Wandering around Southern Germany


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August 5th 2008
Published: August 5th 2008
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Aug 2, 2008

We are currently staying with Peter’s cousin Rebekka in Gussenstadt and this will be our home base for the next few days. We will be taking day trips as there are lots to see around this area. Gussenstadt (1200 pop.) borders two provinces Baden Wurttemberg and Bavaria. There are so many little villages (dorfs) within a few kilometers of each other but because they are situated in valleys you cannot see one to the other. Most of the landscape is rolling hills and farming. We wake up to the chickens and roosters most mornings as we are on the edge of town. This morning we have decided to go into Heidenheim (50000 pop.) to the market and see what this town has to offer. Once leaving the market we head to Ulm for the afternoon which has approx 100,000 people. The kids went to climb the Munster which is a 900 year old church, 161.5 meters tall at the steeple. All the churches we have seen are very different inside, some our very ornate others very plain. The builders have been influenced by baroque, gothic, and Romanesque styles. That evening we head back to home and have a BBQ. 4 different salads and 6 different types of meat - bratwurst, chicken, ribs, pork, steak and kaasewurst (sausage with cheese inside) The Germans eat a lot of meat, morning, noon and night, which most of us are not use to. Also if you don’t drink beer, coffee or water there is not much else. We have drunk more water and pop then we ever have and about the only place where I have had tea is at Peters Tantes place. Try and find 2% milk, or look for it on a menu and it doesn’t exist.

Aug 3, 2008

It is Sunday today and we head to Neresheim, where Peters 94 year old grandmother (Oma) lives. This is also a small little dorf but we head to the Kloster Neresheim (abbey) for church. The abbey has been around for since the 1100’s. The monks have kept it going and do most of there own farming, gardening and work around it. Mass consisted of about 10 monks and priests along with the old pipe organ which just fills the church with sound. We then tour around the countryside while we wait for Peters cousin to join us and take us to Oma. We had a wonderful visit but at the same time it is sad as Oma is getting on. We head to an old medieval castle Burg Katzenstein where you can rent our rooms for parties and the guests and workers are dressed in medieval ware. From there we go to dinner with cousin Klaus and his family. Hannah ordered ½ schnitzel and when it came it was one schnitzel about the size of a dinner plate. Pete and I split a cordon bleu as it was made with 2 whole chicken breasts and more than enough cheese and ham inside, at least this place had a salad bar.

Aug 4, 2008

We get up early and drive to Ulm, 30 min, where we take the regional train to Munich to spend the day. Garrett takes a different train - ICE, which goes about 300km per hour. He arrives before us and wanders around before we arrive 2 hours later. First stop, the Hofbrauhaus where we have lunch and listen to OomPaaPaa music. We saw the biggest pretzels ever! I have a meal of different cheeses and a wonderful rye bread with raw veggies - it was so good! This is a bustling city with many fashion shops, department stores and cafes. We took in the sights around the old town and new, with its different “platz’s”. We found an old church built by the Assam brothers, very small, but every square inch was decorated with either gold or carvings or painting or sculptures. It was quite amazing as this church is still used for services. The two buildings on either side of the church were the residences of the two brothers. As we wander back to the train station we come across the autokonig (The Car King) and we see Bentley, Ferrari, Aston Martin and Maserati - with prices starting at about $150,000 Euros. Our train ride home was good, very full as this train is also used by many commuters from the outer lying little dorfs. Tomorrow is a day of rest and laundry.



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