J's Trip Report - Germany and Austria
Jul 31st, 2006, 08:41 AM
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J's Trip Report - Germany and Austria
My husband and I just got back from our trip to Germany and Austria - had a really good time. Lots of good sites, lots of good beer (and wine), and plenty of food. We visited Munich, Nuremberg, Ansbach, Rothenberg, Fussen, Hohenschwangau, Oberamergau, and then in Austria - Reutte and the Plansee. Every place we went was great, but we especially loved Munich.
Here is the report - first 3 days, the rest to come later.
Day 1 (Saturday, Sunday):
We flew to Munich on July 15-16 - from San Jose, through Chicago. There was a delay in Chicago (big surprise, I know), but we only arrived about an hour late in Munich - about mid-day. Customs and immigration were really quick and the Munich airport is very easy to navigate. We took the S-Bahn (city railway) train from the airport into town - very easy.
Our hotel - the Hotel Laimer Hof - was in the neighborhood just south of the Nymphenburg Castle, which was the summer home of the Wittlesbach family when they still ruled Bavaria. Now the palace and grounds are open to the public. This area is a few S-Bahn stops away from downtown in a quiet, residential area with some small commercial sections. The hotel was about a 15 minute walk from the S-Bahn stop. There is also a tram stop about a 10 minute walk from the hotel. With luggage, this was a bit of a pain, but without luggage, the walk was easy. The hotel is in a neat manor house from the 1800s. Everyone there was really nice and welcoming and the hotel is really well cared for. Our room was small, but other than that, no complaints at all. It was very comfortable.
http://www.laimerhof.de/english/welcome.htm
After settling in, it was only about 2 in the afternoon, so we decided to head for the Hirschgarten, which has the largest beer garden in Munich and a 10 minute walk from the hotel - what better way to spend the first afternoon in Munich? It was a nice walk through shady tree-lined streets to the beer garden, which is a wonderful sprawling place with tables upon tables under the trees and stands for beer and food throughout. There is also a large fenced area at the edge with deer and some other animals.
We got our beers, some bratwurst and french fries, and found a shady table. Absolute heaven. This place was incredibly relaxing - groups of people hanging out, having a good time. Multigenerational families, groups of friends, couples - just a whole spectrum of people enjoying their Sunday afternoon. The beer was quite good - Augustiner Brau is served there.
After our beers, we left the beer garden to walk through the neighborhood. Plenty of beautiful houses, little commercial districts, and so on. We strolled the grounds of Nymphenberg Castle, which are really beautiful. We got thirsty again, so we headed back to the beer garden and spent a couple more hours there. Then headed back to the hotel to turn in early.
Day 2 (Monday):
I woke up about 6:30 in the morning with no jet lag to speak of - I was ready to go. We had breakfast at the hotel, which put out a nice spread. Plenty of rolls, cold cuts, sliced cheese, pastries, jams, hard boiled eggs, fruit, and cold cereal. Also coffee, tea, and juice.
After breakfast, we walked down to the S-Bahn station and bought weekly passes for Munich's central district public transportation. About 30 euro for the 2 of us, and this included all city trains, subway, trams, and buses for the central district. Then we headed into downtown to the Marienplatz, which is the central plaza in the city. We wandered around there for awhile, watched the Glockenspiel, then went to the meeting place for the Mike's Bikes tour at 11:30.
The Mike's Bikes tour was excellent. It took about 4-5 hours and was really fun. Adam was our guide and he is really good - entertaining, knowledgable, funny, and definitely good at getting people involved in the tour. We made stops at the Hofbrauhaus, Max-Joseph Platz, the Residenz, Odeon Platz, the Englischer Garten, the parliament building, and a few other places. We rode along the Isar river as well. I believe it was at the Odeon Platz that we went into a church (big yellow one) and I discovered I am apparently allergic to church - LOL! Had a heck of a sneezing fit and had to leave. This reaction would reoccur in every church we entered for the remainder of the trip. My husband says just be glad I wasn't bursting into flame.
In the Englischer Garten, there is a river, which takes water from the Isar. At one point, there is a standing wave that people surf on. What a trip! Surfers in the middle of Munich. Farther down the river, a popular thing is for people to jump in the water and just float downstream. About 1/2 our group tried this - me included. Really fun - and very refreshing after riding around. After that we went to the beer garden close by near a Chinese tower. Had some lunch and a beer with the group while everyone dried off. Had a chance to talk to some of the other people - found a bunch of people from California - we must have radar or something - LOL.
http://www.mikesbiketours.com/index_munich.html
After the tour, my husband and I wandered around a bit, got some ice cream (apparently a national pastime in Germany) and window shopped. We went to the Hofbrauhaus for dinner - sort of a requirement when visiting Munich. I had my first (of many) schwein schnitzle there (yum) and a Radler (another yum). Radler is half pilsner beer and half lemonlime soda. Sounds really odd, but it is amazingly good, especially on a hot day. The Hofbrauhaus was loads of fun. We sat outside in a courtyard area, which was great. Inside there was an oompah band and plenty of stuff going on.
Day 3 (Tuesday):
In the morning we rode the tram to the Altstadt and went to the old St. Peter's church, which although has been rebuilt several times, it is the site of the oldest church in Munich. Our reason for visiting was to climb the 270 something steps to the top of the tower. What a climb! And what a view! Totally worth it. Wear the right shoes though for climbs like this - I had on comfy sandals, but apparently they weren't suitable for the climb because I ended up with some blisters - and not little ones either. Damn.
After that we caught a bus to the Deutsches Museum, which is the largest engineering museum in the world. We spent hours and hours there and still didn't see everything. It was amazing. And not just for nerds like me
Lots of interactive exhibits, plenty of cool stuff to see. There is a glass-blowing exhibit and we got to watch the glass blower do his thing. I bought a couple glass pens - these are really cool. You dip them in an inkwell like a feather pen, but they are made of glass. The museum is located on an island in the Isar river, so a very picturesque spot as well as a great museum. Had Paulaner brau at the small cafe at the museum - it was ok, but not as good as the Augustiner-Brau.
http://www.deutsches-museum.de/e_index.htm
After the museum, we were starving, so we headed back to the Marienplatz to a restaurant called Andescher am Dom, which is right behind the Frauenkirche - the famous church with the 2 onion dome towers. Best beer so far - really really good. This beer ends up as a close runner up to our favorite beer of the trip, which was the rauchbeir (smoke beer) we had in Nuremberg, but more about that later. At Andescher, we had helles and dunkles and both were really good. And the schnitzle there was excellent as well as the roast pork. This is probably our favorite restaurant of the trip. The food and beer were great and the location really nice - in sort of a hidden, shady little platz with comfortable outdoor seating and very nice servers.
Afterwards we wandered around a bit, then headed back to our neighborhood. We had another beer (ok - beers) in our neighborhood beer garden and hung out until they closed up.
So that is the first 3 days of the trip. More to come later. Already I was in love with Munich. The city has such a cool, relaxed vibe and just about everyone we ran into was great. My German isn't terribly good, but people were patient with my attempts and very gracious about my mistakes. I also appreciated the clean public restrooms, even in the subway. At home I wouldn't dream of using restrooms in the subway, but in Munich, it was no problem.
Here is the report - first 3 days, the rest to come later.
Day 1 (Saturday, Sunday):
We flew to Munich on July 15-16 - from San Jose, through Chicago. There was a delay in Chicago (big surprise, I know), but we only arrived about an hour late in Munich - about mid-day. Customs and immigration were really quick and the Munich airport is very easy to navigate. We took the S-Bahn (city railway) train from the airport into town - very easy.
Our hotel - the Hotel Laimer Hof - was in the neighborhood just south of the Nymphenburg Castle, which was the summer home of the Wittlesbach family when they still ruled Bavaria. Now the palace and grounds are open to the public. This area is a few S-Bahn stops away from downtown in a quiet, residential area with some small commercial sections. The hotel was about a 15 minute walk from the S-Bahn stop. There is also a tram stop about a 10 minute walk from the hotel. With luggage, this was a bit of a pain, but without luggage, the walk was easy. The hotel is in a neat manor house from the 1800s. Everyone there was really nice and welcoming and the hotel is really well cared for. Our room was small, but other than that, no complaints at all. It was very comfortable.
http://www.laimerhof.de/english/welcome.htm
After settling in, it was only about 2 in the afternoon, so we decided to head for the Hirschgarten, which has the largest beer garden in Munich and a 10 minute walk from the hotel - what better way to spend the first afternoon in Munich? It was a nice walk through shady tree-lined streets to the beer garden, which is a wonderful sprawling place with tables upon tables under the trees and stands for beer and food throughout. There is also a large fenced area at the edge with deer and some other animals.
We got our beers, some bratwurst and french fries, and found a shady table. Absolute heaven. This place was incredibly relaxing - groups of people hanging out, having a good time. Multigenerational families, groups of friends, couples - just a whole spectrum of people enjoying their Sunday afternoon. The beer was quite good - Augustiner Brau is served there.
After our beers, we left the beer garden to walk through the neighborhood. Plenty of beautiful houses, little commercial districts, and so on. We strolled the grounds of Nymphenberg Castle, which are really beautiful. We got thirsty again, so we headed back to the beer garden and spent a couple more hours there. Then headed back to the hotel to turn in early.
Day 2 (Monday):
I woke up about 6:30 in the morning with no jet lag to speak of - I was ready to go. We had breakfast at the hotel, which put out a nice spread. Plenty of rolls, cold cuts, sliced cheese, pastries, jams, hard boiled eggs, fruit, and cold cereal. Also coffee, tea, and juice.
After breakfast, we walked down to the S-Bahn station and bought weekly passes for Munich's central district public transportation. About 30 euro for the 2 of us, and this included all city trains, subway, trams, and buses for the central district. Then we headed into downtown to the Marienplatz, which is the central plaza in the city. We wandered around there for awhile, watched the Glockenspiel, then went to the meeting place for the Mike's Bikes tour at 11:30.
The Mike's Bikes tour was excellent. It took about 4-5 hours and was really fun. Adam was our guide and he is really good - entertaining, knowledgable, funny, and definitely good at getting people involved in the tour. We made stops at the Hofbrauhaus, Max-Joseph Platz, the Residenz, Odeon Platz, the Englischer Garten, the parliament building, and a few other places. We rode along the Isar river as well. I believe it was at the Odeon Platz that we went into a church (big yellow one) and I discovered I am apparently allergic to church - LOL! Had a heck of a sneezing fit and had to leave. This reaction would reoccur in every church we entered for the remainder of the trip. My husband says just be glad I wasn't bursting into flame.
In the Englischer Garten, there is a river, which takes water from the Isar. At one point, there is a standing wave that people surf on. What a trip! Surfers in the middle of Munich. Farther down the river, a popular thing is for people to jump in the water and just float downstream. About 1/2 our group tried this - me included. Really fun - and very refreshing after riding around. After that we went to the beer garden close by near a Chinese tower. Had some lunch and a beer with the group while everyone dried off. Had a chance to talk to some of the other people - found a bunch of people from California - we must have radar or something - LOL.
http://www.mikesbiketours.com/index_munich.html
After the tour, my husband and I wandered around a bit, got some ice cream (apparently a national pastime in Germany) and window shopped. We went to the Hofbrauhaus for dinner - sort of a requirement when visiting Munich. I had my first (of many) schwein schnitzle there (yum) and a Radler (another yum). Radler is half pilsner beer and half lemonlime soda. Sounds really odd, but it is amazingly good, especially on a hot day. The Hofbrauhaus was loads of fun. We sat outside in a courtyard area, which was great. Inside there was an oompah band and plenty of stuff going on.
Day 3 (Tuesday):
In the morning we rode the tram to the Altstadt and went to the old St. Peter's church, which although has been rebuilt several times, it is the site of the oldest church in Munich. Our reason for visiting was to climb the 270 something steps to the top of the tower. What a climb! And what a view! Totally worth it. Wear the right shoes though for climbs like this - I had on comfy sandals, but apparently they weren't suitable for the climb because I ended up with some blisters - and not little ones either. Damn.
After that we caught a bus to the Deutsches Museum, which is the largest engineering museum in the world. We spent hours and hours there and still didn't see everything. It was amazing. And not just for nerds like me
Lots of interactive exhibits, plenty of cool stuff to see. There is a glass-blowing exhibit and we got to watch the glass blower do his thing. I bought a couple glass pens - these are really cool. You dip them in an inkwell like a feather pen, but they are made of glass. The museum is located on an island in the Isar river, so a very picturesque spot as well as a great museum. Had Paulaner brau at the small cafe at the museum - it was ok, but not as good as the Augustiner-Brau.http://www.deutsches-museum.de/e_index.htm
After the museum, we were starving, so we headed back to the Marienplatz to a restaurant called Andescher am Dom, which is right behind the Frauenkirche - the famous church with the 2 onion dome towers. Best beer so far - really really good. This beer ends up as a close runner up to our favorite beer of the trip, which was the rauchbeir (smoke beer) we had in Nuremberg, but more about that later. At Andescher, we had helles and dunkles and both were really good. And the schnitzle there was excellent as well as the roast pork. This is probably our favorite restaurant of the trip. The food and beer were great and the location really nice - in sort of a hidden, shady little platz with comfortable outdoor seating and very nice servers.
Afterwards we wandered around a bit, then headed back to our neighborhood. We had another beer (ok - beers) in our neighborhood beer garden and hung out until they closed up.
So that is the first 3 days of the trip. More to come later. Already I was in love with Munich. The city has such a cool, relaxed vibe and just about everyone we ran into was great. My German isn't terribly good, but people were patient with my attempts and very gracious about my mistakes. I also appreciated the clean public restrooms, even in the subway. At home I wouldn't dream of using restrooms in the subway, but in Munich, it was no problem.
Jul 31st, 2006, 01:36 PM
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Here is the next installment - glad I was faithful in my note taking during the trip, otherwise there is no way I would have remembered all of this - LOL.
Day 4 (Wednesday)
We got a little later start than usual – probably from staying up late the night before. Went to the Munich office of my husband's company to visit some people. On the way we passed the Oktoberfest grounds. The crews are already out setting up the tents, so we got to see a bit of that. Visiting my husband's company's Munich office was really neat. It was fun to see the differences and similarities there, and the people I met were all really nice. I had heard a lot about them all so it was great to meet them. We spent a few hours over there, hanging out and chatting with people.
It was really hot that day, so after leaving the office, we went back to the hotel for a nap. The heat was just sapping our energy.
After the sun went down, we went back out for dinner. This time to the Hackerhaus, just south of Marienplatz - Sendlinger Strasse 14. We sat outside at some tables, which was nice since the air was cooling off. The interior of the restaurant was really neat – definitely Bavarian with lots of wood, interesting things on the walls and so on. It would have been fun to sit inside and look around, but it was just too warm. The food was pretty good - no beer for me because of the heat.
Day 5 (Thursday)
Another hot day in Munich. Record breaking temperatures all over Europe, apparently. We went out to Freising on the train – about a 30 minute ride. Nice town, but too hot to really enjoy it. We originally went to tour a brewery, but must have made a wrong turn because we couldn’t find it. Then we decided it was just too hot, so we found a sidewalk café, had lunch, and then headed back to Munich. Maybe next trip we will have better luck - LOL.
The river in the English garden was calling to us, so we went to a department store to buy beach towels and headed over to the garden. We found a spot on a nice, shady, grassy bank and put our feet in the water and felt instantly better. Plenty of other people had the same idea. In retrospect, we should have just gone to the river in the first place. Very relaxing. I decided to wade into the river, slipped and ended up getting a lot wetter than I had planned. Oh well – the water was refreshing and my husband got a good laugh.
After cooling off and then drying off, we went to the beer garden near there with the Chinese tower for some beer and a light dinner. It was nice, but not as relaxing as the Hirschgarten near our hotel, so we left and went over to that one instead.
Next installment - Nuremberg
Day 4 (Wednesday)
We got a little later start than usual – probably from staying up late the night before. Went to the Munich office of my husband's company to visit some people. On the way we passed the Oktoberfest grounds. The crews are already out setting up the tents, so we got to see a bit of that. Visiting my husband's company's Munich office was really neat. It was fun to see the differences and similarities there, and the people I met were all really nice. I had heard a lot about them all so it was great to meet them. We spent a few hours over there, hanging out and chatting with people.
It was really hot that day, so after leaving the office, we went back to the hotel for a nap. The heat was just sapping our energy.
After the sun went down, we went back out for dinner. This time to the Hackerhaus, just south of Marienplatz - Sendlinger Strasse 14. We sat outside at some tables, which was nice since the air was cooling off. The interior of the restaurant was really neat – definitely Bavarian with lots of wood, interesting things on the walls and so on. It would have been fun to sit inside and look around, but it was just too warm. The food was pretty good - no beer for me because of the heat.
Day 5 (Thursday)
Another hot day in Munich. Record breaking temperatures all over Europe, apparently. We went out to Freising on the train – about a 30 minute ride. Nice town, but too hot to really enjoy it. We originally went to tour a brewery, but must have made a wrong turn because we couldn’t find it. Then we decided it was just too hot, so we found a sidewalk café, had lunch, and then headed back to Munich. Maybe next trip we will have better luck - LOL.
The river in the English garden was calling to us, so we went to a department store to buy beach towels and headed over to the garden. We found a spot on a nice, shady, grassy bank and put our feet in the water and felt instantly better. Plenty of other people had the same idea. In retrospect, we should have just gone to the river in the first place. Very relaxing. I decided to wade into the river, slipped and ended up getting a lot wetter than I had planned. Oh well – the water was refreshing and my husband got a good laugh.
After cooling off and then drying off, we went to the beer garden near there with the Chinese tower for some beer and a light dinner. It was nice, but not as relaxing as the Hirschgarten near our hotel, so we left and went over to that one instead.
Next installment - Nuremberg
Aug 1st, 2006, 07:31 AM
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Nice report so far, J.
We leave for our Munich & Italy trip in 2 days. I packed for those record high temperatures that you mention. However, I just looked at the 10-day forecast and it shows rain and temps in the 60's.
Interesting about the church allergies.
We leave for our Munich & Italy trip in 2 days. I packed for those record high temperatures that you mention. However, I just looked at the 10-day forecast and it shows rain and temps in the 60's.
Interesting about the church allergies
.
Aug 1st, 2006, 07:51 AM
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Glad everybody is enjoying my report - I am certainly enjoying writing it
My husband is getting a lot of mileage out of this church allergy thing. I do think it has to do with the incense.
We definitely enjoyed Andescher am Dom. I think I would have enjoyed Hackerhaus a bit more if I hadn't been so drained that day from the heat. That was the first really hot day and you know how the first day of a heat wave sort of shocks the system.
sherhatfield - when you are at the Laimer Hof, don't miss the Hirschgarten. Probably our favorite place in Munich Also, for going to the city center, we found that walking over to the Romanplatz and taking the #16 or 17 tram was more convinient than taking the bus to the Laim S-Bahn station.
My husband is getting a lot of mileage out of this church allergy thing. I do think it has to do with the incense.
We definitely enjoyed Andescher am Dom. I think I would have enjoyed Hackerhaus a bit more if I hadn't been so drained that day from the heat. That was the first really hot day and you know how the first day of a heat wave sort of shocks the system.
sherhatfield - when you are at the Laimer Hof, don't miss the Hirschgarten. Probably our favorite place in Munich
Also, for going to the city center, we found that walking over to the Romanplatz and taking the #16 or 17 tram was more convinient than taking the bus to the Laim S-Bahn station.
Aug 1st, 2006, 09:53 AM
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Next installment:
Day 6 (Friday)
It was another hot hot day in Germany – can’t wait until I am done with school so that we don’t have to travel in the summer if we don’t want to!!!
Left Munich and took the train to Nuremberg. The train was great – very convenient. We just turned up at the Hauptbahnhof and bought tickets, then got on the train. Very easy. Our train was pretty crowded, but overall a nice ride. We got to Nuremberg about 2:30, which was bad planning since it was the hottest part of the day and we were schlepping our luggage to the hotel. Oh well.
We stayed that the Romantik Hotel am Josephsplatz, which was terrific. It is in the very center of the Altstadt in a neat old building. We were on the 3rd floor, and fortunately there is an elevator – a tiny elevator wedged in the center of the winding staircase, but an elevator nonetheless! The people at this hotel were great and our room – we couldn’t have asked for more. It had 2 large windows to catch the breeze and a nice view of the platz, a desk and sitting area as well as a large bathroom. Perfect.
http://www.romantikhotels.com/rh_hps...amp;lang=en_EN
After relaxing in the room for a bit, we went out to wander around the Altstadt and had dinner at an outdoor café. I don’t remember the name, but we had Trucker beer, which was pretty good. Nuremberg has a really beautiful Altstadt with a river running though the center and several bridges. There are winding streets and medieval buildings – pretty much what I’d always envisioned a medieval town to look like.
Day 7 (Saturday)
Breakfast at the hotel was great – nice spread of meats, cheeses, rolls, fruit, yogurts, etc.
After breakfast, we walked up the hill to the castle for a tour – very cool. We walked along the old city wall and the moat. An actual castle with a moat! You know, when I was a kid, I didn’t think that castles, knights in shining armor, and so on were real. I thought they were just made up, fairytale stuff. I didn’t see any knights, but I saw their armor and their swords in the castle museum. We also climbed the castle tower, which afforded some terrific views – and wonderful breezes. On that hot day, it was worth the climb just to catch the breeze. There is also a deep well that we got to see. I don’t remember exactly how deep it is, but the docent poured a pitcher of water into the well and then counted slowly to 5 before we heard the water splash into the water in the well. She also lowered a platform with candles into the well so we could see into the well. It was REALLY far down there by the time we saw water.
After seeing the castle we stopped at a pottery shop right below the castle and bought a couple crocks for mustard and then to a mustard shop just down the street for something to fill them. Now I can have table mustard, just like at all the cafes we went to
We had a light lunch right across the way from the castle at a place called Aecht Schlenterla (or something like that) - lots of tables outside with umbrellas surrounded by planter boxes filled with greenery. This is where we had the Rauchbier that was our favorite. It came from Braurei Heller in Bamberg, and it was magnificent. I had been looking forward to trying the rauchbier in Germany and this stuff did not disappoint.
After lunch we did a little more shopping and then went back to the hotel to nap and escape the heat.
When the sun went down, we reemerged to have dinner at a place called Lucas Café. We sat outside on a patio overlooking the river, which was really pretty. It started to rain during dinner, but we were under some large umbrellas, so it didn’t ruin our dinner – just cooled off the air and made things quite comfortable. The food was very good and at this meal I departed from beer and ordered some pinot grigio – perfect with the warm weather.
Earlier that day, my husband had bought me a new wedding ring (my original one was stolen awhile back – consequently while on a vacation) and he presented it to me at dinner. It was really romantic with the river, the rain, cool breezes, the medieval town. Perfect.
After dinner we walked around the Altstadt some more – it was finally cool enough to really enjoy it. And of course, had some ice cream
Day 8 (Sunday)
This was the day we took the train to Ansbach were my husband was stationed when he was in the Army. The train ride was only about 45 minutes through some really pretty countryside. The town of Ansbach was quiet – partly because it was Sunday, but also because it is just a small town off the tourist track. It was an interesting day, rather emotional. The Army post had been given back to the Germans not long after my husband's tour was over, so we didn’t know what, if anything would be left. Part of the post has been turned into some sort of mall, but the headquarters building, his barracks building, and a couple other buildings remain. They have been turned into a university of applied science, which I think it very cool. We were both really glad that something of his old post remains, that there was something to come see.
After seeing the post, we wandered around town some more and had lunch. There weren’t a lot of restaurants open – mostly ice cream and coffee places, so we ended up eating at a “Mexican” restaurant, which was interesting. The food was fine, but left me with a mad craving for some chiles – LOL. I did have my first cola weissen there, which was REALLY good. My husband had told me about these, and I thought he was insane (my opinion of his sanity has not changed, just my opinion of colaweissen). Coke and beer, you have GOT to be kidding. But amazingly, it was so tasty that I had 2.
Returned to Nuremberg on the train, wandered around the Aldstadt a bit more, had a light dinner of pizza (learned that pepperoni in Germany is not what we thought - had to pick a bunch of bell peppers off my pizza) and then turned in early.
Day 6 (Friday)
It was another hot hot day in Germany – can’t wait until I am done with school so that we don’t have to travel in the summer if we don’t want to!!!
Left Munich and took the train to Nuremberg. The train was great – very convenient. We just turned up at the Hauptbahnhof and bought tickets, then got on the train. Very easy. Our train was pretty crowded, but overall a nice ride. We got to Nuremberg about 2:30, which was bad planning since it was the hottest part of the day and we were schlepping our luggage to the hotel. Oh well.
We stayed that the Romantik Hotel am Josephsplatz, which was terrific. It is in the very center of the Altstadt in a neat old building. We were on the 3rd floor, and fortunately there is an elevator – a tiny elevator wedged in the center of the winding staircase, but an elevator nonetheless! The people at this hotel were great and our room – we couldn’t have asked for more. It had 2 large windows to catch the breeze and a nice view of the platz, a desk and sitting area as well as a large bathroom. Perfect.
http://www.romantikhotels.com/rh_hps...amp;lang=en_EN
After relaxing in the room for a bit, we went out to wander around the Altstadt and had dinner at an outdoor café. I don’t remember the name, but we had Trucker beer, which was pretty good. Nuremberg has a really beautiful Altstadt with a river running though the center and several bridges. There are winding streets and medieval buildings – pretty much what I’d always envisioned a medieval town to look like.
Day 7 (Saturday)
Breakfast at the hotel was great – nice spread of meats, cheeses, rolls, fruit, yogurts, etc.
After breakfast, we walked up the hill to the castle for a tour – very cool. We walked along the old city wall and the moat. An actual castle with a moat! You know, when I was a kid, I didn’t think that castles, knights in shining armor, and so on were real. I thought they were just made up, fairytale stuff. I didn’t see any knights, but I saw their armor and their swords in the castle museum. We also climbed the castle tower, which afforded some terrific views – and wonderful breezes. On that hot day, it was worth the climb just to catch the breeze. There is also a deep well that we got to see. I don’t remember exactly how deep it is, but the docent poured a pitcher of water into the well and then counted slowly to 5 before we heard the water splash into the water in the well. She also lowered a platform with candles into the well so we could see into the well. It was REALLY far down there by the time we saw water.
After seeing the castle we stopped at a pottery shop right below the castle and bought a couple crocks for mustard and then to a mustard shop just down the street for something to fill them. Now I can have table mustard, just like at all the cafes we went to
We had a light lunch right across the way from the castle at a place called Aecht Schlenterla (or something like that) - lots of tables outside with umbrellas surrounded by planter boxes filled with greenery. This is where we had the Rauchbier that was our favorite. It came from Braurei Heller in Bamberg, and it was magnificent. I had been looking forward to trying the rauchbier in Germany and this stuff did not disappoint.
After lunch we did a little more shopping and then went back to the hotel to nap and escape the heat.
When the sun went down, we reemerged to have dinner at a place called Lucas Café. We sat outside on a patio overlooking the river, which was really pretty. It started to rain during dinner, but we were under some large umbrellas, so it didn’t ruin our dinner – just cooled off the air and made things quite comfortable. The food was very good and at this meal I departed from beer and ordered some pinot grigio – perfect with the warm weather.
Earlier that day, my husband had bought me a new wedding ring (my original one was stolen awhile back – consequently while on a vacation) and he presented it to me at dinner. It was really romantic with the river, the rain, cool breezes, the medieval town. Perfect.
After dinner we walked around the Altstadt some more – it was finally cool enough to really enjoy it. And of course, had some ice cream
Day 8 (Sunday)
This was the day we took the train to Ansbach were my husband was stationed when he was in the Army. The train ride was only about 45 minutes through some really pretty countryside. The town of Ansbach was quiet – partly because it was Sunday, but also because it is just a small town off the tourist track. It was an interesting day, rather emotional. The Army post had been given back to the Germans not long after my husband's tour was over, so we didn’t know what, if anything would be left. Part of the post has been turned into some sort of mall, but the headquarters building, his barracks building, and a couple other buildings remain. They have been turned into a university of applied science, which I think it very cool. We were both really glad that something of his old post remains, that there was something to come see.
After seeing the post, we wandered around town some more and had lunch. There weren’t a lot of restaurants open – mostly ice cream and coffee places, so we ended up eating at a “Mexican” restaurant, which was interesting. The food was fine, but left me with a mad craving for some chiles – LOL. I did have my first cola weissen there, which was REALLY good. My husband had told me about these, and I thought he was insane (my opinion of his sanity has not changed, just my opinion of colaweissen). Coke and beer, you have GOT to be kidding. But amazingly, it was so tasty that I had 2.
Returned to Nuremberg on the train, wandered around the Aldstadt a bit more, had a light dinner of pizza (learned that pepperoni in Germany is not what we thought - had to pick a bunch of bell peppers off my pizza) and then turned in early.
Aug 1st, 2006, 10:20 AM
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Aug 1st, 2006, 11:33 AM
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Also, I think your "Trucker" beer might have been Tucher, a common beer in Nuremberg.
http://www.tucher.de/ (I love these brewery sites with their own music)
Great report, though! (and we like those pizzas with the bell peppers...send em our way)
http://www.tucher.de/ (I love these brewery sites with their own music)
Great report, though! (and we like those pizzas with the bell peppers...send em our way)
Aug 1st, 2006, 03:37 PM
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Another reason to go back to Deutschland: Tucher Bier. From time to time one of our stores carries it--usually Weissbier or Dunkles Weissbier. This trip report is causing me to consider putting off home remodeling and traveling instead. Perhaps a Tucher or two would convince my spouse of the wisdom of that decision!
