May 2020 – Page 5 – RV Travels in Europe and North America

May 30, 2019 Meissen GE

Today we decided to end our stay in Bavaria after 2 weeks. We were tempted to head into Nuremberg, but after some more thought we decided to make a jump north. So today we are in a very quirky Stellplatz in Meißen in Saxony.

The German countryside at 60mph from the autobahn.

The trip was our longest in Germany so far at a bit over 220km’s. Feeling a little lazy we decided to pick the fastest route which turned out to be almost all Autobahn. We were on a nice roll and covering distance at a rate we are not used to even though we were among the slowest vehicles on the autobahn. It turns out today is a holiday in Germany so while there was virtually no trucks on the road there were a ton of cars. When we were less than 2km’s from our exit the right lane came to a complete halt with an equal number of cars stopped in the right lane and the shoulder. At first we thought there must be an accident, but it turns out there was some kind of event at out exit. It was interesting to watch the disciplined Germans behave just like the rest of the world when faced with a traffic jam, most people stayed in the right lane and crept towards the exit, a higher percentage than we would see in the US decided to run up the shoulder to the exit and force their way in there, this ended after a few minutes when a couple of cars blocked the shoulder to prevent that happening. Also a few real jerks just like in the US used the left lane (which was still moving) and then forced their way in right at the exit. It turns out people are the same everywhere, even the disciplined Germans.

Ton had picked out Meissen because it is supposed to be a relatively undiscovered gem. After the sophisticated tourist cities of Bavaria, Meissen was really refreshing. Meissen is famous for its porcelain as well as its castle and cathedral on a bluff overlooking the Elbe River. The climb to the castle was steep but worth it.

The Cathedral in Meissen. I suspect the black on the towers is due to pollution and not design.

The red roofs of Meissen from the castle grounds. Ton tells me these rooftop shots are “the thing” these days.

The only really touristy thing in town, and there was only one wagon.

As we walked around the town it was crowded as not only is it Ascension Day but also Fathers Day. Interestingly in Germany, Fathers Day is celebrated by the men having a boys day out without the families. We saw one group of guys being pulled thru town on a trailer behind a tractor with beer steins in hand. Also, unlike in Bavaria we did not hear any English (or Thai) as we walked.

As we were waiting for our bus back to the aire we noticed this moving monument to the inmates of the small concentration camp located near Meissen.

This is our first experience in the old East Germany so the differences in the buildings and the infrastructure we saw was interesting. We need a few more days to decide if the difference is Bavaria vs Saxony, or West German vs East Germany.

Also today Google Maps let us down for the first time. We decided to take the bus back to save a couple of miles of uphill walking. We really rely on Google Maps to help us navigate and to use the transit systems over here. It gives you good routes and even tells you what busses/trains to take and what stops to get off. I do not know how we did it before. Everything was going well and we got off at the bus stop Google told us to. It showed a route for us to walk, and when I began to follow it it lead us to a hedge row and I heard a creek behind it. I looked at the map and realized that it was sending us directly cross country not following a road or trail. So our easy walk home became about a mile and a half as we circled the woods and the creek between us and our destination, we trudged along in silence me cursing Google, and Ton I am sure thinking I was lost again.

May 29, 2019 Bayreuth GE

As I said yesterday we planned to move to Bayreuth to go to the largest beer museum in the world. It was an easy 50km drive in light rain, and we have parked up at the first free aire since we arrived in Germany.

After lazing around for a while waiting for the rain to stop, we headed into town to the museum. The museum is only available by tour twice a day and we wanted to make sure we had a spot so after checking in we were told to come back in a couple of hours.

We headed over to the main street of Bayreuth and found a really nice and wide pedestrian zone. We enjoyed checking out the stores and the people. It was a little quiet since the weather was still unsettled and unseasonably cold. We stopped by the opera house which is a world heritage site to check on tour times as it is also only accessible on tours.

Every town in Bavaria has one of these poles which shows the different services available in the town. By tradition they are taken down and updated every 3 years which prompts a beer festival.

After a quick lunch at a Donner Kebab place we headed over to the Maisel World of Beer for our tour. When we first checked in they told us the tour was in German but they would give us an English script so we could follow along. However, it turns out we were the only ones on the tour, so the guide said she would do the tour in English if we did not mind her making a few mistakes as she had never done the tour in English before. It turned out to be a great tour. When Maisel replaced their old factory with a more modern one, they just left all of the equipment in place in the old building. We were able to see really cool beer making equipment purchased between 1890 and 1910 still in working order.

Some of the original equipment from Maisaels factory. It was used from about 1900 to the late 1970’s.

The tour much like yesterday included every part of the beer process from grain to shipping. The bonus was it was done in English, our guide was a college student from the local University and she did quite well only stumbling on a couple of technical terms. They also had an interesting display of beer glasses, steins, and signs from over the last 100 years.

Some of the hundreds of beer steins on display.

They have over 5400 beer glasses on display from around the world. We found a few from Oregon.

They still produce their traditional Maisel Weiss which is the beer that made them famous. But the 4th generation of brewers wanted to expand the horizons a bit so they have a second company called Maisel and Friends which while keeping with the purity laws produces typical micro brews including ales, porters, and IPA’s. The brewery itself looks very much like an upscale west coast brewery. It would fit in very well in San Diego or Portland. It was interesting to see the German take on a microbrewery.

We ended a day with a tour of the Margravial Opera House which was built from 1744 to 1748. This time there were plenty of Germans on the tour, so we were relying on our pamphlet to understand what we were seeing.

The wood carvings on the balcony of the theater is incredibly intricate.

It was built by Frederick the Greats daughter to celebrate the marriage of her daughter Wilhelmine to the Duke of Wurtemberg. Unfortunately the marriage did not work out very well, and the couple were effectively separated before the Opera House was paid for.

The wood carvings on the interior are incredibly intricate and a bit ostentatious. The stage is really deep and allows for the staging of really large sets with lots of extras. For this reason it was a favorite place for the German composer Richard Wagner to stage his operas some of which go on for 3 or 4 hours with giant casts.

Bayreuth was the adopted home town of the composer Richard Wager so these little statues of him are everywhere.

We were completely lost during the extensive talk about the building. But it is indeed an impressive piece of architecture, and I can see why it works as an opera house even if it is a little over the top.

Bayreuth turned out to be a very nice city and the easiest we have walked around in Germany, with a great pedestrian zone, and extensive walking and biking trails. Though we were in a big city we were mostly isolated from the cars which we enjoyed.

May 28, 2019 Kulmbach GE

Today was a pretty easy day. After Ton had one more luxury shower at the campground we headed into town to do some shopping at a Lidl and a Rewe that were conveniently next to each other in town.

Once François’ shelves were restocked we headed down the autobahn towards another Frankish town called Kulmbach. While we are technically in Bavaria the area we have been in since Rothenburg are inhabited by a people called Franks who will tell you they are not Bavarian by choice. It appears to be a friendly rivalry, but they do make a point of telling you at every opportunity that while administratively they are in Bavaria they do not consider themselves Bavarian.

We arrived at the aire in Kulmbach after Greta decided to test my driving skills by sending us right thru the center of town complete with narrow one lane roads with cars parked on both sides. After settling in we headed over to the nearby beer museum.

The museum is located on the grounds of Mohnschof Brewery and is really quite a museum. It looks like they built a new brewery on site, and took the old brewery including all of the equipment and built a really fascinating beer museum.

A shot of the interior of the new brewery that replaced the one that became the museum.

The museum winds up three floors of the old brewery and then across and back down three more floors. It covers everything from the history of beer, and variations of beer around the world. It shows everything you want to know about how to make beer from farming the main ingredients, brewing using the old brewery equipment to demonstrate how, to transporting the finished product.

The old brewery equipment that was replaced by the stuff above.

Needless to say we were in heaven. We spent altogether over 2 hours working our way thru the museum even though all of the displays and information are in German.

Really cool storage barrel, not sure if it was ever actually used to store beer.

If the signs were in English or we could read German we might still be there. The tour ended with a well deserved glass of beer.

They had a great collection of beer steins back almost 100 years.

Ton really liked this ad from the beer museum. The caption means The Reward.

As good and extensive as this museum is, it is not even the largest in the area. Tomorrow we will be visiting the largest beer museum in the world according to the Guinness book of world records.

May 27, 2019 Bamberg GE

When you are traveling from campground to parking lot to campground you start to appreciate the little things. This campground has absolutely the best showers we have ever seen in a campground and would rival most luxury hotels. Ton and I have been really taking long luxurious showers the last two days.

Ton liked this sculpture in downtown Bamberg.

We had a low key pub crawl today. We stopped in 4 breweries/beer halls and craft brew store for one of the largest suppliers of beer malt in the world. We enjoyed the breweries, and did not enjoy the malt company craft beer store due to poor service.

These wrought iron signs have been common everywhere in Germany, this one is for a brewery.

At the second of our brewery stops we saw another couple sitting at a table with no beer. At a lot of the beer halls they do not serve you at the table, instead you go to a window by the bar and order your beer. We heard them speaking English so we explained the process to them. We ended up chatting with them while we enjoyed our beer.

The beer tender at the beer garden. Frequently in Germany the beer is piped directly from the brewery to the taps.

They had lived in Beaverton Oregon for a while before retiring in Florida so we had a nice chat about traveling. Eventually we parted ways to head out on different beer agendas. A couple hours later we were sitting in our 3rd brewery when we saw them walk in. We ended up spending the next couple of hours with them as they planned to visit the same breweries we had picked. They had lived in Germany in the past and gave us some good tips on other good beer towns though they did admit that Bamberg was their favorite beer town Germany.

It was a fun day with lots of good German beer; our faith in German beer and creativity is restored after today. Ton thought I was a little harsh on Würzburg the other day, she thought the scene on the bridge was fun and that my expectations were too high .

Number 4 (6 if you count the two yesterday)and the best of our brewery crawl of Bamberg.

May 26, 2019 Bamberg GE

Had a rushed start to the day. Part of our daily routine is for me to get up and make a cup of coffee. When that is done I take a short walk so Ton can have some privacy while she gets dressed and makes herself beautiful. This morning as I was leaving the parking lot we spent the night in I realized that a bunch of people in yellow vests were taping off the entrance to the parking lot and the entrance road. I finally understood that the Würzburg Marathon was going to run right thru the parking lot we were in, so I rushed back to François and hurried Ton to get dressed before we were blocked in for the day.

As we were getting ready to set off we had to decide where to head for the day. We have been having an ongoing debate about whether to go to Nuremberg. We have read great things about it, but it is a pretty big city, and the options for parking François were pretty unappealing. We had continued the debate last night without coming to a decision whether to go to Nuremberg and then Bamberg, or straight to Bamberg. As we were getting ready to roll I asked Ton, and she said Bamberg much to my relief.

The old mill in Bamberg on the Regnitz River.

Bamberg is another World Heritage Site, with the bonus of reportedly having the most breweries per person in the world. Bamberg was a must see for us. Because of our early start, and allowing Greta Garmin to use the Autobahn we arrived in Bamberg before 10am.

The Rathaus (Town Hall) in Bamberg, the story is that the town would not provide land for the Rathaus so the Mayor built it in the river.

We have been struggling with Germany a bit. The cities are pretty, clean, and well organized. The people have been universally helpful and nice. But for us it has been less sanuk (for non-Thai’s a word that speaks to a feeling of fun, and spontaneity) than either Spain or France. As an example last night at the bridge had the feeling of sanuk right up to sunset when everyone packed up and left at once. On top of that; the beer (and this will sound heretical to many) has been mediocre since Munich. In Germany’s defense the weather has not been helpful with days and days of cold and rain. Last night we talked of heading to Poland and cutting Germany short.

The party on the bridge in Würzburg, 30 minutes later it was done.

But Bamberg does have all of the things that we have been looking for. The town is really pretty and easy to move around. The tourist information offered a beer map with 65 breweries listed in English.

They even have a coupon book that allows you to visit different breweries and get their house choice beer. We tried two today, and they were really good beers restoring our faith in German beer The sun was out and we enjoyed walking around and people watching. We even found some more Thai to talk to on the street. There have been a lot more Thai in Germany than in France or Spain.

Every place we sat down someone tried to engage us in conversation which was really nice. When we got back to the campground we extended our stay for another day to check out some other breweries that the locals told us about.

Another view of the Rathouse in Bamberg one of my favorite buildings so far in Germany.

May 25, 2019 Wurzburg GE

Tonight François is parked about 20 yards from the Main River in Wurzberg. We have had a couple of river barges come by close enough to look in the windows, and they can look into François. We even waved at a guy going by in his room. But while we have a great view out the front window, this is the closest we have ever been parked to our neighbors on each side. We cannot use our side door, and must exit from the front drivers door whenever we come and go.

One of the river barges passing about 30 feet in front of François. The hills in the background are hundreds of acres of vineyards.

Ton really liked this fountain on the pedestrian mall in Würzburg.

Würzburg is a beautiful city that was almost completely destroyed during WWII. The British Royal Air Force firebombed the city in 1945, and when the American army arrived at the town the Germans blew the bridges and made it clear they were going to defend the town. Needless to say by this point in the war, with the end in sight, we were not interested in taking any unnecessary casualties. So we just sat back and bombarded the city with artillery until we completed the destruction the British had started.

The Residence of the Prince-Bishop that was almost totally gutted during WWII.

The Germans rebuilt the town after the war, and it is a very pretty river town in a great setting with vineyards surrounding the town on the hillside. There were a couple of landmarks that were not completely destroyed by the allies. The Residence of the Prince -Bishop was largely destroyed, this was an 18th century palace along the lines of Versailles, but some of the rooms were still standing and luckily one of the “Monuments Men”, a group of US Army officers with architectural or art backgrounds tasked with preserving the art and buildings of Europe showed up in town and helped procure the needed materials to preserve what was remaining. As a result several monumental frescoes were preserved that would have been lost.

We took a guided tour of the residence, and the guide was fantastic. He really brought the building to life, and had a great blend of knowledge and a dry sense of humor that made the tour fantastic. He was able to handle questions from the group with aplomb that we really admired. Because of him the history of the residence came to life in a way that we did not expect.

Some of the Garden at the Prince-Bishops residence met to imitate Versailles.

We also had lunch at a local restaurant that had been in business since the 1300’s. The food was good and we are sure we missed a real opportunity due to language. Two ladies next to us seemed really fun, and while we tried to engage with them and them with us the lack of a common language really stifled what we are sure would have been a really fun and interesting conversation.

Würzburg has a pedestrian bridge over the Main River and the tradition is that you go to the bridge and have a glass of wine. We are not sure how old the tradition is, but it is a great way to spend the evening so we participated. When we arrived about 8pm the bridge was packed with people drinking wine and enjoying a band. But around sunset at 9pm we looked around and realized the band was packing and the crowd was nearly gone.

Ton enjoying some local wine on the Main River Bridge.

The Main River waterfront with the Catholic and Lutheran Churches in the background.

So a little disappointed we headed back to François for a late dinner, and bed.

May 24, 2019 Rothenburg ob der Tauber GE

We have visited a lot of walled towns in Europe, but Rothenburg is now the one that is the most striking. For Americans who are thinking of Europe Rothenburg would be the kind of town that springs to mind. The old town is surrounded by a wall with over 40 towers, and several medieval gates that are still in use for cars.

The pedestrian entrance to Rothenburg, cars use the bridge on the right.

Inside the walls the buildings are really well cared for, and there are buildings from every era from the 1300’s up to the 20th century. But the different aged buildings are blended well together and for us add to the architectural interest of the town.

An example of the different aged buildings and architecture.

It has been a fortified town since around the 7th century and the name translated is the Red Castle on the Tauber. The castle is gone and replaced with a garden, but the walls remain. The walls on one side of the town overlook the Tauber River, and the views are really picturesque with forests, orchards, fields and the river stretching into the distance.

Looking from the old castle site across the valley to the other side of town.

We took two passes thru the town in the afternoon and the evening. The walk in the afternoon was along the walls, and in a lot of areas you could actually walk along the battlements and look down on the moat. In most towns those areas are closed off to the public, but here all you have is a sign that says the walls are not to modern design and you should be surefooted and not subject to vertigo if you climb them.

An example of the old battlements along the wall that are still open to the public if you are surefooted and not suffering from vertigo.

In the evening we walked the main street of town and towards the gate away from the Tauber. We met another nice couple from Thailand and shared experiences traveling thru Europe with them. There is a night watchman tour offered at 8pm and we were thinking of going on that but when we arrived at the square there were easily 100 people waiting for the tour, nearly all of them American. It turned out there was only 1 watchman to lead the tour and we decided that the guide to tourist ratio was way to high to enjoy the tour so we headed back to François for the night.

The watchman of Rothenburg getting ready to begin his duty with 100 mostly Americans in tow.

The last two nights we have ended up parked next to a nice English couple. They were sitting out when we got back, so we chatted with them for a while. They have really disconnected from the news, so we ended up telling them that Theresa May had resigned as the Prime Minister of England. The other highlight of the day was that for the first time on the trip Ton got to wear shorts, and we had to open the windows on François to cool him down.

May 23, 2019 Dinkelsbuhl GE

We slept well with a natural white noise machine going all night in the form of the Lech River running at near flood stage behind us. The plan for the day was to follow the Romantic Road further north to a town called Rothenburg.

The Romantic Road is quite pretty but it reminded us of hundreds of miles of roads in France without the marketing. As we were driving we could see some flooding from the weather over the past few days.

Ton mentioned that she wanted to stop at a town called Dinkelsbuhl before we got to Rothenburg. I pulled into the parking for RV’s and was checking the pay machine to see how much it would cost for a couple of hours. I noticed the cost for a night was only €6 so I went back and asked Ton how nice was this town supposed to be? We went back and forth for a few minutes when a German couple came over having noticed the French plates and thinking we could not figure the machine out, we told them our dilemma. They were adamant that we should spend the night here as it was cheaper and the town was really special.

Dinkelsbuhl turned out to be a gem. It is a walled town with many of its towers still preserved.

One of the 18 towers still in place in Dinkelsbuhl. Some of them looked like they were private residences.

It is just big enough to have a lot of interesting things to see, but small enough to manage on foot. It is very well preserved, but still feels lived in.

This is the view as you enter the town thru one of the gates in the wall.

It really helps that the sun was out today, and for the first time in about a week we did not need to be in rain gear, or to have it in our bag on standby. We took advantage of the good weather to sit in a beer garden and try a couple of the local beers.

We have not seen any storks since Alsace. There were several pairs here.

Ton really liked the logo of the brewery today.

The recording session we were allowed to observe for a few minutes.

We finally headed back for a relaxing dinner, Ton really made a nice chicken and spatzle dish. She is really doing a great job mixing German, Thai, and American cuisines. The day ended with a quick run thru an Edeka to make sure we have the refrigerator full for the next stop. Once again the flexibility of not having reservations and our own house on wheels allowed us to make a new exciting discovery.

May 22, 2019 Augsburg GE

Today we are on the romantic road in Germany. It is a 400 km stretch that includes some of the best scenery, castles, and pretty towns of Germany according to our Backroads Germany book and the German tourist authority.

The bottom sign is for the Romantic Road which we are following for the next couple of days

We started the day with a quick shop at the Aldi across the street, and then the commissary at the Army base for some American essentials. Ton told me her trick for learning the name of essential food items as we travel around, she picks up the shopping flyers from stores and matches the name of an item with the picture above it to learn the name of foods, I thought this was really smart.

A hay barn in a very green field of grass. There are hundreds of these barns in this area.

During our touring of Bavaria we had passed the Ettel Abby twice and it really got our attention so it was our first stop for today. The Ettel Abby has been run by the St. Benedictine order at this site since the 1300’s. It is located on what was once the main trade route between Bavaria and Rome. The St. Benedictine order of monks expects that all of its’ Monasteries be self sufficient. The monks here chose to brew beer and make spirits to support themselves. They have been quite successful as their beer has been brewed on site for nearly 700 years. The Abby itself was rebuilt in the 1700’s and resembles a lot of the churches in this area with lots of elaborate art work on the ceiling of the chapel to draw your eyes toward heaven, and an overall more open and bright feel than the Gothic Cathedrals of Spain and France.

The Ettel Abby in the foothills of the Alps. The maintenance is supported largely by the sale of beer and spirits. Gotta love the Catholics.

After checking out the Abby we checked out the store to try to help the monks by buying some of their beer or liquor. But after some soul searching we decided we already had enough beer and wine on board so we headed up the road to Augsburg.

The farms in Germany are quite tidy and prosperous looking.

Augsburg was founded by the Roman emperor Augustus in 15AD and is considered the third oldest city in Germany. Today it has a mostly very modern feel as it was very heavily damaged during WWII and nearly completely rebuilt.

Emperor Augustus the founder of Augsburg.

We walked around the town for a couple of hours, the main square is quite nice. The town has a prosperous and confident air to it. The promenade thru the center of town had mostly name brand shops lining both sides of the road, which did not hold much interest for us.

The city hall and tower of Augsburg, the center of the pedestrian promenade.

We wandered over to the cathedral and it is more gothic than a lot of the cathedrals we have seen in this part of Germany. It was also ok but not particularly memorable. My take on Augsburg is that it looks like a really nice city to live in. But for a tourist on a one day stop it does not have a lot of wow moments.

Red Clover by the river in Augsburg. This flower always reminds us of spring in Oregon.

The Lech River behind our parking space tonight is still quite angry from all of the rain the last three days.

May 21, 2019 Garmisch GE

It did indeed rain 1 to 2 more inches overnight with strong wind. We both woke up about 3 am with wind and extremely heavy rain hitting the window of the hotel room. We rolled over and slept in to about 8:30 since our Bavarian Rail Pass does not allow us to use the transit system in Munich until 9am after rush hour.

Our plan was to take a train from Munich to Garmisch, and retrieve François from the US Army’s care. When we got to the imposing Munich train station, I got into an information line to find the time for the next train to Garmisch as I was getting conflicting information on line. When I got to the lady in the information booth and asked about a train to Garmisch she said we should not go to Garmisch today but wait until tomorrow. Not the answer I expected. I asked her why and she repeated herself, wait until tomorrow. While I appreciated her advice I needed to know why, I finally got her to tell me that there was flooding around Garmisch and the trains were not running to there. While I was processing that confusing conversation Ton came by and told me there was a train to Garmisch in half an hour on track 29. Now I was really perplexed.

Munich station the beginning of our travel adventure today.

We decided to head on down to track 29 to see if there was a train. Sure enough as we arrived there was a nice local train with Garmisch on the display board. Still concerned about flooding in Garmisch we wandered back and fourth on the platform a few minutes before we spotted a conductor for the German Rail. He told us that the tracks to Garmisch were indeed flooded, but they were running the train to Murnau, and then taking the passengers on to Garmisch by bus. So after much confusion we now had the full picture and got on the train.

Just before the train departed there was a long announcement in German, and a nice lady next to us translated it for us to confirm we were going by train to Murnau, and bus to Garmisch. Arriving at Murnau, we got off the train with about 30 other customers, and there was no bus. Ton and I just joined the end of the line and waited for the Germans to sort out what was next. Eventually we all huddled in a bus shelter, there was a bus at the end of the lot but the driver sat there and ignored us. After a couple of false alarms for local busses a bus pulled in and dropped off a bunch of passengers bound for Munich. Just as everyone was about to board the bus the driver stepped off and said he was finished. Germans usually are pretty stoic, but this group had enough and began to let the driver of the bus have it pretty loudly. Just then the bus that had been sitting there since we arrived moved up to the bus stop opened his door and told us he was taking us to Garmisch. Apparently he was not on duty for the 30 minutes he had been sitting there watching us all try to stay out of the rain and wind while he sat on a warm bus.

As we drove to Garmisch we saw why we were not taking the train. In the low lying fields the Losaich River was way out of its’ banks and running hard. So our 75 minute train ride took three hours, but we finally made it to Garmisch.

A view of the Losaich as it runs into Garmisch.

After getting François back we took advantage of the big (and cheap) American washers and dryers at the hotel. Did a quick shop at the PX to get some more electric adapters, and settled back into François to listen to the rain.

The river by the road into the campground, apparently it was up to the road in the morning.

May 20, 2019 Munich GE

Well unfortunately the weather forecast was correct, it is really raining out. We lay around the room quite a while in the morning trying to figure out what to do for the day indoors.

We finally settled on the Munich Residence as the trip advisor said that it was the best place to spend a rainy day as it was only 100 yard walk from the subway to the entrance so you do not even need to open your umbrella.

The Munich Residence is the former palace of the Bavarian royal family the Wittlesbachs. Construction was begun around 1380 and continued in spurts until the mid 1800’s. When finally completed it has 130 rooms and 10 courtyards. It has a full sized concert hall that is still used today. It was very heavily damaged during WWII and not fully reconstructed until the 1980’s. It has been converted into a museum both to highlight the architecture, but to show period furniture, art, and religious relics.

The Antiquarium is a room nearly 200 feet long. It was built to display Roman and Middle-Age statues. It also served for serving royal banquets.

An impressive ceiling from the Kings chambers.

Artwork from the 1800’s showing a Turkish influence.

The Ancestral Gallery lined with portraits of the Wittelsbach family.

We spent most of the afternoon winding thru many of the 130 rooms of the residence. It was a nice dry way to spend the afternoon. When we were finished with the residence we decided we needed to visit the actual Augustiner Beer Hall. A short tram ride later we arrived at a giant beer hall with a huge outside sitting area. It was pouring but we were able to get a good seat in the beer hall.

St. Augustine the inspiration for the beer.

We both enjoyed our meals the night before so we decided to order the exact same dishes tonight. They cost a little less, and we both thought the meals last night were a little better, still we did not leave any food on the table. The Augustiner Beer is much better in our opinion than the Hofbrau House.

The interior of the Augustiner Beer Hall.

Just as we were thinking of leaving a Bavarian Band started up, so we had one more round and enjoyed the band. When we finished up it was raining quite hard, and it looks like the forecast of up to an inch of rain was accurate. Just hope the forecast of 1 to 2 more inches of rain overnight is not accurate.

The oompah band at Augustiner Beer Hall.

May 19, 2019 Munich GE

Last night we discussed our next step. The weather once again is intervening in our plans. The weather over the next three days is forecasted to rain 2 to 3 inches, with periods of high wind and high temperatures in the 50’s. Munich was one of my bucket list items so after a lot of discussion about how to best do it we decided to use some of our hotel points to get a hotel in Munich for two nights. We arranged to park François on the Army base here so he is well secured. Our new friend Scott even offered us a lift into Munich in his rental car.

We arrived in Munich about noon and headed over to our hotel to check in. We had arranged to meet Scott for dinner at Augustiner Brewery later in the day. After we had checked in we began to get our feet wet with the Munich mass transit system. During the trip we ended up using Trains, Subways, Busses, and Trams. We made multiple trips without any major incidents, and whenever we looked particularly confused locals often offered us help to understand what direction or platform to get on.

Our first stop was the Marienplatz which is the center of Munich. It is a long and wide pedestrian zone full of restaurants, churches, shopping and museums. The rain that was supposed to already be starting was delayed so the afternoon was sunny and warm. We were enjoying our stroll up Marienplatz when we got a text from Scott asking which Augustiner Brewery as the front desk at his hotel said there were many. We picked one based on our location, and asked him where we should meet. It turns out we were only about 50 yards apart while we were texting each other, and when I looked up I saw him. Having worked out the logistics of meeting each other we decided that since we were also right in front of the Hofbrau House we should have a beer there.

The Hofbrau House is probably the most famous beer hall in Munich. Nearly every American who passes thru Munich has to have a beer there including us.

The interior of the Hofbrau House. A tourist must see (and drink) in Munich.

After the Hofbrau house we headed over to one of the Augustiner Breweries. The Augustiner Breweries were founded in 1328, and there really are a bunch of them. The weather was still really good so we found a seat outside.

The Augustiner we ended up picking for dinner, one of at least four we passed.

Ton wanted to try the white asparagus (spargle in German)that Northern France and Germany are famous for, it is regular asparagus but the farmers cover it with dirt so it does not undergo photosynthesis to turn green. This asparagus is a real delicacy in Germany. It has a very short season being available only from late April to early June. It has no fat and 0 calories (before you coat it with Hollandaise sauce), and lots of vitamins.

White Asparagus, a delicacy for Germans.

My choice was a much less healthy schweinshaxe (pork shoulder). It is roasted so that the skin is crispy almost like a pork rind, with the meat under it tender and juicy. Both of our meals were really good.

Schweinshaxen, my favorite German dish so far.

As we were eating and drinking Ton asked me something and I answered her in Thai, the table next to us had three Asian people and as soon as I spoke Thai they perked up and said hello in Thai. It turns out that Ken, Pup, and Ploy were from a solar panel company in Northeast Thailand. They were in Munich for a trade show, but being good Thai they gave us an in depth rundown of the restaurant scene in Munich. After our meal was done they asked us if we wanted to join them for another round of beers, so Scott, Ton and I were off to another restaurant for some more Schweinshaxn, (according to Pup the second best in Munich) and beer.

It turned into a really nice day where we made a new American and three new Thai friends. By the time we finished with the last restaurant the clear skies were gone and it was raining buckets so we dashed for the subway and back to the hotel.

May 18, 2019 Neuschwanstein Castle GE

Neuschwanstein Castle is one of the must see landmarks in Germany. Ton had already been twice, but since this is my first time in Germany she suggested we should see it. We signed up for the tour from the Army.

We have seen these giant strawberries all over Germany.

The first stop on the tour was Weiskirche which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It contains a religious relic called the Scourged Jesus. In the 1700’s an old wood carved Jesus statue was found in the hayloft of a barn where it had been stored for a couple of generations. The farmers wife built a small chapel to house it, and the morning after they placed it in the chapel she noticed tears on the face.

The scourged Jesus is in the center of the altar.

The area of the farm is on an old Roman Road which was the main pilgrimage route from Bavaria to Rome, so the pilgrims began visiting the chapel and miracles occurred. Over time enough miracles occurred that the Scourged Jesus was declared a religious relic and received funding for a proper church around 1745.

The exterior of the pilgrimage church of Wieskirche.

The church was built in the Rococo style and is known as a pilgrimage church as it is out in the middle of a field not near a town. We have spent quite a lot of time in Gothic churches and cathedrals so the Rococo style was interesting for us to observe. It is much more light and airy than gothic. The art work is focused more on the ceiling of the church, and they try to achieve a 3D effect by blending statues into the art. The art work was quite beautiful, and either well preserved or recently restored.

The ceiling of the Wieskirche leading to the door to heaven.

After the visit to the church we were encouraged to try some Bavarian Donuts. Every culture seems to have a variation of fried sweet dough, and so far they are all delicious. We sat down with a soldier to eat our donut and he was on his way home after having spent the last 8 months working with the State Department, and US Aid assisting with Syrian Refugees. He said it was the most complicated assignment he had faced in his 34 years in the army. It was fascinating to hear his experience trying to deal with the Turks and the Kurds both of whom are allied with the US, but hate each other pathologically.

The next stop was Neuschwanstein Castle, which is the model for the Disney Castle (they reportedly pay a royalty to the Bavarian Government annually for the likeness). The castle is quite new having built by King Ludwig II in the 1860’s.

This was the castle Leopold grew up in, it was not good enough so he built Neuschwanstein.

Ludwig was quite an eccentric and spent a great deal of the treasury and his families money building this castle and two others. He was spending money at such a fast rate that eventually the Bavarian Government had him declared insane, and appointed his Uncle king. Shortly after he was deposed he was found “accidentally” drowned along with one of his Doctors in three feet of water, even though he was 6’5” tall.

The view from the castle back up the gorge it is perched on.

The castle is quite an impressive structure, and the workmanship of the rooms was superb. The tours are conducted with Germanic precision and no pictures are allowed of the interior. I can now cross Neuschwanstein off my bucket list.

May 17, 2019 Garmisch GE

Yesterday when we went into the Army facility near us the guards told us we should have our identification cards registered with US Forces Europe as it would make it easier to get on other bases. So we started the day by walking over to the Military Police Office, the process was quick and efficient. The lady was very nice and told us we could use the facilities. This base is a recreation and conference center so they actually sponsor a lot of tours. After looking at their options we opted to sign up for a couple of tours, so we will be spending several days in the area.

The first tour we signed up for was of the Greisbrau Brewery. It was located about 40 minutes away, and the brewery is from the 1970’s, though the building is a few hundred years old, but was previously a cattle barn. Wolfgang our host walked us thru the brewing process.

Wolfgang enlightening us on the fine art of making beer.

We learned about the German Beer Purity laws which limit Beer to only three ingredients, Water, Hops, and Malt. The talk was interesting and we were all paying extra attention as we had to take a test at the end to earn our Beer Drinkers Certificate. Ton and I passed and we are now an official Bavarian Beer Connoisseur.

Wolfgang giving out samples of the beer to our group of future Bavarian Beer Brewers.

My certificate as an official Beer Connoisseur.

We ended the tour with a nice Bavarian meal. It was a late night out so todays post is a little short.

Ton’s meal a meat and potato lovers delight.

May 16, 2019 Garmisch- Partenkirchen GE

The day began with indecision. Thomas’ offer to attend his brewery event on Saturday was very tempting, so we began the day by looking at options to do around Reichenau until Saturday. The other issue is the weather. Today and tomorrow are the only two good days forecast in the next 12 days. After today and tomorrow the Weather Channel App shows 10 consecutive days of miserable weather for Southern Germany, actually for most of Germany. Ton even researched weather in other parts of Europe to escape the cold and rain. Right now Oslo has the best weather, but it is a bit far away. The interesting thing is that the temperatures are going to be warmer in the North of Germany than in the South, also the forecast showed slightly less rain in the North.

St. George Church, our last stop on Reichenau Island.

We still really wanted to take Thomas up on his offer so we talked about options including Switzerland (really expensive), just settling in Reichenau but we needed supplies mostly LP gas. With the cold weather every night we are using a tank of LP every 4 or 5 days ( for comparison we used two tanks in 6 weeks on our trip to Spain). After looking at options around the region we finally decided we needed to get going North towards the less lousy weather, so today we are in the Alps near the Austrian border.

Mountain valleys with many small farms, and villages. The population is much denser in Germany than in Spain or France.

When we punched Garmisch into Greta Garmin she told us it was about 3 hours to drive the 250km’s, we add 30 minutes to all of her estimates as we are usually under the speed limit. It still sounded like a pretty reasonable day. The first problem is around Freidrichshaven we ran into really heavy traffic, so the first 100 kilometers of the trip took 2 hours, after we broke out of Freidrichshaven traffic thinned out, and then we found ourselves on the autobahn so all looked good. With about 80km’s to go I noticed a sign that said we had just entered Austria, did not know that was going to happen, after a few minutes I remembered that Austria requires a vignette to drive on their roads. A vignette is a sticker you buy in place of paying tolls, many countries require these ( one of the reasons we did not go to Switzerland is that they require an annual one that costs 40 Swiss francs). So now we were outlaws as not expecting to enter Austria I did not research how to get a vignette or how much it would cost. I decided to press on as our final destination is in Germany as I figured we must just be cutting thru a corner of Austria.

The dandelions were out in force as we drove thru Austria.

All was looking good as we had spent the last hour in Austria driving thru magnificent mountains and gorgeous valleys carpeted with flowers. We passed back into Germany without getting fined, when we were 8km’s from the campsite for the night we came to a barrier across the road. This was in a narrow mountain pass, so there was no local by pass. Much cursing because when we turned down this road about 30 minutes earlier there was no indication that it was closed.

Typical of the roads in Austria, the mountains were spectacular.

So I told Greta to find us another route to Garmisch, her alternative was 80 km’s! Lots of cursing now, as we are literally 10 minutes from our destination, and the detour is going to take nearly 2 hours. So back up the road illegally into Austria again. The next detour routed us thru a national park with narrow steep roads with views of glaciers and glacier fed lakes, not a fast route but really gorgeous and nearly worth the trouble.

The large glacier fed lake in Brentanwag National Park on the road we took on our detour caused by construction.

Another view from our unexpected detour.

After 6 hours of hard mountain driving we arrived in Garmisch, and just before the turn into our campground we saw signs for a US Military compound. After settling in we took a walk down there to see what they had. It turns out it is a recreation center complete with hotel, 3 restaurants, and big American washing machines. We had a beer and nachos while watching American sports. We are planning to return tomorrow with a load of washing. A nice end to a hectic day.

Another view of the mountains around us tonight.

May 15, 2019 Reichenau GE

We have been enjoying Lake Constance so we decided to spend another day on the lake at a UNESCO World Heritage Site on Reichenau Island. Yesterday we visited “Flower Island” and today we are visiting “Vegetable Island”.

The drive over was quick and uneventful except for a diversion to the ferry terminal as Greta Garmin decided that was the quickest way to Reichenau, she was probably right but we decided to skip the ferry fee, and after some resetting of Greta, we were on our way by road.

World Heritage Sites are usually pretty spectacular, so when we pulled on to Reichenau it seemed that the emphasis was on vegetables and not memorable architecture. For our friends from Oregon think of Sauvie Island with three small churches. After settling in to the Stellplatz we decided to walk on over to the Abby which is the largest of the three churches that make up the UNESCO site. The walk was thru a bunch of vegetable fields where we played guess the vegetable, Ton won.

A field of different types of Lettuce on Vegetable Island.

We arrived at the Abby and it was a nice enough church but nothing spectacular. We finally figured out that the smaller church called St. George Church had the paintings that were what caused the UNESCO designation, and we had a couple of hours to wait until the next tour.

Part of the Abby which was the center of the religious order on the island in the middle ages.

The island this time of year is really very quiet and peaceful, and we spent quite a bit of time just wandering aimlessly around the streets enjoying the views of the lake and enjoying the ambiance and the greenery, it really reminded us of Oregon. We visited the museum to try to understand the history of the Abby as the tour was in German so we needed to prep.

A reproduction of some of the art that we would see later in St. George Church.

Finally what we thought would be the highlight of the day was the tour of the interior of the church which has artwork from the 10th century that was rediscovered in the 1880’s when the white wash that had covered them was removed. The paintings are in the process of being preserved, access to the church is limited to help minimize the humidity in the church.

An example of the paintings from the 900’s that are being preserved at the entrance to the church.

Some of the art inside the chapel, this type of painting is very rare and this is the northern most church in Europe that this style is found.

The explanation of the on going work to preserve the paintings and the meaning of the paintings was quite extensive, but we did not understand much as it was of course in German. But the guide was quite obviously proud of the work and very knowledgeable.

The exterior of St. George Church, sometimes modest structures hide real treasures.

We had planned on taking the bus back to François after the tour, but I was unable to figure out the bus system, and the bus guide we had did not match the one at the bus stop. So being unsure whether the bus was going to take us home, or into Konstanz I talked Ton into walking the 2 miles back. On the way she saw a sign for a grocery so we detoured down a side road where we saw a small brewery.

Being a little curious we crossed the street and were peering in the door when a man waved us in and welcomed us in German. We were a little shy as we do not speak any German, but the man switched to English and asked us where we were from, when we told him Oregon he laughed and his wife smiled. He said he got his Masters Degree from Southern Oregon University! They have been operating the only microbrewery in the region for about 3 years. Thomas insisted on giving us a tour of the facilities and a couple of beers to taste. His beers are excellent. We were also invited to a special event the brewery is having on Saturday including beer making, bands and food. It looks like we may be staying in the far south of Germany for a few more days.

Thomas the owner of Insel Brewery on Reichenau Island.

We ended the day by walking down to the beach for a romantic sunset over Lake Constance.

May 14, 2019 Mainau GE

Woke to blue skies, so morale is up for the day. We decided to spend another day here to further explore the area. As we walked into town we decided to head over to Mainau Island to explore what is called the Flower Island.

We had not done any research, but knew we had to take a ferry there. The ferry was a little expensive, but the shock was the lady who sold us the tickets said there was a €20 charge to get onto the island once we landed that we should buy on the boat ride over. At this point we were committed so on the ride we were feeling a little guilty about the cost, questioning our decision, and vowing to do more research next time.

Meersburg from the ferry as we were leaving. The castle is in the upper left.

When we began the walk it became clear that the decision was a good one. The island which is 110 acres is a giant botanical garden that is really well done. The island is owned by a Duke and Duchess and was originally a Grand Dukes residence. There is a strong Swedish royal connection, and the Swedish flag flies conspicuously on the residence.

A really cute topiary that greets you when you enter the island celebrating the flower island theme.

During different times of the year they feature different flowers and for April and early May it was Tulips. The flower gardens featured over a thousand varieties of Tulips interspersed with other flowers.

Some of the tulips on display with other flowers mixed in, really well done.

Another beautiful flower patch with the Swedish tower in the background.

In addition they had a petting zoo full of cute animals, and a butterfly building with thousands of butterflies flying around that we got to walk thru.

A Shetland Pony pony that Ton thought was really cute.

Ton’s favorite butterfly amongst the thousands in the butterfly building.

This lady was kind enough to pose for a couple of minutes while Ton and several other people took pictures of the butterfly in her hair.

Their Arboretum was full of very interesting trees most of which we could not identify, but interestingly they had about 15 or 20 Sequoias from California. Beside the tulips there were other flower gardens including poppies, and rhododendrons.

A giant sequoia that had been moved from California at some point.

While we may not have known what we were getting into when we got on the ferry there was no doubt that it was a great decision. Mainau is by far the best botanical garden we have visited in the world. What we thought would be a quick couple of hour visit turned into a whole day on the island.

Heart shaped vines outside the tasting room at Staatsweingut.

May 13, 2019 Meersburg GE

Another cold night last night with lows in the high 30’s. The weather has been less than ideal this trip. We have so far had only two sunny days, we have several days of heavy rain, and even the days when it has not rained have been cloudy and cold. It is starting to wear on us a bit.

There were 5 vans in the Stellplatz last night and we were the last to leave in the morning by a good bit. We have a good excuse as we were up at about 5am celebrating the Trailblazers game 7 win in the NBA playoffs.

We wanted to swing by Lake Constance while we were in this part of Germany. It is about 40 miles long and 7 miles wide at its widest point. Germany, Switzerland, and Austria all have part of the lake. Some of the tourist ads refer to it as Germany’s Riviera which is stretching it.

Lake Constance and the lower town of Meersburg from the top of the castle.

Meersburg made a favorable impression on us, though I think it would have made an even better impression if it was not gray, windy, and about 50 degrees. (OK I am done complaining about the weather.) Meersburg is a nice town with two very distinct levels. As you look over the lake towards Switzerland you can see the alps. The upper level has a couple of very large estates one of which is an upscale winery, and the other a museum. The lower level has some typical tourist stores as well as a lot of nice restaurants.

Vineyards stretching down the hill towards the ferry landing.

There is also an old castle that looked interesting so after some debate we decided to go for the tour. It turns out that this is the oldest castle in Germany dating to the 1300’s.

This castle is in private hands now, after the church moved to a modern castle in the late 1700’s a family bought it in the 1800’s and still lives there today. The first impression was just ok as we walked in just as about 60 French middle schoolers arrived. But one of the guides came to us and told us to wait a few minutes to let the middle schoolers go, and we could join a guided tour that included a climb to the top of the tower which was not on the public tour. The tour was in German, but she went out of her way at each stop to pull us aside and give us information in English.

A view of the castle from the lower town. We climbed to the top of the center tower.

Like many castles it went thru several additions, and remodels so several different architectural styles are represented. It did successfully withstand one siege of two months in the 1600’s. They also have an extensive collection of armor and weapons from the middle ages until the late 1700’s.

Part of the collection of medieval armor and arms in the castle.

It turned out to be a great tour. At the end the guide spent twenty minutes with us discussing the area, different dialects of German, and other fun things. She convinced us to stay another day and explore some more.

Ton took this picture on the way back to François. It is one of her favorites so far on the trip.

May 12, 2019 Schonach GE

Tonight we are sitting at the bottom of a ski run in the Black Forest of Germany. We are near a small village called Schonach and the Aire/Stellplatz is quite nice. When we arrived there was no machine to pay so we went to the info board, and it said to pay at a hotel in town. The hotel was 800 meters (about 1/2 mile) away, we thought this was weird, but chalked it up to different ways. We made the trip, paid our €7 and headed back to François with a packet of paper giving us permission to park. When we got back to the Stellplatz a German Van pulled in. We saw them wandering around, and then there was a knock on the door, and they asked how to pay. I did my best to explain, they looked confused, and kept asking 800 meters? After the third time trying to explain I took them over to the board and showed them. They shook their heads and muttered in German as they headed into town, so the set up here is not a German thing, just weird.

It was still early so we decided to head down to a town nearby called Triburg which is supposed to be the Cuckoo Clock capital of Germany. We knew we were in the right place as everywhere else we had driven thru on this trip was closed for Sunday, this place had nearly every store open. There are several stores selling cuckoo clocks, and a couple of nice looking restaurants. The town also has the highest waterfall in Germany, but we had a minimum walking policy for the day that was already messed up buying our parking pass, so we passed on the hike.

Germany’s highest waterfall was up above but we did not have the motivation to climb the hill.

We did drive down to see one of the worlds largest cuckoo clocks, it is quite large but it is unclear where it stands in the world of large cuckoo clocks. It appears to have held the record for two years before being passed by one in Steamboat Colorado.

Probably the second largest cuckoo clock (possibly the third largest) in the world in Triburg Germany.

May 11, 2019 Freiburg GE

Today was certainly less hectic than yesterday. We woke up a little earlier than usual, but were in no hurry to get going for the day. After puttering around for a while we decided to head into Freiburg.

Freiburg is supposed to be one of the greenest cities in Germany, it is full of walking trails and bike paths. When we checked in I got a lecture about how to sort our garbage before depositing it at the campground.

This walking trail follows the river from the campground to downtown Freiburg.

The old town walls are mostly gone but two of the old gates are still in place. We headed to the Cathedral square and were surprised by a very large farmers market. We spent about an hour poking around the market looking at the various vegetables. There were three sausage grills going that were doing booming business. I was drooling, Ton was more impressed with the number of vegetables for sale.

One of the three sausage carts. The number of sausages was impressive, and the smells were to die for.

We went in to see what the interior of the cathedral looked like. As we went in unlike almost any other cathedral we have been in many people were sitting in the pews. It turns out there was an organ concert scheduled in a half hour so we sat down and waited. The concert was really nice, and the cathedral was packed.

The organist just sitting down to begin the concert.

In fact when we left the concert the city center of the town was really packed with people. We were both startled with the number of people as this is not a big city, but it was really busy. After one more pass thru the city we headed back to the campground.

This gargoyle is mooning the city hall. The story is that when the cathedral was being built the town council told the stonemasons working on the cathedral that they needed to work faster, and with more detail. This gargoyle is the response from the stonemasons guild to the request. It was done quickly and with a great deal of detail.

As soon as we got back the wind really started howling, and then rain kicked in. We did get our laundry done which is always a landmark event on these trips, so all in all a productive day.