Germany Part 1 - Cologne, Heidelberg and the Romantic Road

Gruss Gott! My mom recently visited me in London and we took an 8 day adventure through southern Germany and part of Austria. This post covers the first 3/4ths of our trip which includes Cologne, Heidelberg and a journey down Germany's beautiful Romantic Road into the Alps. Stay tuned to hear about Munich and Salzburg!

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Our journey began on an early Sunday morning as we made our way to Heathrow to catch our flight to Dusseldorf. After getting moved up in the enormously long and inefficient line, we made our flight which landed us approximately 30 miles from Cologne, our destination for the first night. We caught a train to Cologne and easily found our hotel which was located just a few blocks from the train station. The hotel was surprisingly nice and had an excellent location with only a 10 minute walk to the center of town, the Dom Cathedral and the Aldstadt (or old town).

Cologne is a large city that sprawls from the massive Rhine River which flows directly through it. The banks of the river provide nice running/walking/biking paths and excellent views. The main site to see in Cologne is the giant Dom Cathedral, one of the best-known architectural monuments in Germany. Construction of the Gothic church began in 1248 and wasn't finished until 1880. It is 144.5 meters long, 86.5 m wide and its two towers are 157 m tall. It was hit 70 times by aerial bombs in WWII, yet never collapsed. It is an absolutely amazing site and definitely worth a visit both inside and out. The highlight was the climb up one of the giant towers; 533 steps up a steep spiral staircase that provided a close look at the gigantic church bells and excellent views of the city. After the climb, we picked up a snack at a nearby bakery and meandered through the shopping district before heading to dinner. Our host at the hotel told us about a local Brewhouse a bit out of the way, so we went there for dinner and it was absolutely incredible! I enjoyed pork with homemade sauerkraut and plenty of the in-house brewed beer!

The next morning, I went for a run along the Rhine before a huge breakfast at the hotel. After rushing to the train station, we then had to wait in line forever to buy our tickets which means we missed our planned train and had to wait a couple hours. We picked up some lunch and headed down to the river to enjoy the sunny day. We then took the 2+ hour train ride to Heidelberg which was a surprisingly beautiful journey that followed the Rhine valley. After our arrival in Heidelberg, we figured out the correct bus route to the Old City area to find our hotel. I was pleasantly surprised with the excellent location of our pension (hotel). In the heart of old town, it was basically on one of the main squares bordering a massive cathedral. We took the suggestion of our host for dinner and enjoyed an excellent dinner at another local brewhouse. A German couple also sat at our table outside during dinner and we talked to them for quite a while before leaving. It was a really nice evening and we were able to sit outside and enjoy the company.

Heidelberg is an amazing old city. The town spreads along the river with beautiful bridges that cross. A large castle is perched atop the hill overlooking the entire valley and city and every turn provides another narrow cobblestone road or an amazing view. Cars are generally not allowed anywhere in the old town which makes walking and sitting outside really pleasant. On our second day, we got an early start on a walk up to the castle. Unfortunately for mom, it meant more climbing, but the climb was definitely worth it. The grounds around the castle were absolutely amazing and the views of the city were unbeatable. We spent a few hours exploring the castle and it's grounds and enjoying the perfect weather. After our walk back down to the old town, we grabbed some lunch and then crossed the river to the Philosophers Way trail. The trail climbs from the river up along the other side of the valley and follows it above the old city. It is surrounded by gardens and forest and again provides amazing views of the city and the valley. After our long and active day, we grabbed a beer and pretzel at a local beergarden and then made our way to dinner.

The next day, we took the bus to the rental car office where we picked up our car for the next few days. We received a sweet Audi SLine 6 speed, and it went fast. Very fast. At one point I reached around 110mph on the Autobahn, but then mom noticed and I had to slow down. From Heidelberg, we drove toward Rothenberg ob der Tauer, an old fortress town well known for it's well-preserved medieval old town. We stayed at a very nice B&B just outside the city wall with a quick 10 minute walk to the center of the old town. We spent the afternoon exploring the shops, which included a few famous German Christmas shops, and I climbed a sketchy clock tower in the middle of town. We also walked around the majority of the fortress wall that surrounds the old town and provides excellent views of the town and nearby countryside. Rothenberg truly is an amazing place and you could walk the winding streets and explore the nooks and crannys for days. We rested for a quick beer and then went to dinner at a restaurant recommended to us by our host. Dinner was quite an experience! As we entered, we realized that all of the tables were either taken or reserved with the exception of one large table in the corner. We were told by the waitress that there was an "English Conversation" table available if we'd like to sit there. Having no idea what that meant, we decided to take a seat next to a couple from Florida and a few older men/locals. We learned that every Wednesday, the conversation club meets at the same table to speak English. They welcome anyone to join them and different members of the club show up each week. We were joined by a few other tourists that came and went throughout the night along with 4 old German war veterans. They had some excellent stories, newspaper clippings and pictures about their lives and it was a really cool experience. The food was also excellent and it was very nice having someone help us order and recommend items.

The next morning, I went for a run around the entire fortress before eating breakfast and packing up the car to our next destination. We traveled down the Romantic Road through small villages and winding countryside until eventually the massive Alps emerged along the German/Austrian border. We arrived at the southern end of the scenic route at Neuschwanstein Castle, a 19th century Bavarian palace on a rugged hill. We were able to get tickets to the last tour of the day, but it also meant a 30 minute walk up the rugged hill for mom. We did make it and it was well worth it. The castle is enormous and surrounded by snow-capped peaks and alpine waterfalls. It was also the inspiration for the main Disney castle seen in their parks. The drive to Garmisch, our destination for the evening, was spectacular. We drove through snowy mountains and quaint, mountain villages, finally arriving after dark. Our host for the evening, Frau Lily, was a rather old woman who I'm not sure actually expected us regardless of my reservation. After we arrived, she showed us through the dining room and kitchen and began walking us to our room. As she reached for the light switch in the dark hallway, she tripped over a lip on the floor and began falling forward. It felt like her fall lasted about 15 seconds as I saw the start of it out of the corner of my eye, but suddenly she was on the floor moaning weird noises and German words. Since her fall seemed to have happened so slowly, I didn't think it would be very serious, but to my surprise there was an immediate puddle of blood on the floor. As she turned her head toward my mom and I, awkwardly standing in the hallway wondering if what really occurred actually just happened, blood streamed down her forehead and face. She remained on the floor moaning German things as I ran to the kitchen trying to find a rag, which I never found. She eventually got up and we helped her to the kitchen where she cleaned her wound and asked mom to put a large bandage on her head. After asking many times if she needed a doctor or anything else, we hopped over the blood as she showed us to our room and that was that. Holding a laugh the entire time, I began laughing the minute our door closed. My mom and I looked at each other, both secretly thinking that we wanted to go somewhere else but we ended up staying the night and had a nice meal in town. My biggest worry is that she wouldn't live through the night and we wouldn't get breakfast. But she was up before us, making a fresh Easter Bunny cake and an omelet for breakfast! Along with rolls heated on the radiator and some meat that had probably been in her fridge for approximately 8 days. I ate it though.

Needing to return the car by noon in Munich, we got an early start on our 1.5 hour drive and headed toward Dachau Concentration Camp before going into the city. Opened in March 1933, Dachau was the first regular concentration camp established by the Nazi party. Over 200,000 prisoners from more than 30 countries were housed in Dachau and 25,613 prisoners are believed to have died in the camp. I found the camp oddly surreal. Overall, it just seemed like a shut-down prison. However, I was very surprised by how blunt and descriptive many of the museum and informative exhibits were. They were not shy at all about describing what happened in the camp in a very detailed and straight-forward way. I was also surprised to find how well the American Army was regarded when referring to the liberation of the camp by US army forces on 29 April 1945. The most disturbing part of the visit were the gas chambers and crematorium. It is incredible to think that a group of people could even think to do such cruel things, let alone build facilities that can carry it out so efficiently and blatantly. It was definitely an eye-opener and a good experience to have.

The remainer of our trip includes a short afternoon in Munich before spending our final days in Salzburg. Stay tuned for the next post!