Arrival of my Parents

My parents arrived last night to visit us for the rest of the week. Things got off to a bit of a rough start, though, because I was a little ticked off at them for not following my instructions to contact me to let me know when they would arrive. Funny how they used to get mad at me for not listening to them. I knew they were in Munich already and were planning to spend a couple days there, but they were supposed to e-mail me to let me know which train they'd be on, so I could pick them up at the train station. Apparently they got too busy and claim they "didn't see any internet cafes" (not sure how they missed the hundreds of them they probably passed). Laura and I started to get a little worried that something happened to them in Munich, since we didn't hear from them. But I knew when a couple of trains would be arriving to Kempten from Munich in the early evening, so after Laura got back from work, we just went out to the train station to see if, by chance, two stupid Americans were lost in the Kempten train station. Sure enough, just as we turned the corner for the first platform, there they were, getting off the train and walking down the steps. They were in a much happier mood than me. I let them have it for a bit, but eventually got over it. They seem to have had a great time in Munich, they couldn't stop talking the whole drive back to the apartment, telling stories of all they saw and did for a couple days. They pretty much saw everything in that city, got to know the subway system very well, and did lots of walking. They even made it out to the BMW plant to take a tour of the 3-series production facilities, a suggestion I made last week but didn't think they'd get to. I've been to the 6 and 7-series plant in Dingolfing, but I'd like to find a time when Laura and I can get out to the one in Munich, a little closer by, cause it's pretty cool to see.

After we got back to the apartment, I introduced my Dad to some German Bier and my Mom to some German Riesling, while we heard more stories from Munich, and let them unpack a bit before we headed out for dinner. They brought us tons of stuff from the US that we needed here and either couldn't find or was so expensive here that we didn't want to buy it...much appreciated! On the way to dinner, I tried to break my parents out of the olden days and get my mom to use an ATM machine for the first time. I insisted that she get her PIN setup before she came, since it's the best way to get money overseas, but she set it up wrong and her first trip to the ATM failed (as you can see in the picture here), and I just had to take some cash out for them. We then walked through town, over by the Residenz building and had dinner at an outdoor restaurant/biergarten called Zum Stift. It was recommended to us by the hotel, a typical Bavarian restaurant. Not knowing exactly what we were ordering, we each ordered something different so we could try 4 different things. Some were more of a hit than others; it's not the most exciting food here.

After dinner, it was back to the apartment so they could finish unpacking all the stuff they brought us, blow up the air mattress they brought, and go to bed. It's a bit tight in the apartment with 4 people and the extra blow-up bed, but we'll make it work for one more night. Hopefully the ear plugs tone down my dad's snoring tonight though!

This morning we got up early, dropped Laura off at work, and then my parents and I drove back out to Schwangau so they could visit the castles there. Worth noting, on the way there I spotted a couple of cows at a farm on the side of the road getting to be a little more than just friendly with one another. It was a first-time experience for me to see that, and was good for a couple of laughs with my dad. Not much more to say about the Neushwanstein castle, since I was just there a couple days ago. I led my parents on pretty much the same trip I did earlier in the week with Laura. We hiked up to the Neushwanstein Castle, got the 30-minute tour inside, then walked over to the lookout bridge for views of the castle, and then back down to Schwangau. After having lunch with them, we walked over to the tourist information booth so they could figure out the bus schedule back to Kempten, and I left them in Schwangau so I could return to Kempten for work. Their plan was to visit the other castle, walk around the town for a bit, and then take a bus back to meet us.

Thursday night, we had dinner at the Crepe restaurant in town. It was a bit interesting, because we couldn't make out the menu in either German or French. Although the waitress pretended not to speak any English, she suddenly could when it was time for the bill. Oh well, the food was really good, especially the desert crepe with bananas, ice cream, and topped off with rum.

On Friday, my parents walked all over Kempten and toured the Kempten Residenz building while Laura and I worked. It's a pretty small city, so you can do/see everything there possibly could be in not that much time, but they discovered a few things that Laura and I will probably check out at some point before we leave. After a day of exploring, they definitely know the city better than we do at this point.

Neuschwanstein Castle

Monday was a holiday in Germany, so Laura's office was closed. Since I'm supposed to be working later to more align with the Eastern time zone, we took the opportunity to do a quick morning trip before I had to come back and work in the afternoon. So we made the drive to Schwangau, a little less than an hour south of Kempten, to visit King Ludwig's Neuschwanstein Castle (Disney's castle was designed after this one). Again, another beautiful drive, but this time headed toward the Alps and the snow-covered mountains we can see from Kempten. The Neuschwanstein Castle is perfectly situated at the top of a peak, with amazing views of the German countryside, lakes, and the mountains all around it. It was built from 1869 to 1886 (so not that old compared to most castles here) for King Ludwig II, King of Bavaria. However, he only spent 172 days in the castle before he died, and he never saw it fully completed. There is actually a picture below of his Throne Room, which never even had a throne built for it because he died before ever getting the chance. King Ludwig II began his reign as king at the youn age of 18, and was the king for 22 years before he died at the young age of 40. The cause of his death is a bit of a mystery, but apparently he was going a bit crazy and had been seeing a psychiatrist. They were both found dead in a lake shortly thereafter. Just 6 weeks after his death, the castle was opened to the public as a museum. The tour only takes you to a handful of the rooms, because those are the only rooms that were completed before Ludwig's death, when they stopped construction and opened it to the public. King Ludwig was known as the "Fairy Tale King," and there are paintings in each room of various fairy tale stories he enjoyed. He is also known as the "Swan King." Swans were apparently his favorite animal, and the swan symbol is decorated throughout the castle and the town of Schwangau (German word for swan is schwan).

It was another gorgeous day in Germany, and because it was a holiday it was very busy around this touristy spot. We got there around 9:15am, got our tour tickets, and hiked the half hour up a fairly steep hill from Schwangau to the castle, took in the views, and then got a 30-minute tour of the inside of the castle. After the tour, we walked over to the bridge behind the castle, the Marienbrücke, for even better views of the castle and surrounding area. While I was on the bridge, I noticed a trail beyond the bridge so I asked one of the locals about it. It apparently leads up to the top of one of the mountains (Mt. Tegelberg) overlooking the castle, if you hike up another 2 hours and 30 minutes. I don't think I'll be able to talk Laura into that one with me, but I'd really love to go back and do some hiking around this area - perhaps when my friend Brad comes up to visit in June (and by then, the trail should be open...currently closed because of snow/ice).

I had actually been to the castle before. When I was on a school trip to Munich a few years ago, we had a day off so a few friends and I took a day-trip out to it. But I didn't notice then what a great outdoors area this is. Before driving home this time, I stopped in the tourist office to ask about the activities and to get some trail maps, cause I'll definitely be headed back. Around the area are plenty of hiking trails, biking trails, ski resorts, hang-gliding/paragliding (there were lots of them out there), etc. I'd like to look into a trip back to hike to the top of Mt. Tegelberg, and then take the easy way down by paragliding - something to look into.

After taking in all the views of the castle and surrounding area, we eventually walked back down to the town of Schwangau. There is actually another castle in Schwangau, called the Hohenschwangau which was built for Ludwig's parents - Maximilian II of Bavaria and Marie of Prussia. Ludwig II grew up in this castle. Unfortunately, we had to get back to work in the afternoon, so we didn't have time to tour that one, or walk around Lake Alpsee, the shops in town, etc. Instead, we did what most German's would do and stopped off at the Biergarten for a nice local brew and some lunch before heading back. Being such a nice day, and so many activities to do there, we didn't want to leave. My parents actually come to town today, and I'm sending them there tomorrow, so I'll have them check out both castles and let us know if it's worth going back to tour the Hohenschwangau another time. I am actually going to go with them in the morning and do the Neuschwanstein for my 3rd time (the views there just don't get old, and it's just not that far away). Laura and I bought an annual pass that's good for many of the castles and sites in Bavaria, so I can go into the Neuschwanstein anytime I want (not sure why, but the Hohenschwangau isn't on the pass). So I can at least drive my parents out there and hang out with them in the morning, see the Neuschwanstein Castle again with them, and then come back to Kempten to work in the afternoon. I'll leave them to continue to explore the town and the other castle while I work, and they'll catch a bus back to Kempten in the afternoon.

Weekend with Laura's Dad

The weekend with Laura's dad, Ken, was great. We really weren't sure what to expect, but we had a wonderful time with him and his wife Marlis, and they treated us to much more than we had in mind. In addition to visiting them in Bitburg, they also brought us to Trier, Germany on Saturday, and we stopped in Echternach, Luxembourg before driving home Sunday.

We left Kempten around 5pm Friday when Laura got home from work. After a quick gas fill-up, we were on our way to what we thought would be about a 4 to 5 hour drive northeast to Bitburg. (I don't think I'll complain about gas prices anymore when I get home, it's about 10 euros per gallon here, or around US$200 to fill-up the tank!) The drive ended up taking about 6 hours, but it was very pretty the whole way (until it got dark) - green and yellow fields, random castles everywhere. We hit some construction traffic and another stand-still on the Autobahn because of a flipped car - we have yet to drive long distance on the Autobahn without seeing a flipped car, we even saw one Sunday on our way back. Even though Bitburg is a small, rural town, we didn't have much of a problem finding their house, thanks to the navigation system in the Mercedes. But we didn't arrive to until 11pm. Ken and Marlis greeted us with some much needed cold adult beverages and a late dinner of home-made Spargel Zuppen (asparagus soup - it's a big thing here) and Spaghetti, while we met and got caught up for a couple hours. Their house is very nice, and big for German standards. They have some very nice views of the countryside, and some great yard space and sitting areas.

After sleeping in, we woke up Saturday morning and had a big breakfast before taking a long walk into town, along with Ken and Chuck, their dog (he's a beagle that looks like an older/fatter version of my brother's dog Tripp - he's so fat because he only seems to eat human food). Bitburg is a really nice, rural town. Everything is so green in Germany this time of year. But up in this part of the country, it's a lot hills with green fields (wheat crops) and gorgeous bright yellow plants which are eventually turned into some type of industrial oil; and lots of windmills. It's absolutely beautiful countryside all around the area, which pictures can't come close to describing.

We walked along the walking trails through some of these fields from Ken and Marlis' house into town. Ken gave us a bit of a tour and history of the town as we were walking through, going through the main square, before eventually landing at the Bitburger Brewery. The buildings in Bitburg are not that old and historic like much of Europe, because it was bombed on Christmas eve during World War II. Bitburg is a town of only about 10,000 people, but about 3 times that many US military in the surrounding area. One of the bases was recently closed, making the Bitburger brewing company the largest employer in Bitburg. I didn't know this before going there, but Bitburger is actually the largest beer producer in Germany, and one of the largest in the world. Unlike most German beers that are only served locally, it is commonly served throughout other parts of Germany. We tried to enter the Bitburger Brewery, in hopes of taking a tour or purchasing something in their gift shop - but the brewers must have been off sampling for the weekend because it was closed. So we decided to have our first sample of the local Pilsner at a Biergarten out front - can't get much fresher than right next door. Then we stopped by the grocery store and walked Chuck back home, so we could put him away for an afternoon trip into Trier.

Trier was quite a treat for us, since we weren't expecting to do much but hang around Bitburg with Ken and Marlis. We had no idea what a great, historic town Trier was. It is a beautiful city on the Mosel river, about a half hour from Bitburg. It's a city of about 100,000 people and considered the oldest city in Germany (although Trier is not the only city to claim that, so I'm not sure). There are several Roman ruins in the city, which is very interesting when seen right next to some of the more traditional, German Middle-Ages architecture. We took a couple of hours to walk around Trier, viewing the Roman baths ruins, huge Basilica built for Constantine, the Roman Church, the town square, and the old city entrance gate called the Porta Nigra. The Porta Nigra is the best preserved Roman city gate in Germany, in good enough condition for Laura and I to walk up the steps to the top for a nice view of the city. This is more of a wine area than beer, so the hills on the outside of the city are lined with vineyards. We did get to sample some of the local Riesling before walking back to the car, stopping at a nice little wine garden by the church.

Marlis' son, Johannes, is a student at the university in Trier, so we met him and his girlfriend, Julia, for dinner before heading back to Bitburg. The restaurant was great, with a huge selection of traditional Bavarian dishes as well as grilled items. I was easily talked into the "Buffalo Bill" by Ken, figuring this might be my only chance for a real American-sized steak for awhile - but Laura's veal in wine sauce turned out to be much tastier. I was the driver between Bitburg and Trier, because Ken had his license taken away last week for some pretty excessive speeding on the Autobahn; plus our car was bigger for the 4 of us. It's a pretty common mis-perception in the US that you can always go as fast as you want on the German Autobahn. There actually are speed limit signs on the Autobahn, but they do get lifted in certain areas where you can drive at unlimited speeds. But when there is a speed limit sign (especially in the construction zones, which there are so many of), they are pretty serious about it, and they use speed cameras to detect speeders - hopefully I don't get one of those notices in the mail!

When we got back to Bitburg, we picked up some Bitburger beers for me to enjoy while we sat for a couple hours in the winter garden of their house and chatted (the winter garden is a sitting room on the side of their house, that is really a glassed in porch). The next day we were planning to get up early and drive back to Kempten, stopping in a couple towns along the Deutsche Weinstraße (Germany Wine Road). But Ken and Marlis had plans to take us to Luxembourg to fill up on gas and have lunch. We had no problems altering those plans.

Before leaving for Luxembourg, Ken let me take his little BMW Z1 convertible for a spin. The Z1 is a very limited edition car that was made only in Germany in the early 1990's. It was the prototype for the Z3 that we have in the US. It's stick shift, and wow....that thing was FUN to drive!!! Afterward, I told Ken I'd trade cars with him for a few weeks, but he didn't buy into that. I took Laura along for about 45 minutes, just driving around the countryside, trying not to get lost. Ken told us if we went left out of the neighborhood there was a golf course. So we saw that, and then continued a bit, until we stumbled upon a random castle called Schloss Hamm.

Ken's initial reason for taking us to Echternach was because it's about 30 euro-cents cheaper per liter of gas in Luxembourg (not like my Dad, driving miles out of the way to save 1 cent per gallon, this was 25 km to save more like $2 per gallon), but seeing the town of Echternach proved to be well worth it. While everything seems to be closed in Germany on Sundays, this border town in Luxembourg was really happening - it was filled with tourists from all over, and Germans who drive across the border to be able to shop on Sundays. Again, it was such a gorgeous, sunny day and we sat at an outdoor Italian restaurant near the town square, with some less than stellar live music being played behind us. After lunch, we walked around the streets of Echternach, to the main square, Medieval town meeting hall, and church. They were typical European narrow streets to walk along, with great architecture, shops, and cafes lining the sidewalks. The Mosel River also runs through this town, and up above the city in the hillside you could see the lookout tower from some old Celtic caves that were used for hiding back in the day.

The weather has been absolutely amazing this whole trip - sunny, in the 70's every day. We even managed to get some sunburns on Saturday, so we covered up with sunscreen on Sunday. Ken says this great weather won't last long. He was right.....we saw our first German cloud on the drive home Sunday evening when we got close to Kempten.

After our walk, it was time for farewell. But it looks like we may see them again soon. Marlis' mother who recently passed away has a place in the Rhine River region that we may meet them at again in a few weeks. We are starting to realize that there are so many things to see in Germany, that we may not get to some of the other European cities we had planned to visit before we arrived. Oh well, we have to take advantage of the opportunities we have right now, having a car and knowing some locals to show us around.

The drive back wasn't quite as bad - only about 4.5 hours. The scenery driving along the hills and countryside in Germany, with random castles all over the place, certainly doesn't get old - much nicer than driving down I-75 to Gainesville.

Next up: Neushwanstein Castle and my parents visit, where we'll go to Austria