Observations of Germany AND We're Ready to Come Home!

We had a great meal on Friday night in Cologne at an Italian Restaurant.  Gordon had Spaghetti with Veal sauce - a tiny square cut veal sauce with square cut spaghetti-like pasta - and I had whole grilled sole d-boned at the table with pureed celeriac and green cabbage.  We both started with a much needed salad and finished with ice cream ala spumoni. A great bottle of dry red polished off a very nice meal.

The next morning we went down for breakfast before we ventured out to hike the 563 steps up in the south tower of the GIGANTIC Cologne Cathedral.  Breakfast, once again, consists of cold cuts, sweet pastry and breads and tinned fruit.  BUT this time there was a toaster with a type of whole grain toast, scrambled eggs and bacon, boiled white sausage and some fresh fruit and yogurt....so there were some possibilities.  One thing is for sure, the coffee is VERY good!

After breakfast we took off to see the magnificent cathedral and find and walk up the south tower to view the city from above....something we do in just about every major city we've been in - St. Paul's Cathedral in London, Notre Dame and the Arch de Triumph in Paris , Hercules Tower in Cadiz, Spain; and now 564 steps up into the Koln Cathedral.  The difference is, usually when you are walking up there is one spiral stairway going up and one coming down.  In this circumstance there was only one tiny spiral stairway for both directions which made our "exercise" a bit more "exciting".  It wasn't that it was so crowded as much as narrow especially when you are on the inside of the spiral staircase.  We reached the belfry to view the bells and take a break from climbing but had another 100 stairs to climb until we came to a broad open space.  In the middle of the open space was a metal staircase which was like an open-air scaffold with at least another 100 stairs to go.  Now I don't really have a problem with heights....neither does Gordon, but I gotta tell you....it made me a bit nervous and caused me to wonder what the hell I was doing in a foreign country walking up a scaffold atop 400 stairs in to the unknown!  What makes me so trusting?  Or nuts anyway?  I don't know.  Once we completed the scaffolding we stepped on to a stone wall (whew) and toured around the top edge of a tower of the Cathedral with views all around Cologne.

The Belfry.  Look at the size of the bell next to the people in the background!

The top of the spire after we had finally finished climbing.

Views of the Rhine

Gargoyles!

Our hotel from the top!

20 minutes later we were making our way down the tiny spiral staircase to the ground and a surefooted future!

As we left Cologne (Koln), and our 5 star hotel, we plugged into our GPS our next destination and headed out.  BUT, two of the roads the GPS wanted us to take were closed and we drove in circles for about 15 minutes before we decided to take matters into our own hands and forced the GPS to recalculate itself and help us out!

ANYWAY, we took turns on an exciting ride on the Autobahn!  Our trip on Saturday was our longest drive of our 7 days here and took us from Cologne past Wurzburg through Spessart Forest and rolling hills toward Rothenburg....about 4 1/2 hours.  Once again, trucks are made to drive a certain speed and stay in the right lane and they may not pass other trucks leaving the middle and fast lanes completely open for cars ONLY....SO UNLIKE CALIFORNIA THANK GOD.  The trucks must have extra axles dividing the weight of the truck evenly and therefore protecting the roads so the roads are in really good shape.  Wide, flat and smooth....oh, and FAST.   Gordon and I were taking turns driving and we were traveling at a speed of 90 miles an hour and we were literally being passed like we were sitting still.  Cars and motorbikes flying past at speeds of upwards of 100 miles and hour....more like between 120-140 MPH.  So fun!

Here are our observations about Germany - a country we've never visited before...

First off, Germany is very organized.  The roads, the towns, the neighborhoods.  Everyone seems to get along and be very respectful from the Autobahn to local streets and restaurants although I wouldn't say they are spectacularly friendly.  The staff in the hotels we've stayed in have been courteous and other Germans we've spoken to have been cordial but not outwardly friendly like those in Italy, France and the UK.

In Germany, the Autobahn cuts through miles and miles of farmland - agricultural farmlands.  In Scotland we cut through farmlands but it's all sheep and cattle. 

In Germany you pass many, many wind farms and there are whole villages that are outfitted with solar panels.  Solar panels on homes, garages, sheds, farm buildings, storage sheds, etc.  Obama is right when he says that Germany, in part, is leading the world in alternative fuels even more apparent when you tour the country.

Oodles of solar panels in fields and on top of structures.

 

Many, many beautifully planted fields

A stack of potatoes!

We finally arrived at our next destination, The Burg Hotel (Castle Hotel) in Colmberg, Germany.  We spotted it high on a hill overlooking a fertile valley filled with potatoes!  We were happy to arrive and rather shocked at the terse greeting!  Gordon's friend Hans Peter had said that Bavarians are not very friendly - was he right!?!

Hallo!  Here is your key!  "okay" 
"Where do we park".?
....Where the other cars are parked!
 okay "is there an elevator?"
 NO!  We have a boy if you need help!
 No, no we're okay.  Is there a bar?
 Yes!  Around the corner!  Right.  We are on the 3rd floor but in all Germany the 1st floor is the 2nd floor and the 2nd floor the 3rd and so forth.  So technically, we're staying on the 4th floor and schlepping bags up 4 flights of steps....passing stuffed birds, weird dolls in cradles, various old pieces of furniture, exposed oak beams here and there and twisting and turning staircases to our little "crows nest" of a room.  Comfortable but not special, certainly not 5-star!  but with a fantastic view over a golf course and across the wide valley.  A clean and tidy bathroom on a rather creepy floor of a thousand year old castle!

Entering the gate of the Burg Hotel (1,000 years old!)

The Courtyard

Our room was the top floor on the opposite side.

Our view across the golf course and valley.

Weird stuffed creatures....

old and odd furnishings and....

creepier yet, DOLLS!  Is there anything worse?

Beer and fall!  Too bad we can't see any American football!

Another dining companion for Gordon!

Across the dining room!  Is that odd or what?

Oh yeah, and this poor little guy...

But here's the topper!  Frau Blucher!!!!

We went down for a beer and had an absolutely fantastic dinner of, Roast seasonal Goose for me and Venison Goulash for Gordon.  Gordon's dish came with this weird dish of something that resembled dried up scrambled eggs and my dish had red cabbage and 2 completely round balls the same identical size that looked like large boiled white potatoes.  "Heidi" (trust me she doesn't look like the German Heidi in your mind.....no bulging cleavage in a dirndl! - more like Heidi, the horrible!)  anyway, Heidi shows up and I asked her "what's this?" pointing to the potato like product on my plate.
 "Dumpling!"
 Oh!  And "what's this?" pointing to Gordon's plate of scrambled egg substance.  "Noodle!"
 Oh.  Off she walks!  Geez, sorry for asking!  BUT dinner was really, really, really delicious so we can put up with Heidi's curtness! and we head off to bed. 

Sleeping in Germany has been interesting.  It's Europeans idea of bedding that I find so interesting.  A very small size bed with a fitted sheet and feather pillow and a down comforter in a duvet.  That's it.  No top sheet!  And the duvet only fits the top of the bed only.  Nothing hangs over the sides or down the end of the bed!  It's exactly the size of the top of the mattress only!  So if you roll over, forget it!  The duvet is all on one side with your ass hanging out or your feet hanging out or, oh well, you get the picture.  It's just plain weird.  Needless to say, in Scotland I have transformed our beds there into normal, let's have a top sheet with a comforter on top that you can tuck in at the bottom and that hangs down on the sides!  Whatever, just saying!

Anyway, we go to bed and all of a sudden Gordon is swatting the air.  Oh no....we had the windows open enjoying the views and now there are mosquitoes in the room.  Mosquitoes don't like me but they LOVE the taste of Gordon.  So on goes the light and Gordon is patrolling the room in search of mosquitoes.  Finally the lights go out and a few minutes later, there he goes again, swatting the air and on goes the light.  This happened for about 2 hours before I finally made him put a long sleeve shirt on and take a sleeping pill!  No sooner did we settle down and almost fall asleep than we heard this weird mooing sound from outside our windows.  What?  What's that?  Cows?  So we had to get up and open the windows and peer into the night to see what it was.  It's a herd of deer-like creatures (mule-deer or something) making some sort of mating call noise right outside our window!  OMG!  What next?

Finally we slept and woke for our morning breakfast of cold cuts and sweet pastries and breads.  This time I found and chose my normal breakfast....nonfat yogurt and fresh fruit which consisted of watermelon and pineapple and a boiled egg.  Again, another few cups of delicious coffee and Gordon and I were ready for a walk into town.  A town with quite a few very nice houses and NO people.  Where are all the people?  Don't know.  But let's head into Rothenburg and explore the medieval walled city which is what we did. 

Rothenberg is a mere 20 minutes away and beautiful and fascinating.  Lot's of hotels and restaurants and tons of little shops, mostly touristy but lively and fun.  AND we got to visit a torture museum.  I think Gordon was a little too keen on the torture museum and I may have trouble sleeping tonight!!  We shopped in two GINORMOUS Christmas stores and sat in a square sipping beer and eating a lunch of mince wrapped in cabbage and salted boiled potatoes.....may sound weird but it was really good!  And it was cold today and foggy so eating a warm and hearty meal was really good.  We poked around Rothenberg about 5 and 1/2 hours and then headed back to our strange castle for another evening of yummy food and, hopefully, a good nights sleep.  We had "pork" Cordon Blue and, ok, I'll admit it, another dish of roast goose.  It was really delicious and the only thing on the menu that wasn't pork, beef or venison!  I miss California fresh fruit and veggies and wild caught fish.  10 days and counting!

A misty day on the way to Rothenburg.  This is the Burg in the mist...or Castle Von Frankenstein!

A lovely fountain in Rothenburg...one of 3 we saw used to supply water to the old walled city.

A home dating to 1457.

One of the entries into the old walled city.

The main square.  We outside at the yellow building.

The forests are all colored for fall but the window baskets are still in full bloom!

Like Disneyland.

Another charming old hotel.

Tomorrow we leave and head off to the Schlosshotel Hirschorn near Heidelberg for another two nights.  I'm really looking forward to seeing Heidelberg.  So back on the Autobahn for another couple of hours and a change of scenery from Bavaria to the wine-producing region of the River Neckar.  Hopefully we'll have internet access!