Our too brief two weeks in Germany were “wunderbar” – thanks in large part to you “Fodor Folk” who helped plan just about every phase. Here is our trip report of visits to Mainz, Worms, Cochem, Wittenberg, Bamberg, Munich, Salzburg, and Rothenburg o. d. Tauber.

My darling husband (“mein Lieblingsmann” in German - ML for short) and I departed on Northwest from Detroit, and arrived Frankfurt 8 am May 12. ML’s ticket was frequent flyer (secured 11 months in advance) and my ticket was $785, purchased in early March 2006. When the price dropped to about $520 in late March, we called NWA and they issued a voucher for the difference to use for another flight.

This trip was planned in part for pure enjoyment - in part for our education. We both love history and German culture. ML is of German ancestry, and I teach a college course on media history, including a unit on Gutenberg, the printing press and Martin Luther’s reformation, so plan to use some of our discoveries in my class next semester.

We arrived in Frankfurt May 12 (at 2 am Michigan time), having slept very little on the plane. The airport was fairly quiet and empty; we exchanged some cash, then found National Car Rental (we had contracted for a rental car from AutoEurope 6 months earlier – a compact at $500 for two weeks)…The clerk told us we were lucky to get such a nice car - it was an Opel Astra, a manual – and it was better and worse than we expected. Better because it was a diesel engine so we saved a good deal on gas (the difference in price between diesel and regular is much greater than here in the states!); worse because it was a 2-door, not the 4-door we had contracted. We must have been very tired, because normally I would have gone back to the desk to request a 4-door. Later that day, we realized there was no AC! I started praying then for cool weather during our trip – I am no good in heat!

Day 1 – Mainz, Worms, Cochem
We planned an active first day in order to stay awake for our first day in Germany. First stop was Mainz, to visit the Gutenberg Museum and have lunch. ML was looking forward to an outdoor meal at an “Imbiss” which we found in the town center of Mainz, near the museum…it was fun trying out our “broken” German for the first time. I was really looking forward to the museum; it was filled with printing presses and early books, and I enjoyed browsing them, although it would have been helpful to have English translations – everything was in German. In addition, they did not allow photos, and the museum shop had no books with pictures of the museum artifacts, so I ended up with nothing to bring back to show my students. Still, I’m glad we visited the museum…we did see two Gutenberg Bibles…

Next stop was Worms, to see the Luther Monument and cathedral. The AltStadt of Worms is compact and pleasant. The monument is very large – and includes a center statue of Luther, with his colleagues all around him. An elderly lady approached to ask if she could take a photo of the two of us with our camera. She wanted to chat, but spoke just broken English – anyway, it was a very friendly gesture. The cathedral in Worms is impressive – but I was surprised to find that its Catholic, although that does explain why there is no reference to Luther anywhere inside!

Leaving Worms, our viamichelin directions had us drive along the lower Rhine River toward our first night’s destination – Cochem on the Mosel. It was a lovely drive all the way, especially when we passed along the Mosel before reaching the bridge to Cochem. There is a bike path along much of this route – a delightful possibility for our next visit. This turned out to be one of two warm days on this trip, so we tried to find the Opel’s AC controls, but it appeared the car only had heat. Too late we learned differently – more on that in the report for day 14!

Cochem and our hotel, the Alte Thorschenke, were easy to find. The Alte is partly 14th century castle and it looks it. It is almost “medieval” inside – dark carved furniture everywhere, but with modern services. We had booked the Turner Suite – it had a large sitting room with windows along two walls, a lovely bedroom and large bathroom with shower. The bath had lots of space for bath supplies – perfect for a high maintenance type like me! By this time we were both dead tired, but determined to stay awake until 9:30 pm.

We walked through Cochem for awhile - what a charming town! It looks and feels very old, but has lots of excellent shops and restaurants. We walked through quaint, winding streets looking in shops and just getting familiar with Cochem. We decided to have dinner at Zom Stuffjle, which was recommended by Rick Steves and Fodorites. We found it was delicious and as delightful as they said - a charming timberframe old building just inside a small lane. Boy, were we looking forward to our first German beer and wine! We tried to speak German with the waitress, but she was very accommodating and brought us a menu in English. It was “Spargel” season, so I had schnitzel with spargel with hollandaise, and ML had Hunter’s schnitzel (with mushroom sauce) and peas. We absolutely loved the friendly, local atmosphere of this traditional German restaurant. Sehr Gut!

Day 2 – Cochem, Beilstein

We woke at 4 am to the sound of raucous drunkards outside our window – but we were so tired from jetlag, had little trouble going back to sleep – we slept a total of 11 hours. The Alte Thorschenke sits on a corner in the middle of town with a café-bar across the narrow street. It’s not surprising we would hear street noise from our window. If you like a quiet night, try getting a room in the back of the hotel – not in the front. But despite the interrupted sleep – we loved the room – the bed was heaven and the shower had a soft, but forceful spray, easy controls, and movable spray nozzle. Very refreshing. The breakfast buffet was excellent and turned out to be the best on our trip.

The weather was cooler; it was cloudy in the AM, rainy in the PM, turning sunny by dinnertime. At a little restaurant for lunch, the waitress did not speak English, so we had a chance to try our scant German. ML studied German in high school, and I had taken a class and practiced for months with audiotapes. We couldn’t hold a real conversation with anyone, but we did manage with greetings and a few essential questions; it did make the trip much more fun!

After lunch, we walked uphill to Reichsburg Castle, which sits above Cochem. The castle is a gem – and the tour is definitely worth the time. Our guide spoke German with a smattering of English explanations, but we could follow the rooms’ descriptions from a printed English version. The guide was very funny and kept making jokes, most of which we couldn’t understand, but everyone else was laughing so…In one room, he had a woman look into a secret stairway door and started to close it behind her – she looked pretty scared for a moment – he got quite a kick out of that.

In the evening, we drove the short distance along the Mosel to little Beilstein for dinner at Haus Lippman. I had been looking forward to their food after reading so many glowing reports by Fodorites. We found the village absolutely beautiful – so charming! We sat on HL’s patio ready for a drink, but discovered that they don’t serve beer - only wine. Tim’s jaw dropped at the news, so we decided to look for a place with slightly larger selection…the “Gute Quelle” was close by and turned out to be a treat! Very nice staff and the food, and the wine and beer was excellent!

>(“mein Lieblingsmann” in German - ML for short) . How many other men have you got. Sounds like you have a larger selection of them to take with you

Day 3 – Burg Eltz
After another hearty breakfast, we made our way toward Burg Eltz at first meaning to follow the special directions from Rick Steves, but ML was determined to have a longer hike, and we stumbled on the car park by Ringelsteiner Muhle restaurant near MoselKern where we met a lovely family about to start the climb. They listened to our modest efforts at German, and I was so pleased she told me my pronunciation was “gut gesprechen”! Not exactly sure what that means, but it sounds like a compliment! In about ½ hour of a gradual uphill climb, we found the castle…by this time it started to rain so we gobbled a quick lunch at the café and headed for the tour gate. Forgetting to ask for an English tour, we found ourselves with a guide who spoke only German – that was a bit disappointing (my pronunciation may be gut gesprechen, but my vocabulary ist kaput!). We managed to enjoy the rooms anyway, and it wasn’t a very long tour. The rooms have a real medieval “knights in shining armour” feel! I bought a book about the castle which describes each room and we read that back in our room – it gave us an idea of what the guide must have been saying. Well you can bet we didn’t forget to ask for English tours after that! The walk back down to the car was very wet – constant heavy rain. Luckily we had thought to bring our umbrellas, but they didn’t protect us from mud-soaked pant legs!

After changing clothes we took a walk along the Mosel and then decided that we would have dinner again at Zom Stuffjle – we wouldn’t normally repeat a restaurant on a vacation, but this place was the best! After dinner we walked across the bridge to the other side of the Mosel and enjoyed a stroll until dark.

I had forgotten that Haus Lipmann's restaurant only served wine. It was a shock to me as well--but I somehow managed to go a couple of meals without a beer.

Thanks Rufus - I wasn't complaining - it was just a surprise. We enjoyed Gute Quelle very much instead. Here is our report for
Day 4 – Wartburg, Wittenberg
Today’s weather was cloudy, some sun, about 68 F. The drive to Eisenach was a bit frustrating – I found the viamichelin directions confusing, not a good thing for the navigator. ML did very well driving though - this was his first time driving a manual in 25 years, and yet, my whiplash was not so bad! Eisenach was confusing as the city itself is larger and more congested than I expected. ML stopped twice to ask directions, and one man told him his Deutsch was “wunderbar” – so we were both pretty satisfied with ourselves.

The climb to the Wartburg was fairly steep, but what a view at the top! We were really looking forward to all the Luther sites, so we remembered to wait for the English tour this time. To my surprise, though, our guide didn’t take us to Luther’s room, but instead just told us how to find it on our own. I wonder why his room is not included in the tour?

The drive to Wittenberg was easy, and we noticed the change to the former East Germany as some buildings on the outskirts of town were closed or boarded up. We stayed at the “Goldener Adler Hotel” in the Alt Stadt - just lovely. Our hotel was the “Goldener Adler” – right in town on the main street. It was very comfortable and clean – I wouldn’t hesitate going back. The staff was friendly, spoke some English, and went out of their way for us. The day we arrived, we asked the clerk where we could find a laundry – so we could have our pants cleaned (the mud-slopped ones from Burg Eltz). He was apologetic and said there was no laundromat in town, so offered to take them to his home and wash them…The next morning, there they were – cleaned and pressed!

We had supper at the Schwarze Baer – they specialize in potato dishes. Their dark beer “Isenbeck” was superb! The town is easily walkable…all the historic sites are within a half-mile area. We saw the Castle Church doors where Luther posted the 95 Theses, his Stadt Kirche, which was his parish, and the Luther home and museum. This was one of the best museums I have been to. All of the displays were in German and English. Luther’s home has been preserved in its original state, and you can walk everywhere in it – very few barricades.

Sorry! I repeated myself about the hotel-must have been tired!