Trip report - Germany and France in the springtime
 

Here we go - our first post-COVID trip!

The players (travelers): me, 70-something husband who's in better shape than his younger wife, and my sister who's a couple years older than I am and was visiting Germany and France for the first time

Unfortunately, a few big things have changed since the last time we were here. My dad died; my husband aged (inescapable); I was diagnosed with an incurable, life-changing disease; my back gave out a few days prior (we patched it together with some hurried physical therapy and I did exercises every day to try and make it last through the trip); our daughter got a year-long Fulbright grant; on and on. And those are just the biggest things - I won't bore you with all the rest. Combined, it affected our pace and our destinations. BIG TIME.

Day 1: we landed in Berlin and took the train First Class (mostly because of the recentness of COVID) to Leipzig. Loved it. No brain fog, just hunger. And if you're hungry, Berlin is a good place to be. So is Leipzig. If you know a wee bit of German, so much the better. :)

Day 2: daughter showed us around Leipzig. Marvelous. Pantometer, Augustusplatz and a little coffee shop I've been following on Insta. She offered us translation and "tour guide" work in exchange for some family companionship and better restaurants than she let herself indulge in on her own. Or maybe she was just being generous all the way around.

Day 3: Leipzig. Daughter had to work so we wandered around on foot and were amazed by everything we saw.

Day 4: Leipzig and daughter's apartment just north, which was absolutely darling. We took the train to her city, then the bus, and walked the rest of the way. Along our travels, we grocery-shopped with her, recycled with her and got a SIM card for my phone. She rode the train with us back to Leipzig, we did some quick shopping for her, and we took her out for supper - because as most moms know, kids just don't eat enough when you're not there.

Day 5, Part 1: late-ish morning for us, because I was exhausted and the back was starting to deteriorate. Whatever. I got caught up on our laundry and we caught the train to Frankfurt am Main. It was a looong ride but we opted for First Class, again because of COVID. We stretched our legs over a couple hours in Frankfurt am Main, paid our respects at some Stolpersteine, visited a park, ate a good meal and walked *a lot.* I might be biased on that last point.

Day 5, Part 2: after our Frankfurt am Main break, we caught the train to Strasbourg, France; sorted out some SIM card problems involved with crossing the border; picked up our Sixt rental car at the station; and drove to our Airbnb which was far more luxurious than anything husband and I could have afforded if it had just been the two of us traveling. Driving was not a positive experience for me. Nothing happened, but I didn't like it - AT ALL. I'd practiced the route via Google Maps, and I knew some "travel and traffic" French, but it was still very uncomfortable. However, it was super convenient to pop over to the next village to get a meal (we'd arrived too late to go grocery shopping). Every single French person we encountered was kind, helpful and sweetly amused by my fumbling attempts at communication.

Day 6: Baden-Baden, Germany. We popped back over the border (automobile independence) and spent the day exploring a beautiful little town. It was coolish and rainy, so in between long walks we took refuge in a coffee shop/bakery. OMG. Coffee. Hot chocolate. Tea. The good stuff! Plus baked goods far more beautiful than anything I'd seen in the States.

Day 7: we drove and drove and drove, almost to the Swiss border and through LOTS of small French towns on the way back. We had planned to scatter my dad's ashes, but apparently that's a mostly American thing. It's not commonly done in France or Germany. So we didn't do that, but we did drive - a lot. And I realized that I really, really, REALLY don't like driving on non-U.S. roads. I never plan to do it again. EVER. However, I do love European bakeries, and I do plan to frequent those again. A LOT. Because life's too short not to. :)

Day 7: Strasbourg via Haguenau (new train station - well, new to us, anyhow; they've had it since 2016 or 2017, I think). We bought day passes for transit and walked and trammed and wandered. It was marvelous. I love Strasbourg! On the way back to our Airbnb, we stopped at a pharmacy to buy painkiller for my back, because I'd already gone through all mine, all my husband's and what I had thought was a generous supply we bought in Germany. The pharmacist in Haguenau was very concerned about selling us ibuprofen, and even though he didn't speak English and I didn't speak "pharmacy French," he tried very hard to explain that it was important to fix the source of the pain instead of taking ibuprofen to cover it up. I didn't tell him that I knew what was causing the pain and I was taking, easily, four times what I admitted to. Why add that kind of stress to his life.

Day 8: for the double-hitter of my driving misery, no gas station would take our credit cards and we very nearly ran out of fuel; then we got confused when we drove to return the rental car and ended up on the new e-way that goes all the way around Strasbourg instead of directly to the north section of the city. Oh my god. By now my back was seriously giving out, and getting through the day required a rather horrifying level of ibuprofen, even by American standards. But we made it (barely), the Sixt team was very kind, and we got to our train with minutes to spare.

Days 9, 10 and 11: Paris. Arc de Triomphe, Louvre, Eiffel Tower. Pretty touristy stuff, but we did it independently and had a great time. We also visited Canal St-Martin which was marvelous, and we finished with a fair bit of time in Amorino's (a chain, I know, but still so good).

On the very last day of our trip, my back gave out. Totally. It wasn't playing anymore and nothing worked; even a mountain of ibuprofen AND Voltaren plasters updated every two hours only enabled me to breathe; inertia was agony and walking was just horrible. That coincided with 24+ hours of delays in our return flight, but we eventually did make it back home, my physical therapist fixed my back , everything is OK and I'm planning our next trip. :)
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...8230bf5424.jpg
Eiffel Tower

Oh Kandace! I am so sorry to hear about - well, all of the things that have struck you down, including your back! But I am glad that you enjoyed some of your trip. I have had things go drastically wrong while travelling; one trip we all got struck down with flu and then diarrhoea and vomiting, before we had really got over the flu. Fortunately we had a few days in the one place and we didn't all get sick at the same time, but it was ghastly and we didn't see or do so much. Here's hoping your next trip is better for all of you. Nice that your daughter is settling in well in Leipzig. We had a friend living in Leipzig for a while and he showed us 'his Leipzig'. It's certainly worth a visit!

Lavandula

I’m sorry about your back, that sounds tough. Glad it didn’t ruin things early on. You made the best of circumstances, but the driving would’ve stressed me out too.

I would like to visit Leipzig one day, so it was reassuring to read you enjoyed it.

Oh, you absolutely SHOULD see Leipzig! It's beautiful and it's easy to see why so many people call it "The New Berlin."

"The things" are what they are, but life is good. Big, big world out there. Lots for us to see. :)

I would like to know what you found unpleasant/unsettling about driving in Europe.

Re: driving in Europe, first, it was my (dis)comfort level. We had assumed, years ago, that my husband would drive in the UK because we were assured that it was no big deal. But it WAS a big deal; he flatly refused. I thought it must be due to the opposite-lane thing, and I figured this time that France would be no big deal for me.

We got the international driving licenses, I studied "traffic French," I used Google Maps to look at the route we would take from Strasbourg, etc. - all good ideas. I'd learned how to drive on a manual transmission, so I knew that wouldn't be a problem.

But the traffic signs and language didn't feel as comfortable as I'd expected. I was not as aggressive (confident) in traffic circles as the other drivers. I didn't recognize the area at all to know if I was lost or not, and getting lost returning the rental was the final frustration in a steady stream of frustrations. At home, we live on a small farm and I drive on roads and expressways I've known my whole life - again, my shortcoming, not France's fault, of course.

I will say that driving around our little village in France was easier than driving 100 miles away, and it was easier than taking the expressway. I liked France's use of the paving surface for driving cautions, like the road curving. But once we got beyond that...yikes.

If there'd been train transportation to the places we needed to go, I would have done that instead.

I will never willingly drive again in another country. Never, ever, ever.

Oh, owwww. Poor you! I half-joke that I come down with the plague every time we travel (It's a pretty scary thing, as you already know, and in the post-COVID world it's not funny). I've found that a couple chewable Pepto tablets on the plane just before landing in Europe, and then taken as needed for the first few days of the trip, will help tremendously.

Glad to hear you managed to soldier through. Sickness really puts you in your place, without question, and in very little time.

We had a terrific time despite "the things," and we'll have a great time next trip, too.

Correction to original post - Panometer, not Pantometer

<cringe> sorry

Kandace, we will never drive in Europe either. I choose locations based on public transport and accept the limitations. Lots to see even if I miss stuff.

My Dad did part of his apprenticeship in Leipzig in the ‘50’s and lived in a village nearby, so I’ve got this later in life need to see these places .

It sounds as though you still enjoyed your trip despite your health issues and driving. I have a pinched nerve in my back which is fine most of the time and then I do something and it is painful for a few days, so you have my sympathy.
We are Australian, so driving in France means driving on the opposite side of the road. I do not drive, but my husband has enjoyed driving in France on previous trips. However, because of Covid it is now four years since we were there. We are returning next year and will have a car, but we are getting older and are thinking it may be our last trip driving. Our trips are totally country based, no cities or even large towns really, so virtually impossible to do without a car. We will have to change our approach.
Merry Christmas to all.

Exactly. No plans to drive in Europe again, and there will still be plenty to experience. I do hope you get to Leipzig! It's just wonderful - beautiful, balanced, lots of options, helpful people everywhere.

It was a good trip! I'd never assume that anyone else has my limitations (driving), but it was much harder for me than I expected. Being from Australia would add another challenge/difference to driving. I've become more of a believer in taxis if I *need* to venture off train lines.

We went 3 years barely leaving our farm because of COVID and it was rough. I can't even get my arms around 4 years. Yikes. Good luck to you.