Missypie's Trip to Germany with Teens
Jul 28th, 2008, 10:18 AM
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Missypie:
Really enjoying your trip report. We are also from Texas and usually rent a car when we travel in the countryside; there are only two of us. Several years ago, we paid extra to rent a car with a navigation system so that our driving through Germany would be less stressful; we still had problems navigating since our system was not very user-friendly (first we had to change the language from Danish to English and then we were constantly instructed to make a U turn when we were minutes from our destination).
We were in Bavaria over Memorial Day and enjoyed visiting Ludwig's castles for the tenth time. Loved your description of Ludwig as "Sparkle Josh."
Really enjoying your trip report. We are also from Texas and usually rent a car when we travel in the countryside; there are only two of us. Several years ago, we paid extra to rent a car with a navigation system so that our driving through Germany would be less stressful; we still had problems navigating since our system was not very user-friendly (first we had to change the language from Danish to English and then we were constantly instructed to make a U turn when we were minutes from our destination).
We were in Bavaria over Memorial Day and enjoyed visiting Ludwig's castles for the tenth time. Loved your description of Ludwig as "Sparkle Josh."
Jul 28th, 2008, 10:21 AM
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Forgot to mention that if you email AA's customer service and let them know about the entertainment system failure on your flight, they will probably provide you with some extra AAdvantage miles. A friend of mine received a voucher when her flight from London had the same problem.
Jul 28th, 2008, 02:22 PM
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Day 9: Sunny day at the top of Germany. Wouldn't you just know that the morning we were supposed to leave the Alps would dawn clear and sunny? After a brief discussion, we decided to forego the planned leisurely drive to Rothenburg along the Romantic Road in favor of a morning at the Zugspitze. We drove as far as Alpensee (if I'm remembering the name of the little town correctly.) We rode up to the end of the cog wheel railway and got out....our native Texan kids loved playing in the snow. We spent quite a while there, admiring the totally clear view, and asking a friendly woman to take our Christmas card picture, then rode the cable car the rest of the way up. We walked around outside for quite a while, even buying some cozy socks from one of the souvenier stands. (It was so cold that the paper money I gave Son actually snapped in half.) It was lunch time so we had soup and wurst, finding the inside tables.
After lunch, everyone but me climbed the ladder and walked grasping the line to get to the marker atop the very highest spot on the mountain. (Someone had to stay behind to document the event! I think it was more scary to watch than to do.) The other four made it back safely, with only temporarily frozen hands.
After that it was off to Rothenburg, via the autobahn. Finding our hotel was frustrating....I thought I had perfect directions but we went into the wrong gate. When we finally found the Gerberhaus, which I chose partially because of alleged easy parking, the tiny garage was full. After I finally got someone's attention, the manager (owner's daughter) found a place for us in back. (They advertise parking in back, along the wall, but it's not actually reserved.) Our "apartment" was in another building a few doors down. I almost panicked when I saw how small it was. You walk in and there is a tiny bathroom, then a room on the left with a large bed, then a little kitchen, then the "living room" had a sofa sleeper pulled out and a cot added, making for almost no floor or walking space. The place suffered from the "too much decoration" syndrome that some family owned places have, such that there was no place to put anything.
Alas, no time to fret if we wanted to see the famous carved wooden screen before the church closed. We had about 20 minutes to look at the screen and church, then did a bit of shopping and took everything back to our tiny flat. The goal was dinner then the Night Watchman's Tour. The restaurant of our choice was packed with a tour group, so we found alternate B, which amazed me as the street on which it was located was closed due to construction.
After a decent dinner and great cake, we followed the noise to the Night Watchman's tour. The city was one stop on a US musical ambassadors program, so there were about 200 Minnesota high school musicians also wanting to take the tour. We all tried to stay near the Night Watchman, which was fun if you like doing rope drop at Disneyworld. It started to rain and we did part of the tour inside.
For some idiotic reason for which no one in the family will take credit, it was decided to walk the ramparts at that point (I guess since we could do it and stay dry.) It was getting dark and we had no flashlights, so passing through each tower was trecherous. It became rather a death march, which is a real shame. We were all glad when the ramparts ended, only we still had to tramp through the rest of town in the rain. Everyone went to bed, and I slept uneasily. I got up very early and "redecorated" the flat (putting potted plants and knick knacks out of sight) until we had places to put the suitcases...I felt better.
After lunch, everyone but me climbed the ladder and walked grasping the line to get to the marker atop the very highest spot on the mountain. (Someone had to stay behind to document the event! I think it was more scary to watch than to do.) The other four made it back safely, with only temporarily frozen hands.
After that it was off to Rothenburg, via the autobahn. Finding our hotel was frustrating....I thought I had perfect directions but we went into the wrong gate. When we finally found the Gerberhaus, which I chose partially because of alleged easy parking, the tiny garage was full. After I finally got someone's attention, the manager (owner's daughter) found a place for us in back. (They advertise parking in back, along the wall, but it's not actually reserved.) Our "apartment" was in another building a few doors down. I almost panicked when I saw how small it was. You walk in and there is a tiny bathroom, then a room on the left with a large bed, then a little kitchen, then the "living room" had a sofa sleeper pulled out and a cot added, making for almost no floor or walking space. The place suffered from the "too much decoration" syndrome that some family owned places have, such that there was no place to put anything.
Alas, no time to fret if we wanted to see the famous carved wooden screen before the church closed. We had about 20 minutes to look at the screen and church, then did a bit of shopping and took everything back to our tiny flat. The goal was dinner then the Night Watchman's Tour. The restaurant of our choice was packed with a tour group, so we found alternate B, which amazed me as the street on which it was located was closed due to construction.
After a decent dinner and great cake, we followed the noise to the Night Watchman's tour. The city was one stop on a US musical ambassadors program, so there were about 200 Minnesota high school musicians also wanting to take the tour. We all tried to stay near the Night Watchman, which was fun if you like doing rope drop at Disneyworld. It started to rain and we did part of the tour inside.
For some idiotic reason for which no one in the family will take credit, it was decided to walk the ramparts at that point (I guess since we could do it and stay dry.) It was getting dark and we had no flashlights, so passing through each tower was trecherous. It became rather a death march, which is a real shame. We were all glad when the ramparts ended, only we still had to tramp through the rest of town in the rain. Everyone went to bed, and I slept uneasily. I got up very early and "redecorated" the flat (putting potted plants and knick knacks out of sight) until we had places to put the suitcases...I felt better.
Jul 29th, 2008, 06:17 AM
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DAY 10: Sigh...last full day. We started the day with tne nice breakfast buffet at the Gerberhaus. When the kids commented that this was their favorite breakfast buffet, I told them that this was the only hotel we'd stayed at where we'd encountered other Americans, so they were obviously trying to cater to American tastes (thus the washcloths in the bathroom as well.)
We headed out bright and early to finish our walking tour of the city. We had peace and quiet until about 9:15 am, when the busloads of Japanese tourists swooped in. We climbed the tower at 9:45 but it was still pretty crowded by then. After that we went though the Christmas museum at Kathe Wolfahrt's....I wouldn't recommend this for everyone, but we are a family that puts up 15-20 themed Christmas trees every year, so we are obviously into Christmas decorations.
From there we drove to the Nazi Documentation Center in Nurnburg. It was fascinating. DS17 was especially interested. The museum focusses on how Hitler came into power - legally - and how he got the laws changed the laws, etc. Quite chilling. It took 4 of us 2 hours to go through and we waited an hour for husband to finish. While waiting we had chips and salsa from the snack bar, which was a bizarre (and weird tasting) experience for folks like us who live on TexMex.
We then drove into the old part of Nurnburg, anxious to find a place for a real meal. We found Barfusser Nurnberg quite easily, which is sort of a micro-brewery beer cellar place. It specializes in pork shanks and knuckles in dark beer sauce - terrific! After that we did a walking tour of the city, but the stores, main churches and museums were closed for the day. We did take quite a few pictures of Durer's house, as he's always been a favorite of mine.
I had no idea that Nurnburg was such a cool city, with a great pedestrian shopping street in the old town. Had I known more about Nurnburg, I would have skipped Heidelberg and spent more time in Nurnburg, but I guess most of us would like a do-over on at least part of every vacation.
It was getting dark as we drove back to Rothenburg and of course, no available parking behind the hotel or in the garage. We parked on the street.
We headed out bright and early to finish our walking tour of the city. We had peace and quiet until about 9:15 am, when the busloads of Japanese tourists swooped in. We climbed the tower at 9:45 but it was still pretty crowded by then. After that we went though the Christmas museum at Kathe Wolfahrt's....I wouldn't recommend this for everyone, but we are a family that puts up 15-20 themed Christmas trees every year, so we are obviously into Christmas decorations.
From there we drove to the Nazi Documentation Center in Nurnburg. It was fascinating. DS17 was especially interested. The museum focusses on how Hitler came into power - legally - and how he got the laws changed the laws, etc. Quite chilling. It took 4 of us 2 hours to go through and we waited an hour for husband to finish. While waiting we had chips and salsa from the snack bar, which was a bizarre (and weird tasting) experience for folks like us who live on TexMex.
We then drove into the old part of Nurnburg, anxious to find a place for a real meal. We found Barfusser Nurnberg quite easily, which is sort of a micro-brewery beer cellar place. It specializes in pork shanks and knuckles in dark beer sauce - terrific! After that we did a walking tour of the city, but the stores, main churches and museums were closed for the day. We did take quite a few pictures of Durer's house, as he's always been a favorite of mine.
I had no idea that Nurnburg was such a cool city, with a great pedestrian shopping street in the old town. Had I known more about Nurnburg, I would have skipped Heidelberg and spent more time in Nurnburg, but I guess most of us would like a do-over on at least part of every vacation.
It was getting dark as we drove back to Rothenburg and of course, no available parking behind the hotel or in the garage. We parked on the street.
Jul 29th, 2008, 10:59 AM
#46
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DAY 12: Home (I skipped Day 11 because I had two Day 4s.) Warning: This is a travel rant post.
We drove to the Frankfurt airport, returned our car (hard to figure out where) and made our way to the gate. We were in sort of a pod of 3 gates, where you couldn't sit down until close to your flight time, so there were lots of people sitting on the floor. There were no water fountains, and the signs in the restroom said not to drink the water. The water in the vending machine was 2.50. What extortion to make the only source of drinkable water cost over $4!
The flight home on AA was remarkable only in the level of bitchiness of the flight attendants. (Also, the movie monitor serving our section didn't work. Two transatlantic flights - zero movies.) There were no problems with the flight that should have made the flight attendants be on edge - no bad weather, no unruly passengers. There was one male flight attendant working the other side of the plane who seemed pleasant, but among those who interacted with my family, not a kind word or even a pleasant expression. DD15 even observed one flight attendant snapping at another. Maybe it's just stressful to work for AA at all these days.
We landed at O'Hare and more of the same. As we deplaned, a flight attendant was YELLING at us to have our passports out. I didn't remember passport control being so close and it wasn't....we all walked a good 10 minutes and then stood in line behind at least 100 people before we needed those passports she demanded we get out. Same story with rechecking our bags to Dallas...the AA employee barking at all of us "drop your bags, go go!" I really think AA employees must get their cumstomer service training at the US Marine Corps (or is that too insulting to the USMC?) The rest of the folks at O'Hare were just as surly. If I had been a foreign tourist on my first trip to the US, I'd have wanted to go home.
While changing planes, DH became ill. We thought it was the airline food but we ended up all catching the same German stomach bug from him a few days later. On arrival at DFW our lovely new pink suitcase - used only 4 times - was pouring out its contents for the world to see (broken zipper.) I might as well finish the tale of woe and add that on our return home, our phone was dead for 6 days and we had to replace our downstairs A/C unit.
I admit that I'm glad to be home and that my next planned trip isn't unitl March. Germany was lovely but I felt we were rushed. I don't think the kids felt that way - they'd prefer more "action" to seeing yet another adorable walled city or lingering to gaze at the Alps for a few more minutes. I guess that's what keeps me coming back to Germany (this was my 4th visit)...always more to see.
We drove to the Frankfurt airport, returned our car (hard to figure out where) and made our way to the gate. We were in sort of a pod of 3 gates, where you couldn't sit down until close to your flight time, so there were lots of people sitting on the floor. There were no water fountains, and the signs in the restroom said not to drink the water. The water in the vending machine was 2.50. What extortion to make the only source of drinkable water cost over $4!
The flight home on AA was remarkable only in the level of bitchiness of the flight attendants. (Also, the movie monitor serving our section didn't work. Two transatlantic flights - zero movies.) There were no problems with the flight that should have made the flight attendants be on edge - no bad weather, no unruly passengers. There was one male flight attendant working the other side of the plane who seemed pleasant, but among those who interacted with my family, not a kind word or even a pleasant expression. DD15 even observed one flight attendant snapping at another. Maybe it's just stressful to work for AA at all these days.
We landed at O'Hare and more of the same. As we deplaned, a flight attendant was YELLING at us to have our passports out. I didn't remember passport control being so close and it wasn't....we all walked a good 10 minutes and then stood in line behind at least 100 people before we needed those passports she demanded we get out. Same story with rechecking our bags to Dallas...the AA employee barking at all of us "drop your bags, go go!" I really think AA employees must get their cumstomer service training at the US Marine Corps (or is that too insulting to the USMC?) The rest of the folks at O'Hare were just as surly. If I had been a foreign tourist on my first trip to the US, I'd have wanted to go home.
While changing planes, DH became ill. We thought it was the airline food but we ended up all catching the same German stomach bug from him a few days later. On arrival at DFW our lovely new pink suitcase - used only 4 times - was pouring out its contents for the world to see (broken zipper.) I might as well finish the tale of woe and add that on our return home, our phone was dead for 6 days and we had to replace our downstairs A/C unit.
I admit that I'm glad to be home and that my next planned trip isn't unitl March. Germany was lovely but I felt we were rushed. I don't think the kids felt that way - they'd prefer more "action" to seeing yet another adorable walled city or lingering to gaze at the Alps for a few more minutes. I guess that's what keeps me coming back to Germany (this was my 4th visit)...always more to see.
Jul 29th, 2008, 11:17 AM
#47
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Hi missypie-
Thanks for your lovely report. sorry to hear you had a bad time heading home, but at least that happened at the very end of your trip and didn't actually ruin your trip.
I visited Nurnberg last year and stayed for 3 nights. I have to say I was surprised by how lovely the town is.
Thanks for your lovely report. sorry to hear you had a bad time heading home, but at least that happened at the very end of your trip and didn't actually ruin your trip.
I visited Nurnberg last year and stayed for 3 nights. I have to say I was surprised by how lovely the town is.
Jul 29th, 2008, 11:29 AM
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One interesting footnote: After we were booted from the Bichlerhof in Mittenwald and put in the Rieger, I remembered that I had originally considered the Rieger and ruled it out, but I couldn't remember why. Yesterday I was cleaning out my archived Germany emails and found the email exchange between the Rieger and me - they wanted 60 Euro per person per night-full price for the kids. At 300 Euro per night, I took a pass. We ended up paying 150 Euro per night to stay there. So I guess that makes me feel a bit better about what transpired.
Jul 29th, 2008, 11:43 AM
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For GPS's I'm very happy with my TomTom 920. I've heard good things about Garmins also but went with the TomTom because I heard it did better pronouncing European town and street names.
I doubt I would buy a brand other than TomTom or Garmin and I would get the ones preloaded with European maps and free updates for a period of time.
I doubt I would buy a brand other than TomTom or Garmin and I would get the ones preloaded with European maps and free updates for a period of time.
Jul 29th, 2008, 12:35 PM
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Hi missypie,
Thanks for your fabulous report, I truly enjoyed reading it.
I agree with you about AA and the level of service provided as being dependent on the flight attendant. We just flew business class two weeks ago, and we had the unfortunate luck in our aisle, of having a FA who doesn't give a hoot if she is serving us or not and who continually chatted with other FAs while we wait for our dinner. (at this point all the passengers in the other aisle were already served theirs by their so-attentive FA).
Anyway, I thought you booked the family suite at <b>Gasthaus Edith</b> in Rothenburg as recommended by another fodorite and I was waiting for your comments. I guessed you changed your mind.
Thanks for your fabulous report, I truly enjoyed reading it.
I agree with you about AA and the level of service provided as being dependent on the flight attendant. We just flew business class two weeks ago, and we had the unfortunate luck in our aisle, of having a FA who doesn't give a hoot if she is serving us or not and who continually chatted with other FAs while we wait for our dinner. (at this point all the passengers in the other aisle were already served theirs by their so-attentive FA).
Anyway, I thought you booked the family suite at <b>Gasthaus Edith</b> in Rothenburg as recommended by another fodorite and I was waiting for your comments. I guessed you changed your mind.
Jul 29th, 2008, 01:06 PM
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If I recall, I think that I didn't book the famiy suite at the Edith because after exchanging emails, we agreed it would be a tight fit for our family. Couldn't have been tighter than at the Gerberhaus!
Aug 1st, 2008, 06:24 AM
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Post script: Before the rest of us caught DH's stomach bug, we were sure it was food poisoning, so I complained to AA. We received an email from AA last night saying "so sorry, we've added 8000 miles to his account." I guess since it wasn't food poisoning, I won't complain about lack of movies there and back and call it even!
