Germany & Austria 2001

 9/14/01

We arrived at O’Hare at about 1:30, the lines were very long. Security was stepped up due to the terrorist/hijackings in New York and Washington. There was a definite presence of US Marshall's at the airport. Our flight left at 6:30pm, about  1 1/2 hours late. It wasn't as full as expected. Once thru the security checks, I felt more relaxed and ready to go. Neil slept well on the flight and I was able to get a little sleep also.

9/15/01

Our flight arrived in Frankfurt at approximately 9:30, after leaving O’Hare at 6:30pm on friday. We picked up our rental car from Sixt Rental Car, a BMW 320. We drove to Trier, which has some Roman ruins. We are staying at the Ramischer Kaiser where we have a great double with large bath for 190DM. Neil and I walked in the pedestrian area and got a bratwurst for lunch, then we found a C&A department store, we got Neil two pairs of Jingler's jeans like the one's he got in Paris. We went to the Dom(cathedral), saw the flower stands in the market place, and walked around in the rain. For dinner, we went to Zum domstein, which was excellent. I had a sampler of riesling wine, Neil the usual beer. I have Schnitzel cordon bleu, Neil had lamb which had an excellent mushroom rosemary sauce. The bill was 75.20 DM, the restaurant filled up quickly. At the time, $1=1.9DM

9/16/01

We left Trier and headed to the Mosel river valley. We went to Burg Eltz, a castle in the forest. It took us about 30 minutes to walk to it since we didn't find the closest parking lot, but the walk through the forest was nice. We toured the castle and then went back down, and drove back up to the closer parking lot. You need to drive up above the castle, much easier. Drove back down to Beilstein where we spent the night at the Altes Zollhaus. We walked the cobbled streets and stopped at a "weinprob" or wine tasting bar. We both got halbtrocken riesling-200ml for 2.5 DM each. The town drunk befriended us and bought us each a glass of wine, he seemed to take a real liking to me. At first he thought that we were from Berlin, when we told him we were from America, his face dropped and that's when he offered us wine. Neil & I were also given shots by the owner. Neil said they tasted like acetone(he had them both). For dinner we went to a hotel just up from the square. I had Jagerschnitzel, Neil had the grilled plate. We shared a raspberry sundae-bill was 80DM with beer & wine.

Hotel Altes Zollhaus-Beilstein.

9/17/01

We met an American lady at breakfast. She and her husband were from Washington DC. We ended up offering them a ride to Cochem, since they were taking the train & bus. Neil and I walked up to Reichsburg castle above Cochem. It was a steep 15 minute uphill walk. We walked around Cochem a bit and I tried on some Mephistos at a shoe store. They were 240DM and in a loden green with a strap. I'll probably get them at another store, since that shop didn't have VAT refund forms. We drove back towards Beilstein and walked up to its ruined castle. We both had Gulaschsuppe for lunch at the Hotel Lippman. They had a neat terrace overlooking the Mosel with grapevines growing overhead to form a canopy. It was neat to see the red grapes hanging down over our heads. We headed towards Zell downriver, where they make the Schwarze Katz wine(black cat). We are staying at a guest house recommended by Rick Steves. It has  neat terrace overlooking the Mosel, which is where I am writing this. Every 10 minutes, US fighter planes go flying by. I'm guessing that this is more frequent than normal due to the terrorist bombings in the US. Before dinner, Neil & I went to a weinprob and had some Schwarze Katz wine. I had halbtrocken and Neil had trocken. We had 2 glasses and a pretzel for 8.50DM. Next we scouted a place for dinner, along the way we came to a prayer service in the square for the victims of terrorism in the states. We stopped at the schlosskeller for beer and wine before dinner. It was a neat place in the ruins/cellar of an old castle. Next we went to dinner at Baldnin-Cafe/Stubli. I had hirsch(venison) and Neil had wildschwein(pork). The meal was delicious.

Gasthaus Gertrud Thiesen

Baldninstr 1, Zell am Mosel

9/18/01

We had breakfast at our guesthouse before hitting the road to Frankfurt. Neil & I parked near the terminal at the airport, Mike found us outside the gate after  only a few minutes. We drove to Wurzburg and toured the Residenz, a baroque palace. It had an impressive staircase and a beautiful green stained room. We took the autobahn to Rothenberg. Neil cruised along at 160-170-km/h and we arrived in no time at all. We were going “too slow” for the other cars that smoked by us. We took Mike to a Turkish kebab  place for lunch. We climbed to the top of the Rodertor or red tower for a view of the town. Mike & Neil went to the crime and punishment museum while I went to the Kathe Wohlgefarhrt Christmas shop. I bought some ornaments and a santa smoker. Mike & Neil went to a neat weinstubli just outside the gate by the castle gardens and across from the puppet theater. The stubli had the most awesome carved chairs, they had medieval men carved on the backs.  For dinner, we ate at the Goldener Greifen where we are staying. The meal was good, for 3 with lots of beer it was ~110DM. At 8pm, we took the nightwatch tour, it met in the town square and lasted one hour. It was a neat tour and cost 6DM. The guide dressed in night watchman’s garb and told us about medieval life in Rothenburg. Our pension is the Gasthof Goldener Greifen which is a block off the town square. We have our car parked in the back, we were glad to have the directions from the hotel on how to get here by car once you get inside the city gates. The staff is very nice, room basic.

Gasthof Goldener Greifen(115DM)

Rothenberg

www.gasthof-greifen.rothenburg.de

9/19/01

We drove the Romantic Road this morning. Stopping at Dinkelsbuhl. We decided to detour from the road and head so Andech’s Monastery for lunch & beer. We had pork road which was delicious, along with potato salad, sauerkraut(finely textured), and a huge pretzel. The beer was great too. Neil was quite disappointment though, he was the driver…. No beer for him. Next, we drove to Scholl Linderhof, one of Mad King Ludwig’s castles. We took a tour and saw the over the top décor. We also went to the blue grotto where operas by Richard Wagner were performed. We got to Gastro Zum Schluxen around 6:00. It is located north of Reutte, near the German/Austrian border. Our room is large and nice. We had a delicious meal in the hotel’s restaurant, since it is out in the countryside. I had veal medallions and Neil & Mike had the “poacher’s plate”. It included pheasant, wild boar, venison, & rabbit.

Gasthof zum Schluxen

www.schluxen.com

10 day Austrian vignette(sticker for car) 105AS

9/20/01

We had a nice breakfast at the Schluxen before heading to the castles. We got tickets for Hohenschwangau & Neuschwanstein, the combo tickets were 26DM each. Our first tour was of Hohenschwangau. Then we took the mini bus(3.50DM) to the top-worth the money. We crossed Marienbrucke for a nice view of Neuschwanstein and hiked 5 minutes up the train for another “schones” view. The tour of Neuschwanstein was good, we walked down from the castle to our car. For lunch, we stopped in Schwangau at a hotel for lunch. Neil & Mike had small schweinschnitzel(pork) that were delicious. Next, we drove to the Wieskirche and saw the baroque/rococo interior. The church is a pilgrimage for some due to the Statue of Christ that wept. We drove on to Oberammergau and looked around for a bit. On our way out of town we stopped at the “sommerrodelbahn”  or alpine slide that we drove past.  It had a steel track and was very fun. We drove through Garmisch-Partenkirchen and saw the US military resort there. Security was tight at the entrance with concrete barriers blocking the way. We drove past 2 alpine slides in Bichlbach & Biebewihr  south of Reutte to scout them out for tomorrow. We had another great dinner at the Schluxen hotel. After many beers, Neil decided to pick a fight with the stuffed beavers on display in the staircase. It was quite funny.

9/21/01

We stopped in Biebewihr at the alpine slide, the longest in Austria. It was great! We took a 6 person chair lift up to the top which took 10 minutes. The track was fiberglass with ~25 curves, it was fast too since there were a lot of areas with moisture which made the brake almost useless. It was great fun, got 3 runs in before the rain/sleet moved in. Cost was 211 AS each for 3 runs. We drove back to the short steep slide in Bichlbach, about 10 minutes, but it was closed due the rain/sleet. Neil drove through a big pile of manure which splattered the wheel wells and a little on the door. So now we’re driving the Scheissmobile! We stopped in Innsbruck around noon and checked out the “golden roof”. We ate lunch at a place at the entrance to the Old Town dating back to the 1400’s. We ate in a nook/bay on the second floor in a really neat wood paneled room overlooking the Old Town. I was able to send email from the Tourist Information using a coin operated terminal. Next, we drove to Kitzbuhel and had coffee and a torte. We drove on to Zell am See where we found rooms at the Hotel-Pension Regina-Gudrun, for 300AS per person, about $40. It’s nothing fancy, but more than adequate. For dinner, we went to the Gruner Baum which was near the pedestrian zone. I was cute with its wood paneling, food was decent too. We got back to the Regina-Gudrun we had a beer at its bar. The parents of the couple who run the hotel must have been baby-sitting and watching the hotel. The older lady poured us our beer, then she called for her husband who turned on the lights and the radio. They were very nice. The bar had a huge booth and table that could probably seat at least 12. The young woman who checked Mike & me in then came back. We had her refill our beer and then we discussed the terrorist situation with her. It was interesting to talk with her, we found out she was from Belgium and her husband Austria.

9/22/01

We had breakfast in the nice dining/breakfast room at the Hotel Pension Regina Gudrun. We walked around Zell am See for a few minutes and Neil stopped at an Apotheke to get a gel for his canker sore. We headed out towards the Grossglockner  Hochalpenstrasse(high alpine road). The weather wasn’t too promising but we went anyway. We encountered some cows coming down from pasture along the road on our way, blocking traffic for a while. The toll for the Grossglockner was 350AS for a day pass. The weather was somewhat clear at first so we got a few views of the mountains. We got to the snow line and eventually it was very windy and cold. It also clouded in so that we could see about 20-30 feet. At the end of the road, it was even worse. The road ends near the bottom of a huge glacier. We had lunch at the cafeteria style restaurant and hope the weather would improve. It did a little, could see quite a bit, but not the tops of the mountains. This drive is supposed to be one of the best drives in all of the Austrian Alps. We took the funicular down to the glacier(98AS round trip), and hiked onto the glacier. They had a path set up to walk out safely. Weird to think of the millions of years that the glacier has been there. It as also interesting to see how the glacier is rapidly/melting by the signs that they had that showed its position at different years. We took the Grossglockner back and headed to Hallstatt in the Austrian lake district. We are staying at the Gasthof Simony, which is atmospheric and on the main square in town. Neil and I have a corner room overlooking the town square. We walked around town for an hour to check things out. Then we went to the Hotel Zaner for dinner. Still cloudy and raining here, hopefully tomorrow will be better. Mike and I had Rainanke, the local trout from the Hallstatter See, and Neil had a celtic kebob. We had Salzburger Nockerl for desert. Mike had marinated (raw) venison for an appetizer. We had wine and beer and the bill was 1400AS including tip. The trout was the best I have ever tasted!

9/23/01

We woke up to light rain , so we decided to take the funicular up the mountain and tour the salt mine. The area was wealthy in the middle ages due to the large salt deposits that where mined here. We put miner’s pants and jackets over our clothes for the tour. We rode into the mine on a small train. We got to slide down 2 wooden slides between levels, which was fun. Our group was really large and the tour was all in German. We didn’t ask for English as we were 3 out of about 80. The group was rowdy and I think partially drunk in the morning already. The tour lasted 1&1/2 hours from changing clothes to finish. We walked the long steep path back down to Halstatt. For lunch, we ate at the restaurant in the Simony. Neil had an excellent wienerschnitzel, Mike had venison Gulash, and I had fried chicken. We walked up to the Catholic church and went to the Bone church, where they stored the skulls and bones of the dead. The town is perched along the lake on the side of a mountain, not enough space for everyone to be buried indefinitely. The men had ivy painted on their skulls along with name and year of birth and death. The women had roses/flowers instead of ivy. Neil  & I walked back to the end of town, since the rain had let up. He took pictures once the rain stopped and the sun poked thru a bit. I went to the Gruner Baum hotel next to ours, and checked email. We ate dinner in our hotel, the Simony, again. It was good, Mike & I had schnitzel and Neil had lamb cutlets.

9/24/01

We left Hallstatt early since it clouded up again, at first it appeared to be breaking up, but after breakfast it had clouded in. We got to Salzburg and parked in the Altstadt parking garage. We walked to the Zum Weisses Kreuz and the Goldene Ente hotels, but they both were full. It was the weekend of the “oktoberfest” in Salzburg. We walked around a bit and decided to call some of the other listings in Rick’s book on the other side of the river. The first one we called, Zur Goldene Krone, had openings. Our room is very nice, with a small foyer, with WC and shower, plus a nice room with a built in booth. We walked back across town to the Old Town where the festival was going on. We visited Mozartplatz and the cathedral before heading to the beer tent where we had lunch and beer(of course). No driving today for Neil. J Mike and I had sausages and kraut and Neil had a rotisserie chicken and pommes frites(French fries). Neil & Mike had a second beer, we sat and enjoyed the atmosphere of the tent and the bands. We separated with Mike, he did Rick’s walking tour while Neil & I walked around. We stopped at the internet café next to the TI. I surfed for ~25 minutes for 50 AS. We met Mike at 4:00 in front of the Mozart Statue-well Neil and I were at the beer wagon next door to it. Mike found us or Neil found him, I don’t know but Mike had a beer with us too. We took the funicular up to Hohensalzburg fortress and then walked across the top of the hill for 30 minutes or so back to the Monchsburg lift. We walked back toward our hotel. I stopped to call my parents and Neil hit the market for some beer. We drank that back at our room with Mike before going to dinner at the Altes Fochse(old fox) just down the street from our hotel. I had a neat “keller” atmosphere and we had a really nice waitress-especially since we took a table that was reserved but didn’t realize it. She didn’t mind and moved their sign to another table. I had beef, Neil ad pork, and Mike had lamb. We all had more beer. It was really good. A Canadian couple sat next to us. They were also staying at our hotel and had just come from the Czech Republic. They gave Mike a name of a hotel that they liked in Cesky Krumlov. (see easterneurope1999 trip). Next we caught a taxi to the Augustiner Keller beer garden. A place Mike has heard Neil talk about many a time I’m sure. We got our beers(1L=64AS) and sat inside of the 4 halls, the outside garden was closed. Neil  & Mike got shitty, we changed halls and stayed for quite a while. We eventually got a cab since there wasn’t much traffic going by the keller. He got us close to our hotel, Neil wasn’t looking so good in the back seat of the cab with me. Fortunately we got back to the hotel before he got sick. My guidance led him to the toilet instead of his first instinct-the shower. I hope Oktoberfest in Munich won’t be like this each night……

9/25/01

We dropped off our rental car in Munich after a rainy drive from Salzburg with tons of traffic. We took a taxi to the Pension –Seibel. We ate lunch at the Viktualienmarkt at the infamous “och in der semmeln” stand. The black guy working there gave me a hard time in my ordering in german. We walked to Marienplatz and then down the pedestrian zone to the Hauptbahnhof. We stopped at the FC Bayern Munchen Fan Shop and Neil got a new t-shirt. We walked back towards the pedestrian area and walked to the Hofbrauhaus so Mike could see it. We went to the Wies’n or Oktobertfest around 4:00. There was no admission and it has a fair/midway atmosphere outside of the beer tents with food and rides. The first tent we stopped in was the Augustiner, we couldn’t find any seats so we moved on to another tent. We didn’t find a seat at the Spaten tent either. We found a partially open table at the Hacker Pschorr tent, sat next a German, and 2 Americans, and a Brit. The American couple was from Chicago! The food and beer and atmosphere were great. The house band played songs that everyone sang along to. The big ones were “Country Roads” by John Denver and “Sweet Home Alabama” by Lynrd Skynrd. People stood up and danced on the tablets too. A british girl who lives in Munich and 2 guys sat by us, she smoked American Spirit Cigarettes, one of the guys was a brewer for Paulaner. Neil managed to lead us back to the Pension thru all the beer and 2 subway changes.

9/26/01

We went to the Deutsche Museum this morning-Germany’s Smithsonian. Excellent museum, but I wasn’t in the mindset for it. Although they had a great pharmacy display. For lunch we went back to the Och in der Semmeln place again. Delicious again…..  We went to the Wies’n or Oktoberfest at around 3:00pm, tried to get a table at the Lowenbrau tent but it already was too busy, wild too. Very rowdy in that tent. The statue/mascot in front of the tent was great, moving its tail, roaring, and drinking beer. Next we went to the Paulaner tent and found some seats next to some germans that were not friendly at all. We ate dinner and had Paulaner Oktoberfest Marzen beer which again was excellent. All beer is excellent it seems. We went back to the Hacker-Pschorr tent and were able to find a few seats there-almost in the same spot. The Germans who sat next to us were nice. Had a great time again…

9/27/01

Neil & Mike went to Dachau this morning. I’ve been there so I went shopping and to an internet café. I found some fodor’s people were meeting at the fest this afternoon. I met up with Neil & Mike and had Ochs in der Semmeln again. Again fantastic! Neil & I went to the Mephisto shop and got Neil 2 nice pairs, I got one. The salesman was nice and steered me to the more comfortable shoes(rather than the more fashionable ones I liked). E said the shoes should 7-8 years and after 3-4 years the nubuck ones could be polished with cream to give them a shine. He gave us the Value Added Tax forms to fill out. We hurried to the fest to meet Art & Linda from the Fodor’s board at the official souvenir stand. It took us a while, but we eventually found them, not knowing what they looked like. We went with them to the Hacker Pschorr tent again and miraculously found an open table. Art  & Linda told us about their trip to Poland, Hungary, & Romania. They were traveling as friends and had met at a Fodor’s gathering in San Francisco. Some Germans sat with us-Robert, Armin and then Max. They seemed to take a liking to me especially. The fest and the atmosphere in the Hacker Pschorr tent were awesome! Ein Maas(one liter) = 12.6DM

9/28/01

We took a cab to Sixt rental car & picked up the exact same car we dropped off 3 days prior. We knew it was the same car, but they had cleaned up the scheissmobile. We had a long day of driving, lots of traffic and construction impeded our Autobahn driving, and finally made it to Bacharach at ~4:00pm. We stopped at the TI to inquire about rooms and the lady wasn’t helpful at all. She kind of shook her head and said all hotels were full due to the wine festival this weekend. We searched around and eventually found a room at the Rhein Hotel. Neil & I have a double for 150DM and Mike a single for 85DM. Most hotels have been great about giving Mike a single rate, but he had a double room here as well as at the Schluxen in Reutte. We did Rick Steve’s town walk and went to the Altes Haus for dinner. It wasn’t busy but the food was great. A wine festival is going on so we stopped at some of the booths and tried the wine. They also had music going.  We came back to the hotel and there were fireworks at the banks of the Rhein which we could see from our balcony.

9/29/01

We took the KD-Line boat cruise from Bacharach to St. Goar this morning. It was 16DM per person one way. The weather was nice and we enjoyed the 40 minute ride past castles and the Lorelei. At St. Goar we hiked up to Burg Rheinfells and took a walking tour of the remains. We stopped for lunch at  a Doner-Kebab place (Turkish food) aptly named McDoner. Excellent. We called American to confirm our flight for tomorrow. Mike also called to check on his(he’s going to Prague, Cesky Krumlov, & Vienna after we leave) flight which had been rerouted via Dallas/Ft Worth. He ended up getting it switched to Swissair from Vienna-Zurich-Chicago. The only problem is it is at 7:00am. We took the train from St. Goar to Bacharach and got our car. We decided to head toward Frankfurt to find a hotel for the night. Mike had a 10pm overnight train from Frankfurt going to Prague. After a long search we finally found a nice place outside of Darmstadt in a village called Eberstadt. The hotel is the Hotel Stadt Heidelberg. Our double is 133DM. It is very modern, quiet, and clean. It is also close to the A5 autobahn, so it should be a quick trip to the airport. We went to the restaurant next door for dinner, was an Italian place but we got Milanese and Bolognese schnitzel. We watched CNN and the BBC and brought Mike to the Darmstadt HBF so he could catch a train to Frankfurt and then his night train. We filled up the car with gas for the morning to return it. We need to be at the airport 2&1/2 to 3 hours before our flight due to security issues.

9/30/01

Took ~25 minutes to drive to airport and return our car. Real good. While waiting in line to check in at the American desk. Dan and Deb Hawtree(who we met the first night at oktoberfest) came up to us and invited us to join them in the Admirals Lounge after we check in. We went up and relaxed for a while and talked with them. Very nice of them, we had never been in the “preferred lounge” before. Had to go get our VAT refund though, which had to be in the other terminal. Cut it kinda close with that one, made the flight home which was direct to Chicago!