>He ridiculed Bavarians beer lovers as low class, not being able to appreciate the delicate taste of good wine

That's a pretty original stance, since Rothenburg itself is at the periphery of Franconian viniculture, even if there are a handful of respected wine growers in the area (my favourite is Christian Stahl in Auernhofen: http://www.winzerhof-stahl.de/). Basically Rothenburg is a beer drining area, and a few km from R. there is one of the finest small Franconian breweries, Landwehrbräu at Reicheslhofen (http://www.landwehr-braeu.de/). You may have tasted it at the Duererstuben in Nuremberg, it is their standard beer brand.

Part IV. Just one word - Munich.
Day Eleven - May 10, Tuesday. Unromantic roads of Bavaria.

Today we were waken up by the rain pounding on our windows. The weather turned really bad, and the sky really cried, as if it knew where we were going today. And we going to the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial, the site of one of the most terrible concentration camps in Germany ...
We wanted to be in time for the 11AM guided tour. It was about 2 hours driving, so we decided to skip breakfast and leave early not to be late. Instead we made a quick stop at Nuremberg main railroad station to exchange some cash and to buy a snack.

Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site (KZ-Gedenkstätte Dachau)
Website: http://www.kz-gedenkstaette-dachau.de/index-e.html
2-1 / 2 hour guided tour: € 3

The first thing we saw when we arrived to Dachau was hundreds of German schoolchildren, mainly high school students. The Germans are doing everything so their land never becomes a soil to plant a poisonous seed of fascism. Nowadays Germans have become one of the most tolerant nations to religious, ethnic and sexual minorities, all those who once was considered an outcast. They have become intolerant of any attempt to revive the Neo-Nazi ideas, ideas that led to one of the most terrible and destructive war and millions of human tragedies. And they do so by bringing and showing to younger generation what should never happen again. "Never again" is the leitmotif of the memorial.

We arrived just on time, having bought the last ticket for the tour. Actually they had only one ticket left, but they sold us one extra, therefore our group it had 31 people, not 30 as supposed to. One of the examples of the “service with care”, when even strict Germans sometimes bend the rules.
Our guide was a lovely woman, half-Italian, half-Brit, I would say the best guide of the entire trip. The tour lasted 2 and a half hours, but was so captivating so powerful that it was like 15 minutes.

Dachau was one of the first camps in 1933. It began as a camp for German opposition to Hitler, communists and social democrats, later other undesirables: Roma, homosexuals, Jews, immigrants, criminals, and then, when the war began, POWs. The Nazis conducted a rigorous classification of inmates and everyone worn a triangle patch on their clothes corresponding to their category: red triangle for communists, yellow for Jews, pink for homosexuals. Some had a several if they belonged to multiple categories. Dachau was not originally intended as extermination camp, such as Auschwitz and Treblinka, but the mortality rate here was one of the highest due to starvation, disease and overwork. Nazis used people like broken parts, threw them away and immediately replaced with a new batch of human "parts". The crematorium was built here, but was not regularly used, although there are two known instances when tests were conducted. REAL tests conducted, using humans as a test material.

Our guide led thru an outstanding museum with documents, photographs and film footage. One of the documentaries showed Americans soldiers who liberated the camp, and who vomited when they saw the prisoners, that is how bad they looked.
After the museum we went to see the barracks. Except for a few remaining most of them were demolished. ON their places currently you can see only outline of the foundation with the barrack number.
At the end of the tour we came to the monument to the prisoners of the camp, consisting of a sculpture in the form of wire made of human bodies, as well as compositions of triangles of different colors symbolizing different groups of prisoners.

…………………………………….
“NEVER AGAIN”
…………………………………….

Nymphenburg Palace (Schloss Nymphenburg)
Website: http://www.schloss-nymphenburg.de/en...lace/index.htm
Entrance: € 11.50 including Palace and all the park pavilions

After visiting Dachau, we continued our way to Munich. The weather continued to be overcast, but the rain had stopped, there were glimpses of clear sky. It took us 20 minutes to get into a completely different era. Instead of black and gray palette of depressing Dachau we again plunged into a color and sophistication of Baroque of Age of Enlightenment in Nymphenburg Palace, located on the outskirts of Munich.

Built as a summer residence of Bavarian rulers, the palace is considered one of the most beautiful in Europe. Frankly, after already seen palaces of Potsdam, Charlottenburg and Würzburg, this palace did not impress us that much with the exception of the painted ceilings, they are really superb.
However there is one room which is a-must for visit ,the Gallery of Beauties (Schönheitengalerie), where you can see portraits of the most beautiful women according to the King Ludwig I, a known bon vivant and ladies man. There you can see portraits of noble as well as ordinary women side by side, the main criterion for the choice of models was the appearance of these women, not the title.
We walked through all the rooms of the palace, then went across the courtyard to one of the palace wings to visit the Museum of the Palace carriages (Marstallmuseum). It was an excellent exhibition featuring a dazzling collection of decorative gilt carriages and sleighs. there were so many beautiful coaches and wagons, and also other related stuff: harness, saddles, horse muzzles (do not know how to properly called).
The guidebook saud there was is a pavilion with a swimming pool in a park. We got curious and decided to find it.
OMG, we were so glad we went to the parl. The Nymphenburg Park was the most remarkable of all the parks we had seen. It was not manicured Wurzburg park, not the grandiose San Suisse park in Potsdam, no. But it was the most relaxing one with stunning scenery, ponds with swans and ducks, hiking and biking trails, and of course the amazing flower beds. And this park is popular among local: moms with strollers, joggers, elderly couples.
Taking a walk in the park, we visited park pavilions Pagodenburg, decorated in the Chinese style, which was so fashionable in the 18th century. Then we feed the ducks with remains of our morning snack, then we crossed the park for pavilion Badenburg where we finally found and the royal swimming pool. There was no water in the pool, so we did not swim :-). Last pavilion we visited, Amalienburg was built as a hunting lodge, but was the most luxurious: its ceiling and walls were richly decorated with paintings and stucco.

BMW Welt
Website: http://www.bmw-welt.com/de/

Today we had a day of contrasts. We moved from one era to another, the scenery changed from heartbreaking site in Dachau to colorful beautiful Nymphenburg, from one architectural style to a completely different, and, before arriving at the hotel, we came back to the 21th century to sample a modern hi-tech architecture of glass and steel by visiting fairgrounds of the car company BMW in Munich's Olympic park.

Unlike Mercedes, BMW's headquarters are not in Stuttgart, but here in Munich. We were not going to go inside, we just wanted to look at this interesting structure from outside. Our “Mercedes” entered enemy’s territory and parked right in from to the building “In your face” style, and walked to see this bold dramatic structure in the shape of an hourglass with a spiral ramp leading to the entrance of the Museum. Frankly, I have not formed a clear opinion if I like me or not, but no doubt it was impressive.

Arrival in Munich. Service with care.

Finally, after a long, full of emotions day, we finally arrived at our hotel Munich ,The Charles Hotel (https://www.roccofortehotels.com/hot...=charles_hotel). We gave our car to valet and you forgot about it for the next 3 days.
This was one of the best hotels where we've ever stayed at. And it's not only because of a good comfortable room overlooking the park, but mostly because everyone in this hotel did everything so that people felt at home. In this hotel, we never heard the word "no", "unfortunately, this is not possible", "we are very sorry, but that we do not have." Whatever we asked was done instantly. “Ma’m, are you tired? We’ll bring some tea in your room (of course free of charge)”, “You are hungry but you do not have a reservation in our restaurant? Do not worry, we'll call you when your table is ready, and by the an aperitif is on a house. “, “You need to do laundry? How urgent, tonight, by tomorrow or the next day?”. “ You need bikes for tomorrow? They will be ready by the morning” Well, you got the picture. Moreover, it was done like really care, as it should be.
Before dinner, Dmitry went to the sauna, and I took a foam bath, relaxing and sipping sweet tea. My husband came back impressed with sauna and spa in general.
We went down to the restaurant, where it was the same great service and delicious food After dinner we walked around the hotel, and then I finished the day crushing into bed.

Ah, the Charles! We stayed there three weeks ago. A Mercedes fits well into the hotel's garage. A Bentley even better.

You wrote "Almost all hotels in Germany have a spa with sauna, a steam room and swimming pools". Unfortunately, this is true only for hotels in a certain class. And the Charles is among the best that you can get in München (we also like the Vier Jahreszeiten).

mmm - sadly the Charles is a little above my pay grade, but I can dream!

<Ah, the Charles! >

The Charles rules!!

<You wrote "Almost all hotels in Germany have a spa with sauna, a steam room and swimming pools". Unfortunately, this is true only for hotels in a certain class. And the Charles is among the best that you can get in München (we also like the Vier Jahreszeiten).>

traveler 1959,
That is true. It also depends on some other factors, like town size and location. Some hotels, while not particularly cheap, simple cannot have a spa due to historical building in old town. But when I was searching for hotel I included "spa" into the search filter and it gave us a wide range of hotels, including reasonable priced. I got an impression, sauna for Germans is essential to have even when travelling:-)

<mmm - sadly the Charles is a little above my pay grade, but I can dream!>

annhig,
I usually allocate a certain budget per person/week depending on which country we travel (Germany was more expensive than Peru, but much cheaper than Japan) and try to squeeze the best possible hotels/options into this budget. I also a member of all possible reward programs, so in this trip our Nuremberg hotel was fully paid by points, the same as in Dresden Marriott, and 2 days in Berlin. This gave me some room to splurge in Munich and Baden-Baden.

I also a member of all possible reward programs, so in this trip our Nuremberg hotel was fully paid by points, the same as in Dresden Marriott, and 2 days in Berlin.>>

good plan, Fetinia, but sadly I don't tend to stay in hotels like that every often anyway, apart from my favourite Best Western in Plymouth. I must try harder!

The twelfth day - May 11th, Wednesday. Bratwurst, blatwurst, sauerkraut and other obazda.

To experience everything this nice hotel had to offer, we decided to have breakfast at the hotel restaurant. Despite the difference in class hotels during our trip, breakfast buffet was pretty much the same everywhere: assortment of sausages and cold cuts, selection of bread, variety of cheeses, dairy products and fruit, almost everywhere you can find eggs to order. The only difference for upscale hotels, besides outrageously high prices of course, was a breakfast champagne. This morning my husband ordered a boiled egg.
“How long would you like us to boil it, sir?”
“1 minute, 12 seconds”, My husband decided to be a smart a**.
“Of course”, not a muscle moved on the face of the waiter, he took an order and started a timer.
Here we came across something called "obazda" and tried to understand what it was. Is it a sort of mustard? No, it was not pretty bland and spicy. Something like cottage cheese or cream cheese? Nope. We could not figure out what was it, and going forward we called “probably obazda” any unknown we saw in Germany (not only food) .
I really liked the German bread with pumpkin seeds (Mehrkorn-Brötchen) which was very tasty and went equally well as with cold cuts as with jams. I also discovered the German cheeses: emenhaler and another , the one with embedded dill, the name escaped me.
Outside of Germany, its cuisine is primarily known by its Bavarian food: sausages, pork knuckle, sauerkraut and potatoes. But half way thru in our trip, we had already discovered other, less-known, but equally good food: perch, German pasta, pickled herring, plenty of dishes made of potatoes (dumplings, mashed potato, potato salad), soup with liver dumplings, and of course variety of asparagus dishes. When we read about German food we came across a very interesting dish, a stuffed pork tripe (Pfälzer Saumagen), and really wanted to try it, but so far none we did not see in on the menu in any restaurants.
Well, back to the sausages, there are a great variety of differing in taste, type of meat and color in Bavaria: the classic pork or beef (Bratwurst), blood sausage (Blutwurst - my favorite!), white veal (Weisswurst), boiled, grilled, fried. I would say a traditional Bavarian cuisine is not for vegetarians, except , probably, a sauerkraut, strong and not very, white and red.
Okay, enough about food for a body, let’s back to the food for the brain. In Munich we planned to visit attractions on a first day, and ride a bike in the English Garden and the adjacent streets on a second. But we looked at the forecast promising torrential rain tomorrow, so we switched days and decided to explore Munich on a bike today instead of tomorrow.

German Museum of Science and Technology (Deutsches Museum)
Website: http://www.deutsches-museum.de
Entrance: € 11

German Museum of Science and Technology is dedicated to the history and achievements of the German engineering and technology. We have read so many good reviews about this museum and really wanted to go. It was located on the museum island in the Isar River, and to get there we decided on the tram, the only form of transport in Germany, where we had not yet tried. I have not ridden a tram for 20 years since I visited my grandaunt small town in Russia, so it was interesting. Our hotel was located next to the central railway station in Munich, where we took a tram #16 going to the museum island.
Deutsches Museum is the largest museum of its kind in the world, wow! It’s certainly not possible to see entire museum in one day, there are a wide number of exhibits representing more than 50 branches of science and industries, from mining to aeronautics. The museum is interesting for adults, but it is a must to visit if you come to Munich with a family. Many of the exhibits are interactive, there are demonstrations throughout the day, the museum has a "Kids Zone”, where children can touch and play with everything. As I said, you need more than a day to see everything in this museum, so you need to choose which section you (or your child) are the most interested in. Our son has grown, he attends the US Merchant Marine Academy, so we were interested in everything related to navigation and nautical science.
But, following advice of the ticket lady, we started in a basement to see .... the mine. Yes, the mine built in a scale of 1: 1 with lifts, trolleys and ... miners. The museum recreated the full atmosphere being deep underground, simply amazing. The whole mining tour takes about 45 minutes.
When we came back "Up" we went to in the Electricity hall where the demonstration just start, in German only, in English the spoke only when it was necessary to cover our ears, but it was still fun. They showed how lightning is formed, and other experiments with electricity.
After Electrical show, we finally got to the maritime section. It was absolutely great: how did they manage to get a real submarine inside?! There las was half of the schooner, where they even planted a rat for authenticity. There were also all sorts of underwater suits, pressure chambers, and even the real cruise ship deck with lounges where you can relax under the cries of seagulls.
After the Nautical hall we gone up to the third level see hall dedicated to ceramics and glass manufacturing. In the ceramics section my husband, the registered nurse, got stuck looking at really cool ceramic prostheses, especially for finger and leg bones. I wanted to see a glassblowing demonstration, but unfortunately, it started in the second half of the day.
There was a DNA lab, but visiting there had to be booked in advance.
The only downside of this museum there was not much information doubled in English. We tried to translate with Google, but it not always produced intelligible translation.

English Garden (Englischer Garten)
Website: http://www.muenchen.de/sehenswuerdig...te/120242.html

After the museum we walked a couple of blocks to rent bicycles from Bike Mike shop (http://www.mikesbiketours.com/munich/), and went to the largest city park, the English Garden, which is also a very first park to be open for public use.
Why, you might ask, the largest and most beautiful park in major German city called the English garden? This is because, unlike other straight lined manicured parks in Bavaria, it followed the English tradition to build parks close to nature. It is a place where people come just to enjoy the surroundings strolling through the winding alleys and shady paths along the streams and flowery meadows.
At the beginning of our ride we saw a group of surfers practicing at the part of the stream, where rapids formed something like waves. I'm not a surfer, but it seemed much harder than for their ocean counterparts due to the narrowness of the stream.
After watching a little bit of the surfers show, we moved on and just rode around the park taking different paths, with gravel crunching under the wheels. We passed several buildings: Japanese Tea House and Chinese pagoda with a huge beer garden (biergarten). We rode around the park pond and decided to stop and have a lunch in the other beer garden the Hirschau. We had an authentic bavarian food: have several varieties of sausages, sauerkraut, potato salad, and of course for a huge beer mug, Dima had some local sort, and I had my favorite Radler.

Neue Pinakothek
Website: https://www.pinakothek.de/besuch/neue-pinakothek
Entrance: € 7.00

Our next stop was one of the galleries of Munich, the New Pinakothek, with a stunning collection of paintings of the German and other European masters of the 19th century. Germans were represented the most, from the era of classicism and romanticism to the impressionism. It turned out to be my favorite museum in Germany, I love the Impressionists, and here you can see the works of Van Gogh, Gauguin, Turner, Pizarro, Cézanne, Goya and my favorite Renoir and many others, as well as sculptures by Rodin and Picasso (I had not known that Picasso has sculptural works). Also, many of the British landscape paintings, also my favorite. The museum is very easy to follow and the audio guide is very informative.
After the gallery we rode on the city streets, back to Mike’s shop, from where we took a subway back to the hotel. Today decided not to go to a restaurant, an instead to buy seem groceries to have a dinner in the room. Our hotels closet subway station was at the railroad station where you could find many mini-markets, bakeries and wine shops. We bought some smoked chicken legs and pork thighs, local potato chips, some salads, strawberries and of course a magnificent dessert. We still were full from the hearty lunch, so we came to the room, changed clothes and went to the sauna. Our hotel had luxurious spa with a huge swimming pool, a sauna,a steam room, heated lounges and a relaxation room with fruit and fragrant tea. Today, we were here alone, just great, everything was just for us! For a fee you can get a massage, I made a 3o-minutes foot massage, and Dima had a scalp massage. The receptionist was very friendly, brought us tea directly to the loungers. She was delighted to learned we spoke Russian. Her mother, a native of East Germany, thought her some Russian too.
Back to the room, we discovered that we had no coffee or tea maker. We called and asked to bring it along with tea bags. They brought a top-of-the line coffeemaker, a box of coffee capsules, a tea kettle and a box with probably 20 variety of teas, all for free. Dima jokingly asked: can you bring a microwave too? The answer? “Do you want us to bring it in your room or you prefer that we heat up your food in the kitchen?” This hotel amazed more and more. Of course, this hotel is not cheap, but we lived in hotels that were even more expensive, but nowhere we had a service with such care and attention to detail. They earned their money for sure. By the way, what is the story with the tip: we, as is customary in the United States, were leaving 2-3 € every night at the vanity, but it stayed at the same place , the did not take it. We did not understand how we could make them to accept it. When we left I write a note “Danke” and put it on the desk along with money.
Tomorrow we had one more day in the heart of Bavaria!

>Here we came across something called "obazda" and tried to understand what it was. Is it a sort of mustard? No, it was not pretty bland and spicy. Something like cottage cheese or cream cheese? Nope. We could not figure out what was it, and going forward we called “probably obazda” any unknown we saw in Germany (not only food) .<

My daughter, wo lives in Princeton NJ, once perpared obazda for a student party. Since she was asked for the repice often by colleagues, she wrote down it. Mabe you want to give it a try:

"This is a hearty Bavarian specialty, pleasant as an appetizer or snack, or, more in the folkloristic line, as a main summer dish. Preparation time is appr. twenty minutes, and due to the genuinely unsophisticated preparation method there is absolutely nothing that can go wrong. In fact, for those of you who have been waiting for the right adults' excuse for sludging and slopping around in the kitchen (in Bavarian: bazen/batzen), this is where you can enjoy yourselves, for that's what gives "Obatzter" its name: if it's not smeary, it ain't right. :)

Ingredients:
200g whole-fat butter (don't even try diet! it's not gonna work)
200g mature Camembert
1 small red onion
1 tsp paprika
a few twigs of fresh parsley
Units: Metric
Serves: N/A

Cooking Instructions:

Chop the onion in tiny pieces. Let butter and cheese warm up and get soft in the meantime (they're better to process that way - but don't melt the butter). Cut butter and cheese into small lumps. Now comes the fun part - you have to mix those two. Use your hands and knead like a dough. You should get a largely homogenuous semi-soft mass with knots of Camembert crust in it. Knead in the onion and the paprika. Form a lump and chill down in the fridge. When served, it should be pretty firm. Decorate with chopped parsley and serve with pumpernickel, radishes, or horseradish. Enjoy!"

Thank you, sla019!
It does look like a cream cheese, but it taste completely differently. I'll try, or rather my husband, he is a cook in a family:-)
Do you have a recipe for Pfälzer Saumagen as well?

When we read about German food we came across a very interesting dish, a stuffed pork tripe (Pfälzer Saumagen), and really wanted to try it, but so far none we did not see in on the menu in any restaurants.>>

that's because only people who live in the Pfalz will eat it! [German food can be surprisingly regional and what goes down a storm in one place is impossible to find in another]

I've tried it once and I certainly wouldn't again.

Here's everything about it that you were afraid to ask:

http://blindtastingclub.net/pfalz/pi...rom-the-pfalz/

And here's how to make it:

http://www.lecker.de/pfaelzer-saumag...kohl-5403.html

Take one sheep's stomach......

It is right that Saumagen is a regional specialty from the Pfalz and that it is hard get it outside the Pfalz.

It is basically a bratwurst-like sausage filling together with potato cubes which is cut in slices and fried.

The stomach is just the casing and I have to say that now, they often use a plastic wrapper as a casing (which is removed before frying).

If you want to make it in the USA, try to get raw link sausages (the ones Americans eat for breakfast) and mix the filling with minced pork belly, breadcrumbs, eggs, potato cubes, pepper and marjoram, the defining herb of Saumagen. You may also add thyme.

Then fill the mass into any container with a lid (metal or ceramic) or into a roasting bag or tube and cook it in the oven or in boiling water.

The final touch is pan-frying the sliced Saumagen before serving.

Thanks a lot, everyone! We actually did get a chance to eat Saumagen in Germany (it will be in later installment), and I loved it. It was exactly how it traveller1959 described and looked exactly like in anhig recipe link.

Fetinia, I love your attitude to travelling.

Sadly, so many travellers find their prejudices confirmed, but in every installment, you write that you have learnt something new and that you have been open to be surprised.

I also loved how you wrote that you defend Americans when Russians have prejudices and that you defent Russian when they are prejudiced. After all, humans are all the same. That is the basic experience of travelling.

our latest lot of holiday guests are from the Pfalz, perhaps we should have asked them to bring some Saumagen with them!

Day thirteen - May 12th, Thursday. Just Munich.

As expected, there was a wall of rain outside the window. For breakfast we finished yesterday’s dinner leftovers, and by the time we were done with eating and taking a shower, the heavy rain had become just a drizzle. We took a bus no.100 right around a corner and went to....

Munich Residence (Münchner Residenz)
Website: http://www.residenz-muenchen.de
Entrance: € 11 (for a combined ticket "Residence Museum / Treasury")

We got off the bus next to the entrance to the park surrounding the residence. We went to what seemed like the main entrance door, but it was locked. Hm, was the opening hours different today? Remember, we were supposed to come here yesterday…. Checked the website.. Nope, it should’ve been opened. We walked around the building, but all doors were locked. Funny thing, thru the windows we saw people walking inside the museum, but could not find a way to join them:-) We saw a museum employee thru the window, waved, attracted attention, hand-signaled explaining what we want. He pointed us to some unclear direction. We walked to the pointed direction but ended up somewhere in the courtyard under construction. Construction workers completely ignored us, despite it was clear that two people looking at the map, speaking foreign language and looking around were lost. The same story as everywhere, until we asked nobody volunteered to assist. So we did ask for help and they actually walked with us to the museum entrance. It just the Residence was under renovation and construction was everywhere, so the main entrance was closed and the side entrance was used instead. Anyway, going back to the museum…..
Munich residence of Bavarian kings consists of 3 parts: the actual palace (Residenz Museum), Treasury (Schatzkammer) and Theatre (Cuvilliés Theatre), but the latter was closed that day. You can buy a single tickets for each museum or combination ticket. There are audio guides available.
We started with the palace. The first room was a grotto with, surprisingly, Indian motifs and windows facing the courtyard. And then the tours took us thru halls, rooms, chapels very different in size, style and décor: Antiquarium, the huge hall heavily decorated with marble walls and statues, Gallery of ancestors (Ahnengalerie) and the Porcelain Cabinet (Porzellankabinett), the room of Charlotte, the daughter of Bavarian King Maximilian II Josef (Charlottenzimmer), a Court room (Hofkapelle), and many, many others, stylistically very different from each other.
After walking the museum, we continued to the Treasury, the collection of luxury goods obtained by Bavarian rulers for centuries.
If the palace itself, after seeing Potsdam, Charlottenburg and especially Wurzburg residences did not overwhelm us (yes it was very nice, but did not have that “wow” factor), the Treasury was absolutely impressive. Exhibits were placed in different rooms based on the type and material: gold, precious and semi-precious stones, ivory, wood, crystal, jewelry, everyone was dedicated room, or even two. There was even a Russian Orthodox icon which we appreciated.

Marienplatz
Website: http://www.muenchen.de/sehenswuerdig...te/120347.html

After admiring crowns and other expensive toys of Bavarian rulers, we left and walked to see the most famous Munich Square, the Marienplatz, which I wanted to visit since reading an excellent book by Russian author Kunin "Russian on the Marienplatz”, the humorous story about Russian immigrants living in Munich.

The plaza was crowded: dozens of tourist groups, souvenir vendors, onlookers like us, the artists, "frozen" statues, and all of this surrounded by architecture from different eras: a basic simple old town hall, dazzling beautiful New Town Hall, and on the other side of the plaza the modern shops and pedestrian streets with boutique shops on both sides.
We are big fans of Germany national soccer team and here we bought probably all available souvenirs with team’s colors. I also bought a great knitted hat with pompom , something that I would actually needed the very next hour!

New Town Hall (Neues Rathaus)
Website: http://www.muenchen.de/sehenswuerdig...te/120394.html
Entrance: € 2.50 (for the rise on the tower)

Again, it was time to have a new challenge climbing the tower, so we decided to climb the New Rathaus tower. There was not much of a challenge, because the tower had an elevator. The wind was so strong at the top, so I had to put on a new hat. But the view, the view! it was magnificent!

Munich grocery market (Viktualienmarkt)
Website: http://www.muenchen.de/int/en/shoppi...lienmarkt.html

After freezing almost to death at the tower top, we needed something to warm up, like mulled wine. We went to the Viktualenmarkt, a small but famous market located close to the Marienplatz. Besides vegetables, asparagus, there was a lot of sausage, cheese products and lots of souvenirs. At one point we saw a mini-sausages of the size of a candy, we of course bought it: good snack on a road for tomorrow.
There were a lot of Bavarian delicacies, as well as fusion of Bavarian cuisine mingling with Mexican, Japanese and many others. We did not find mulled wine, and did not want a cold beer so settled with just a hot coffee. How the local drank that ice-cold beer on such a freezing day! and were singing songs! br-r-r.

Azam Church (Asamkirche)

Coffee made us a little warmer, and we continued our walk to see a small but amazingly beautiful church Azam, named after the sculptor and stucco master who built it for his family. It is adjoined to his house, so it is sandwiched between the buildings, making it easy to miss.
Although the church is dimly lit, it is impossible not to appreciate the beauty of the interior, frescoes framed by a walls painted rich red and gilded wooden sculptures. Do not miss this church, you will be pleasantly surprised.

Frauenkirche
Website: http://www.muenchner-dom.de/startseite.html
Free admission

Finally, the last stop for today was the Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Der Dom zu Unserer Lieben Frau), a.k.a. Frauenkirche. This is the largest church in Munich, which was the pile of smoldering rubble by the end of the war . The only thing that remained more or less unbroken were unusual for German architecture twin towers with onion domes. The reconstructed church looked majestic and dignified, although most of the closed exterior were covered by scaffolding due to extensive reconstruction. You can climb the tower and see the city from the top, but we were tired and decided to order that climbing one tower was enough for one day.

Farewell toast to the great city of Munich!

As soon as we left the Frauenkirche and went outside, drizzling rain turned into a real downpour. We hesitated should we go back to the hotel or to go somewhere to have a dinner? We decided after all that nothing, neither rain, nor snow, not rockfall could prevent us from spending the last night in Munich as the real Bavarians: in the pub with a beer and a huge chunk of pork. We found a great pub Augustiner Keller (http://www.augustinerkeller.de/restoran/?L=4) not far from our hotel with traditional Bavarian dishes of enormous size. Many tables were outdoor, but the rain was to heavy, so we decided to sit inside, warm and cozy. The pub was full of locals in varying degrees of intoxication, singing songs. The tavern had a hunting theme, there were heads of deers and other former animals on the walls. Our servers were Turkish/Middle Easters crew wearing German costumes, even more stone faced than regular German waiters, if it’s possible:-) My husband wanted to change the order but was shouted so we kept quiet and follow the procedure. Our hotel The Charles spoiled us, and here we were brought back to the real world. Having said that , the Turkish-Arab Germans worked very efficiently, quickly bringing all our dishes. At the end my husband made a mistake giving them 20 euros more than supposed to, but water corrected a mistake, run after us and gave us money back. My husband ordered the Breaded schnitzel stuffed with ham and cheese (Cordon bleu vom Schwein), and I had the assortment of 5 or 6 different Bavarian sausages. Plus beer. Plus pretzels. After the dinner we literally could not move, we were stuffed. The walk to the hotel was the most challengin part of the day, but necessary after such full dinner. I wanted to go to sleep right away, but after such a dinner forced to go for a swim in the pool and a sauna. There we were greeted by our friendly receptionist from yesterday. She asked where we were going next. We say to the Alps, Fussen. She made terrible eyes, "Just does get disappointed ...". "Why?" "There are so many tourists there, they ruin the atmosphere!” Well, we are tourists too….:-)

<Fetinia, I love your attitude to travelling.

Sadly, so many travellers find their prejudices confirmed, but in every installment, you write that you have learnt something new and that you have been open to be surprised.>

Yes, it is my favorite part of travel, I love to meet people, learn about new cultures and break stereotypes.

Chapter V. The German Alps
Fourteenth day - May 13th, Friday. White Snow on Black Friday.

I'll start with what we planned for that day:
1. Drive to the town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen and parked our car at the train station.
2. Take the cogwheel train to the lake Eibsee.
3. Hike around the lake, maybe kayaking, the get on the scenic cable car at Eibsee-Seilbahn to the highest point in Germany, the Zugspitze.
4. More hiking, admiring splendid views of Italy, Austria and Switzerland, have lunch.
5. Take a cable car to the Gletscher, and then take a cogwheel train through the tunnel back to the Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
6. Get to the Olympic ski jump stadium and hike the Partnachklamm.
7. Drive to Fussen and check-in to a hotel.

Great plan, right? WE just forgot about one small tiny detail: what day was that? That's right, it was Friday the 13th, or what is called Black Friday, when if anything could go wrong it certainly would. We had already been in Germany for two weeks and, in general, were lucky with the weather, but all good things eventually come to the end. Well, today was a perfect day for this, Friday the 13th ....
Well, let's begin from the start. We got up early (big plans!), had breakfast with snacks from Viktualen market, got into our car (we missed you, baby) and hit the road. It was very foggy, then rainy, then stormy, then hail started, and then ....

Snowflakes in the air
Carols singing everywhere
Santa Claus rides on the sleigh
This is great!… just no in MAY
(Folklore in the era of global warming)

Despite the weather, p. 1 of our plan had been completed without any problems. We arrived to the Garmisch-Partenkirchen train station, parked our car paying the euro or two for a whole day and went to buy tickets to Zugspitze. Here was a DISAPPOINTMENT # 1: a ticket lady told me that the Partnach was closed today because of the weather conditions.
We were disappointed, of course, but shook it off and moved on to the train. WE took the best seats right behind the driver, and the train departed. Images outside the window were not very promising in terms of improving the weather, but the clouds were low and we were hoping to see a clear sky at the mountain, above the clouds.

Mountain lake Eib (c)
Website: http://www.eibsee.de/?lang=en

30 minutes later we arrived at Eibsee station, but over there we found a DISAPPOINTMENT # 2: Eibsee-Zugspitze cable car was not working. Instead we found a counteraction of the new cable car, so the current cable car runs only on Saturday and Sunday. And today, as you remember, was a Friday, and not just a Friday, it was a Black Friday.
But we are optimists. Ebbs is very beautiful and we decided to take a stroll along the picturesque shore. Unfortunately, because of the weather kayaks and boat rental was closed, but even if it was open, we would not dare to paddle across lake ice water in such windy conditions. We were the only ones there, so we enjoyed the silence, interrupted only by birdsong, and the amazing beauty of the lake, which is lovely in any weather, mist even added some charm.
After walking and breathing fresh mountain air, we returned to the Eibsee station and boarded the next train going up to the top of Germany.

Zugspitze, the top of Germany
Website: http://zugspitze.de/en/winter/mountain/zugspitze
One day path: 43,50 € (including train and cable cars)

We were wondering how the train will go at such a steep angle? Google cogwheel, and you’ll know how:)
Most of the remaining ride ran through the tunnel. When we entered it, it was a just rain with small snowflakes, but when we came out of the tunnel and then went outside the Glacier station, we saw .... well, we saw absolutely nothing. Everything around us was white. When we boarded a cable car to Zugspitze we were surrounded by a solid white shroud on all sides, and only the ropes stretching into the infinite.
And, of course, when we got to the top, we came to terms with the DISAPPOINTMENT # 3: forget about Switzerland, Austria and Italy, we could hardly see each other! No, I understand is should not be a surprise to see a snow at t an altitude of almost 3000 meters, even in May but we certainly did not expect a snowstorm. It was certainly an unusual feeling of unreality, as if you are in a vacuum and nothing around you, infinity. We were happy for an Indian family who had a really good tim playing snowballs, apparently seeing a snow for the first time. My husband found something to occupy himself inspecting construction equipment, all kinds of bulldozers and tractors. We met a Swiss photographer, who was also pleased: he comes here often to take pictures in different seasons and weather conditions, and today’s weather was the one he did not have in previous occasions. Well, at least someone was happy unlike us…. Anyway, we remember that we still had a whole week of vacation, a lot to see and, we should be happy with what we have and we’ll have more chances to see amazing vistas of the Alps. Just not today, not on Friday the 13th.
We walked a bit, enjoying a fresh air, then got cold (not only because of the temperature but also by the piercing wind and blizzard stabbing eyes), we rushed inside to a cozy mountain cafe, where the first thing we ordered was a steaming mulled wine, followed by the hot stew.
It was time to go back. While waiting for the train, we watched a movie showing how this all would look next year after the completion of construction work.

How did we get to Austria.

Well, out of 7 items scheduled for today, so far we had a tie: we successfully completed pp. 1, 2 an 5, but failed pp. 3, 4 and 6:-(
Te remaining p. 7. (“The drive to Fussen and move into a hotel “) would determine whether to consider today a successful to not. I checked the Google to find how long till Fussen our next destination, and it seemed like the best route was going thru Germany. But 20 minutes later we suddenly pass the sign "Republik Österreich”, and then there was a warning in German and English saying that you have entered the Republic of Austria, and therefore you can say "Auf Wiedersehen “ to free roads, and if you do not pay the punishment would be .... We did not want to know what would be a punishment, so we turned to the first gas station to ask what to do and where to pay.
When we entered the store at the gas station, a couple of local stared at us like waiting what we were going to do next.
"Good afternoon” we said to a girl
“Good afternoon" (Yeah, they speak English!)
“Is this Austria?" (I could not come up with anything not so stupid, of course, to start a coverstation)
"Austria, Austria"
"And how can we pay a toll?"
“Where are you going?"
“To Fussen."
“You pay toll only on highways, but no decent road goes to that place, so you OK"
From the response we sensed some beef between local Austrians and local Germans, or maybe not. Maybe just this girl had some personal grievances with her German boyfriend:-)
We decided not to get involved, refueled (by the way diesel was cheaper here than on the other side of the border) and drove through the pretty towns and villages of Austria.

Arriving to Füssen.

After origin for about half an hour through the "Republik Österreich" we finally returned to the "Bundesrepublik Deutschland". First, we decided to check-in to the hotel, relax a bit and then walk around the town of Fussen, our stop for the next 2 nights.
We stayed at the hotel Sonne (http://www.hotel-sonne.de), very unusually decorated place in the style of King Ludwig’s time, where there were mannequins dressed in the outfits of those years. Our room was on the top floor with balcony overlooking the Fussen fortress.
First, we went to get warm in the hotel’s sauna, but were a little bit disappointed. Although there were 3 different saunas: steam, dry and infrared, we did not find much difference between them. Saunas were small, could not comfortably fit more than 2 people, so we had to wait our turn. No pool, no hot tub, only a shower. Tea in a samovar was really very good, no complaints.
After getting warm in a sauna, we changed and decided to explore the city. It was about 6PM and the city looked like a seaside port after all cruise ships departed: except a few drunken locals the streets were practically empty. Oh well, better for us. We walked through the lovely streets, went down to the lake, saw the Rathaus and The Castle, stared at the shop windows, found a couple interesting stores for souvenirs.
For dinner, we decided to go to a nice-looking outdoor cafe in our hotel. Although the rain was still on, but not so much, and a cafe had standing heaters and umbrellas, so we sat at a table on the terrace. The menu had a lot of Swiss dishes and we took Rösti , a potato casserole with various stuffings: mushrooms, bacon, etc. Tasty, but rich in calories! So after dinner, we made a circle around our hotel and went to sleep.
Oh yes, the seventh point of the plan had been completed, so the final score was 4: 3, and today’s day was officially called a success! Take it, Friday the 13th!

well at least you survived!

I admire your planning and your adaptability not to mention your ability to smile in the face of disappointment.

and eating outside after a day like that was beyond the call of duty.

>>well at least you survived!

I admire your planning and your adaptability not to mention your ability to smile in the face of disappointment.

and eating outside after a day like that was beyond the call of duty.<<

Thanks! I am an optimist, I learnt to appreciate what I have, and won't be disappointed facing difficulties. This attitude helps a lot.
Eating outside was not bad, they had really powerful heaters, it was actually nice. The snowstorm was only on a top, in Fussen it was just a light rain by that time.

I always keep warning here on this forum, when visiting the Alps, take weather into consideration! Most of the times, the mountain peaks are in clouds, so if you have only one special day to go into the Alps, the odds are against you!

Actually, we arrived in Garmisch-Partenkirchen the day after you left. It was a bright day, sunny, extremely clear blue skies, and the glacier was perfect with the fresh-fallen snow! It is hardly to believe how the visitors from India, China, Japan, Arabian countries etc. enjoyed the sunshine and the snow! Truly wonderful.

Sorry for Friday 13th. Saturday was much better.

<<I always keep warning here on this forum, when visiting the Alps, take weather into consideration! Most of the times, the mountain peaks are in clouds, so if you have only one special day to go into the Alps, the odds are against you!>>

Yes, I knew! I was struggling with planning. We had 2 days in that area: 1 days to see Fussen castles and 1 days for Zugspitze . And honestly, I am glad we had a good (well, OK) weather next day for castles. Well, I would've preferred to have a good weather for both days:-), but if given a choice I would've chosen the good day to visit castles. Most likely I will not come back to Fussen, but I plan to come back to Alps, especially after the new cable car and mountain facilities are completed.
And you were very lucky next day!!

Fifteenth day - May 14, Saturday. Precious Swanstone

The first thing I did, when we woke up that morning, was to go to the balcony to check the weather. Sigh…. there was a thick fog. "Perfect weather for visiting Neuschwanstein Castle” was my sarcastic thought, but we did not have a choice, our tickets had been reserved in advance. Today was Saturday, and the huge number of tourists from all over the world was joined by similarly huge crowd of German families, local and from other parts of the country, coming to see the most famous castle in Germany. To avoid standing in long lines, we pre-booked tickets using this website: https://www.hohenschwangau.de/1308.0.html

We booked the Kings Ticket, which gave the opportunity to visit both castles: Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau. We submitted a form online, and after a couple of days got an e-mail confirmation with times for both tours, and instructions on when to arrive and where to pick up tickets. The first tour was scheduled at 10:55, the tickets had to be picked up no later than an hour before the start time, so we left the hotel at 9:30. Today, in addition to the castles, our plan included, if time permits, visiting the Wies Church (Wieskirche).
When we arrived to the ticket office in the small village of Hohenschwangau, we realized we did a right thing by purchasing tickets in advance. We also understood what the receptionist in Munich hotel was talking about. Despite the weather, despite the fact that it was not the peak season, there was an ocean of people. Even the line to the window for pre-purchased tickets was about 15 minutes long, but the lines to the regular ticket windows were at least 40-45 minutes and already selling tickets on afternoon tours. About 70 percent of all tourist were from China. Finally we got our tickets along with the map.

Hohenschwangau Castle (Schloß Hohenschwangau)
Website: https://www.hohenschwangau.de/430.html
Entrance: € 23 (including both castles)

Our first tour was in the castle Hohenschwangau. To get there you can either walk on the slightly steep slope for about 20 minutes, or take a horse cart pulled for an additional cost. We had about 45 minutes before the tour, so we decided to stretch our legs and walk. Along the way we stopped in numerous souvenir shops, just to look and check prices, so we knew where to buy cheaper goods on the way back. And rightly so, since the prices for the same souvenirs differed quite significantly.
When we reached the castle we walked around while waiting for our tour. There was a a system of processing tours in place: an electronic tableau displaying the number of the tour allowed to enter. Once you number is shown, you scan your ticket and you’ll be allowed to go thru the turnstile.
Finally out tour number came up and tour started. Our guide led us through the rooms and halls of the palace built by the Bavarian King Maximilian II , later called Hohenschwangau (“High Swan County Palace”) in honor of the main character in Wagner's opera "Lohengrin". Wagner was a great friend of King Ludwig's son Maximilian, for whom the castle was built, and who grew up here. Ludwig never married, suddenly terminating his engagement and remained single for the rest of his life. He was a big fan of Richard Wagner, and one of the most beautiful rooms of the castle was called the Hall of the Swan Knight.
Photos were not allowed inside, but, comparing with the previously seen castles, this one was quite modest, but it was very interesting to hear the story of King Ludwig. Definitely the beauty of this castle is in its exterior integrated into surrounding landscape.
When the tour ended, we decided to walk down the path for horse carts, and I suggest you to do the same. First, there were stand with portraits of all Bavarian kings with biographies along the way, and , secondly, there was a small vista point which offered a beautiful view of the lake Alp.

Neuschwanstein Castle (Schloß Neuschwanstein)
Website: http://www.neuschwanstein.de/deutsch/schloss/index.htm
Entrance: € 23 (including both castles)

Our tour to the next castle, Neuschwanstein, was scheduled at 13:25, there was more than enough time and, again, we decided to walk, especially all horse carts were taken by Chinese groups. The road to the castle leads through the forest, with a slight slope, and it was very nice and easy walk.
Neuschwanstein of course was fabulous, despite the fact that we had seen its pictures everywhere in Germany and on the cover of all the guidebooks, and do not forget and exact copy in the Disney parks:-) Having said that, none of it can replace the experience of seeing it with your own eyes, even on a cloudy day. The beauty of this castle is not only and not so much in architecture and perfectly chosen proportions, and its union with the natural surroundings and the chosen place. Whatever the controversies associated with the King Ludwig: "Mad King Ludwig", as claimed by some, or "King of the dreamer”, as claimed by others, we must pay tribute to him for his contribution to the German culture and history.

When we reached the castle, the sky finally opened for sun. It must be said that the castle look more impressive from the distance, but from there were magnificent views of the lake Forgen.

There was the same tours control system as in Hohenschwangau.
Today we were very lucky with our guides. Both, the girl in Hohenschwangau and the guy here were very interesting, enthusiastic, despite the fact that they do it every day, several times a day. Unlike the girl, the guy was much more direct, and just said that the cause of King Ludwig engagement break-up was his love and intimate relationship with Richard Wagner. The King was very religious, and struggled all his life trying to subdue his attraction to men, but nature prevailed and he was never able to force himself to marrying a woman.

After seeing the castle both inside and outside, we rested, enjoying a cup of mulled wine, and then went to take a picture of it from the famous bridge Marienbrücke. To our great regret, the bridge was closed for renovation.
We did not go back the same path, instead we boarded the shuttle bus to the village, where he visited all previously noticed souvenir shops and purchased a bunch of gifts home. I must say that the gift shops in Hohenschwangau were best in terms of price and quality.

Lech Waterfalls (Lechfall)
Website: http://www.lechfall.de

We spend almost the whole day in castles, deservingly, but we would’ve liked to see the other attractions of this region. We do not plan visit Lech Falls, but we saw the sign on our way to the castles and decided to come back.
There was a footbridge above the waterfall formed at the place where the river Lech thunderously bursts through the rocky gorge and falls from the high threshold.
Of course, it is not Niagara, but water had some interesting clay texture. It did not look like water, more like coffee with milk, smooth. Nice place to stop if you have time.

Wies Church (Wieskirche)
Website: http://www.wieskirche.de/eframset.htm

Finally, the last point of the day was a visit to the church in the village of Vis, located half an hour from Fussen. Our navigator took us along the highway at first, but then turned onto a side road, which after a certain time became a single lane. It was getting narrower and narrower, until it seemed that our car is wider than the road. We passed the farm where the owner gave us gloomy suspicious look. We thought that we were going the wrong way, but there was nobody to ask, and the farmer did not look like someone speaking English. We started thinking about turning back, but, first, we were not sure that we could do a u-turn on such a narrow road not get stuck in a mud, and, secondly, I wanted to see that church, that gave us so much troubles.
And you know what? When we eventually arrived, parked our car on a side of a road and walked about 50 meters under the pouring rain, the first thing we saw when we finally reached the church was a bus and a huge group of Chinese tourists coming out of it, lol. I had thought that we would be alone in this solitary place, where so hard to find, but it turned out that the church is very accessible and very close to the highway. It just our GPS chose the wrong way.
What can I say? I am very glad that we persisted and did not turn back! Located in the middle of the Alpine log, inconspicuous from the outside, this church was the most beautiful church that we had seen in Germany, it was a masterpiece of rococo. The interior of this magnificent church was just mind-blowing, it is a-must be seen with your own eyes to believe the existence of such beauty. Despite the bad weather outside the window, interior with its huge dome seems to be flooded with light that shimmered and reflected on wood carving, gilded moldings, columns, statues and colorful murals.
We did not want to leave. He waited until the our Chinese friends finished taking photos and leave, so we could quietly sat together enjoying this astonishing creation of human hands.

Buon appetito!

Our embarrassed navigator was correct on our way back to Fussen and our road was much faster. We put the car on the hotel’s parking lot and went for a walk and find a cozy place to dine. The rain became heavier, so we did not do much walking, but quickly found a nice Italian restaurant. At first we did not want to go: an Italian restaurant in Germany? nonsense, the best Italian restaurants are in New York :-) But we were tired and id not want to look any further, we had not eaten since morning, except for a cup of mulled wine!. Anyway, we did not see either Switzerland or Italy on the Zugspitze. Therefore, it was necessary to fill the gap: yesterday we had Swiss specialties, and today it was a destiny that we came across an Italian restaurant.
The restaurant was full, there were no seats, but the hostess seated us at the bar and told to wait little. Ten minutes later, we sat at a vacant table. So what do you have here? Well, pizza? nah, definitely not. Oh, yeah, branzino , that’s it!
There was two young German couples sitting at the table next to ours, who heard our Russian, switched from German to English and began to discuss us. It was amusing to hear :-)
“Are those the Poles?"
“No, Russians."
"One hell. Do Poles and Russians understand each other?"
"Probably"

I did not want to put those guys in an awkward situation, so before they said something to regret later, I made sure they heard us speaking English. They looked a little embarrassed, but smiled and mentioned that today is a wonderful evening.
Thee kept quite for a while, and then.. went back to German. Now they could say whatever they think of us, we had no clue:-)
Later in a hotel we Googled and found that that restaurant is the number in Fussen. It is called Il Pescatore (http://www.ilpescatore-fuessen.de/?lang=de)
OH and by the way, when we were leaving the restaurant, we bumped to a group of ... well, you guessed it. My husband and I laughed “Are these guys stalking us?”, But then I said: “You and I are discussing the Chinese, which makes us no better than those German kids”.

Sixteenth day - May 15, Sunday. Allgau’s up and downs: from valleys to mountains, from snow to tropics.

Today we left the hospitality of Bavaria and moved to neighboring Baden-Württemberg. We planed to cover almost 300 km, but certainly were not going to spend all that time in the car. How could we, when today we were about to see the one of the most picturesque regions of southern Germany, Allgau Alps and cross one of the most beautiful lakes in Germany, Bodensee, outside of Germany better known as Lake Constance. One day was inexcusably not enough for that region, so we got up early to do as much as possible. The final destination of today was Freiburg, and on the way we had planned to make a few stops to admire the beauty of this area, if only the weather was on our side ….
We were so happy to see sun yesterday afternoon, secretly hoping that it would be a turning point for the weather to improve, but no. The new morning was misty and sky was teasing us switching between glimpses of sun and rain drops. While the sky was deciding our fate for today we went to have breakfast. Sitting next to our table were 2 couples of Russian-speaking locals who came here 10 years ago and settled somewhere nearby, 10 km from Fussen. Despite the proximity, today was the first time they were going to see the most famous German castles! It always happens when you live next to the objects of the world culture and history, that many people are dying to see, whether it's theaters and museums in New York, the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow, or the castles of King Ludwig of Bavaria.

Vista point Kanzel (Aussichtspunkt Oberjoch Kanzel)

The sky finally made a decision not to our advantage, so when we checked-out and left the hotel, it burst into rain. And because we were driving higher and higher to the mountains, raindrops gradually morphed into snowflakes. We drove through the alpine village Hindelang, known for its spas, and then the most mountainous village in Germany Oberjoch, alpine center for hiking and mountaineering. One kilometer from Oberjoch, we made our first stop at the observation deck Kanzel located almost at the very top of the mountain pass. It opens up a magnificent view of the Valley Isle (Ostrach) and the surrounding mountains.
It was very early, and besides us, there were only a couple of German teenagers, apparently hikers. Snow had already died down and we managed to do more or less decent photos, which, of course, in no way convey the beauty of this place. From the viewpoint down we could see the serpentine curve of the highway descended to the valley, and that is where we were going next.

Hiking Oberstaufen - Paradies - Kapf
Website: https://www.oberstaufen.de/en/experi...urs-48776.html

We followed the serpentine road, driving for half an hour, and finally reached the town of Oberstaufen, situated at the foot of the massif Gohgrat. This small town attracts visitors not by the charm of its streets, typical for alpine villages, but also its surroundings with hiking trails of different complexity and duration along the slopes of the Allgau Alps. So we decided to hike one of short (about 2 hours) trail.

We parked the car near the train station, benefiting by the free-of charge parking on Sunday. The weather at that time was perfect for hiking, sunny and cool. We followed the trail recommended on the above website.

WE started at the train station, walked through the city center, past the church, and then went out of the city, following the path to Paradise point, that offered breathtaking views of the mountains of Austria, Switzerland and of course Germany. We sat on a bench at the top and could not stop looking. Our way back went through the woods, where there was a silence, so unusual for us, the urbanites. When we came out of the woods, we saw another great view, this time of Oberstaufen, from above.
The town was almost empty (Sunday!), only a few moms strolling with babies in the park and a group of cows of different shades and colors, peacefully relaxing right there on the meadow.
If during the summer Oberstaufen is the center of hiking, during the winter it turns into a center of winter sports: downhill and cross-country skiing, sledding, everyone can find something to enjoy.

Lake Constance. Mainau Island (Bodensee. Insel Mainau)
Website: http://www.mainau.de
Log in: 19.00 € + 5.00 € for parking

OK, back to the car, forth to new adventures! And we were going to find our next adventure at the shore of Lake Constance, more precisely in the city of Constanza, and even more precisely on the Mainau Island, the favorite place on weekend for local families.

It was about two hours drive, and our path laid along the Alpine road (Deutsche Alpenstrasse) through the town of Lindau, and then, after crossing the Baden-Württemberg - Bavaria border, till the town of Meersburg where we were to take a ferry to go across to the other side of the lake.
All coastal towns that we drove through had some Mediterranean flavor with their beautifully decorated flower beds, lively squares and charming promenades. Here, people do not run from one landmark to another, they walk slowly, sit in cafes sipping coffee and really relax and enjoy. There were many sailboats, yachts and boats at the lake, that made me real envy. If we had more days, I would definitely rent one of those. My dream is to own, forget about a yacht, just a boat with a small cabin. Alas, this dream is not feasible now….
There was a large parking lot right before the bridge to the island of Mainau, to pay for it we had to buy a token together with tickets to the island, and not to lose this token until you leave.
We purchased tickets, carefully hid a token, and went to the island. The central part of this subtropical island, where you can see the palm trees, fruit trees and blooming flowers year-round, was a baroque castle. In the 19th century one of the numerous German Fridrichs bought the island as a summer residence. Being a passionate lover of plants, he built an arboretum, a rose garden and a greenhouse, further improved by his descendants. Palm trees, citrus and fruit trees, orchids, azaleas, rhododendrons, tens of thousands of tulips and roses filled this botanical wonder. Unfortunately in May, the tulips have faded, and the roses have not yet bloomed, but apart from them there were a great many other diverse flora.
But our favorite attraction on the island was the Butterfly House (Schmetterlingshaus), where you could see the fluttering beauties from around the world. Unfortunately, they do not like to sit still and pose for pictures, so you really need to be patient to catch the moment.
And, of course, it is a paradise for children. There are swings, there are plenty of playgrounds, flowerbeds in the form of cartoon characters, and most importantly nurseries with animals where kids can pet them.
And for couples like us, there were a quiet walkway along the lake where we enjoyed views of Constanza, fed swans and watched the sailboats and kayaks.
The day that started so cold reached the heat of tropical level, seriously. We went into one of the many cafes to drink a beer to cool down.
Hmm, my report called "The Four Seasons for 3 weeks", but looking back, I noticed that day, we have experienced all seasons: morning started with the autumn rain, then changed to winter snow, then we walked through the spring forest near Oberstaufen, and here now it was really a summer day in the shade of tropical trees.

Arrival in Freiburg-im-Breisgau

After a rest, we returned to the car to drove our last leg for today, a 2-hour drive to Freiburg. Of course I desperately tried to recall where I hid the token, but finally found it!
In Freiburg we stayed for one night at the hotel Mercure Hotel Panorama (http://www.accorhotels.com/gb/hotel-...rg/index.shtml). It is not located in the city center, but on the hill with a beautiful view of the city.
Settled in a room with a balcony where we watched a gorgeous sunset, we follow our regular routine: dinner in the hotel restaurant (good food, impeccable service, a little pricey), and then the sauna and swimming pool. Spa complex was just super, modern, spacious and there were 2 swimming pools, one of them nude. I liked it because in previous hotels where swimsuit is retried for the pool, I got tired putting wet swimsuit back and forth between sauna and swimming pool.
The day today was eventful: long road, hiking, blizzards, storms and scorching sun. Sauna was just what we needed to rest. When we came upstair to our room we fell asleep immediately.

I hope I did not lose my readers:-(
For those who are still with me, here is a next installment:

Chapter VI. Schwarzwald.
Day seventeen - May 16, Monday. Through the Black Forest on a black car ....

That day was the exact copy, in terms of weather, like the previous 3 days: for in a morning, then heavy rain, snow midday, and later in a day the sky cleared up and the sun was shining bright.
The plan for today was to get the Baden-Baden, breaking more than 200 km. This could’ve been covered quickly on the highway, even with a quick stop to France, or longer drive on local roads through a very picturesque part of Baden-Württemberg,Schwarzwald, or in Black Forest in English. We chose the latter, outlining several stops in some places of interesting in terms of history, local traditions and nature.
But first we started with a walking around the old town of Freiburg, as we could not ignore this very nice town.

Freiburg im Breisgau

Initially I tried to book a guided walking tour, but there were none offered at such early hours on Monday morning, therefore we just did it ourselves. Freiburg is the largest city in Schwarzwald, located in a valley surrounded by mountains and vineyards. Ov course, there was an Alshtadt with Rathaus, the Cathedral and central platz, obligatory for all the medieval towns.
By the way, there are two major shares in Freiburg. The first one, Rathausplatz, was a small one with chestnut trees and fountains in the center.
The other, Cathedral Square (Münsterplatz), named after the main Freiburg’s Cathedral (Freiburger Münster), was a larger one surrounded by architecturally interesting buildings, restored after the war. Of course, a central place on the square was the cathedral, a masterpiece of German Gothic architecture with superb stained glass.
Another interesting features distinguishing Freiburg among other medieval towns we've seen was very small (the sago of the big coin) paving stones, and the unique design of manholes, but especially the system of ditches laid along the city streets. At first I thought it was the storm water drain, and then I read in my guidebook that this system (Bächle) once served as water supply of the city, also used for fire control. In the 19th century, many of those ditches was closed as superfluous, and now the remaining ones were purely decorative. Legend says, if you step into this channel, you would marry one of the Freiburgers. I did not step on it, as my husband was right next to me and might got a wrong idea:-)

Vista point Kandel (Der Kandel)
Website: http://www.schwarzwald.com/landschaft/kandel.html

After Freiburg, we took on of the small roads and plunged into the forest of the Schwarzwald. That road took us further and further away from civilization until it becalm a narrow path with tall snow-covered pine trees on both sides. When we arrived to our next stop, the vista point on the Kandel Mountain with supposedly beautiful views of the region, there were nothing and nobody there besides just one car covered with snow.
Kandel is the one of only few hills in the Schwarzwald, allowing to see, if weather permits (big IF), a beautiful view of the surrounding open spaces and runway for gliders. Today, despite light blizzard, we still could see a valley , but there was nothing “gliding” in the air, besides snowflakes.
There was a half of kilometer trail to the very top, but we did not dare because of the weather.

Monastery of St. Peter (Kloster St. Peter auf dem Schwarzwald)
Website: http://www.badische-seiten.de/st-peter/

We got rather pretty gold at the Kandel, so we rushed back to the car and went downhill to the village of St. Peter (St. Peter auf dem Schwarzwald). Here, the main attraction was the former monastery of the Benedictine monks with a charming church built in Baroque style, and small cemetery of the founders of the city of Freiberg. The church interior was decorated with painted ceilings, high altar, and the elegant library, decorated with beautiful stucco.
We strolled through the monastery, stope to see the cemetery. To our surprise found a big poster advertising a concert of young musicians from the eponymous city of St. Petersburg, Russia:-)

German Clock Museum in Furtwangen (Deutsches Uhrenmuseum)
Website: http://www.deutsches-uhrenmuseum.de/no_cache/start.html
Entrance fee: 6,00 €

Schwarzwald region claims to be the place where the cuckoo clock was invented, so it was not surprising that the German Clock Museum was located here, in the town of Furtwangen, the center of clock manufacturing. In addition to the world's largest collection of cuckoo clocks, you can find clocks and watches from all over the world and from different eras. Absolutely a must when travelling in this region, I had never seen anything like this museum before!
When we were about to leave, the usher rushed after us and invited us to the Street Organ demonstration in the music room of the museum. Indeed, we did hear announcements over the loudspeaker in German, but did not understand, so the guy made sure we did not miss the show, very nice of him. He demonstrated different mechanical musical instruments from the tiny to the enormous the size of a room. He invited someone to try the hurdy-gurdy, first in German, but everyone in the room was too shy. The same cannot be said about the Americans, especially Russian-Americans! Therefore, when the calls in German were to no avail, he turned to us, and , well, I was right there:-)
My “show”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=X8vI-3O7LiM

Triberg
Website: http://www.triberg.de/index.php?id=159

Well, if Furtwangen boasted a museum, the title of the world's cuckoo clock making’s capital firmly belongs to the city of Triberg. Its main street was a paradise for clock lovers. There were a huge number of clock stores selling all imaginable and unimaginable types of watches, clocks and chronometry mechanisms.
We went to ALL of these stores until we finally found a cuckoo clock of small size but with actual cuckoo bird that comes out of the opening sashes. I still cannot find a place in my home to put it so it does not wake us up at night:-)


Village of Schiltach
Website: https://www.schiltach.de/en/Home

Do you want to see the combination of the American city of San Francisco and the Bavarian town of Rotemburg? Cannot image such place? Well, welcome to the village of Schiltach village, located in the Schwarzwald at the intersection of two rivers, Schiltach and Kintsyg. Well-preserved timbered houses are located on steep, at 45 degrees, slopes surrounding the Market Square, and believe me, they are no less impressive and picturesque than the famous Plonlein in Rotenburg!
Initially we just wanted to drive thru this village, because of very heavy rain, but when we came and saw that beauty, we could not not to stop. My husband was running beside me holding an umbrella while I was taking millions of pictures. Absolute gem of Schwarzwald!


Village of Alpirsbach

WE stopped in this village just for bio-needs (sorry for details) and found ourselves in the middle of the street fair which took place throughout the entire length of the main street. There were vendors selling goods, snacks and of course tons of beer, there was a lot of singing and fraternization. There was a tent managed by a local Muslim community, next to the village Islamic Center. It was nice to see, apparently they have taken roots here and found a new home, participating in local festivities.
There is a very pretty Romanesque basilica in this village, but we did not come inside.

Town of Freudenstadt
Website: http://www.freudenstadt.de/de/Freudenstadt-Portal

Our next stop, the lovely town of Freudenstadt, is famous for Europe's largest market square, surrounded by arcaded houses and town church. City was destroyed in 1945, but had been completely restored by the 50s.


Lake Mummel (Mummelsee)
Website: http://mummelsee.de

The last stop before arriving in Baden-Baden was Mummel Lake, named after the mermaids (Mummeln), who, according to legend, inhabited lake’s dark icy depths. When we reach the lake, the weather was just terrible, our windshield wiper worked non-stop and still barely coped with rain, so Dima did not even want to leave the car. But I did not make all that way just to sit in a car and bravely walked to the lake shore. The lake was very small, surrounded on all sides by firs and pines. During the warm summer (does such thing exists here?!) it is one of the favorite places for local families to spend a weekend.

Arriving to Baden-Baden

Well, finally today's log road ended with our triumphant entrance to the famous Baden-Baden, which greeted us with the bright sun. Seriously, the weather turned 180 degrees for the better. We stayed at the hotel Brenners (http://www.brenners.com/eng/home/) in the room with balconies and windows overlooking the famous Lichtentaler Allee!
The hotel is old, with multiple buildings, where it was easy to get lost. When a concierge showed us the hotel, we realized that we probably need GPS to get to the pool and sauna:-)
The staff was very friendly, but some of the guests were a little prudish, but not a big deal. There was a cigar lounge where after dinner, we finished our day with the real Cuban cigars, which still not allowed in the United States.

Another enjoyable read, Fetinia, had to look up some of those towns you visited. Our teens (and I) were thrilled to get a light snowfall (in July!) a few years ago in Bavaria, their first ever snow. No views, but we ran out in it like little children, so exhilarating. I know the locals were very frustrated with their cool summer that year, but that was a great memory for us.

Day eighteen - May 17th, Tuesday. The naked truth

Hooray, no need to get up early today, no schedule, no obligatory sightseeing, today was officially the day of doing nothing!
We did not have any plans of visiting castles or churches, or museums. All of this exist in Baden-Baden, of course, but today we decided to take a breath after 2 weeks of intensive cultural-historical-natural-learning marathon.
Today we decided to rest, relax and recharge in the famous thermal baths of Baden-Baden.
In Baden-Baden, there are two large complexes: Caracalla and Friedrichsbad. They , actually, belong to the same owner, but oriented at different audiences, so to speak. Friedrichsbad is a traditional Theremin, aimed at adults (entrance age is 16). You follow certain rituals, going through all the procedures in a specific order.
Caracalla is more entertaining, and more focused on families with children. Unlike dimmed rooms of Friedrichsbad, Caracalla has open and bright rooms, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, and saunas. There's no need to follow any particular order visiting all rooms, tickets can be purchased separately for swimming pools or for the sauna, or both.
And of course one big important difference: Friedrichsbad is completely nude. In Caracalla only saunas are nudist, but pools require wearing swimsuits.
We decided: once we come into the country, we must experience its traditions in the fullest extend. We go into the Friedrichsbad.

Lichtentaler Allee

We had breakfast in the hotel starting with champagne :-)) For breakfast, besides the usual set, there were Russian style pancakes to order, which I terribly missed in the States. I, of course, ordered them, but they made them with syrup, not with sour cream, how I like. They ransacked the kitchen, found 8 varieties of yogurt , 5 varieties of curd cheese, obazda (!), No sour cream. “Are you kidding me?”, “No, m'am, we are extremely sorry. But tomorrow we will make sure you have your sour cream with pancakes". Ok, moving on….
Pancakes, with or without sour cream, have a lot of calories, so after the breakfast we walked along the famous promenade Lichtentaler , which laid right in front of our windows. The alley running along the small river, rather brook, was very elegant and impeccably groomed. I suggest to take an hour or even two to walk on it, without haste, especially in June and July during the roses blooming. We were in May, for roses was still early but, as on the island of Mainau, there were many other wonderful flowers and trees such as alder, chestnut, magnolia, maple, oak, and, of course, linden. Besides us, there were joggers, couples, matrons walking their dogs, old men playing chess on the benches, gossiping old ladies or just vacationers, nursing ducks in the river. There were very beautiful and stylish houses and buildings on both sides of the alley. Unreal idyll, so far removed from our everyday reality, everyday hard working, worries and hopes for the future of our son, and for the health of our parents.

Thermal Complex Friedrichsbad
Website: http://www.carasana.de/en/friedrichsbad/home/
Fee: 25.00-59.00 € (depending on the package)

When we learned that in Germany men and women bath together naked, I was, to put it mildly, strained. In the US, a sauna and spa are separate, and we still wear a swimsuit. But after discussion my husband and decided: si fueris Rōmae, Rōmānō vīvitō mōre (When in Rome, do as the Romans do). My husband did not have problem at all, but for me it took longer until I got used to the idea. I thought about it and decided: I have nothing to be ashamed of. Most of people around us do not look like Brad Pitt and Angeline Jolie either. Moreover, I see these people for the first and last time in my life, do I care what they think of me? But the most important: if you want to blend in, then be like everybody else. If all naked, and you're the only one in a bathing suit, it will draw more attention.
Of course, when I was confronted with a male stranger in the shower for the first time, I was uneasy. But as we went to the saunas almost every day, I gradually got used to, and so we arrived to the Friedrichsbad thermal springs, I was prepared.

By the way, there are “separate” days of these terms for those who still could not get used to the idea, but today was a regular “co-ed” day. We bought a package with a full range of services, got bracelets with bar code (the only thing that we had on our bodies for the next 3.5 hours) and went to the locker room. We were given a sheet and then we just went from room to room following the instructions posted in front of each room. The first 8 stages the body is gradually heated, and then started to cool down back to normal.
Step 1: wash well in the shower.
Stage 2: 15 minutes lying down on the couch in the room with hot air.
Stage 3: 10-15 more minutes lying down in a room with very hot air. If in the previous room, I almost fell asleep, here I could hardly wait till 15 minutes pass. Here we were sweating a lot.
Stage 4: shower to wash off all that sweat.
Stage 5 (optional, not in all packages): brush massage with soap. You can choose a hard or a soft brush. I was massaged by a man with a soft brush, and Dima with a hard brush by a woman. By the way, here your sheet is taken away and from this point you have nothing to cover yourself.
Stage 6: one more shower to remove the soap after brush massage
Stage 7: 15 minutes in the steam room with hot air.
Stage 8: the hottest room with very hot air, it is difficult even to breathe. Few can withstand required 15 minutes.
Stage 9: swimming pool with warm water.
Stage 10: Whirlpool. Here we probably sat for half an hour, it was that good.
Stage 11: a large swimming pool with cool water. After all the hot procedures it was paradise!
Stage 12: another shower.
Stage 13: ice bath. Nobody, I mean nobody, was able to enter this pool completely except us. Everyone dipped a foot, trembled and fleed. But we are Russians, swimming in iced water in a middle of winter our national sport, lol! It was recommended to sit 3 minutes, I passed all 5!
Stage 14: After an ice bath, you get a huge thick heated towel and relax.
Stage 15 (optional, not in all packages): body massage
Stage 16: the best. The steward wraps you in a warm blanket like a cocoon and leaves to sleep. I instantly fell asleep as if I was given a sedative.
17, the last stage: relaxing in "the reading" room. You also can have a lunch here if your packages includes it. Lunch was just OK, whole wheat panini with ham and cheese and a salad, very healthy.
It is difficult to describe the experience in words, that’s for sure. Better come and try out for yourself!

Evening in Baden-Baden Casino
Website: https://www.casino-baden-baden.de
Admission: 5 € in classic room, 3 € in the slot machine hall

After this unusual experience, we walked around the city, had a cappuccino cup and strolled back. Along the way I saw the shop with porcelain figurines, and finally found what I was looking for a reasonable price. I bought a porcelain figurine of peasant woman that brings my childhood memories in my grandmother's house….
WE decided to visit a casino at 10PM. We had a plenty of time before that, so we decided to relax and enjoy in the swimming pool at our hotel and then to have a dinner.
Sauna in our hotel was good but not significantly better than in other hotel we already been, but the pool was gorgeous, large, and most importantly with a view of the park. When all windows (and they are floor-to- ceiling) open, it seems you are surrounded by the forest. And nice touch was warm marble benches around the pool.

Having swam as much as possible (there was no sauna or pool at our hotels in the next 2 days), we returned to the room to dress for a casino.
The casino was close to our hotel on the Lichtentaler Allee, so we are again walked and enjoy it one more time. Knowing myself being a gambler, we only took the amount of cash that I was willing to loose and no card to withdraw. We had dinner in the restaurant at the casino, at a table by the window, the watched nicely dressed people walking in.

What you say about the casino? Used to relaxed liberal traditions of Las Vegas, for us a casino in Baden-Baden was the complete opposite. Let's start with the fact that there was a dress code, unlike Las Vegas, where you can visit casino on your way from the swimming pool to a buffet wearing shorts. Secondly, here you have to have an ID and go thru the background check. This is unimaginable in LAs Vegas, where nobody cares where you were born and where you came from. But most importantly, in casinos in Las Vegas try to lure you into the casino offering a lot of perks from free drinks to free rooms in hotels. Here, in Bade-Baden you must pay an entrance fee.
Despite all of this we still wanted to visit, because, according to the guidebooks, it is the most beautiful in the world.
First we went to the classic room with roulette, poker and other card games. The interior was very beautiful, just splendid. Now I understood why the required dress code. I was the only woman there, and I felt less comfortable than when I was naked in the sauna. So we went to a more liberal, slot machine room. Here I sat down at my favorite video poker, Dima sat at the machine next to me. In general, there were ups and downs, we ended up playing till 2AM, lost everything. So we were stripped the second time in one day, so to speak :-)
WE walked along the dark, completely empty alley. But we were not scared of the muggers, as we did not have a penny left :-)

In general, a casino in Baden-Baden is a beautiful, but .... not my cup of tea. Give me Vegas any day…

By the way, we tried hard to find where is it a notorious Russian nevou riches and mafia that occupied Baden-Baden? Besides a couple of Russian old-timers on the bench, quietly playing chess, and a couple of girls in the cafe, we did not see any Russian at all. Frankly, we on our black Mercedes SUV looked closest to what might be called the Russian mafia, lol.

>> we on our black Mercedes SUV looked closest to what might be called the Russian mafia <<

Now, I know why you could afford Brenners and The Charles!

Keep on writing, this is one of the best trip reports I have ever been reading here on Fodor's. Although it is about my own country, it is interesting to read how travellers see things.

Fetinia, my mother was in her 70's when we went on a mother/ daughter trip to Europe 6 years ago. She was very comfortable in her birthday suit, so to speak, in Bad Schlema and when she accidentally walked into a male sauna, she just sauntered out with a 'well, there's no George Clooney's in there'....

>Now, I know why you could afford Brenners and The Charles!<
No, no :-) Hard work, savings and good planning

>Keep on writing, this is one of the best trip reports I have ever been reading here on Fodor's. Although it is about my own country, it is interesting to read how travellers see things.<
Will do, will do. Got sucked up by Olympics this weekend:-)

>Fetinia, my mother was in her 70's when we went on a mother/ daughter trip to Europe 6 years ago. She was very comfortable in her birthday suit, so to speak, in Bad Schlema and when she accidentally walked into a male sauna, she just sauntered out with a 'well, there's no George Clooney's in there'....<

Your mom rules! Great sense of humor!

Chapter VII - Moselle and Rhine Valleys.
Day nineteen - May 18th, Wednesday. Ode to the German automotive industry.

My husband Dima gave me carte blanche to create our itinerary: cities, hotels, places to visit. His only request was to visit one of the Mercedes plants. As I mentioned earlier, my husband has very "smart" hands, he is a perfectionist and likes everything done with high quality, and hates half-done, patch-up jobs, so he was eager to see how his favorite car make, “the perfect car”, is built.
Our tour started at 13:30, so initially we planned to stop in the Mercedes museum in Stuttgart, but because of yesterday’s late night gambling, we woke up super late, at 10 AM, and decided to skip the museum and go directly to the factory.
We did a couple laps for the last time in our beautiful pool, then did another very important thing: packaged flower seeds, bought on the Mainau island, and asked at the reception to ship them to Moscow, to Dima's mother. She is passionate about flowers, before her retirement managing the flower shop in Moscow, and we wanted to please her with varieties of beautiful flowers from Germany. I hope the seeds take root in Russia.
We decided to skip breakfast, just had nuts and fruits from the minibar, which was included in our room price. I wonder if the hotel found a sour cream for pancakes today?

Mercedes factory tour in Sindelfingen
Website: https://www.mercedes-benz.com/en/mer.../guided-tours/
Admission: Free

There are three Mercedes Benz factories in Germany: in Bremen, Stuttgart and Sindelfingen (an hour's drive from Stuttgart), but only Sindelfingen location offers a tour to the factory for the visitors. The tour is free and not without reason: many vehicles in this location are made to order, and the tour is carried out with a goal that the client may order the car right on the spot.
Booking a tour is very easy. We sent an e-mail to [email protected] indicating the desired dates, language and number of people. We got a response immediately with confirmation for the English tour for specified date, at 13:30.

We arrived early, around noon to the Customer Service Centre (Mercede-Benz Kundencenter) and exchange our vouchers for the plastic cards (tickets) with our tour start time.
Since we did not have breakfast, we decided to have a meal here, especially since the cafe looked very nice. Besides, after the tour we had a long road trip to the Mosel valley region, and we wanted to get there as quickly and not waste time on food.
After lunch, we visited the gift shop, bought a T-shirt for our son, and a very practical travel bag, which would come in handy very soon (more on this later).
While waiting for the tour, we walked around a big lobby with the exhibition of historical Mercedes cars, starting with the first Benz auto, modern cars and a conceptual model.

Finally, there was our guide Peter, who I called to myself a "dude", he was kind of all fidgety, and somewhat reminiscent of the actor Aaron Eckhart in the movie "Thank you for smoking". Anyway, first, we watched a documentary about the history of Mercedes-Benz. It is interesting that Karl Benz (founder of Mercedes-Benz) and Gottlieb Daimler (founder of Daimler) had never met, although they had been competitors for many years. Daimler died prior to the merger.

After watching the film we were put on the bus (of course Mercedes) and was taken to the factory itself. WE visited tow workshops: press shop and assembly line. Unfortunately taking pictures was strictly forbidden,:-( While o a bus through the territory, I noticed a couple of Toyotas. Peter said that 80% of employees own Mercedes (with big employee discount!), But to drive another brand is not prohibited. It is nice that many workers can afford to own such an expensive car, it means the company takes good care of them.
First stop: the Press shop. Here almost everything was automated, it's just amazing how a flat piece of metal takes a required shape after just a few steps. Interesting fact #1 (you I love interesting facts): there is a 30-meter-thick concrete foundation under the Press shop to withstand the pressure of constantly working of pressing machines. Interesting fact # 2” We noticed that the workers do not wear hard hats. The reason is simple and frightening: hard hats are not needed, if something falls in this shop, the hard hat is useless….

Second stop: the Assembly line. Unlike the press shop here 75% is a manual labor. The only two operations are automated: rooftop and dashboard installation. You MUST see how the robot pushes the panel through a narrow doorway and accurately set in place , unbelievable preciseness and accuracy. Of course everything was spotlessly clean and in perfect order. Dima even grumbled that the hospital he works i not as sterilized as this shop. There are several teams working on assembly line, each has a daily goal to complete certain no. of cars, however exceeding this daily goal is not encouraged. Why? Because when one team is ahead, others will start to rush, which leads to a greater likelihood of errors. If an error occurs, the vehicle is not removed from the line. The line is programmed, and if you take one car out, then the whole line messed up in a domino effect. Therefore problematic car is brought to the end, and only then, if possible, the error is corrected.
Workers have several breaks per shift: the first, after one hour of work, is 15 minutes, then 30 minutes after 2 hours, then lunch, and then in the second half of the shift. Everyone takes the break the same time, and the line stops.
We did not visit a Paint shop, because visitors are not allowed there to avoid any tiny particle that can mess up a dye. Peter showed us how one grain of sand, or hair caught in the dye can destroy otherwise good car. The traditional colors of Mercedes are of black-gray-white palette, but the buyer can order any color. Peter told how they had one buyer who brought a bag of powdered gold, which was added to the dye, so his car was painted with real gold ( I have a good guess from which country this customer was , probably on his way to Baden-Baden:-)).
This factory also makes armored vehicles with bulletproof glass for government officials (from many countries, not limited to Germans) and other VIPs.
The last thing we saw on the tour was how so called “marriage” was done: when body is reunited (“marries”) with the engine. Everything was calibrated to the millimeter, super!

What can I say, the tour exceeded our expectations. "Dude" was a very good tour guide, telling all with great enthusiasm and seemed very devoted to the company. My question was:
“Who is the main Mercedes’ competitor? The Japanese, the Americans?”
“Give me a break!”
“ Other Europeans?”
“Do not be ridiculous!”
Then he added seriously that the ONLY (he emphasized) a serious competitor to the Mercedes is another German company BMW. And then he added with a smile, "But we are still the best!" Who would’ve doubt that!

Road to the river Mosel valley.

After the tour, we hopped in to our own product of German engineering art and continued our journey. Under the tour impression, I saw Mercedes everywhere, even in wind turbines were reminiscent of its sign:-)
We left the land of Baden-Württemberg, and crossed the border with Rhineland-Pfalz. We did not have any particular plans for the rest of today except the long 3 hours drive and checking-in to the hotel. Oh, no! There was very important errand for tonight: we had to re-pack all our stuff in 3 bags leaving only essentials in our two backpacks.
As there is nothing to talk about for the next 3 hours, I would tell you why. Tomorrow was the last day of our car rental and we had to say goodbye to our car dropping it off in Koblenz:-( There we were to board a boat and go down the Rhine River to the town of Bacharach. The question arose: what to do with our luggage? At first we were planning to leave it in lockers at the Bacharach rail station, but then I found out that station in Bacharach is not a station, but rather just a stop with only the ticket machine and a couple of benches for waiting. Hmm, what to do with luggage then? I had several options: (1) to leave it in Koblenz, and then take a round trip on a boat; or (2) to take luggage with us on a boat and go all way to Mainz, without disembarking in Bacharach. Neither option satisfied me, and I began to think of an alternative. I recalled that when we were in Japan, each hotel had a service of shipping luggage to the next destination. It was very convenient: in the morning our luggage was picked up, we moved to another city for the whole day of sightseeing, at the end of a day we checked-in to a new hotel where our luggage already been waiting for us in our room. We decided to google if there is such a service in Germany. It turned out there is provided by omnipotent DBahn. However, we had to arrange everything ourselves, not hotels. We booked this service using this website: https://www.bahn.com/i/view/USA/en/p...-service.shtml. The only condition there was no next day shipping, therefore I booked a pick up from our hotel in Koblenz between 18:00 and 21:00 on Thursday ,May 19, and drop-off in our hotel in Frankfurt on Saturday, May 21st. I e-mailed to our hotel in Frankfurt, and they confirmed that there would not be any problems, they would deliver our luggage to our room, and we do not have to be present. The issue with the luggage had been resolved, but today we had to re-pack all our stuff, especially all the gifts and souvenirs that had accumulated in our trunk and the back seat, put it all in 3 bags (that's where the Mercedes bulk bag came in handy), and leave only essentials (change of clothes for 2 days and toiletries) in our backpacks. Knowing German punctuality we must be in Koblenz hotel at 6PM sharp, so I calculated what city in Moselle valley we had to spend the night before so we did not have to rush the next day. The choice fell on the center of the Mosel wine-making town Benkarstel-Kus.

Coming back our trip, there was nothing special between Sindelfingen and Bernkastel-cous, as elsewhere in Germany, everything was very well maintained and looks impeccable. “The entire country looks like one great golf course” my husband joked.

Benkarstel-Kus.

Finally we arrived to our destination. We stayed at the hotel Märchenhotel (http://maerchenhotel.com). It is not a hotel, but more like a guest house, where each room has its own name. But here was not such a pleasant surprise waiting: our room Schneeweißchen (Snow White) was on the top fourth floor. No elevator. It means that we had to bring all our luggage walking all way up on a narrow staircase at the end turning into a spiral. The husband, who, as you may understand, took the burden was cursing at me: “ Do you always have to take the best room, could not be easier to book a basic room, but on the ground floor ?!” Well, my fault, I admit that I did not check if this hotel had an elevator .… I wanted a romantic a room with a fireplace and a jacuzzi … Instead I got an angry tired husband:-(
Finished with our suitcases, we went to explore the town and find a place for dinner.
There are so many things for curious tourists in Bernkastel-Kues , you can easily spend a few hours or even a day exploring the quaint old town. Of course, as in any self-respecting medieval town, there was the Market Square, where, along with numerous quaint shops and cafes there was the Town Hall built in the 17th century, and the old pillory, where criminals were executed.
One of the most famous building in the town was a kind of local equivalent of “flatiron building" hosting a restaurant Spitzhaeuschen, which was closed at that time, so we went to another, Cafe Thiesen, and here we finally found the Pfälzer Saumagen in a menu! I must say it was fantastically tasty. I do not know what spices and herbs they put in it, but it was absolutely yummy. Even Dima, who was initially kind of disgusted to the prospect of eating someone’s stomach, eventually appreciated this dish.
After dinner, we strolled back to the hotel, packed all things and sit by the fire with a bottle of Moselle wine. There was no saunas in this hotel , but our room had a hot tub, which was cool: illuminated with changing colors, and 3 modes: wave, wildness and a mode where the whole body has a sensation of needles tingling. I lay there with a glass of wine and read where we're going tomorrow.

No elevator. It means that we had to bring all our luggage walking all way up on a narrow staircase at the end turning into a spiral. The husband, who, as you may understand, took the burden was cursing at me: “ Do you always have to take the best room, could not be easier to book a basic room, but on the ground floor ?!” Well, my fault, I admit that I did not check if this hotel had an elevator .… I wanted a romantic a room with a fireplace and a jacuzzi … Instead I got an angry tired husband:>>

what, this happens to you too? I always try to find places with lifts but somehow I get waylaid by pictures of the lovely pension or B&B, and forget about the luggage!

Glad you eventually got to eat, and like, the Saumagen.

Elevators...sigh..... I booked our apartment in Florence for its' views (and the rest was pretty good, too) but views means ....height, usually. So, only 3 floors, but, morning coffee at market, then sightseeing, then grocery shopping, then dinner, meant 12 flights that day. On top of all that walking. But it was worth it :)

>> It means that we had to bring all our luggage walking all way up on a narrow staircase at the end turning into a spiral. <<

For a small tip, a hotel employee would have brought your baggage on your room.

>For a small tip, a hotel employee would have brought your baggage on your room.<

That is true, but there were a woman and 2 girls there (it is not a hotel per se, it was more like B&B). No way my husband would've asked them to carry our luggage even for a fee:-)

What a gentleman!

I booked our apartment in Florence for its' views (and the rest was pretty good, too) but views means ....height, usually. So, only 3 floors, but, morning coffee at market, then sightseeing, then grocery shopping, then dinner, meant 12 flights that day. On top of all that walking. But it was worth it>>

adelainean - on my last trip to Venice to attend a language school, I was lodged in a very nice room in a flat on the edge of the Grand canal, very convenient for a vaporetto stop and everything I wanted to see and do. the only snag - it was up 7 flights of stairs.

You won't be surprised when I say that i didn't go back very often during the day. perhaps once after classes and once at night. If I didn't have what I wanted, tough.

@ annhig "the only snag - it was up 7 flights of stairs"
.... and I thought I had thunder thighs on my return :)

and I thought I had thunder thighs on my return>>

lol, Adelaindean. I'm not sure about thunder thighs as after I had to lug my case up to the flat when I arrived, [a case which I had thought was pretty light until I got to the 3rd flight!] I limited the number of times I did the climb strictly to 2 a day - once in the late afternoon after the classes and any excursions had finished, and then at night on the way to bed.

it certainly made me careful about making sure I had everything I needed for the day!

I am a little pre-occupied with guests from Russia. I have tow families to entertain: one are relatives, another are friends, both came the same time! I will resume my report in a couple days. I sent one to Miami, and spent a weekend on Jersey Shore with another:-)

Twentieth Day - May 19, Thursday. In vino veritas.

We were waken before dawn with simultaneous "WTF?" by the terrible roar outside of the window, just like in the movie "My Cousin Vinny". What happened, who attacks?! We looked out the window, and saw a helicopter right in front of the windows hovering over the vineyards. We went down for breakfast and asked: what was this helicopter doing rumbling at 7 am next to our room? The answer was again like in that movie: “ It’s very strange, it usually starts to pollinate at 6…”

Actually, it was good that we woke up that early, as today we had a lot to accomplish: our plan was to take a road (for the last time in Germany!) along the river Mosel, stopping at popular towns and places of interest on the way , planning to reach our final destination, the city Koblenz, by 6PM. But the starting point of today's itinerary was a visit to the winery for tasting of local wines.
Long time ago I was very fond of white wines, but has gradually become “redder” and “redder": first switched to pink, loving Zinfandel, and then the taste has changed dramatically and I completely switched to red wines. And now I would never trade the Merlot for Chardonnay, Pinot Noir for Riesling or Cabernet Sauvignon for Sauvignon Blanc. Although I fancy white Muscat among dessert wines, but at any time, I still prefer well-seasoned port. I love wine to be semi-dry but not sour, tart, but sweet, especially American wines: Argentinean, Chilean and Californian.
Germany, of course, is primarily known for its white wines, although red Franconian wines were very good.
But today we are in the heart of the German wine country, Mosel River Valley, known for its Mosel wines of the same name, mostly white Riesling, although in the last 20 years, some red varieties began to appear. We must’ve visited one of the wineries and taste the local wines, as they say, first hand.

Our hotel was located on the right bank of the Moselle in Bernkastel, and we drove across the bridge to the left side of the river, called Kues, the home of local wineries. Actual vineyards were right behind front row of wineries on the slopes of the hills descending to the river. It is interesting that the vineyards had huge posts with the name seen from far away who the owner is.

S.A.Prum winery (Weingut S.A.Prum)
Website: http://www.sapruem.com/startpage.php
Tasting: 15 € for the 8 samples

We stopped at one of the oldest Bernakstel Kues -based wineries, owned by Bernakstel Kusa-based Prum family since 12th century. We met the owner, Herr Raymond who took us to the tasting room, where we were helped by Miguel. Miguel himself had only recently arrived from Portugal to start the project: crossing Portuguese vines with the locals. He even did not really speak the German, so was relieved that we spoke English. I told him immediately about wine preferences, and he picked the samples for me. They were pretty good wines, some were not my cup of tea, but some I liked enough to buy a couple of bottles to take home.
And at the end of tasting Miguel treated us with Portuguese wine he brought a from his family vineyard in Portugal. The red one:-)

Traben-Trarbach , a town entwined with vines

After saying GoodBye to Miguel and Herr Raymond, we continued our journey along the Mosel River. Weather finally decided to play along: it was very warm and sunny. I was a little drunk after having almost half bottle of wine, was in a good mood and expecting a wonderful day.
People in this region travel by car, or on bicycles, RV seemed very popular as well, and of course boats.
Next stop was the quaint little town of Traben-Trarbach, spread on both sides of the river and famous for its many old half-timbered buildings and beautiful aristocratic houses. There is an annual wine festival here in July, when connoisseurs from all Europe come here to taste fine wine from the old cellars.
And above the city, on top of the ruins you can see the Gradenburg, an ancient castle from the 14th century.

Cochem , the town where you can look at the Mosel from the top

In about half an hour, we arrived in Cochem, which is considered one of the most attractive towns in the Mosel Valley. Here we were lucky to park right on the waterfront, then joined crowds of people both visitors like us and local families enjoying fine day. Cochem has all the basic features of a medieval German town: the old town (Altstadt), Market Square (Marktplatz), Church of St. Martin (St.-Martins-Kirche), but at the same time, the city impressed us with boiling modern life.
But the main Cochem attraction is certainly Reichsburg, a massive fortress on a top of a hill, the largest in the Mosel valley, among other things, once protecting this stretch of the river. The castle was completely destroyed by the French in the past, but most of the castle was restored in the 19th century in neo-Gothic style. There was a quite steep walking path from the old town about a kilometer, but the effort is worth it: from the Reichsburg walls you could see majestic view of the Mosel river and valley.

Churches of Treis-Karden

Have you noticed that most of the towns along the Mosel have double name? Except Cochem. This is because Cochem is located only on one side of the river. But if a town is spread on both sides, then the name reflects this having two parts: Bernkastel-Kues, Traben-Trarbach. The small picturesque town of Treis-Karden, just one of the many “twin-cities" in the river valley, known for its bridge over the Mosel. There was a lovely post-Gothic church on one side of the town, while the other side boasted a Romanesque monastery. We had a little lunch break in this cozy small town, having freshly baked waffles with tea.

Elegance and rigor of the Burg Eltz

After leaving Treis-Karden, our road took us away from the river, because our next stop was the medieval Burg Eltz, perched high above the River Moselle in the small town of Wierschem. This magnificent medieval castle is still owned by the family, whose ancestors built it in the 12th century, and is one of few castles that had not been damaged during the WW2. Honestly, I was even more impressed with this castle than with the Neuschwanstein Castle, probably because, in case of famous Fussen castles, I knew what to expect, but here, Berg Eltz took us by surprise. There was a rather long walk from the parking lot leading through the woods, but when we finally made the last turn - surprise! - Berg Eltz was surrounded by green hills in all its glory. And if Neuschwanstein Castle is best viewed from a distance, the Eltz Castle became more and more beautiful the closer we approached. Walking inside the walls made me feel so comfortable here, Idid not want to leave. There was a very beautiful park around the castle, and if we had more time, I'd love to walk around longer.

Rustic charm of Kobern-Gondorf

Mosel Valley is famous for its many charming villages that cling to the slopes descending to the river shores. One of these villages was Kobern-Gondorf (or, based on a name, the two old villages united into one). This small village featured not one, but four castles, the most famous and interesting of which is Wasserschloss, the only castle in Germany straddling a major road with path-thru gate. And of course, we did pass through it:-)

Koblenz: the town where the Mosel meets the Rhine

Finally we arrived at the final destination of today's trip along the Mosel River, the city of Koblenz. This city had the honor to be based on the intersection of two most impressive rivers in Europe: the mighty Rhine and majestic Mosel. We drove on this very beautiful city to our hotel Kleiner Riesen UG (http://www.hotel-kleinerriesen.de), located right on the banks of the Rhine. Here, we had a very unpleasant moment. During check-in, we informed our receptionist about our luggage pick-up, to which he replied, "Oh, they were here already at 11 am, but left because neither you nor the luggage was there." Oops, we could not believe it, we requested pickup at 6 pm, and now was only 5:30 .... The guy called DBahn, had a long talk in German, finally he said that our luggage would be picked up tomorrow at 11am. Of course I was upset, because we had a river cruise leaving at 9 am tomorrow. I did not want to leave our suitcases, with all the gifts and souvenirs and other valuables, what is they “forget” to pick it up again? I did not expect this, where was notorious German order and punctuality ?!

After settling in the room, we had to make one more important thing which was saying goodbye to our war-horse, our lovely Mercedes, who had served us faithfully for 2 weeks. What a sad day … Before going out we left our suitcases at the reception desk just in case if DBahn person decided to show up.
We dropped off a Mercedes, and then returned back to the waterfront where we walked inhaling fresh river air, admiring the cruise ships, and at the same to find the kiosk to pick up tickets for a tomorrow river cruise. Here we admired the city's main attraction, the so-called German Corner (Deutsches Eck), the tip that separates the rivers Rhine and Mosel. Made in the form of a tip of the ship, there was not only a magnificent view of the city and the two rivers, but also a giant 37-meter monument to Emperor Wilhelm I.

We walked along the waterfront back to our hotel stopping for dinner in the outdoor restaurant, where we had a glass of wonderful Mosel wine.

When he returned to the hotel, we were told that our luggage was taken with big apologies! After the call, the DBahn employee reviewed his paperwork and found he made a mistake not arriving at the scheduled time. Well, thank God, the faith to German punctuality was restored and we could sleep peacefully. After all, tomorrow we get up early , our boat departs promptly at 9 !!!