Bavaria – RV Travels in Europe and North America

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 18, 2019 Neuschwanstein GE

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 here his experience trying to deal with the Turks and the Kurds both of whom are allied with the US, but hate each other pathologically.

May 17, 2019 Garmisch GE

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