Germany Trip

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Note: TravelBlog is not hosting videos, so I embedded them at the end of the journal text below. Even farther down the webpage you will find the extra photos.


Day 0 (Jan 28, 2013)




Before I explain why I am calling this “Day Zero” instead of the first day, let me explain the background of this trip to Germany. Two years ago I was asked to attend the Joint Engineer Operations Course in Germany as a student (in preparation for me to begin doing it as an instructor). I turned down the offer because I had already taken the course. Although I was ready to instruct, only experienced “senior” instructors go to the overseas courses. Over the next couple years I instructed the course 5 or 6 times per year as it cycled annually to the engineer schools in Missouri, Virginia, Ohio, California, and Hawaii (all of which I am a repeat traveler).




Again came the cycle for Germany and I made my travel plans. The course is at Grafenwoehr in southeast Germany and I schedule a flight to Munich a few days earlier to allow me some time to explore (at my personal expense). I downgrade the rental car to economy to save the government some funds and I arrange lodging on the Army base. I also arrange lodging down on the Austrian border at Grainau for my adventure days. Grainau is just past the Garmisch ski area famous from the Olympics. I buy ski goggles and ski pants, but plan to rent the rest once I arrive. I also find an interesting castle and a German technology museum to add to my planned agenda.




The departure day arrives so I say goodbye to the family, finish packing, and hurry to the airport. However, my flight is cancelled due to bad weather at my waypoint in Philadelphia. I am given a new flight for the next day (hence the “day zero”) which connects in Charlotte. I call Christie who is glad (as am I) we can spend another night at home. However, I am challenged to rebook the rental car and lodging. I fixed the rental car online, but I got a higher rate since it was last minute. The lodging was a tougher issue… the only way to fix it was to make an international cell phone call (which I did not know how to do) and speak to a German (a language I do not know). I manage to add international calling to my cell plan and make the call. Thankfully, the German hotel clerk knows enough English to change my timeframe. All is well again.




Day 1




I again say goodbye and depart. My extra time at home allowed me to find an European power adapter and some GPS maps of the areas I am going. This time, I make progress by checking it at the airport. My flight is delayed, but not cancelled. The delay causes many passengers to miss their connecting flights, but I am ok. After the short flight to Charlotte, I still have a three-hour wait until the Lufthansa flight to Munich. This flight is nine-hours long and I am lucky to find an empty row so I can relax. Everyone is talking in German, including the captain and flight crew. I arrive wearily in Munich and find that everything written in German as well. Almost nothing is bilingual as I expected.




I get my bags and my tiny rental car. Then, I hook up the GPS and slowly get going. The car is manual and I have not driven manual in many years. The roads are narrow, the signs are foreign, and the speed limits are crazy (or unlimited on the autobahns). My tiny car tops out at 140 km/hr (about 85 mph) and I am passed in a blur by high-end BMW’s and Audi’s going nearly double my speed. The countryside is fairly drab for an hour until I get close to the Alps. Now the countryside is covered in snow and mountains soar very steeply up to white capped ridges with ski lifts. As I come into the city, my lack of stick shift skills really is a pain. I arrive at my hotel or so I think until the clerk/owner tells me I am booked at the “other” Hotel Garni Post. I get my GPS straightened out and keep traveling.




I finally reach the right hotel and then I go walking to find my last two necessities, Euros and groceries (in that order since shops here do not typically accept cards). Everywhere I walk is covered in melting slush and water is pouring from every roof as the snow melts. I find an ATM and none of my cards work. I called them in advance to make sure I was good to go in Germany, but I have to call them again to reset my pin. I finally get some Euros and head off to find groceries. As I am driving, I happen to find a military installation and a commissary with American food! Not only do I get supplies for the whole trip, I get to pay in dollars!




My final objective for the day is to go “night sledding” on a five kilometer lit course. Unfortunately, it was a warm six-degrees Celsius today and the event was cancelled, hence the slush and melt water. So I spend the evening getting ready for the next day by teaching myself to ski via videos online.




Day 2




Breakfast at the hotel is fully German style. I have paper-thin sliced ham covered in sticky cheese, a soft boiled egg, an orange-red juice (mango maybe), sliced tomatoes with mounds of firm cheese on top, various sliced breads with various spreads, and hot chocolate. Then I pack a miniature backpack for the day on Zugspitze, the “top” of Germany. I only take a few essentials, ski goggles, and under/middle/outer garments for extreme cold. A short walk to the train station and 40 Euros gets me a day pass to the train, all of the cable cars, and all of the ski lifts.




The journey starts on a cogwheel train. It climbs at 25% grade and can handle snow without problem. It takes 40 minutes to reach the glacier level. Half of this time is through the forest and the views of the forests, huge frozen lakes, and snow capped peaks (in Germany and nearby Austria) are panoramic. The second half of the train ride is inside the rock of the mountain. At the underground “Glacier Station” the train stops. This is the main ski area, but I skip it for now and proceed to the cable car that goes the rest of the way up to the Zugspitze summit. This ride and the summit overlook is where I take the majority of my photos and videos. It is bitterly cold and very windy, but you can see over 400 mountain peaks in a 360 degree panorama of Germany and Austria (in fact, another cable car connects down to the Austrian side). You can also see the whole glacier below with its ski lifts and skiers. Soon I will be one.




Although I have snowboarded once, skiing is entirely different. In a snowboard, you control by cutting an edge of the board into the snow with your heels or toes, depending on which way you want to go. You cannot travel on flat terrain or go uphill since your feet are both locked to the board and you have no poles. With skis your feet are free to sidestep uphill and you have poles for traveling on flat terrain. For control, you apply force with the inner or outer side of your feet to make an edge of the ski bite into the snow. I rent a ski set (skis, boots, and poles) and give it a try. The boots hold your feet/ankles solid and are designed to fit the spring loaded latches on the skis. I find a flat area, get some practice, and sidestep uphill a bit to test my control. Then I ski (with a couple falls) down to the first ski lift and keep improving/falling until closing time.




Day 3




After another German-style breakfast, I hit the road to visit some castles an hour away. I take a shortcut through part of Austria, but my GPS ceases to navigate. I almost turn back, but finally get the GPS to give location and show a map. This means I have minimal help and need to navigate myself. Soon, the narrow gorge opens into the giant Tyrol valley and I pull over to take some photos. Later, I unfortunately miss an exit (easy to do since I cannot read the signs), enter a tunnel complex, and end up halfway to Zurich, Switzerland. I double back to the missed exit, cross back into Germany, and park in the small village where the castle tours begin.




The only access to the castles is via guided tour and tickets must be purchased in the village. I get a ticket and start hiking the 40 minute walk up to the Neuschwanstein castle. While I wait for my tour time, I take photos of the castle and the surrounding snow-capped mountains, waterfalls, and amazing views in every direction. King Ludwig II sure picked a prime location for his castle. Unfortunately, he mysteriously drowned at the young age of 41. He lived in the castle for less than a year and portions of construction were not yet complete. Inside, the rooms are ornate with paintings on every wall, fancy trim, double arch ceilings (also colorfully painted), and lavishly furnished. The throne room has a floor scene painted in a two million tile mosaic, walls painted with the Bavarian kings and the twelve apostles under Christ above, and a starry sky ceiling with an enormous bejeweled chandelier. Every window has a postcard-worthy view. I spend the rest of the day exploring countless rooms each as unbelievable as the last.




It is cold with light rain as I finally leave the castle. As I return uneventfully to my hotel, the rain gets harder. My night sledding event is again cancelled, so I spend the evening reading the Lohengrin and Parzival legends. Their scenes were depicted in the majority of the castle’s paintings. Photos were prohibited, but you can see the rooms at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuschwanstein_Castle#Interior .




Day 4




It starts to snow just as I am checking out of the Grainau hotel. By the time I pass Garmisch, the snow is heavy and the traffic coming into town is backed up for many miles. I assume these are the skiers arriving for the weekend. Thankfully, my outbound lane is clear and I have no trouble getting to Munich. The city looks just like in the movies… narrow streets lined with tall buildings with shops all along the ground level, European cars pushing through heavy traffic, and crowds of pedestrians filling every sidewalk. I pull into an underground parking garage in the middle of downtown and wedge the car into an impossibly small slot. Then I walk through town and across the Isar river bridge to the large island where the museum is located.




The Deutsches Museum is a complex of multistory buildings, the centermost being six levels high. Tickets are purchased from kiosks in the courtyard and then you enter the maze of levels and dozens of stairways. Just inside the main entrance is the electrical power exhibit which has a 1.2 million volt impulse generator. It is working and they fire off lightning bolts as one of many demonstrations throughout the museum. They have every piece of equipment imaginable from early devices to modern technology. Not only are these pieces the real thing (not models), they are all cut away so you can see the inner workings. There is a mind boggling array of engines, aircraft, water turbines, spacecraft, steel plants, oil refineries, printing, textiles, on-and-on. Each exhibit spans multiple huge rooms each containing hundreds of actual devices.




The most striking aspect was the level of technical detail presented. Exhibits in US museums typically just show a summarized story about the topic. At Deutsches, exhibits do not dumb it down to layman level and everything learned is applied. Unfortunately, the descriptions are in German with few English translations. I have been walking and climbing stairs for most of the day, so I head back to the car and go to find my next hotel.




Day 5-11




My exploring days end and my workweek of teaching begins. Afterward, I return the tiny Fiat to Munich airport and fly home. Germany was a true European adventure, especially since it was my first time in any European country.




VIDEOS: (Sorry about the wind noise! Did I mention it was cold and windy?)




Ski Area

Ski Area




Acending Zugspitze

Acending Zugspitze




Zugspitze Summit

Zugspitze Summit




Summit Overlook

Summit Overlook




Neuschwanstein Castle

Neuschwanstein Castle

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Comments

[Home and Away]

Thanks for the memories of my time in Germany...
I was a DoD civilian assigned to USAFE for two years ('77-'80) and EUCOM for four('80-'84) followed by 11 years at NATO in Brussels, so saw planty of ski action across the Alps. My last visit was to a conference at the AFRC in Garmisch in April 2005...I also took some personal days before and after to revist old haunts...including the top of the Zugspitz. Have a great time!