15th century Monastry situated in a very green valley with beautiful gardens. The monastry is now a museum (the church of which is used for musical concerts and weddings). We wandered
around, before arriving at a well stocked cellar and purchased more Riesling to devour in coming weeks.
Arriving in Heidelberg that afternoon, we based ourselves in one of Germany's best hostels, situated in the old town at the base of the hill on top of which the Heidelberg castle sits. The impressively located hostel owned by a German lady was decorated with original and restored retro furniture and we seemed to have the whole top floor to ourselves. The two tastefully decorated bedrooms and well stocked kitchenette had a view looking straight up at our neighbour - the castle at the top of the hill.
Annette a friend from Sydney and her partner Andrew had recently relocated to a town an hour outside Heidelburg and we were lucky to catch up with Annette and spend the afternoon viewing the sites of the castle with her. The castle has an impressive pharmacological museum and the biggest wine barrell in the world..... Ralph thought we had found it when we discovered a barrell about the size of a landcruiser, however when we walked around the corner we discovered a second wine barrell the size of a house.
Before departing
Heidleburg the next day we did a walk across the river up the steep embankment beyond the stately riverfront mansions to take a look back towards the old town, its castle and beautiful scenic countryside beyond Heidelberg.
Summer festivities in Stuttgart One of the great things about travelling through Germany is die Autobahn. The ease and pace at which you can get onto the freeway and out of most cities is remarkable. It is just a hop, skip and jump onto the autobahn, pick up a bit of pace (maybe 180 or so) through green countryside and farmland speeding past small townships (often with one or two tall church steeples protruding). In seemingly no time we arrived in Stuttgart, Ralph's home city.
Our whole trip thus far had been planned around this day, to arrive in Stuttgart for the weekend of their summer festival. So to the centre of town is where we headed. We meandered around the town centre, through the delightful fresh food hall and into the festival grounds eventually meeting Ralphs mates Jens, Aida and Michael for an overdue reunion and Friday night on the town. Mum and I were introduced to
the bright orange cocktail Aeperol Spritz ( main ingredient is prosecco and we had many of them on the journey ahead)....as the night progressed we were escorted to the best currywurst kiosk in town (in the red light district) we ordered the currywurst "special" a sausage accompanied by curry tomatoe flavoured sauce and with mayo, actually one of the most delicious dinners we had in Deutschland. Where was Dillon I hear you ask? Right there with us, he is a night owl and a real trooper. Whilst we aren't on the "Ran Tan"every night, he certainly holds up very well for a 4 year old on these occassions (luckily for his Nanna and his young'n'hip mummy and Papa). Actually we were home by 1030, er I think we left Papa with his mates.
Our five days in Stuttgart were busy, hosted for several delicious breakfasts by Jens and Aida, escorted to a Black Forest rehabilitation resort town for delightful treetops walk and a refreshing trek to the waterfall in Bad Urach with Michael.
We caught up with Caroline, Sienna, Sven and Finn, in their brand new home. Having just immigrated to Germany from Sydney they were still waiting
for their furniture crate to arrive. Dillon had a great afternoon playing with the boys and sliding around in socks on the sparse loungeroom floorboards.
We were hosted for a delightful Sunday bbq party by Karen and Nikolas and their kids Timo and Lara and a very long overdue reunion with Ralph's university crew. Dillon had soo much fun, 10 yo Timo had patiently played lego with him for hours and endlessly raced him round the garden. Thanks Timo.
Fossils, the Ulm Munster and the Danube Departing Stuttgart we went directly toward a former volcanic area where huge dinosaur fossils had been found. We explored a museum and Ralph took Dillon off to fossick for fossils, a childhood activity he had done with his family. We stopped at a beautiful old town in a valley boasting a beautiful blue lake known as Blau Topf set beside a working tudor style mill and surrounded by a beautifu green forest. It is here we picked up some of the most deliciously sweet and gigantic cherries, straight off the farmers cart. In the afternoon we arrived in Ulm situated by the Danube River. Ulm is where Ralph went
to university and is known for its Ulm Munster, a church with the highest spire in the world. We climbed more than 700 steps to get to the top of the spire with a beautiful view out over the surrounding countryside beyond the town. We walked around the small town and down by the river before meeting up with Rene for dinner in the Ulm winefest marquee for a very delicious meal but probably the coldest night we had experienced, so mum, Dillon and I left Rene and Ralph alone to drink for 'uni' times sake.
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Liviu
non-member comment
Gruss aus Stuttgart
I enjoyed reading your blogs and appreciated the comments about your trip. I translated them to Doris and she was also amused about Kellys writing style. We wish you further viel Spaß und komme gesund nach Hause. Liviu & Doris