Viva Deutschland! Our Trip Report

Jacko · 10-22-2006

Having been kicked off the photo thread for posting "non-random" pictures by my favorite moderator

, and after inundating the late night party thread RFF's with other photos, I thought it time to sit down and begin our report on our recent trip to Germany!

It was a most marvelous journey filled with sites and memories that will surely last a lifetime.

There were many, many reasons to go...my daughter Lisa and son-in-law Jesse are living in Bechoven, a lovely village about a half-hour drive outside of Kaiserslautern and we had not yet visited. My heritage is German on my father's side (Jacko sounds German, right?

).

Germans make some of the best beer in the world (I particularly liked the hefeweizen- a summer wheat beer), And the Riesling wines....well, they have the finest in the world that they grow along the beautiful Mosul and Rhine river valleys! More on this later.

And, having lived and traveled a lot in Spain and Portugal, we just love old historic villages, churches and castles....my does Germany ever have those!

And the time was right....September is still warm weather in Germany and our business slows down a bit prior to the beautiful October fall color season here in the mountains of Western North Carolina. We need warm weather...most of our trips have been to the more temperate Meditteranean countries, Mexico and the Carribbean Islands. Having lived in the beautiful states of Minnesota and Michigan during my childhood and parts of our adult life..well, we've had enough of the bitter cold for awhile

.

But the real reason for going? The first European Mini-Peep-Meet was planned between Andiline and us. Its not that WE are small peeps....it was just going to be a small, intimate gathering at her home city of Koln (Cologne).

Whew...the stage is set...I will try not to talk too much along the way and let the pictures do most of the talking....

Set out on Wednesday September 6th out of the Charlotte airport via Air Canada. (its not like we were sewing a maple leaf on our backpack

....it was just cheaper

!) Headed to Toronto for a short layover and then on to Frankfurt.

Linda was excited as we waited for our flight out of Charlotte!

Notice the elderly gentleman walking past her in the background on the right with the beret?

Jacko · 10-22-2006

We got to know that gentleman and his wife, and another really nice German lady! We got to know them real well! (Bob and Ann along with Rosita...yep, Rosita and she was German!)

With all my oh-so meticulous planning (and the wonderful help of Peeps on the board), SOMEONE FORGOT TO TELL ME about the construction at the terminals in Toronto! Now I generally love Toronto....great town to visit, saw Phantom of the Opera there, I love the Canadians....yada, yada, yada...but NOT THE AIRPORT!

Seems our little regional jet out of Charlotte was just a wee bit late getting into Toronto (well okay, maybe like 45 minutes late). And then you have to go from Terminal 2 via a late night bus to Terminal 1 and then go a long, long way to get to the gate.....and then....no airplane! Sheesh! You would think they would hold up all 400 of the other passengers for us 5, right???? I mean we were real sweet, un-ugly Americans despite our dilemma and excited and enthusiastic about our trip....and...we had elderly people with us...and a really sweet German lady...and.......!

Nope....it was going to be Toronto Best Western, toiletry bags (no luggage) and a very late night meal with our new found friends in a honky tonk across the street from the Best Western...ever have poutine at 1130PM with beer when you are steaming and frustrated in Toronto?

There goes our one day jet-lag rest day as we had our plans set to begin our auto-trip on Friday morning.

Well okay...they said we could pick up our luggage in the morning and get on another flight the following afternoon...we'd only be one day late...who needs rest after an 8 hour or so flight and crossing nearly as many time zones?

NOT!...but..... "don't worry about the luggage...it will be checked through to Frankfurt". "I can absolutely assure you of this"..."just go wait for your flight, don't worry about your luggage and be a nice traveler".....

TimHorton · 10-22-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jacko

With all my oh-so meticulous planning (and the wonderful help of Peeps on the board), SOMEONE FORGOT TO TELL ME about the construction at the terminals in Toronto! Now I generally love Toronto....great town to visit, saw Phantom of the Opera there, I love the Canadians....yada, yada, yada...but NOT THE AIRPORT!

...but..... "don't worry about the luggage...it will be checked through to Frankfurt". "I can absolutely assure you of this"..."just go wait for your flight, don't worry about your luggage and be a nice traveler".....

You flew Air Canada out of Pearson

Jacko · 10-22-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by TimHorton

You flew Air Canada out of Pearson

Well...yes.....eventually!

But not our luggage....no sir! It needed its very own flight later in the day!

Ginger · 10-22-2006

oh no, Jacko! This isn't starting well!

Jacko · 10-22-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ginger

oh no, Jacko! This isn't starting well!

Not to worry! We are hardy travelers who make the best of our situation...we REALLY got to know the, very sweet, very conservative, elderly American couple and the wonderful, liberal, very-outspoken German lady! All kinds of time for interesting conversation!

TimHorton · 10-22-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jacko

Well...yes.....eventually!

But not our luggage....no sir! It needed its very own flight later in the day!

One of the major reasons why we try to avoid Pearson and Air Canada at all costs.

We will drive at least 200 to 300 km to avoid Pearson.

But sometimes you just have to go there.

stevo137 · 10-22-2006

Jacko, let's see those awesome pics my friend!

Jacko · 10-22-2006

Okay...so we get on our flight to Frankfurt on Thursday morning instead of Wednesday night like we had planned....so we arrive on Friday morning instead of Thursday afternoon (got exit row seats!

)....no big deal, right?

We can just start out our trip after dropping off our heavy luggage at Lisa's house....Nope...not gonna happen that way....no luggage when we arrive..they have no clue where it is...so we head to the base exchange at Ramstein AFB in Kaiserslautern (about 1.5 hours from the airport) to buy clothes and stuff, and pick up Lisa and Jesses stuff, as we have hotel reservations that evening at Burg Hotel Colmburg along the Romantic Road. (About a two hours drive away from Kaiserslautern).

Right when we are about to purchase the clothes, I say call one more time...and Voila..the airport has found the luggage and we drop all the clothes and head back to the airport...pick up our two large pieces of luggage, stuff them in the back of Lisa's Honda Accord trunk and head out....well allright!

We haven't had any sleep in about 20 hours...but we are on our way down the Romantic Road (Romantische Strasse) through Bavaria...Wurzburg to Fussen. Our plan is to stay at unique hotels in charming villages along the way and play tourist with my lovely daughter and son-in-law doing all the driving and speaking all the German (although most Germans speak pretty good English).....the fun has finally begun!...Did I mention that Burg is one of the ways they say "castle" in German?

Jacko · 10-22-2006

The country-side on the drive along the way there is beautiful....windmills and solar cells everywhere...sidewalks are all pavers or cobblestone (no concrete sidewalks in the country it seems!).....no billboard signs on the highway and no suburban sprawl. One little village after another..each with its church, school, restaurants, and shopping etc.....great idea!

This particular castle was a "country castle"....but very, very cool!

Fun things to do......

Great views.....

Great company!......

And great food...I had venison they raise right on the property...and of couse many wonderful hefeweizen beers!

It was a great start to a wonderful journey....

We had been up about 30 hours by the end of this day....the wonderful castle room made sleep even seem better!

stevo137 · 10-22-2006

All I can say is WOW!

sctx · 10-22-2006

vacations are better with venison

cmsitaly · 10-22-2006

Keep it coming! Loving it

caramba · 10-22-2006

Great report so far and beautiful pics! I can say from experience that it's great the airline found your bags before too long!

Jacko · 10-22-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by stevo137

All I can say is WOW!

Me too! And it was just starting....the next morning we had a marvelous German breakfast with cheeses, cold-cuts (prociutto!), breads, coffee and fruits! Nice start!

We explored the castle more and the grounds around the castle and then decided to "back-track" to villages we had missed along the Romantic Road as we had to "rush" to get to Castle Colmberg before dark. Our next hotel is in Rothenburg Ob Der Tauber, just a short distance away from Colmberg, so we have a whole day of site-seeing before we need to get back....So we are off to Weikersham and Creglingen...beautiful villages along the Tauber river...I may mix these pics up a bit so don't hold me to exactly which is which.

Creglingen first....this is the home of the Herrgottshkirche (church) and the most amazing Tilman Reimenshneider altar sculpted out of pine...they won't let you take pictures, but it is really large and intricate.

10-22-2006	#1 (permalink)
Jacko añejo Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 30,889	Viva Deutschland! Our Trip Report Having been kicked off the photo thread for posting "non-random" pictures by my favorite moderator , and after inundating the late night party thread RFF's with other photos, I thought it time to sit down and begin our report on our recent trip to Germany! It was a most marvelous journey filled with sites and memories that will surely last a lifetime. There were many, many reasons to go...my daughter Lisa and son-in-law Jesse are living in Bechoven, a lovely village about a half-hour drive outside of Kaiserslautern and we had not yet visited. My heritage is German on my father's side (Jacko sounds German, right? ). Germans make some of the best beer in the world (I particularly liked the hefeweizen- a summer wheat beer), And the Riesling wines....well, they have the finest in the world that they grow along the beautiful Mosul and Rhine river valleys! More on this later. And, having lived and traveled a lot in Spain and Portugal, we just love old historic villages, churches and castles....my does Germany ever have those! And the time was right....September is still warm weather in Germany and our business slows down a bit prior to the beautiful October fall color season here in the mountains of Western North Carolina. We need warm weather...most of our trips have been to the more temperate Meditteranean countries, Mexico and the Carribbean Islands. Having lived in the beautiful states of Minnesota and Michigan during my childhood and parts of our adult life..well, we've had enough of the bitter cold for awhile . But the real reason for going? The first European Mini-Peep-Meet was planned between Andiline and us. Its not that WE are small peeps....it was just going to be a small, intimate gathering at her home city of Koln (Cologne). Whew...the stage is set...I will try not to talk too much along the way and let the pictures do most of the talking.... Set out on Wednesday September 6th out of the Charlotte airport via Air Canada. (its not like we were sewing a maple leaf on our backpack ....it was just cheaper !) Headed to Toronto for a short layover and then on to Frankfurt. Linda was excited as we waited for our flight out of Charlotte! Notice the elderly gentleman walking past her in the background on the right with the beret? __________________ Last edited by Jacko; 10-26-2006 at 05:37 AM..

10-22-2006	#2 (permalink)
Jacko añejo Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 30,889	We got to know that gentleman and his wife, and another really nice German lady! We got to know them real well! (Bob and Ann along with Rosita...yep, Rosita and she was German!) With all my oh-so meticulous planning (and the wonderful help of Peeps on the board), SOMEONE FORGOT TO TELL ME about the construction at the terminals in Toronto! Now I generally love Toronto....great town to visit, saw Phantom of the Opera there, I love the Canadians....yada, yada, yada...but NOT THE AIRPORT! Seems our little regional jet out of Charlotte was just a wee bit late getting into Toronto (well okay, maybe like 45 minutes late). And then you have to go from Terminal 2 via a late night bus to Terminal 1 and then go a long, long way to get to the gate.....and then....no airplane! Sheesh! You would think they would hold up all 400 of the other passengers for us 5, right???? I mean we were real sweet, un-ugly Americans despite our dilemma and excited and enthusiastic about our trip....and...we had elderly people with us...and a really sweet German lady...and.......! Nope....it was going to be Toronto Best Western, toiletry bags (no luggage) and a very late night meal with our new found friends in a honky tonk across the street from the Best Western...ever have poutine at 1130PM with beer when you are steaming and frustrated in Toronto? There goes our one day jet-lag rest day as we had our plans set to begin our auto-trip on Friday morning. Well okay...they said we could pick up our luggage in the morning and get on another flight the following afternoon...we'd only be one day late...who needs rest after an 8 hour or so flight and crossing nearly as many time zones? NOT!...but..... "don't worry about the luggage...it will be checked through to Frankfurt". "I can absolutely assure you of this"..."just go wait for your flight, don't worry about your luggage and be a nice traveler"..... Last edited by Jacko; 10-27-2006 at 08:54 PM..

10-22-2006	#9 (permalink)
Jacko añejo Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 30,889	Okay...so we get on our flight to Frankfurt on Thursday morning instead of Wednesday night like we had planned....so we arrive on Friday morning instead of Thursday afternoon (got exit row seats! )....no big deal, right? We can just start out our trip after dropping off our heavy luggage at Lisa's house....Nope...not gonna happen that way....no luggage when we arrive..they have no clue where it is...so we head to the base exchange at Ramstein AFB in Kaiserslautern (about 1.5 hours from the airport) to buy clothes and stuff, and pick up Lisa and Jesses stuff, as we have hotel reservations that evening at Burg Hotel Colmburg along the Romantic Road. (About a two hours drive away from Kaiserslautern). Right when we are about to purchase the clothes, I say call one more time...and Voila..the airport has found the luggage and we drop all the clothes and head back to the airport...pick up our two large pieces of luggage, stuff them in the back of Lisa's Honda Accord trunk and head out....well allright! We haven't had any sleep in about 20 hours...but we are on our way down the Romantic Road (Romantische Strasse) through Bavaria...Wurzburg to Fussen. Our plan is to stay at unique hotels in charming villages along the way and play tourist with my lovely daughter and son-in-law doing all the driving and speaking all the German (although most Germans speak pretty good English).....the fun has finally begun!...Did I mention that Burg is one of the ways they say "castle" in German? Last edited by Jacko; 10-27-2006 at 08:56 PM..

10-22-2006	#10 (permalink)
Jacko añejo Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 30,889	The country-side on the drive along the way there is beautiful....windmills and solar cells everywhere...sidewalks are all pavers or cobblestone (no concrete sidewalks in the country it seems!).....no billboard signs on the highway and no suburban sprawl. One little village after another..each with its church, school, restaurants, and shopping etc.....great idea! This particular castle was a "country castle"....but very, very cool! Fun things to do...... Great views..... Great company!...... And great food...I had venison they raise right on the property...and of couse many wonderful hefeweizen beers! It was a great start to a wonderful journey.... We had been up about 30 hours by the end of this day....the wonderful castle room made sleep even seem better! Last edited by Jacko; 10-27-2006 at 08:57 PM..

10-22-2006	#5 (permalink)
Ginger añejo Join Date: Apr 2001 Posts: 11,229	oh no, Jacko! This isn't starting well!

10-22-2006	#8 (permalink)
stevo137 life=playa Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Near Chicago Posts: 805	Jacko, let's see those awesome pics my friend!

10-22-2006	#11 (permalink)
stevo137 life=playa Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Near Chicago Posts: 805	All I can say is WOW!

10-22-2006	#12 (permalink)
sctx my own peon Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Body in San Marcos Tx....Tankah in my mind Posts: 37,180	vacations are better with venison

10-22-2006	#13 (permalink)
cmsitaly añejo Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Indianapolis Posts: 4,729	Keep it coming! Loving it

10-22-2006	#14 (permalink)
caramba añejo Join Date: May 2002 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 6,643	Great report so far and beautiful pics! I can say from experience that it's great the airline found your bags before too long!

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