Terri, Author at Witte Travel

Berlin – 5 miles of walking

Today we have a whole day in Berlin. It is our last day of the trip. We decided against breakfast at the hotel. The night before we had made a loose plan for the day. We needed to see the Musical Instrument Museum (to make use of our Museum Pass) and I wanted to see the DDR Museum and get some photos. There was a listing for a Neue National Gallery that had German Expressionists included on our pass as well. Armed with maps, camera and a plan we left about 10:00 am.
In hindsight I would stronger recommend the Welcome Card. We have use of the S trains as part of our Rail Pass, but not the bus, tram or underground network. Having spent 24 Euro per person on the Museum Pass we didn’t want to purchase another 30 Euro pass for the Welcome Card.
Today was filled with walking, and more walking. We did take the S train to the Alexanderplatz stop though. We stopped to get a breakfast sandwich and coffee for fuel.

DDR east german kitchen — East German era kitchen

DDR museum car — Actual modified Trabi car that you could “drive” with passengers in the car. The history of these little cars is incredible.

From there we walked to the DDR Museum. Admission was 7 Euro per person. That was an experience. It has a lot to offer, but the space allowed for it is so small. I got lots of photos, so I am pretty sure I will have some we can use. If all the material there were spread over an area twice the size it would be much easier to see it. The replica of the apartment and the actual Trabant car were fun. There was a video game type interaction with the car so you could try to “drive” it. Of course, the line was very long and it was very crowded so we didn’t wait for that.

Berlin Wall_2 — Section of the Berlin Wall that features photographs of the people who died attempting to cross the wall.

A wide variety of topics are covered from propaganda, sports, jobs, education and fashion. Most student groups should find something of interest there. It was funny to think that the wall went up in 1961 so I never knew a world without it, and my son was born in 1989 and has never known a world with it. The wall fell on November 9, 1989. From the DDR museum we continued to the Berlin Wall Memorial. There are several sections of the wall still standing. We walked up to the memorial. That was moving. The sight it well documented. We chose to walk the wall routing. Different parts of the route has information you can read pertaining to the history of the wall. That the wall went up almost over night is amazing.

Berlin Wall Tower — This guard tower in along the route of the wall. It is all that remains of the all in this residential housing area.

As we were walking, it took longer to get places. We walked the route of the wall all the way to the Bandenburg Gate. This time we came at the gate from the opposite side. It was after 3:00 pm when we go to this area. We had not had lunch yet and our feet were tired. We stopped in an apothecary to purchase some ibuprofen.I ask the pharmacist about the restaurant nearby. He said the food was not so good. He directed us to a Chinese restaurant. It was very good. Had we not been so tired, we would have walked back to thank him for the recommendation.
It was getting on past 4:30 pm when we were done with our meal. There was no way to make it to the Musical Instrument Museum, which closed at 17:00 (5:00) so we looked into the art museum. I double checked online and found that it was closed for “refurbishing” for two years. Bummer. It is now 5:00pm and we are dog tired. We walked to the Typography of Terror. This is free. It is located on the grounds were the SS and the Gestapo were housed. The original buildings are gone, but the legacy remains. This museum presents the rise of the secret police from 1933 until its end. Lots of photos with documentation in both German and English. We left there drained both physically and mentally. We started the trip out with a visit to Dachua Concentration Camp. Today we read and saw photos of several accounts referencing Dachua and the evil that was done there.
We have made it back to the hotel using the very efficient German train system. There was a very nice grocery store in the train station, so we purchased some snacks instead of having dinner since lunch was so late.
Tomorrow we depart the hotel at 6:30 am to be at the airport by 7:00 am. Our AirBerlin flight is scheduled for 10:00 am. Let’s hope the Lufthansa strike doesn’t affect us. We did purchase travel protection though, just in case.

Good bye Germany. Definitely want to come back and spend more time in Berlin, as well as see more of the country. Berlin deserves much more that one-and-a-half days!

Riechstag Building — View of the Reichstag Building along the river Spree. Near the end of our very long walk.

Berlin

We got up in Leipzig after sleeping in somewhat. I heard it rain all night, sometimes quite hard. When we got up about 8:00 and headed downstairs to breakfast it was done raining. The breakfast buffet at the Best Western Leipzig was really nice. There were lots of options to choose from and the staff was very friendly.
We decided not to go into town and headed to the station to catch the train to Berlin. That was easy. We had to wait just minutes before it arrived and we could board. The train travelled at speeds of up to 220 kph. Arriving in Berlin a little after noon, we navigated the central train station and found a S-line train to near our hotel.
We are staying two nights at the Hotel am Steinplatz – a Marriott Autograph Collection hotel. It is very nice. We have a view of the center garden. The only problem I have had with all the hotels rooms on this trip is that the beds offer a heavy comforter and a pillow, no sheet or blanket. We have both been very warm at night.
We dropped our stuff off in the room and headed out with the intention of taking the Hop-On Hop-Off bus tour of the city. That didn’t work. We walked to the place where we were to meet the bus and purchase the tickets, but the man there said he was told not to sell tickets after 3:00 pm. There was “30,000 things going on” and the tour couldn’t go the regular route. He told us to come back tomorrow.

Kaiser Wilhem Detail — Detail of some of the damage the church received during the bombing raid in 1943.

We decided to walk past the Wilhem Kaiser Church and on to the Tiergarten. We walked along the garden and ended up the Kultural Forum. There are several museums on this campus. We wanted to see the old masters’ painting and went into the Gemaldegalerie. There was a long line to purchase tickets. This was due to the special Botticelli exhibit. We chose not to see that exhibit as it cost extra and were not that interested in it. Because of the special exhibit, they had the center of the space reserved. This required the viewer to go through the whole permanent exhibit then back track and see it all again to get out. Not a very good layout. The lighting in there also wasn’t very good for the very large paintings. Quite a lot of light was reflecting off the paintings making it hard to see some of the details. Overall a good collection of works and worth the time. We chose to purchase the Museum Pass that would let us see the Musical Instrument Museum as well. That museum, however, closed at 5:00 – unlike the others that close at 6:00pm. This was disappointing. We decided to see that tomorrow.

We continued to walk down the side of Tiergarten and then crossed a path into the park. This part is very large. The Brandenburg Gate is at the east end of the park. As we walked we began to hear cheering and a voice over a loudspeaker. There was a rally going on near the gate. We couldn’t tell what it was about, but overall it seemed peaceful. We wandered around there for a bit and decided to take the S train back to the hotel area. There was a restaurant that we had passed earlier and we went there for dinner. It featured traditional German food. It was very good. We each got something different and then shared them. After dinner we walked back to the hotel to rest up.

Tonight we had planned to go to a jazz club. There were four to chose from and we ended up walking to the A-Trane Jazz Club. What we didn’t know was that the Berlin Jazz Festival was going on. We got there only to learn that the first was sold out. We waited around a bit just in case there were some no-shows for the tickets. While waiting we met two young women and a young man. They were each there on their own and didn’t have tickets either. Once the 9:30 pm show started without any of us getting in, we all walked across the street to a cafe/bar owned by the same people that owned the A-Trane. Ollec, Grodal, and Andrea were great fun. Ollec is from Russia, Grodal from Tunisia and Andrea from Germany. That we all met at a jazz club in Berlin was very cool. We had a beer and talked while waiting to see if we could get into the next show that night. By the time we went to check back it was getting closer to 10:30 pm. Tim and I decided to pass and said goodbye to our new friends. I hope they got into the show.

German Train Travel

View from our hotel Rothenburg — The view from our hotel window. We were on the top floor.

We managed to sleep in until 8am today. We got up and found the breakfast location that was part of the hotel. It was off site. I am not enjoying the German breakfasts. Tim does though. I am not big fan of meat and cheese for breakfast. I am making do though; when in Rome. We did not know how to check out of the hotel, so we just left the key in the room. The place is very small. There might be 17 rooms in the whole place. It was cute though, and unique.

We got to the train station in plenty of time and boarded our train. Today we were to travel by train from Rothenburg ob der Tabuer to Steinach, then on to Wurzburg, to Fulda and finally to Leipzig. The train from Steinach to Wurzburg was late. (Which was the only train our whole trip that was late.) This moved the rest of our schedule back. Instead of getting into Leipzig at 14:46 we didn’t get here until 16:20.

Our hotel, the Best Western Leipzig, is just across the road from the train station. This hotel is very nice, and our room is quite large. We have a sitting area, sleeping area, a hallway and a bathroom. We checked in and then quickly went out to see the Bach Museum before it closed at 18:00. We got there just about 45 minutes before they closed. We went through it anyway. It was small but very enjoyable. The old instruments were very cool, as were the actual Bach manuscripts. It was too dark to really see the Thomaskirke, so we may go out in the morning before we head to Berlin. The city has a younger vibrate vibe, much like Dublin. There are streets closed off to traffic with lots of pedestrian usage.

German Trains — We found the German train system to be clean, efficient and easy to navigate.

The train to Berlin will be about an hour and ten minutes. It is a direct train as well, which will be nice after all the changing we did toady. Again, big thanks to Tracy for the schedules. It made me much more comfortable navigating around.

I wish I had thought to bring a pedometer. It would be interesting to see how much walking we have really been doing. Our feet sure tell us that we’ve walked a lot. Though today not so much, since we had five hours on the train.

All in all I am very glad we got the rail pass and took the rain system. It has been a learning experience for sure.
Next stop – Berlin!

The Burgs

Today we managed to get up early. After having our last breakfast at the Hotel Dolomit, we left for the train station. The information that Tracy provided was great. We got to the station and found our train. We didn’t have reservations, so we had to surrender our seats, but that was okay as there were others we could sit in. We didn’t see the need for reservations for such short rides. The hour flew by and we got to the station for our change of trains. The whole thing could not have been move smooth.

Albrecht Durers House — Since 1871 the Albrecht-Dürer-Haus has been a museum
dedicated to Dürer’s life and work.

The first train stopped in Nurnberg. We choose to put out luggage in a locker. The cost was 5 euro. We then walked around Nurnberg. It was a very nice city. Tim really enjoyed it. We were both glad that we decided to make the side trip. The city walls and the medieval building were a treat. We managed to work our way around to the Albrect Drurer house. After about two hours of walking around town we went back to retrieve our luggage and find the train.

Rothenburg ob der Tauber from tower — One of the views from the top of the tower.

We arrived at Rothenburg ob der Tauber about 1pm. We walked from the train station to the old city. Our hotel, Das Gastehaus am weissen Turm, is in the old town. They let us check in at 2pm, which was very nice. This guesthouse is 800 years old. We are on the third floor, with no lift. I managed to fall on our walk to the hotel. The cobblestone streets, the luggage, and being tired all combined to me losing my balance. The only damage was a tear in my pants. No big deal. After checking in and unloading our stuff we went out exploring. This is a very cool place. The building are so cool. You are definitely not in Grand Rapids.

We walked all around the city today. I climbed to the top of the tower. The 241 stair climb was rewarded by great views of the city. Tim passed on the climb. The platform was very small at the top. Only five people were allowed out there at a time. I took lots of photos of this spot, but they just didn’t do justice to the great view.

Medieval Torture Museum diorama — There were many dioramas and pages to read. The materials were all presented in English as well.

We toured the Medieval Crime and Justice Museum that I had learned about in the Lunch and Learn DVD series at Witte. It was very cool. There was lots to see related to the middle ages other than torture. The emphasis is on the justice system and how it evolved in Medieval times. It is well worth a visit. (5 euro per person to get in)

We found the shop that held the German Christmas museum. We chose not to go into the museum part, but we did some shopping in the store. We skipped lunch entirely today, so by dinner time we were quite hungry. We stopped at a hotel/restaurant that had a menu that looked good. We have done fairly well on our spending on meals. We are opting for bratwurst, sauerkraut and potatoes and beer of course. No being sure, we are including a cash tip to the server of about 10%. They seem happy with that. It is necessary to check to make sure that a service charge hasn’t been added to your bill though.

After dinner it was almost dark. I had hopped to take the Night Watchman Tour at 20:00, but as we were walking back we heard him out doing the tour in German. We did not know if he would go again in English and we are both very tired. We called it a night about 8:15 (20:15 local time) and have another full day of train travel and sights to see.
Off to Leipzig tomorrow to catch up with J.S. Bach.
Happy Guy Fawks Day.

Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau

Today we got up extra early and took the 7:53am train to Fussen. The train ride was very pleasant and the scenery was great. We got to Fussen and discovered that they are rebuilding the train station, so the toilets were not there. We decided to walk briefly around the town and found the Fussen Heritage Museum had a WC. The cost was .50 each, but they were very clean and much appreciated. It was agreed that we would walk to the area where the castles are. It was a very pleasant 3.2k walk. The path was well marked, level, and traveled a lot by bicyclists. The weather has been great. Today was a little overcast, but it was still quite warm after the walk. The walk also afforded glimpses of Neuschwanstein Castle through the trees.

Arriving at the business area around the castles we choose to walk up to the Hohenschwangau first. This one was an actual residence. The coloring looked wonderful against the fall foliage. Taking one path up, we walked around the outside of the castle and saw the gardens. We took the other, longer path back down and then started up the trail to Neuschwanstein Castle. That was a long, very steep, hike. You can pay for a bus to take you most of the way up, or there is a horse-drawn wagon you could hire as well. Neither of these options will take you all the way to the castle. For the off season, there were quite a few people there. We had decided not to go inside the castles, but to just walk up to and around them.

View of Neuschwanstein Castle as we entered the castle area.

Our walk through the town area also afforded us nice views of the castle. The Marienbrucke (Mary’s Bridge) was closed for maintenance. We did have some nice views of the waterfall coming down the side of the mountain. We took yet another path down from that castle. We decided to take the bus back to Fussen as we were both quite tired. The bus ride is 2,20 per person one way. The ride back was much quicker than our walk there! We wandered around the little town of Fussen and had a late lunch at Ristorante La Perla. The food and the beer were great. The server was very funny. He showed my Rick Steves’ travel book to the owner. That book was our reference for where to eat. After some shopping we headed to the temporary train station to catch the 16:05 train back to Munich. I think we both nodded off on the ride back. We got back to the hotel and decided to go out after dark for a walk around the hotel area. Not the best area for families. Lots of import shops. Lots of sports betting places. There is a Euro Store right across the street. Tomorrow we get up early and start our journey north. Our final destination tomorrow is Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Since we have to change trains in Nurnberg, we may take a couple of hours to walk around there as well. It will depend on the time schedule for the trains. It will take four connections to get to our final destination.
Guten Tag

Best Laid Plans

Dachau Ovens — In the twelve years of its existence over 200,000 persons from all over Europe were imprisoned here and in the numerous subsidiary camps. 4,500 were murdered.

Yesterday afternoon, after arriving in Munich at our hotel, we took the S2 up to Dachau and the local bus to the Concentration Camp Memorial. It was quite moving. We didn’t realize the size of the place. The weather was very nice and we walked quite a bit around the grounds and then through the museum portion. It was very depressing to read the supplied information stations and know what mankind is capable of doing to itself. We walked all the way back to the central station, skipping the bus. Taking the S2 train back into Munich we went to eat at a nearby restaurant. It was very good, filling, and affordable.

We had planned to take the train to Fussen today, Nov. 3, to go to the castles. We boarded and waited. It was past time for the train to leave, when a German voice came on with a long speech. There was no English translation provided. We asked a small girl what the message said. She told us the train had been cancelled.

We decided to make today our walking tour of Munich. We followed the routing outlined in Rick Steves book. We managed to see quite a lot today. The 11:00 am performance of the clock tower carillon was a big hit. Many tourist in the area taking photos and videos as well. The Frauenkirke and Ratskeller were on the schedule too. We walked quite a lot, but did not have the benefit of a tour manager to tell us what we were seeing, having to rely instead on our guide book.

A late lunch, early dinner was had at the Hofbrauhaus. It, too, was very good. The outdoor market was enjoyable as well. We purchased some souvenirs to take home to friends. Just walking through the market was a treat to all the senses. The smells were incredible.

We managed to fit in a visit to the art museum that features the Old Masters. Unfortunately the building is undergoing repairs. Large sections were closed of. We did see quite a few very nice painting. Reubens was prominently represented. We saw a Rembrandt and a partial Bos painting as well. It was 4 euros per person well spend. The other museum that featured Klimt, and the other artist of his time, was closed on Tuesdays. We would have liked to see that as well. If we get back from our day trip Wednesday we may try to go.

Back at the Hotel Dolomit now. The WiFi is not free. It is 3.90 per 24-hours. I thought that was reasonable so that I could post to the blog.

We are going to try to get up early and catch the 7:53 a.m. train to Fussen tomorrow. I hope it goes.

Gute Nacht until tomorrow.

Planes, trains and automobiles

Today is the day my husband and I leave for Germany. We need to drive to Chicago O’Hare and be there by 12:30 for our 15:35 flight on Air Berlin. The adventure begins.
We chose to park in the Economy Lot at O’Hare. This was a little hard to find due to construction in the area. The bus came quickly to pick us up and the transport from the main train terminal to the airport was quick and efficient.
Departure from Chicago O’Hare was on schedule. The AirBerlin flight was full. The leg room was tight, but we managed okay. The plane was very clean when we boarded. There was a pillow, blanket and comfort pack on each seat. It contained earplugs, an eye mask and a toothbrush with paste. The cabin crew were professional but not overly friendly. I was disappointed that there was not music streaming from the entertainment unit. This was one of the options I enjoyed on the flight to the Netherlands. I put on my headphones with classical music and it drowns out the engine noises.
The meal was not great. I choose the pasta. It was hot though, and filling. After the dinner was served the lights were dimmed and I managed to get a few hours of sleep, how much I am not completely sure.
Arrived on schedule in Berlin. No jetway to exit. We went down the stairs that were brought over. Transfer to the main terminal was by bus. Passport control was very efficient. If you had connecting flights they were helping you get in line so you didn’t miss your connection.
We had to walk a ways outside to get to Terminal A for our connecting flight to Munich. We were told in ORD that we did not need to check-in again. It was unclear to us where/how we were to get to the departure gate. I ask an agent at a different desk from our flight and she was very helpful. We went through security again and are now waiting for the departure to Munich. AirBerlin has free WiFi in there gate area. But we couldn’t get it to work prop[erly.
It is now 2:22 am by our body clocks, 8:22 am here in Berlin on November 2nd.

Auf Wiedersehen.

Den Helder, Harlingen and Franeker

Tuesday, April 22

The boat set sail at 7:00 am. We only had to be up early today if we wanted to catch the scenery on the trip north, so I slept in. More tulip fields were in store for today. The weather was not bright and clear, but the view was still very nice.

Harlingen was a very nice town. I found a poster advertising a tall ships race that was coming to their port. I offered to purchase it, but the person at the tourist board said I could have it. It has a great illustration of a women with a spy glass that my husband loved.

We docked in Franeker about 2:00 pm. The whole afternoon was at leisure. I sat outside of the cafe by the Eise Eisinga Planetarium.

I enjoyed the use of their WiFi and had a local soda, Bitter Lemon. I felt very European sitting there.

It was different to be traveling as a single. I could hang out with the other passengers or just wander off on my own. That was fun. Since I am a Witte employee, several guests thought I could help with any problems. I was happy to help and did my best.

Terri Foley

Alkmaar to Schagerburg

Monday, April 21

The day started out slowly for me. We didn’t have anywhere to go as the Salvinia was cruising north. It rained lightly, but it didn’t matter. Once we arrived in Alkmaar we met up with the local guides. The weather cleared up. It was overcast, but no rain. The groups that wanted to walk were divided into slower and faster walkers. Alkmaar was a pretty little town. We walked around and learned about the cheese history, among other things. We even toured through the “red light district.” It was too early in the day for the working girls to be out. The ship continued on north about 3:00.

Sailing through the tulip fields was a highlight, with lots of passengers oohing and aahing. After dinner that night we enjoyed local entertainment by a shanty choir. They sang and played for two hours. I turned in about 10:00, as I was very tired. Much more walking than I was prepared for.

The shanty singers entertain us for the evening.

Terri Foley