hardwater

Background- 3rd trip to Germany, 4th to Europe, ages 50, wife speaks german fairly well, I am learning, independent travel by auto. We are both history geeks.
Goals- to visit realatives, Xmas markets, castles, museums and other history. Also not to move too much and use a base to see an area.
Time frame- Dec. 2-20, 2004
Planning- virtually all by internet

Apprehension- winter trip? Heck no. We are from N. Wisconsin. Germany was balmy to us. Experienced 19 below F. upon return!

1st segment- west central germany

We flew into Fra, trained into the hauptbahnhof and took a taxi to Europecar rented through AutoEurope ( with a free upgrade) saving $130 with little hassle and worth it. Our 4th rental w/AE. Kein problem.
We stayed the next 4 nights with relatives in Troisdorf south of Koln. We started in Bonn seeing the Haus der Geschichte, german history from 1945 - 2002, with its traveling exhibit called Elvis in Deutchland! This is a facinating museum where we spent 6 hours and it's free. Other Bonn highlights were the Bonn on Ice rink near the museum, the museum mile, the former embassies, Beethoven house and the delightful Weihnachts markt with a 100 year old children's ferris wheel. Really festive for our Weihnachts baptism.
Next day we trained into Koln crossing the Hohenzollern bridge and toured magnificent cathedral. It is stunning expecially with the Weihnachts markt surrounding it. The experience after dark with the bells sounding off in the markt sent chills through us. That afternoon we also had tickets to see the Koln Philharmonic in a newer but great concert hall. Beautiful.
Had a wonderful experience at Peter's Braueri with food and Kolsch beer. We learned what real Kolsch was and who can call their beer that name. Only Koln breweries can call it kolsch. Bonn beer is called Bonnsch! Peter's served the best brussel sprouts we ever had. Our last day was spent in Siegburg which had a medival Xmas markt. Toured the Benedictineabti St. Michaelsburg on the hill and ate at their brauschank in the altstadt. Great small town. Upon leaving to head east we could not resist the pull of Limburg from the autobahn. The Limburg and Dom rise above the city overlooking the river and with its red and white plaster exterior and several towers and altstadt wrapped around it below was superb. The interior of the church was stunning as well. Great small Weihnachts markt too. Another highlight was having St. Nicholas visit our cousins home and he somehow knew we were visiting from America. He knows all the children were told! The countryside driving from Koln to Fra is not particularly beautiful, more industrial and flatter. Conclusion remarks: We need more time, time time and we loved strolling, buying and listening to music in the Weihnachts markts. Next segment N. Bavaria, Wurzburg.

hardwater

Part 2-N. Bavaria
We motored to Kleinrinderfeld to stay with relatives. It is a treat to stay with family there and we spent the next day in Wurzburg a city we have visited twice before. This city simply does not get enough recognition and its location in the valley surrounded by vineyards is beautiful even in winter. The Weihnachts markt sits next to the Marienkapelle church and famous Falkenhaus which is the I center. Again very festive with buskers performing nearby and full of Weihnachts spirit. We walked to the Neumunster kirche nearby and while it is sandwiched between buildings the interior is stunning. We had toured several other great sites here such as the Festung Marienburg, the Residenze Palace ( do not miss this if in the area )and Alte Brucke with its large statues. This is a great city to see and worth several days. Viethochsheim just north and Iphofen just east are classic german towns with historic charm. Our last memory was seeing the Festung all lit up at night while driving up the hill a stunning sight. We left for Nurmburg via off the autobahn stopping in Ansbach to see some more history. This city was bombed heavily but mostly the rail center on the edge of town which saved the Residenz Ansbach we were told. We waited for the tour and we were the only 2. About 28 rooms have been restored complete with original furnishings. It is one of the finest smaller palaces we have seen in Europe and our guide didn't let on she spoke pretty good english. She laughed and said she had 2 sisters in Denver, visited often and just wanted my wife to practice her german. OK we were had but she was great. The balance of the Residenz is occupied by gov. offices. The altstadt here too was very nice and the Weihnachts markt made it better. Germany never ceases to amaze us.
We then left for Eckersmullen about 20 miles s. of Nurmburg to see more relatives staying in a cute pension in Eicholsburg nearby for 47 E w/Frstck, a real bargain. The next day we trained into Nurmburg to visit the super bowl of Christkindles markts. Besides the large one in the center platz there is a handwerkerhof, kind of a medival one, in the altstadt and an International one off the main platz. On a friday night this was alive with activity, music buskers and the like. Can't tell you how we felt, you must feel, walk and hear it yourself. The St. Lorenz and Frauenkirche are also glorious to see.
Our last day there we spent visiting, looking at old family albums my wife had never seen and visiting her relatives at the cemetary.
Conclusion: Never enough time time time but we felt we spent it well. Next segment, Saxony - Plauen, the lace center, Bautzen, the home of Sorbian culture and Dresden.

LoveItaly

hardwater, you obviously had a beautiful trip and thank you for your interesting report. I will look forward to the next segment you write. Travel is wonderful and when one has family or close friends it certainly enchances the experience. Happy New Year!

kswl

What a fabulous time to visit Germany! I would love to visit the Christmas markets some year. Thank you for sharing your trip with us.

hardwater

We began the 3rd leg of our advent trip heading to Plauen but stopping off in Bayreuth to see the Markgrafliches Opernhaus and Neues Schloss Bayreuth. The small opernhaus has a spectacular, lavish interior and we were the only 2 for the tour which was a slide and music presentation well done. Incredibly the interior is all painted wood and is used only once a yr. We then walked about 3 blocks to tour the Schloss Bayreuth. This city too deserves more visitors. It seems to offer a lot but we headed to Saxony and the area called Vogtland our first foray into former E.Germany. The countryside becomes more wooded,hilly and prettier as you head NE and Plauen, the center of lace production, was our next 2 overnites. It appeared somewhat industrial and tattered on the fringe but our Pension Matsch in the altstadt was a steal at 50 E. Built in 1496 and renovated in 1996 it came with a cafe, gasthaus and an inner courtyard. Our room had beautiful antiques including the bed, half timbered walls and a nice size bath. Unknowingly we had the hochzeitzimmer, wedding room. The Xmas market was a block away by the restored rathhaus which also contains the only lace museum in Germany. We just love wandering the altstadt of these types of cities sipping gluweihn and me chomping on roasted pork knuckles. What a Xmas present I had! Plauen Spitze is trademarked and there are about 12 factories in and around the area. We received a good education (inc a video) on the transformation of handmade to machine made lace mfg and toured the small museum. There was much for sale in the Xmas markt quite reasonable. We did not realize lace is made in colors too. You can tour several factories arranged by the I office in summer only. We did the walking tour and took in a matinee, black lite performance of Alice in Wonderland at the beautiful Vogtland Theater. It was wonderful not having seen this before. The Vogtland regional museum was 200 ft. from our pension. Regretably we departed for Bautzen east of Dresden, near the Polish border, but 1st swinging south to visit Markneukirchen and Klingenthal the center of handmade metal and wood stringed instrument production for 300 years. There is a great little museum in MK that has 3100 historical instruments in an old schloss. This area is about 15 km from the CZ border but as time ran out we headed back northeast thinking about what we missed. As we crossed the bridge into Bautzen we understood why its famous. It has 9-10 remaining fortification towers with much of the old city walls intact which wrap the altstadt and overlook the Spree river. With my wife's expert navigation skills ( she is excellent) we drove right to Hotel Schloss Schanke, built in 1431, renovated in 1993. They even have rooms in a tower nearby to rent. Beautiful place and fruhstuck for 75E. The Xmas markt was excellent in the platz and we took in a Christmas play called Augustus the Xmas goose one night. We did the walking tour, toured the Sorbian museum( excellent) climbed and saw the famous Wasserturm( water tower) at work ( pumped city water until 1967). Great,great city. This city and Cottbus to the north are the remant centers of Sorbian culture in Germany, a mix of Polish, Czech and German heritage. Bautzen is also famous for the political prison run by the E.G. polizei which is now a museum. We also discovered Soljanka, the delicious soup which came from the Russians we were told (thank god they 1 thing right) Hating to leave again we pointed the car east to Dresden but first stopping to see Schloss Moritzburg just northwest of Dresden billed as the most famous hunting castle in Europe. The vista on a sunny day from the parking lot was incredible surrounded by the water. Folks put this one on the list as it is very different from most castles. We were breathless and they have the famous canopied feather bed here on display. Left for Dresden staying in the Strehlen neighborhood and found our little Hotel Seraphinum. City traffic was horrible but we cleaned up with little time and tickets to see La Boheme at the Semper Opern that night. We hit the tram to go downtown. This was the highlight of for my wife. 1st balcony front row. Just walking up across the huge expansive platz with the Hofkirche bells ringing, the Frauenkirche and Semper lit up was breathless to us hayseeds from N.Wisconsin. This place is gorgeous certainly equal to the StatOpern in Vienna which we have seen. The opera was superb but we had difficulty returning after grabbing the wrong bus back. Crap happens. Accept it. Next day we rested until our Xmas evening concert in Meissen at the Meissen Porcelin Works. We reserved tickets and drove up to Meissen eating at a little Turkish rest. and arrived at the Schallhalle which is the museum for their historical porcelin collection. They have concerts twice a mo. and simply set up chairs up on the floor and in the 2nd floor. They made an organ in 2000 with Meissen porcelin for the pipes and had a well known organist playing it along with a choir and cellist. Surrounded by this priceless ( literally) collection we were overwhelmed here as we love classical music. At the pause we toured their display. WOW! For 18E this was a steal.
Our last day was spent heeding the sage advice of Ingo on this forum. Dresden IS the Florence of Germany and is having a renaissance certainly with the number of Germans we saw there. We walked the Bruhlsche terrace, toured the Grune Gewolde( green vault and DO NOT MISS THIS), toured part of Zwinger, the Rust kammer collection of armour , the old masters gallery and 3 Xmas markts then ran out of gas after 11 hours of walking. We did the medival Xmas markt, the narrow one near the river but the best was the Streizel Xmas markt, with really different things to buy like about 8 different kinds of Dresdener Stollen! Mein gott in himmel! That night as it started to snow finally at the market, we felt like we just lived through a fairy tale which capped a wonderful Weihnachts holiday in Germany.
In conclusion:
I swear they have raised the speed limit on the autobahn.
Why NOT go in Dec.? It's the only time to do Xmas concerts if you like music.
They do not all sell the same stuff at the different Weihnachts markts. We saw 12 in 8 different cities. Everyone does not speak english in Germany even if they are under 40. The 2 women at the I center did NOT even speak english.
In the former E.Germany we saw more litter, graffiti and run down and vacant buildings than in prior trips but we also saw them restoring, picking up litter and work in progress.
Dresden is all what Ingo cracks it up to be, a beautiful destination which needs about 5 days at min.

Ingo

Thanks for this wonderful trip report. I am glad you enjoyed your time in Germany, especially of course the East

You definitely had the best seats in the Semper Opera - sounds great! Btw, was the Green Diamond already on display in the Green Vault? It has been on an exhibit in the US (Jackson, Mississippi) and came back recently.

Your description of Plauen sounds very appealing too. I have to check out that B&B! The rate is in fact a steal.

Thanks for sharing.

Ingo

hardwater

Thank you for the kind words Ingo. Your encouragement about Saxony made us redirect our travels plans to this region. It's unfortunate few have responded to this report or visit there. It was a facinating trip. Should have labeled it " Oktoberfest". I cannot recall viewing the Green Diamond" but we were literally blinded by all the precious stones, gold, jewelery and objects in there! We did do the english audio tour. The cherry stones with 150 or so carved faces on it was, well, unbelievable. Same old story, too little time too many things to see there.

Marlena

Great trip report! Thanks for sharing! My husband and I have been thinking about doing this same type of trip in the future. I also speak fluent German and have relatives all over Germany but we've never been at Christmas. Thanks again!