Germany

Germany - October, 2001

Our neighbors Charlie & Maria split their time between Boulder and Maria's village of Oberaudorf in Southern Bavaria on the Austrian border. We spent a wonderful week with Charlie & Maria then struck out on our own with our Avis Mercedes.

Our itinerary:

Sept 28 - arrive in Munich from Denver via Dulles. The 3 1/2 hour wait to get through security at DIA was a really good time and we missed our flight to Dulles. Luckily we were flying United (UAL - usually, always, late) and our Munich connection was 2 hours delayed so we made that flight with time to spare.

Drove to Oberaudorf and then to our hotel, the Hotel Feuriger Tatzlwurm. An absolutely beautiful place in the mountains with a great restaurant and spa. Rolf the German Shepherd would accompany us on our early morning hikes even though he didn't speak much English.

Using Oberaudorf as a base, we visted Munich for the tail end of Oktoberfest, spent a day in Salzburg and did some hiking in the Alps outside of Kufstein. I like the German/Austrian program of hiking 20km and finding a Gasthof at the end of the trail with a deck, beer and food.

Oct 4 - Drove to Rothenburg O.D.T. by way of Neuschwanstein and almost the entire Romantic Road. Most of it is not that romantic but the good parts are well worth it. Stayed at the small, exquisite Burg Hotel with a large room overlooking the Tauber from the city wall.

Oct 6 - Left Rothenburg for Ettlingen which is on the fringe of the northern black forest. This turned out to be one of our favorite places because the town is truly charming and our suite at the hotel, the Erbprinz, was beautiful.

Oct 8 - The Mosel & Rhine. Stayed in Cochem which was OK but crowded with New Wine Festival party animals. Our hotel, the Alte Thorschenke was a nice looking, 14th century experience and had an absolutely stellar restaurant. But the bed was the most uncomfortable I've ever been in (I sank into it and slept in a "V" position) and the staff was surly and unfriendly.

Oct 10 - After driving down the Rhine and seeing places like Marksburg and Burg Rheinfels we spent another night in Ettlingen rather than make the drive to Munich.

Oct 11 - Dachau and then the final night in Munich.

Oct 12 - Flew back to Denver from Munich. The security people in the Munich airport spoke better English than the DIA security guards.

If you would like more info or have questions, please email me at alanb@flyingmutts.com.

Here are my twisted choices out of the 400+ pics I took for the highlights of the trip.

Click on pictures for a larger image.

Only Charlie doesn't fall for Alan saying "everyone point at the glider."	So, Maria, tell us again what "ruhetag" means. Luckily another Gasthof was open past her first choice. Unfortunately, it was a steep climb - but worth it for the view and cold radlers.	Sue wouldn't let me take a picture of her doing this in front of the Fish & Game Museum in Munich.
Wouldn't you know that the first chickens we find in a week turn out to be pets, not on the menu.	Sue's insistence on going to Neuschwanstein took us 4 hours out of our way and was so crowded we immediately left. Posing for this picture was Sue's punishment.	Our Mercedes' "star" got stolen in Rothenburg along with 30 others that night. The hotel manager said the culprits were probably from Austria.
Yes, Mosbach is where we wanted to go.	And what a nice surprise once we got there! (Sue wasn't thrilled.)	Sue tries every phone jack in the hotel room to try and get on e-mail. Couldn't get the computer to connect anywhere we stayed.
The only junkyard in Germany we saw disguised as a museum was in Marxzell in the Black Forest. Too bad it was closed.	The US has Tex-Mex, Germany has Mex-Balk. Unfortunately it was closed so we didn't eat at this place in Cochem.	Burg Eltz - the real thing. Forget Neuschwanstein.