Christmas Trip 2012, Day 11: Zurich

I reached my final destination today, Zurich. It's a bittersweet feeling - I'm ready to go home and see my friends and family, but I'm also sad to be leaving. This trip has been great, and I am very glad that I came and saw Europe outside of its typical tourist season. It is always my utmost goal when I come to Europe to become a "temporary local" - to really live here, if only for a little while, rather than treat the places I visit like exhibits in a zoo to be seen from a safe distance. I feel like I accomplished that this time around better than I ever have, and that makes me proud, to know that I dared to come here alone and without any reservations or a concrete plan and not only enjoyed myself but really excelled at traveling smartly, making connections with people, and pushing myself beyond the comfort zone of the typical American traveler.

Today my plan was simple: check out of my hotel in Colmar, clean the mud Hugo had left on the passenger side floorboard of my car, drive to Zurich to turn in my rental car and then hang out at my hotel until my flight tomorrow morning. I skipped my hotel's breakfast because I wasn't very hungry and I didn't feel like subjecting myself to the hand and foot service treatment again and departed by about 10:30 am. My car still had plenty of gas to get to Zurich, so the only thing I had to do before I arrived was find a place to stop for lunch and pick up some cleaning supplies for the aforementioned mud. I figured I would probably come across one of the typical roadside rest areas they have here in Europe, where there are usually gas stations, small fast food restaurants, and often small grocery stores. So I was driving south through France, keeping my eyes peeled for such a place, but failed to find one before the Swiss border. Perhaps that was a good thing though, because I was going to need the break after the ordeal I experienced at the border.

Perhaps "ordeal" is an exaggeration, but my experience at the border crossing into Switzerland was not fun. Say what you want about the politics of it (and Europeans have plenty of opinions themselves), one thing that is great about the European Union is that it makes travel within and between its member nations a breeze. You don't have to change currencies, you don't have to go through border checks, and it makes Europe like one big country, only with different languages. Switzerland is not a member of the EU, however, so when you enter the country you do have to go through the hassle of border checks. The last time I entered Switzerland it wasn't really a big deal - someone on the train checked my railpass and passport, saw that everything was in order, and then left me alone. Apparently crossing the border via car is a different story though. As I approached the border on the freeway, traffic was stopped and lined up in the checkpoint lanes, but cars were moving through fairly quickly. When I got to the front of the line, however, the police suddenly got a serious look and gestured for me to pull aside and park my car. I knew you were supposed to pay a road usage fee when you enter Switzerland by car, so I figured maybe it was just for that, but it quickly became apparent that they were less concerned with charging me the fee than with searching my car. They asked me if I had anything to declare to French or Swiss customs, which as far as I knew I did not, after which they proceeded to open my trunk and dig around through my stuff. They searched all of the car's compartments, opened my bag and rifled around through its contents (going so far as to flip through the pages of my history textbook), all the while asking me a bunch of questions about why I was in Europe, where I had been, where I was going, how long I had been there, what my job was, where I was from, etc etc. I answered all of their questions directly and honestly, made it clear I had nothing to hide, and after about ten minutes they apparently decided that I was not a drug smuggler and let me go. It sucked, but I guess it would probably be pretty unusual for them to see a rental car with German license plates entering into Switzerland from France in the middle of winter and without a Swiss road tax sticker, so I after the fact I understood why they were a bit suspicious.

So after my run in with the police I continued on my way to Zurich. Not long after departing I finally spotted a rest area with a grocery store, so I stopped to get some food and cleaning supplies for my car. Luckily, being close to the border, they accepted payment in euros, so I didn't have to find an ATM and make a withdrawal to get Swiss currency. When I got back to my car I cleaned up the interior, ate lunch, and then continued the journey to Zurich.

I arrived in Zurich at about 1:30 pm, and proceeded to the airport, where I had to drop off my car. I love Zurich's airport. It's well organized, signage is very clear and easy to figure out, and the facilities are great. It was easy to find where I had to drop off my car, and the drop off consisted of handing the attendant the key and the GPS unit I had borrowed and waving goodbye. Just further reinforcement of my thought that renting cars in Europe can be a very effective and convenient way to get around. I realized as I gave up the keys to my car that I had grown quite attached to it. It had been my constant and faithful companion for two weeks, seeing me safely over more than a thousand kilometers of European roads, and I was going to miss the little guy. I took a picture as I was leaving to remember him by, regretted that I had not given him a name, and then bid him farewell and made my way into the airport.

My faithful companion

I had arranged to stay at the hotel at the airport, the Raddison Blu. Naturally there were signs in the airport directing me to it, and on the way I passed a number of restaurants, coffee shops, and even a couple of grocery stores, that all looked like promising sources of sustenance for the remainder of my time in Europe. When I got to the hotel I found that it was in an uber-modern building, basically a cube full of smaller windowed cubes which were the individual rooms, and a giant glass-enclosed tower of wine bottles in the middle of it. It's a nice place, with a very nicely-appointed room, and more importantly, good free wi-fi. When I checked in, the guy at the desk asked me how I had been enjoying Zurich. I told him I had just gotten there, and it struck me that it would be criminal not to at least check out Zurich proper, so I asked him if there were trains from the airport to the city, which he confirmed that there were and also further encouraged me to zip over for a quick visit. I decided to go ahead and do so, so I dropped off my stuff in my room and then headed out to see Zurich.

I found that the train station in the airport was a good as the airport itself, and had trains to downtown Zurich about every 15-20 minutes, so it didn't take me long to get it figured out and get down to the city. I bought a 24 hour pass for 12 Swiss Francs (the Swiss Franc is about equivalent to the U.S. Dollar in value), hopped on the first train to Zurich, and was there within 20 minutes. Before I left my hotel room I had downloaded the Rick Steves guide to Switzerland in ebook format on my iPhone so that I would have something to go by rather than just wandering around without a clue as to what I was looking at (which I have done before and do not recommend). I've been thinking about getting an iPad mini and using it to access my guidebooks in ebook format rather than cutting them up and rebinding them and carrying around a glued and taped-together book like I do now, so I decided to make this the trial run. Thus when I got to Zurich I had a plan for my visit - the guidebook had a good self-directed tour of Zurich's center to follow, which was supposed to take about an hour or two to complete and covered the important sights, so I decided to just follow that.

Zurich

Zurich

Like many cities in Europe, Zurich straddles a river - in this case, the Limmat River - and has sights on both sides and several bridges crossing it. I found that the area on the banks of the river was extremely photogenic, and took a bunch of pictures from various spots. In my foot tour of Zurich it struck me that Zurich is a very wealthy city. Prices are very high (for instance, the price for a cup of gluhwein from the Christmas market stands was double the usual price in France and Germany), the shops are all mostly high end, the cars tend to be pretty luxurious, etc. Still it's a fun and beautiful little city, eminently walkable and enjoyable to explore. I stopped in at a Starbucks and indulged in a chai tea latte (7.90 SF), walked up and down both banks of the river and around the lively and beautiful city center, and just enjoyed the ambiance. With the ease of getting to and around Zurich's city center, its foot traffic-friendly nature, its beautiful scenery and great collection of bars, restaurants, and shops, it would make a great place to arrive or depart from in future trips. Zurich doesn't have enough to it to really make it a destination, but it certainly makes for an excellent afternoon/evening side trip.

Zurich

Zurich

After a couple of hours I had completed the walking tour from the guidebook, so I hopped on a tram back to the train station and then caught a train to the airport. While I have been driving around Europe this time around, Europe's public transportation never fails to impress me. You can get around so effortlessly here. You don't have to speak the language and you don't even necessarily have to know what you're doing - the systems are generally so well designed and automated that it's really pretty foolproof (keep in mind, I said generally; nothing is perfect, including Europe's public transportation). I'm glad that I got a chance to do a little train and tram travel, because it reminded me just how good it is here in Europe.

Well I'm more or less settled in for the night and ready for my flight back home tomorrow. I suppose this will be my last post of the trip. Once again it has been a great trip, as good as I ever expected or imagined it would be. I learned a lot, improved my German and French skills, got some more travel practice, figured out driving in Europe, and did what I love doing most, connecting with people from around the world, speaking their languages and experiencing their cultures as a part of the party rather than as an outsider looking in. I already can't wait to come back.

Christmas Trip 2012, Day 10: Colmar

My time in Colmar began on a bit of a sour note with the difficulty I had arriving and getting situated, but ever since it has been smooth sailing, and today was another good sightseeing day. Colmar doesn't have quite enough worthwhile sights to fill up an entire day at my usual frenetic travel pace, but combining what is here along with browsing the Christmas market, I was able to make do and have fun.

The day started earlier than my usual pattern, as I was up, showered and dressed, and in the breakfast room by 9:00 am. In keeping with its more upscale atmosphere, the hotel's breakfast was almost intimidatingly formal. It wasn't a self-serve buffet like every other hotel breakfast I've encountered in Europe. Rather, when I entered someone showed me to a table, where there was a bowl of fruit and some yogurt waiting for me, and then asked me if I wanted coffee and orange juice. When they returned with the beverages they also brought a basket of breads and croissants, and then a plate of various cured meats that I could select from. Finally the cheese cart came around, which had about 10-15 different kinds of cheese, and apparently I was supposed to tell them which and how much I wanted, but I declined the cheese because by that time I felt like a complete pompous ass. I guess the regular clientele at this hotel likes being waited on hand and foot, but I definitely don't. I probably should have gone along with it and made my cheese selections while daintily sipping my coffee and nibbling on a croissant, but I just wasn't up for it. The servers were very nice and professional, but I felt bad that they had to dote on people so attentively. I know I shouldn't feel bad though - it's a job, a better one than many, and I'm sure they appreciate it.

I ate pretty quickly and was out the door before 10:00 am to see Colmar. It was early enough that the streets were still fairly empty, so for the first hour or so I got to see Colmar in the nude, without a swarm of people covering it up. It's definitely a pretty place, with the same Germanic half-timbered buildings that adorn the rest of Alsace, only in a more urban setting. Colmar also has an excellent Gothic cathedral which happened to be the first thing I came to upon leaving my hotel, so I took some time to hang out in its shadow while consulting my guidebook to figure out what I wanted to do and see today.

Église Saint-Martin

Église Saint-Martin

The plan I formulated was to walk around the old town, check out the Petite Venice area, tour the Unterlinden Museum, and browse all of the Christmas markets. So I set out in the direction of Petite Venice and took in the scenery along the way. Colmar has a more cosmopolitan feel than the rest of Alsace, which was kind of a nice contrast after several days of country environs. A few observations struck me in my wandering around Colmar. The first was something I've noticed before in my travels in France, including the other day in Strasbourg. What I've noticed is that French people are just more stylish than the rest of the world. It's a stereotype of French people that I think is well deserved. You also see it in Italy, although in my opinion French style is superior. Folks here just look cool. Man or woman, child, adult, or elderly, most people seem to take pride in their appearance and look their best when they are out in public. It's something I think we would be smart to emulate back home. Ever notice how when you dress well and feel like you look good, you feel better and more confident? Perhaps that is part of the source of French and particularly Italian bravado. I suspect it goes deeper than that, but I think those cultural phenomena are probably related. Then again, one difference between American and European culture that actually gives us Americans an advantage when traveling in Europe is the lower value we tend to place on formality, and our generally more casual manners. People in Europe seem to like and appreciate that difference in us; I have found that almost any cultural ignorance or faux pas is quickly forgiven due to our comparatively lighthearted and casual attitudes. Anyway, as I've said before on this blog, no judgement intended there in either direction, just an observation from my experience.

Okay, I'll get back on track now. I can't remember now what the other observation I was going to talk about was, but I've wasted enough space and time as it is, so I'll move on. I got to Petite Venice, and while it was certainly a nice little area, it was a bit of a let down. I've heard it billed as this super cute and enchanting Venice-like quarter of Colmar, with canals and waterside houses and little boats and the whole shebang. As it turned out, it seemed to consist of just one canal with a bridge over it and some half-timbered houses on each side. Yeah, it was cute and photogenic, but not nearly as captivating as I had been led to believe. Oh well, that tends to happen from time to time when you're traveling on the recommendations of a guidebook. I've found that you always have to take what you read with a grain of salt; what one person's idea of a captivating little quarter of an Alsatian city is may not be the same as your own.

Petite Venice

Having wandered around the old town and the Petite Venice area, it was about 12:00 or 1:00 pm when I started checking out the Christmas markets. I feel like I keep saying this, but in Colmar I found one of the best Christmas markets I have seen yet. I say one, but really Colmar's Christmas market is spread out into several small sub-markets in open areas around the old town. I actually liked it better that way, rather than the usual arrangement in other cities where everything is in one big square. Furthermore, Colmar's market had a wider variety of great food stands, serving Alsatian classics like tarte flambée and choucroute, along with some interesting and tasty varieties of vin chaude, such as one stand that had vin chaude with saffron (which I visited two or three times because it was so good). Finally, and probably most importantly, Colmar's Christmas market had a much greater number and variety of locally-made products: hand crafted ornaments, utensils, and clothing items, locally produced baked goods, cheeses, cured meats, and wines, and all kinds of other great stuff. When I go to a Christmas market, I want to buy something that really represents the place I got it from, and in Colmar there is definitely a great selection of just that kind of thing.

Colmar's Christmas Market

So I browsed the Christmas market, grabbed a few snacks and a few vins chaude, bought a couple of gifts, and then moved on to the Unterlinden Museum. The museum had been mentioned in my guidebook, but what made me decide to pay the museum a visit was the recommendation of my French hippy friend Hugo. The museum is a very well organized collection of historical items, mostly medieval and early renaissance paintings and statuary, from the Alsace region. It also has a cool collection of weapons and armor and a small collection of other miscellaneous items from the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries. All of that stuff was great, especially considering my interest in European culture and history, but the star of the show was the Isenheim Altarpiece  The Isenheim Altarpiece was painted by Matthias Grünewald in the early 16th century for a monastery in Isenheim here in Alsace. To me, its imagery represents a remarkable departure from the conventions of medieval art. Having been painted in the early 16th century, the Isenheim Altarpiece was created in the early years of the Renaissance in continental Europe. Before the Renaissance, art was highly symbolic rather than realistic, and relatively subdued  in imagery and color. Matthias Grünewald's altarpiece departs from those conventions, utilizing vibrant, evocative color and imagery, and is concurrently more realistic (in the portrayal of the human form and the representation of three dimensional space) and more imaginative (particularly in the panels depicting the Resurrection of Christ and Saint Anthony being tormented by demons) than was typical of medieval art. It was really cool to see, as much because in the altarpiece I could clearly see the influence of the Renaissance and thereby evidence of the reach of the Renaissance to this particular corner of the world, as because of its individual quality as a piece of art.

Unterlinden Museum

Isenheim Alterpiece

Isenheim Alterpiece

After my tour of the Unterlinden Museum I turned in to my hotel room for a break to rest for a bit and eat some lunch. I had some salad and cookies left over from my picnic the day before, so I ate those for lunch and chilled for a bit. While I was there I took the opportunity to formulate a plan for tomorrow, when I am due to go to Zurich, return my rental car, and check in to my final hotel before flying home on the 24th. I also decided to do some sink laundry in order to make sure I would have clean clothes to wear for the trip home on Christmas Eve. After a while though, as it dawned upon me that I was presently enjoying my last day of real sightseeing on this trip, I decided that I should get out and see a bit more of Colmar before I leave, so I suited up and took one more walk around the old town.

I didn't have a destination or purpose in mind when I set out; my only intent was to get one last carefree walk in before returning home. I grabbed a vin chaude at the closest stand to my hotel and then set off in a random direction. I didn't really find much other than the same cutesy Germanic scenery that exists all over Colmar, but it was nice nonetheless. I stopped at a couple of food stands and got myself some dinner to eat while I walked, enjoyed a couple more vins chaude, and then returned to my hotel and turned in for the night. Since then I've been hanging out in my room, organizing my stuff and preparing for my departure tomorrow, arranging and editing photos, and typing up this blog post. I feel good; ready to go home, but happy with the great trip I've had and looking forward to the next one.

Christmas Trip 2012, Day 9: Alsace

Today's post comes to you from the beautiful Hotel des Têtes in Colmar, France. I have been trying for a few days to contact the hotel that I had planned on staying at here in Colmar to make a reservation, but haven't been able to get an answer after an email and several phone calls, so I decided to roll in to Colmar today without a reservation and see what else I could find. The first place I came to was this beautiful hotel right in the center of Colmar. The place is a little spendy, but it's in a great location, has good free parking (which is extremely valuable in a European city), and most importantly, has a jacuzzi, so I decided to splurge and stay here.

I had a great day today exploring Alsace and the Route des Vins, and I'll talk about that in a moment, but first I want to wrap up my story from yesterday. So again to summarize what had happened, I found a very cool place in the Vosges Mountains that was not mentioned in my guidebook, met a young French hippy guy there, and gave him a ride home to his parents' farm. The place was way up in the Vosges Mountains, probably even higher than the abbey I had discovered, and way the heck out in the middle of nowhere. There was at least a mile of dirt road after the paved road ended before we even got to the property, and the property itself was pretty ramshackle, complete with an exposed electrical wire running up the hillside to their house (I suspect they may be stealing electricity). When we arrived Hugo had to gingerly kick a branch off of the wire while trying not to touch it, while I watched and wondered what I would do if he got electrocuted. Luckily that didn't happen though.

So Hugo invited me in and I met his dad. Unfortunately I didn't get his name, but he was a nice guy. Stern and quiet, but nice and friendly nonetheless. Hugo talked to him first in French, I assume explaining why I was there, and then his dad started talking to me in French. I couldn't make out what he was saying, so I told him "I'm sorry, I don't speak French" in French, to which he promptly replied in English, "Yes you do, you just did." I immediately took a liking to him. He motioned for me and Hugo to go sit at the kitchen table while he went down into his wine cellar (and these folks were far from rich - in fact I suspected they were a tad poor - but it seems that in France everyone who can has a wine cellar) and brought up a fine bottle of locally produced Alsatian Riesling. It was a very good wine, not as sweet as the Riesling we have back home.

Interior of the homemade house

The excellent bottle of Alsatian Riesling

Another random shot of the interior of my new friends' house

Hugo's dad had some other business to attend to so he left me and Hugo with the bottle of wine, but soon enough Hugo's mom arrived home. She spoke no English but did speak German, so I was able to talk to her a little bit with my limited German and that was a lot of fun. I also boned up on my French quite a bit just by listening to the family talk. Hugo's mom seemed particularly appreciative that I had seen him safely home, and she tried to give me a bit of everything they had in their kitchen. She brought out their finest cheese (I can't remember what it was called, but it was locally made - like at the farm next door - and very good), some locally produced cured meat of some kind, and a few other goodies. The thing she gave me that touched me most was a half-eaten fruit pudding thingee that Hugo told me she had saved from a recent trip to a Christmas market. I could tell that these folks were far from rich and probably very rarely had the opportunity to indulge in little treats like that, and she had probably saved the rest of it to enjoy herself later, but she insisted that I have it instead. I felt a little guilty, but also very grateful and moved.

We must have spent a few hours at that table eating, drinking, and talking. The family would talk among themselves, occasionally Hugo would tell me what they were saying, or his mom would talk to me in German or ask Hugo to tell me something in English, or his dad would talk to me in English. To be welcomed in the home of this family, to be treated like a friend despite having just met them all, and to have the chance to see and experience life as these people did on a daily basis, was wonderful. I was positively beaming, and even when I finally bid the family good night and returned to my hotel to go to bed, I was smiling the whole way home. Experiences like that are a large part of what keeps me coming back here. Every trip has yielded a special connection like that, and never when I was expecting it. No amount of money can buy those connections and interpersonal interactions, and those experiences are what I love most about travel.

I gave Hugo my email address before I left so that we could keep in touch, went back to my hotel, and promptly went to bed. I had a long day ahead of me, and I would need the rest.

I had been going to bed fairly early (for me) over the last few days, so I checked out of my hotel and was on the road by 10:00 am. I knew that I would be driving a lot today and I was down to less than half of a tank of gas, so my first priority was to get gas. I also wanted to buy some picnic food for the road so that I could eat whenever was convenient and not waste time finding food as I went. So I drove into Sélestat, the town near my hotel, and found a big supermarket/miniature shopping mall called Intermarché. It was seriously like a miniature shopping mall, with about 10-15 stores inside, and also a really big (by European standards) supermarket. It also had a good gas station, the only one I could find that took cash (since American credit cards generally don't work at automatic payment places like self-service gas stations, which abound in France). So I gassed up, got a bunch of picnic food (my go-to combo of bread+meat+cheese, some salad, orange juice, drinkable yogurt, milk and cookies) that would feed me for the day and then some (total cost about 20 euros, half of what I would spend in a day eating out of cafes/restaurants), and hit the road.

A random shot I took on the road this morning

The huge and very cool French supermarket

My first destination was a place called Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg, a medieval castle up in the Vosges Mountains. You could see it from the plain down below, and it certainly looked worthy of a visit from afar. The scenic drive was half of the fun, but the destination was really the star of the show. I had never heard of this place before reading the short note about it in my guidebook, and I can't imagine why, because it had to be among the most scenic castles I have ever visited in Europe. I would say it's right up there with Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, the castle after which Cinderella's castle was modeled. And unlike Neuschwanstein, the Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg was built in the 12th century (although much of what we see today is reconstruction after the castle was severely damaged in the 17th century) and actually served for centuries as a functional stronghold.

Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg

Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg

Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg

Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg

I toured the castle inside and out and took a boat load of pictures, but after an hour or two I had seen enough, so I moved on and kept driving southward along the Route des Vins. I stopped and walked around several towns along the Route des Vins - Bergheim, Ribeauvillé, Hunawihr, Riquewihr, and Kaysersberg - and each had some defining characteristic that made it worth visiting. Bergheim had a enchanting medieval fairy tale character with the ruins of a very cool medieval wall surrounding it. Ribeauvillé was a great town for shopping and had some promising-looking restaurants. Hunawihr was very cute and yet also un-touristy, with a beautiful little church on the side of a hill and houses that seem to be more or less unchanged since they were built centuries to go. Riquewihr was like Bergheim, with a great medieval character to it and a cool wall surrounding it, and had a very good Christmas market and a whole bunch of great little shops and streetside bakeries. Kaysersberg had the best Christmas market I've encountered in Alsace, where I had a really good Tarte Flambée, some Vin Chaude, and picked up a Christmas gift. By the time I left Kaysersberg it was getting dark and I had had a long and very enjoyable day exploring Alsace, so I headed down to Colmar, the last and largest city on the Route des Vins, where I had planned on spending the next couple of nights.

Bergheim

Hunawihr

Tarte Flambée in Kaysersberg

My days in Alsace had not prepared me well for Colmar. I was used to light traffic, serene villages, and beautiful scenery. I did not realize before I got there just how city-like Colmar is. It isn't a very big city, but it definitely is a city, with the traffic snarls, maze of one way streets and no parking zones, and all of the other little headaches that go along with driving in European cities. My plan had been to locate and drive by a few of the hotels my guidebook recommended and then drop in to the most promising-looking of them to see if they had any rooms available, but that plan changed quickly when I encountered the dense Friday evening traffic. I searched for a while without success for a place to park, until finally I arrived at a parking garage where I found a precious open spot. As it happened I had arrived very close to the center of Colmar, and I discovered that I was very close to the "classiest" (read: most expensive) listing in my guidebook. Given the severe difficulty I had experienced just finding a place to park, I decided to give it a try even knowing I would be spending a small fortune. I talked to the guy at the front desk who was very kind and professional, and he advised me that they did indeed have one room left, a jacuzzi suite, for ~190 euros per night (that's in the neighborhood of $250). Bear in mind, I very rarely spend more than 60-80 euros per night when I'm traveling. Sticker shock scared me off briefly - I told the guy I would keep his hotel in mind, but that I would check around elsewhere. He understood and bid me farewell, and I departed and consulted my guidebook for another option. I tried calling the place that I had wanted to stay at one more time, but once again they did not answer the phone (which makes me wonder if the place might have gone out of business). I tried calling two other places, but neither had a room available for both of the nights I wanted to stay in Colmar. I normally expect and don't mind a little uncertainty and difficulty in finding accommodation when I drop in to a place without a reservation, but tonight I was feeling a bit stressed and the jacuzzi suite was sounding more and more appealing, so I decided to just bite the bullet and go for the expensive place. I returned, quickly made arrangements with the guy at the front desk, and before long I was in my new home for the next couple of days.

The place is very nice, with dark wood paneling, wood beam ceiling, and a large and luxurious bathroom with the promised jacuuzi. I went and retrieved my car and moved it to my hotel's free, gated parking area, and then settled in to type up this blog post and recuperate from the long and tiring day. I had picked up a locally-brewed beer that my French hippy friend Hugo recommended at the supermarket this morning, so I cracked that open and enjoyed it thoroughly. It was a great finishing touch on a very good day of exploration in Alsace.

Christmas Trip 2012, days 6-8: Nürnburg, Rothenburg, Alsace

This is going to be a very long post. The tl;dr version: I was having a crappy couple of days until I gave a French hippy a ride home to his family's mountain farm, where I hung out with him and his family and had some amazing Alsatian wine and cheese and made some great new French friends.

As you may or may not have noticed, I haven't posted for a few days. The reason has been twofold. First, the availability of good wi-fi over the last few days has been minimal and I'm getting close to the international data limit on my phone. Secondly, and probably more importantly, I was in a bit of a rut. Among the challenges of solo overseas travel is battling loneliness and homesickness. I was having a hard time with it over the last few days, and frankly I was not having a very good trip lately because of it. It seems like every trip hits a rough patch though, but on every trip I have had an experience that made any and all difficulty worth it and put everything into perspective. Today I had such an experience, making this day among the best of my travel career.

Before I talk about today, however, I want to start where I left off after my last blog post. That would have been the day before yesterday, day six of my trip. I had decided to take a day trip to Nürnburg that day, which I did. My main objective was to check out the Christmas market there, which is supposed to be the biggest in Germany, but I also wanted to poke around the old town and visit the Germanisches Nationalmuseum (a museum dedicated to the history of the Germanic people). I got in to Nürnburg around noon, found a parking garage not too far from the old town, and then walked over and into the old town. One thing that immediately turned me off about Nürnburg was its rough, big city character. Some big cities in Europe, such as Rome and Paris, lack that rough character and are highly pleasant, vibrant, and enjoyable, but Nürnburg definitely has it. I try very hard in those situations to be optimistic, to not judge my surroundings, and to try to find the positive in it, but I just couldn't overcome the dark cloud that was hanging over me. I did enjoy my visit to the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, but otherwise Nürnburg was a bust. The Christmas market was as big as advertised, but that didn't make it any better than any of the other smaller ones I've been to. The old town did indeed have some interesting medieval architecture, but nowhere near as cool and interesting as things I had seen in other places in Germany. After a while I realized that I just wasn't enjoying myself in Nürnburg, so I decided to head back to Rothenburg and see if I could catch a little bit of its Christmas market before it closed for the evening.

I got back in to Rothenburg at about 6:30, which gave me the chance to grab a bite to eat and a gluwhein from one of the Christmas market stands. That, along with Rothenburg's more uplifting spirit and character, made me feel a bit better, but I still wasn't completely back to normal. I wandered Rothenburg for a bit and took a few pictures, but my heart just wasn't in it. I thought to myself, "why am I here if I'm not enjoying it?" and sadly I could not come up with a very good answer. I had been having a good trip up until that day, but then something about that side trip to Nürnburg just brought me down. I decided to visit my favorite pub in Rothenburg (and also a favorite of the locals), Altfrankische Weinstube. I had some really tasty käsespätzle (spätzle with onions and cheese) and a few really good hefeweizens, but even then I wasn't feeling right. What I really needed was some interpersonal interaction and I just wasn't getting it.

The next day I had planned on departing Germany for the Alsace region of eastern France. I didn't want to leave Rothenburg though - I knew Rothenburg well, it was safe and familiar, and in my state at the time I just didn't feel up for any more adventure. I forced myself to stick to my plan though, so I got in my car and set out for Alsace. Along with a stop for gas and a bottle of water, the trip took four hours. My destination was a nice hotel in basically the middle of nowhere, south of a town called Sélestat, called Hotel l'Illwald. I made it there just as it was getting dark, found a grocery story back in Sélestat and got myself a picnic dinner, and then returned to my hotel room, ate dinner, and went to bed.

The next day, which is today, I awoke feeling refreshed and somewhat more ready for a long day of travel than I had over the previous two. My only plan for today was to visit Strasbourg, the chief city of Alsace and also the seat of the European Parliament. I had the remains of my picnic from the night before for breakfast and hit the road earlier than I have been of late, getting in to Strasbourg by 11:00 am. Strasbourg seemed to be of similar size to Nürnburg, but much nicer in character and appearance. I was able to find a place to park near the center of the city, and took a short walk to get to an area of Strasbourg called Petite France. Strasbourg straddles the Ill River, and the Petite France area is a really beautiful part of Strasbourg on the banks of the Ill. It's kind of like Venice, with canals and lots of waterside houses and buildings, only everything looks like it's out of a German fairy tale. It's all medieval stonework towers and half-timbered houses and pretty little bridges. So I walked around there for a bit and then made my way to the Grand Ile, the historic center of Strasbourg. The Grand Ile was more of the same - lots of half-timbered buildings that look like they belong in Germany rather than France - but also a spectacular cathedral and a really good Christmas market. They also have gluwhein here in France, although here they just call it "vin chaude" ("hot wine" in French), and I actually like it better than the German version - in France they seem to let the wine stand on its own more and use less spice than in Germany. It's good everywhere though. So I had a few vins chaude and some choucroute garnie (an Alsatian specialty, various sausages and potatoes on a bed of saurkraut) from a vendor at the Christmas market, strolled around the market for a bit, sat in the cathedral for a while and reflected on the previous couple of days, and then decided that I was ready to move on and do some exploring. On my way out of town it occurred to me that it would have been a crime not to at least drive by the European Parliament building while I was in Strasbourg, so I went ahead and did that before leaving town, and I was not disappointed. My visit to the EU building was brief, however, and thanks to my early start to the day I still had several hours to fill, so I decided to explore.

Strasbourg had bolstered my spirits. I decided that there was no good reason, with a car at my disposal and nothing better to do for the next few days, that I shouldn't just hit the road and explore and see as much of the region as I could in the time I had left. So after Strasbourg I set out to do just that. I decided to drive around the Route des Vins, a scenic route through the Alsatian wine country. I also decided to ignore my guidebook and just check out what looked cool, because I was finding that some of the best things I've encountered on this trip have been things that weren't mentioned in my guidebook. So I just started driving, and it didn't take long for my exploration to yield a gem that I would not have found otherwise, an incredible place called Mont Sainte Odile. I found it simply by driving around and following signs pointing to what appeared to be some sort of castle. The signs led me up into the Vosges Mountains, along narrow, winding, snow-covered roads, up and up and up until finally just when I was considering turning around, I reached the top. What I found there was spectacular. It turned out that the signs were directing me to an abbey there, Mont Sainte Odile Abbey, and never have I seen anything like it in Europe or in America. It was one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen, sitting literally at the peak of a mountain, clinging to the rocks, surrounded by sheer tree-filled valleys and covered with snow and with plenty more billowing down upon it. Perhaps it was the setting more than anything that made it so captivating to me, but whatever it was, I loved the place and was very glad that I had decided to go check it out.

As I was leaving the abbey, a shaggy-looking French guy approached me and asked me for a ride down into the closest town. He didn't quite look like a bum, but he was definitely an alternative-lifestyle kind of guy, with raggedy clothes, very long hair, and a shaggy beard. My primary consideration in deciding whether or not to give him a ride was whether I thought he meant to try to rob me or something. I quickly decided that he seemed harmless, and I had nothing better to do and could do with a bit of adventure, so I agreed to give him a ride. I asked where he was going, and in response he asked where I was going - he wanted to get as far along to his destination as I would take him, but didn't want to ask me to go out of my way. I didn't mind going out of my way though, at least in part because I didn't really have anywhere in particular I wanted to go, so I told him I'd take him all the way to wherever he was going (which it turned out was his home). He seemed dubious, apparently concerned that my car wouldn't be able to make it to where he was going. He had never seen me drive though.

So I directed the guy to my car, we got in, and we started back down the mountain. His name was Hugo, he seemed to be in the neighborhood of 25 years old, and he liked to talk. It didn't take much prompting from me to get him to talk about whatever he felt like talking about. In keeping with his hippy-like appearance, it became clear pretty quickly that Hugo had some radical political views. Hugo doesn't have a job - he seems to basically be a wandering anti-government activist. He told me about how he and some friends squatted in some buildings in western France to prevent their demolition, how he plans on going to Algeria soon to help mend the lasting wounds of French imperialism there, and the like. So I learned all about Hugo and his politics as we wound our way through various country villages on our way to his home. I learned that he lives with his parents on their farm in the Vosges Mountains, that his parents raise cows and harvest wood for a living, that he studied theater in college but dropped out to pursue his activism, and that his favorite locally made beer is called "Météor".

Alright, I'm getting tired and it's getting pretty late here and this post is getting pretty long, so I think I'm going to pause here. I'll try to wrap this up tomorrow. In the next post you'll hear all about how I delivered Hugo safely home and about how I wound up spending the evening hanging out and drinking excellent Alsatian wine with his friendly, welcoming family.

Christmas Trip 2012, Days 4 & 5: Rothenburg

Hallo und guten Tag eins und alles (hello and good day one and all). Today is my third day in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, and I finally got to do some real sightseeing today. I spent most of the last two days wrapping up the last of my school work for the semester, but now that I'm finished I can relax and turn my attention back to my trip (and to posting about it here). I picked Rothenburg as the place where I would spend a few days wrapping up school work and then relaxing for a bit because of the embience here. Nördlingen and Dinkelsbühl are cool, but they just don't have the character and charm that Rothenburg has. Nördlingen and Dinkelsbühl are places that you visit once, say to yourself "yeah that was pretty neat" when you leave, but afterward have no special desire to go back to. Rothenburg is different though - it's a place you can fall in love with. This is my second time here and I feel just as enchanted as the first time. I think there are a few reasons for it. First, there is the setting; Rothenburg sits atop a hill and is surrounded by a valley through which the Tauber River (thus, "ob der Tauber" - "on the Tauber") flows, giving it both unusual surrounding natural beauty and causing the town itself to be more condensed than either of the other two medieval walled towns I have visited. The secondary effect, and also a very smart measure on the part of the local government, is that the streets in Rothenburg are often too small for cars, and car traffic within the town is severely restricted, making Rothenburg much more tranquil and foot traffic-friendly than its counterparts. Finally, Rothenburg just seems to have a friendly and welcoming spirit that Nördlingen and Dinkelsbühl lack. Not that people in those places aren't nice and friendly themselves, but people seem to be especially so in Rothenburg. For those reasons, and probably others I just can't articulate, I love it here and will happily return in future travels.

Rothenburg ob der Tauber

So, on to what I actually did today. I slept in yet again this morning and got up at about 9:00 am, and had breakfast and was out the door by about 10:00. The first thing I did was drop off my dirty laundry at my hotel's front desk - I was down to my last set of clothes, and normally I would do laundry in the sink or find a laundromat, but I knew I would be coming here and that this hotel has relatively affordable laundry service (cost about 7 euros to do about the equivalent of two loads of laundry). Then I made my way to the Deutches Weihnachtsmuseum (German Christmas museum) inside the Käthe Wohlfart Christmas store (which is itself an excellent Christmas gift shop). You would think that a "Christmas museum" inside a gift shop would be merely a ploy to get you to come in and buy stuff, and maybe it is, but the Weihnachtsmuseum is really a serious and very good collection of items which gives a very thorough and interesting education on the history and tradition of Christmas in Germany (which heavily influences our own traditions). The displays were all very well explained in both German and English signage, and the hour I spent walking through was an hour well spent.

A Christmas tree in the Weihnachtsmuseum adorned with
handwritten well-wishes left by visitors from all over the world 

After the Weihnachtsmuseum I had a couple of hours to kill before the other museum I wanted to visit was supposed to open, so I decided to get some daytime photos around Rothenburg and to take a walk around the grounds outside on the west side of town, where the views of the Tauber Valley are best. I got some great photos of Rothenburg decked in Christmas decor, and also some good ones of Rothenburg looking from the outside in. I encountered a phenomenon there that I had seen before but forgotten about - the Japanese tourist/wannabe professional photographer. There are certain tourist archetypes that you tend to encounter while traveling in Europe, and one of them is the Japanese tourist. Of course not all are alike, but there are some common themes, and one of them seems to be the use of gigantic, probably incredibly expensive professional-style cameras. You almost always see those cameras in the hands of affluent-looking Japanese men, and they seem to take the art of vacation photography extremely seriously. I ran into one such guy there in the grounds outside of town, and I couldn't help but simultaneously chuckle and yet be somewhat annoyed as he occupied every good photo-taking spot for minutes on end taking probably a few hundred photos. I got all of the shots I wanted in a few minutes, and then spent some time strolling around and enjoying Rothenburg's scenic natural surroundings. The snow that covered everything on my arrival in Germany has melted away as the temperatures have risen to just above freezing, which is too bad because I bet this place would have been even more captivating with a covering of snow, but even without Rothenburg is beautiful inside and out.

Exterior of Rothenburg

Exterior of Rothenburg

Exterior of Rothenburg

After my walk around the grounds outside the town, I headed back in and visited the Reichstadtmuseum, which chronicles the history of Rothenburg. The city was founded in 1170, and was given the status of a Free Imperial City of the Holy Roman Empire (granting the city nearly complete autonomy and representation in the imperial assembly) in 1274. The Reichstadtmuseum covers the period from Rothenburg's founding to the present, although also with some exhibits of artifacts (mostly weapons and tools) from as far back as 500+ B.C. As a student of history and in particular of European history, I was fascinated. I particularly liked the huge collection of weaponry they had on display, showing the complete evolution of weapons used in this area from the middle ages to the 19th century. They had a few things there that I had never seen before, such as one very early (I think it was late 15th/early 16th century) black powder rifle that was probably at least six feet long and had to have weighed a couple hundred pounds, an air rifle (like a modern BB gun), and stonebows (crossbows that shoot stones used for bird hunting). Probably the coolest thing on display there, however, was the various illustrations and maps of Rothenburg over its history. In the preservation of those items we can see Rothenburg as people from the middle ages saw it, and my basic impression is that the Rothenburg we see today looks very much like the Rothenburg of 500 years ago. It's a very cool feeling, knowing that what you are looking at and experiencing is very much like what people from half a millennium ago saw and experienced. For me, it makes me feel connected to those people, and reminds me that while we may be separated by many years, we are essentially the same.

A 500+ year old original room interior in the Reichstadtmuseum

After visiting the Reichstadtmuseum it was time for lunch and a break. I've been keeping my car in free street parking areas just outside the town, but I like to check on it once a day just to make sure that it's still there, and also I've been moving the car just to make sure it doesn't get towed or ticketed for sitting in one spot for too long. So I went and did that, took the car for a short spin and filled up the gas tank, and then I headed back into town and visited the local döner kebab place. You find döner kebab all over Europe and particularly in Germany. It comes largely from Turkish immigrants and it is a very popular fast food option. Döner kebab is basically a pita filled with meat that has been roasted on a rotating spit, with lettuce, tomato, onion, and a yogurt-based sauce. The döner kebab place here in Rothenburg, Cafe Bosporus, is one of the best ones I've found. I've been having lunch there every day here in Rothenburg because the combination of price (3.50 euros for a very filling döner kebab, which in Europe is an unbeatable price), quality, and excellent service is unmatched. The guy who I think owns the place speaks a little English, so in combination with my limited German we've conversed a bit when I've been in there, and that has been fun. I grabbed my döner kebab, bid the guy a merry tschüss! (the German equivalent of "see ya later"), and then returned to my hotel.

Back at my hotel room I found my laundry neatly folded in a laundry basket. Probably among the best 7 euros I've ever spent on the road here in Europe. I decided to make arrangements for the next leg of my trip while I had some down time, so I got out my guidebook and started planning. Initially my plan was to take a side trip Nürnburg today in the afternoon/evening to visit the Christmas market there (which is supposed to be the biggest and best in Germany), but I realized that I would be trying to cramp too much into just a few hours, so I decided to stay one more day here in Bavaria and do a full day in Nürnburg tomorrow. At the same time after reading up on hotel options in Strasbourg, which was going to be my next destination, I decided that I didn't really want to stay overnight in Strasbourg and would rather day trip there from a smaller town, so I decided to add a night here in Rothenburg, day trip to Nürnburg from here tomorrow, and then head over to the Alsace region of France the next day. That is the kind of flexibility I absolutely love and cherish when I'm traveling. I am never locked in to a set plan because I generally don't make reservations in advance, even during the peak tourism season. With a little courage and the gumption to call around to find a hotel when you decide to change your plans, traveling that way is so much better than keeping yourself beholden to a concrete plan. I have made changes to my itinerary every time I have come to Europe, and I have always appreciated having that capability.

Rothenburg ob der Tauber

So having made the decision to change up my plan, I emailed a couple of hotels that I would like to stay at to ask if they have rooms available, and then I set back out to get myself some coffee and some gluwhein at the Christmas market ("Weihnachtsmarkt" in German) here in Rothenburg. The Christmas markets usually consist of temporary covered stalls set up in the squares, where people sell various Christmas-themed goods, treats, and especially gluwhein. Gluwhein is a hot mulled wine, and it comes in all sorts of varieties. You can get red gluwhein, white gluwhein, rose gluwhein, spiced gluwhein, gluwhein with rum, with amaretto, etc. I particularly like red gluwhein, so I got a cup and then took another stroll around town. That never gets old.

The Rothenburg Weihnachtsmarkt

The Rothenburg Weihnachtsmarkt

After my gluwhein I turned back in to write this post. Now that I'm finished I'm going to go get some dinner, take some notes and make some basic sightseeing plans for Nürnburg tomorrow, and then try to get to bed early. I'll post again tomorrow, so until then I bid you tschüss und ein gute Nacht.

Christmas Trip 2012, Day 3: Rothenburg

Today I am in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, easily the best medieval walled town in Bavaria. It is also the most popular, evidence by the hordes of people here for the Christmas season. I'm not going to write a full daily post today for a couple of reasons. First, I've been wrapping up my school work for the end of the semester today and haven't done any sightseeing. Second and more importantly, however, I don't think it would be right to post about all the fun I'm having here in Europe while folks back home are reeling from the tragic shooting in Connecticut yesterday. So I will probably resume posting tomorrow, but for today I will refrain out of respect for those affected by yesterday's awful event. My heart truly goes out to them.

Christmas Trip 2012, Day 2: Nördlingen, Neuburg, Ingolstadt

So, day two of my trip is about over, and it has been a very full day. Sitting back and relaxing is just not my travel style - even when I think I'd like to take it easy, I invariably end up doing as much as I possibly can. I have never regretted it though. I suppose for me, travel is a vacation for my psyche and my soul; my body can rest at home.

I saw quite a bit today even though I got a late start. I seem to be compensating for the difficulty I've had sleeping at home by sleeping particularly well and long here in Germany. I got to sleep around midnight last night, and woke up at around 9:00 am. I didn't get myself out of bed until 10:00 or so, and I wasn't out the door until about 11:00. I felt more refreshed and ready for a busy day than I have in a long time though.

When I set out today I didn't really have a set agenda. I figured I wanted to visit Nördlingen, another medieval walled city here in Bavaria, but aside from that I intended to simply go where the road took me. I had parked my car at a free public parking lot just outside of town the night before, so I had a bit of a walk to get to my car. Due to my late start I had missed my hotel's breakfast, so I was on the lookout for a bite to eat on my way out of town, and I happened to come across an inviting-looking bakery where I stopped to get some breakfast. The two things I bought there (I can't remember what they were called, but one was a crispy pastry thing with some sort of apple filling, and the other was another pastry with some kind of vanilla custard-like stuff on it) were highly typical both in style and quality (excellent) of common street corner bakeries here in Europe, but would be considered delicacies back home. I paid one euro each for them (about $1.30 at the current exchange rate), and anything of the same quality would probably cost at least twice that back home. Which is not to say that such things are better or worse in Europe or in America, but I think it does indicate the priorities of our respective cultures. In America, we tend to want more of something and are willing to sacrifice quality (for instance, McDonalds' 20 piece Chicken McNuggets, which according to Google costs $5), whereas Europeans seem to demand higher quality and merely a sufficient quantity. I have never heard anyone ask "would you like that super sized?" or anything of the sort in Europe, but in America we have come to expect it. No judgement intended there, just food for thought.

Anyway, that's more than enough blathering about baked goods. So I munched on my tasty breakfast items on the way to my car and then set out for Nördlingen. The trip there was unremarkable, aside from that once again I found that I am enjoying driving in Europe. I parked at a free public lot just outside the town wall and then set out to explore on foot. The first thing I did was walk around the town atop the old medieval town wall, which I read is the most complete and best preserved in the area. It certainly appeared to be. It's fun to imagine what it must have been like for medieval people, who at one time walked exactly the same path and enjoyed exactly the same vantage of the town. From atop the wall one can see clearly how in Europe, old meets new at every turn. You walk atop a several-centuries-old wall, and see a new BMW drive by down below. You look over to the center of town and see the old cathedral with its high bell tower, and in between is a brewery which, while according to the sign on the building has been in operation for more than 300 years, looks otherwise brand new, with trucks full of excellent locally-crafted beer trundling out for deliveries around the region. 

A view of the town and St. Georg's Cathedral

I circled about half of the city atop the wall before descending and making my way into the interior. My impression was that Nördlingen is less cutesy, and therefore less touristy, than either Rothenburg or Dinkelsbühl, which makes it all the more interesting in a way. It's a medieval walled town where life has a greater resemblance to those of average Germans. Not everyone in Germany lives in a medieval walled town, but in Nördlingen those who do seem to live more like most Germans than do those who live in the more tourist-oriented places on the Romantic Road. I passed through the local Christmas market, which was fairly unremarkable, although I did pick up a tasty Nutella and banana crepe there. Aside from walking the town wall, my other priority in Nördlingen was to climb the cathedral's bell tower. They call it the "Daniel" (I'm not sure why), and the climb up it is pretty exhausting, consisting of 90 meters of very steep stairs. The view from the top is more than worth it though. I took a panoramic photo up there which I hope will demonstrate why (click here to see the full sized picture):

What is especially cool about the view is that you can clearly see the nearly-perfect circular outline of the town. Why build the town in a nearly-perfect circle? Well, the town sits in the middle of a wide, shallow crater. Until the 1960s, no one knew why there was a circular ridge with a shallow bowl in the middle of it there, but geologists figured out that it was created by a meteorite which fell there some millions of years ago (I can't remember how many million my guidebook said, but it was enough millions to classify it as a really long time ago). You may not be able to see it very well in that photo, but I took a video that I'll post on Facebook where you can see it more clearly.

Nördlingen merited a couple of hours, but before long I was ready to move on. I headed back to my car, consulted my guidebook, and decided that my next destination would be a town called Neuburg an der Donau, which was supposed to have a cool Renaissance castle. So I started driving in that direction, but on the way I saw a sign that said "Schloss Harburg" 

and pointed up a narrow road. I figured "why the heck not?", so I turned up the road and made my way up the hill to the schloss (actually "Schloß" which is German for "chateau" or "palace," basically a small castle). When I got there I was impressed and glad I had stopped. It was basically deserted, probably due to the time of year, but pretty and made all the more scenic by the coating of snow. I poked around, snapped a few photos, and then got back on the road to Neuburg.

Schloss Harburg

Schloss Harburg

Arriving in Neuburg was a bit of a pain because the town was snarled with traffic. It didn't take me long to figure out why though, as I came to the town's beautiful Renaissance-era castle which was also hosting the best Christmas market I had seen to date (although I would encounter another great one later). I parked near the base of the castle and then hiked up to the top of the bluff where the castle sat. Inside the castle's courtyard was a cozy little Christmas market with lots of crafts and Christmas goodies for sale. Inside one of the surrounding buildings was an extension of the market with some remarkably good crafted items. Jewelry, Christmas ornaments, blown glass, carvings, etc. Outside the courtyard there was a sort of square where there was another market (or perhaps another part of the same market) that seemed more plebeian in mood and content, although equally good. I had a bratwurst sandwich there (and taught the purveyor the English word "mustard" at her request) and bought a plate of excellent Christmas cookies. After that I walked around the old town surrounding the castle for a bit, took a few pictures, and then decided it was time to move on.

Neuburg an der Donau

Neuburg an der Donau

I had decided that my next stop would be Ingolstadt, an atmospheric old town just east of Neuburg. I made my way there and once again encountered heavy traffic. This time I knew that the traffic indicated I was in for something worth seeing, and I was not disappointed. I ventured into the center of town, parked my car, and started off on foot toward whatever seemed to be attracting everyone's attention. Before long I discovered it - the biggest and probably best Christmas market I've seen so far. It was big enough that at one point I got lost in it. There were numerous food stands, so I stopped at one at had schupfnudeln, which was kind of like spaetzle but with longer noodles and also incorporating saurkraut and some bits of bacon. An English-speaking man who I struck up a conversation with there assured me that it is a traditional Bavarian dish, and he seemed to be enjoying his own as much as I enjoyed mine. I didn't get the guy's name, but he was very interested in discussing American politics with me (especially after I told him that I had supported and voted for Barack Obama in the recent presidential election, which he approved of). We chatted for a bit longer and then I moved on and strolled around the rest of the market. Something I enjoy doing in crowded places like that in Europe is to just walk around and observe. Check out the different stalls, watch people, listen to their conversations, and see, hear, taste, and smell a world that is both similar to and different from my home. People watching has always been one of my favorite things to do in Europe. I've spent plenty of hours, especially in Italy where it is by far the most fun, simply sitting and watching people go by. While getting out and engaging people is more fun and rewarding, it's nice sometimes to just be a fly on the wall and soak in the culture without diving in head first too.

After the Christmas market and a little walk around Ingolstadt it had gotten dark and I was about ready to head back to my hotel. I programmed my car's GPS to direct me back to Dinkelsbühl, and was surprised to see that the trip was going to take me about an hour and forty five minutes. I had ventured farther in the day's exploration than I had realized. The GPS directed me along the shortest route back to Dinkelsbühl, which was not the route I had taken. Instead, it led me through a warren of winding, narrow back roads and through a number of picturesque small towns. It was a beautiful drive and a nice departure from the highways I had mostly been sticking to so far. 

One thing I like about Dinkelsbühl is that there are no foreign tourists here, probably due to a) the season and b) the lack of a train station. That makes for a generally quiet and sleepy town, although there seems to be a local kid with a stereo in his car that would rival the deepest, most thumping bass you've ever heard from a thug-mobile in America. My hotel's hostess also seems a tad frosty, although I think it's because she is a bit off put by trying to communicate with an American who speaks limited German. Her English is better than my German, but I'm used to using my limited language skills to communicate and I actually enjoy it, so we tend to converse in German. I find that folks here generally appreciate it and respect you much more when you make an effort to speak their language and adopt their customs. I'm doing my best in that regard, and I hope it's appreciated in this case.

Anyway, I digress. I made it back to Dinkelsbühl and into my hotel room by 8:00 pm. I decided to have dinner at my hotel's restaurant again, mostly because I was tired and didn't feel like venturing out again, and also because I wanted an opportunity to ask for the information to log in to their wi-fi on my laptop. I had schweinshaxe, which is a roasted ham hock, with some braised red cabbage and a big potato dumpling. It was all very tasty, and quite affordable for the quality (which is again pretty typical for Europe, especially compared to America). 

Dinner (not pictured - 0.5l of Friedrich Hauf Bayerisch Dunkel)

After dinner I turned in and called it a day. I burned about half of my car's tank of gas today, and I can definitely feel it in my sore feet and droopy eyelids. It was another good day, and I have no doubt that tomorrow will be too.

Christmas Trip 2012, Day 1: Dachau, Dinkelsbühl

Guten abend! I'm here in Germany and I finally have wi-fi available, so it's about time for my first blog post from the road. I am posting from my hotel in Dinkelsbühl, but I'll start with my arrival in Germany and describe what I've seen and done since then.

First I'll get the bad stuff out of the way. The flight here confirmed for me that I really hate flying. Virtually everything about it sucked. That's really all that needs to be said.

Things started looking up when I landed. The Munich airport is great, probably my favorite in Europe now. I had little difficulty finding my hotel's shuttle and getting to my hotel. While I was waiting for the shuttle I struck up a conversation with a South African-Scottish (from South Africa but lives in Scotland) lady and her daughter, which was a lot of fun. That encounter, and another I had the next day with a pretty eccentric old guy from Sweden, is an example of one of my favorite parts of travel. I have met and made friends with people from all over the world, and those experiences have always been fun, rewarding, and memorable. Anyway, the rest of that arrival evening was pretty quiet and forgettable, so I'll move on.

I had arrived in the evening and basically just crashed at my hotel that first night, so the next day was really the first of the trip. I slept great, as I seem to always do when I'm traveling. The first order of business was to pick up my rental car back at the airport. It was a surprisingly smooth and easy process, but then that is pretty much the norm in Germany. My car is an Opel Corsa 1.2 - the 1.2 indicates the engine size in liters, which is tiny. Some motorcycles have bigger engines. It took me several tries just to get it up the steep spiraling ramp and out of the parking garage. But while small and gutless, the car is in good condition, is easy to park and maneuver around tight European streets, and most importantly, gets me around and gives me unequaled freedom to explore.

It is incredibly cold here. Like, single digits Fahrenheit cold. There is a decent accumulation of snow on the ground, although in true German fashion the roads are all perfectly clear (thanks to the many plow and sanding trucks I saw out and about). I'm actually enjoying the cold weather though, and the cover of snow makes this already-beautiful place even more so.

So once I had my car I made my way to Dachau. Thanks to excellent signage it was easy to get there and find the concentration camp. The camp itself was among the most evocative sights I have ever seen in Euope. The place seems so unassuming until you enter and begin to see and understand just what went on there. You enter the camp as prisoners would have, through a gate that says in bent iron lettering, "Arbeit Macht Frei" (rough translation: "work sets you free"). Upon entering the gate, you are immediately struck by the size of the camp. I don't know how many acres it is, but it must be quite a few. There is a main building on the grounds which houses an excellent museum, so I went there first. The museum chronicles in chilling detail just about every aspect of the concentration camp;  how it came into being, how it was operated, who was imprisoned there (as I learned, it wasn't just Jews), and the treatment its prisoners were subjected to. The museum at Dachau achieves what no textbook can - it conveys the truth of the concentration camp so strikingly that one cannot help but be affected emotionally. More than once I felt close to tears. I will leave it to you all to see it for yourselves in order to understand why, mostly because the power of the place is almost indescribable. One must see it for themselves to truly understand.

One thing I was struck by at Dachau was how many groups of school kids there were. They were all about high school age and had teachers showing them around and explaining things. I was impressed by how the Germans seem to invite both their own people and the whole world to come see and understand what transpired at  Dachau and other places like it. The Germans seem to understand that it is of utmost importance that we never forget what happened there, so that we may never repeat it.

After the museum I toured the rest of the grounds - the "Bunker," where special prisoners were held and particularly terrible torture was administered, the barracks, where prisoners lived, and the crematorium, where their bodies were disposed of. To walk through and see those things made the place and its history real in my mind. After that, I could no longer think of a place like Dachau as some foreign thing, as something that doesn't really exist in my personal world. It is there for the world to see, and now that I have seen it, I will never forget it.

While sobering, my visit to Dachau was great. I hadn't planned on going, but I am so glad that I did. If I ever lead a tour through here, I will make it a priority to take people there. Anyway, after my self-guided tour, it was time to head to Dinkelsbühl. The trip to Dachau from Munich had been short, but on the road to Dinkelsbühl I began to really get a feel for German driving. I had a blast. While my car is pretty gutless, it's still fun to drive. Europeans drive differently than we do in America. People are far more assertive on the road here than they are in America. If you can't join the club and be assertive yourself, you'll get left in the dust. That kind if driving is right up my alley though, and I'm enjoying it. I will definitely rent cars on future trips, especially for groups of people. The freedom that comes with it, and the ability to access hard to reach places, is so liberating compared to train travel. Certainly trains have their place in travel, but I'm finding that with a little courage, a car is definitely worth the expense.

I got in to Dinkelsbühl after dark, around 5:30. I had selected a hotel out of my guidebook, but I had been unable to reach them by phone when I tried to call ahead, so I had decided to just drop in and see if they had a room available. When I got to where it should have been, however, I couldn't find it. I walked all over, checked and re-checked my map to make sure I was in the right place, but to no avail. As far as I could tell the place must have gone out of business. I'm glad though, because it gave me the opportunity to hone my hotel-finding skills. The town was pretty full of German day trippers, but almost no foreign tourists, so I figured the hotels were probably pretty empty, giving me the advantage of having many to choose from. I consulted ratings online and walked around to several different places before deciding on the place I'm at now, Hotel Eisenkrug. I got a great rate and the place is nice and homey, in an old building on a nice street and with a great restaurant downstairs.

Once I got settled in I had dinner and then walked around the town. Dinkelsbühl is an old medieval walled town, and it has certainly preserved much of its medieval character. There is an old town wall, a moat surrounding it, and guard towers over each gate. The buildings display much of the same medieval character, made all the more enchanting by the twinkling Christmas lights and ubiquitous blanket of white snow.  It isn't quite Rothenburg, but it's a nice place nonetheless.

I'm in my hotel room now and am bedding down for the night. Tomorrow I plan on exploring the Romantic Road and visiting some Christmas Markets. I'll post again tomorrow, but until then I bid you all Gute Nacht und Auf Wiedersehen.

P.S. I'm posting this from my phone so I can't include pictures from today, but I'll try to get my laptop connected tomorrow and include pictures in my next post.