Munich & Black Forest

In this next slideshow in included Munich out of order. Our stop at Munich actually happened a few days later on our way from Garmisch-Partenkirchen to Prague. See my comments on Munich in an earlier post.
From Stuttgart we drove to the Black Forest, stopping first in the city of Rottweil on the edge of the Black Forest. We did a quick walk around the town and admired our first glimpse of Bavarian architecture with paintings on the buildings. We took a high speed road tour of the Black Forest, not spending as much time as I had hoped. We did stop for lunch in a town that seemed deserted of tourists. There I had a slice of the genuine Black Forest cake I had promised myself before we started. I've never had better. We toured more and stopped in a village I believe was Waldkirche. The church looked interesting from the autobahn. They were having a church festival at the time so we joined in for a while. Our car tour continued from there and finished at the tourist town of Titisee. We had a fabulous dinner at a seaside restaurant. From there we headed to our internationally renouned hotel in Kanstanz, Switzerland.

Switzerland & Lichtenstein

I was exhausted after our night in a haunted hotel in Switzerland. Our luxury suite turned out to be a bare-bones dorm room with four small beds. Fred snored loudly enough to drown out the church bells that rang every hour all night. He also had a nightmare and knocked the lamp off his nightstand. I got up frequently to hope for morning to come quickly, and every time I left the room, I noticed the hotel furniture had been moved to strange places. I didn't sleep at all and was exhausted the next day.

From Konstanz we headed for the Alps and the Principality of Lichtenstein. The scenery of Lichtenstein was breathtaking as you'll see in the slideshow. We stopped at the Castle Gutenburg. I identified it as the Lichtensteiner Castle in the slideshow. Hey, I was tired. It wasn't open for tours, but we walked around the grounds.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen

After Lichtenstein we got back into the car and drove to Garmisch-Partenkirchen. I was still tired from not sleeping in Konstanz and missed much of what I'm sure was great scenery. I woke briefly to have my passport stamped at the border as we crossed through a part of Austria.

In Garmisch-Partenkirchen we stayed at a military base which was actually a luxury resort, our best accomodations of the trip. We rode the tram up to the mountaintop and had lunch up there. Very beautiful. Later that evening we had a good dinner at a restaurant that featured accordian music and slap dancing.

We left early the next morning because we had a lot of driving to do. We were driving all the way to Prague with stops at Munich and Regensberg.

Prague

After Munich we continued on our way to Prague. Along the way we made a stop at Regensberg because it was advertised to be a well preserved Medieval city. It was also the home of the current Pope in Rome with an impressive cathedral. Actually, I didn't see much of a Medieval city, or perhaps just couldn't find that area. The cathedral was duly impressive however. I took pictures but decided not to include them in the slideshow. Between Regensberg and Prague we saw crops in the field that none of us had ever seen before. I'd never seen it but recognized that it was hops. As far as the eye could see, they were growing hops. Very interesting.

By late afternoon we were in Prague. The outskirts of the city look pretty scary, heavy industry and slums that would rival Detroit. But then we came to the old heart of the city and were blown away by its beauty. We checked into our apartment at the U.S. Embassy in the Lesser Old Town District and walked to the river for dinner.

I was up well before the others the next morning and walked to the bottom of the hill and found an outdoor cafe where I could enjoy espresso and watch people. Then we walked to the impressive Prague Castle in time to see the changing of the guard. We toured the outside of the Castle before walking down to the river and crossed the famous Karlov Most (Charles Bridge.) We walked to Wenceslas Square and saw the Medieval clock where the 12 Apostles parade for the crowd each hour. We then walked through the Jewish District before crossing the bridge again to rest up for an evening of birthday celebration.

Prague at Night

Our second day in Prague was Captain Kahl's birthday. We celebrated at one of the finer restaurants with a riverside table. We spent hours enjoying the food and the entertainment that surrounded us. Freddy's one request was that he could celebrate his birthday in Prague, his favorite city in Europe. I can see why. Granted, I haven't seen Vienna or Paris or London or Budapest, but I'm guessing Prague would hold up well in comparison.

Luther

Leaving Prague, we had a long journey ahead of us and much to see. We headed into the former East Germany as Captain Kahl charted a route that would take us first the Nurnberg, a city that had been selected by the Allies for total destruction as a way to get Germany to surrender. That and a museum of medieval armor made Nurnberg a place of interest to Captain Kahl. I didn't take any pictures because the city was rather dismal, but the museum was interesting.

Being Lutheran, a tour of Germany would not be complete without a pilgrimage to important Luther places. We headed for the city of Erfurt where Luther spent time as a monk. We visited the Augustinian Monastary but missed the tour of the building. We gave ourselves a tour mainly of the outside. The weather was rainy and many of the places of interest in the city were obscured by construction. The day was waning, so we headed to Eisenach to see the Wartburg Castle where Luther was held for his own protection and where he tanslated the Bible. (In the slideshow I mislabled the castle as being in Erfurt instead of Eisenach. I have trouble telling the difference between those towns.) By then it was late in the day and things were closing. We had to climb up the steep hill to the castle which nearly killed me. Again, we were too late for a guided tour inside the castle, but we did get to see the outside. We ate at what looked like a good restaurant which ended up being an interesting cultural experience. We were served traditional schmalz for our bread, basically pork lard with bits of pigskin. We headed for Leipzig to spend the evening hoping for a more successful day to follow.

Here's where the slideshow is a little out of order. We did the Leipzig sites first and then went to Wittenberg. I included Wittenberg here because it belongs together with Luther places of interest. We first visited the Castle Church where Luther nailed the 95 Thesis on the church door. We also visited St. Mary's church, the main church for Luther when he was in Wittenberg. The statue of Luther in the town square was gone because of construction. But I saw enough to be satisfied.

Leipzig

In between Erfurt, Eisenach, and Wittenburg, we spent the evening in Leipzig. The next morning before we left for Wittenburg and on to Berlin, we spent time at the St. Thomas Lutheran Church to pay homage to Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach spent about 25 years as the choirmaster and organist at St. Thomas. It was another rainy day, but most of our time was spent inside the church, and then on to Wittenburg and finally Berlin. By then the weather had improved. St. Thomas was well worth the time to an admirer of Bach such as myself.