Category: Welcome

We made it downstairs for breakfast by about 8:15 AM. We had to eat quickly because the check-out and leave time was 8:45 AM. Unlike the rest of the group, we left our bags up in the room, so we had to get to the top of the fun-house hotel to drag our stuff down.

We made it downstairs by 8:43, and everyone else was already loaded, but our bags still fit, and we were in our seats at 8:45, so no harm done.

Sergei started us towards Erfurt, we had our brief devotion, and Thomas talked a bit about the city and its history. I was very tired and could not stay awake on the bus, so I did not see much of Thuringia after we entered. Sergei pulled us off the highway to a former GDR border checkpoint that is one of the few that was left in tact after the reunifiation of Germany. The guard tower was 3 stories high, and there were also some portions of the Berlin Wall present on site. We were now in the former East Germany.

The bus pulled up next to a large plaza below an 18th century citadel, and we walked across the plaza towards the Dom cathedral and its adjoining secondary church. The two buildings were built on and into a high hill. The Dom is St. Mary’s where Martin Luther was ordained as a priest. Below it is a very extensive crypt church. The church next door was St. Severus, and a funeral service was in progress there, so we could not tour it.

After viewing the cathedral, we went back down the 70 stairs carved into the hill, and back through the plaza. A festival of some sort was being set up, but we did not get to visit any of the vendors. We headed into the old city, and then encountered a bridge with buildings built on top of it. Not the most impressive bridge with buildings built on top of it, but certainly a neat thing. On the other side was a smaller market plaza, which was to be the group’s rally point later in the afternoon.

The next 2.5 hours were leisure time. Shannon and I went to a pizza place. I had a pizza with ham and artichoke. Shannon had spaghetti Bolognese. Both meals were very good. We then walked around the city a bit and Shannon did some shopping. We returned to the plaza a bit ahead of schedule and the rest of the group slowly appeared as well. Shannon got us a couple iced coffees to enjoy before our next event.

At 2:30 we walked over to the former Augustinian Monastery where Luther spent a number of years as a monk. As of 1529, the edifice no longer functions as a monastery. We toured the church, the cloister, a room where the monks would hold church and other functions in the winter, then an upper floor where the monks cells were located, and where they slept as a group. There was a reconstruction of the cell Luther would have used, as well as a number of other cells. There was also a very cool library/lecture/debate hall that could only be seen through a glass window.

The stained glass windows below were removed during WW2 and preserved safely elsewhere. They are 700 years old. Erfurt did suffer damage during the war, including at the monastery. Several of the pictures below may look familiar to anyone who saw the 2003 Luther movie.

Martin Luther’s monk cell below.

When the tour concluded, we took another of Thomas’s famous “short walks” over to our hotel, which appears to be in a Turkish section of the town. We got checked in, decompressed for a few minutes, then went down the road, back to the market area our group had met earlier at the end of that bridge. We had dinner next to the Italian place we had eaten earlier. I got a Thuringer Bratwurst, which was supposed to come with sauerkraut, and I asked them not to give me that, so they instead substituted some hot kohlsalat, or coleslaw. There were little bits of ham in it. I ate a few bites, just to be sure, but did not much care for it. I also ended up with a small salad and mashed potatoes. Shannon had linguini with salmon. Both meals were enjoyable. We walked over to the bridge hoping to get an ice cream, but the store was closed, so we went around the corner to a different ice cream store. There are Eiscafe locations all over every German city we have been to, the Germans really love their ice cream. I got one scoop of Heidelbeer which turned out to be blueberry, and Shannon got a scoop of Dunkel, which was Dutch chocolate.

We walked back towards our hotel and stopped out front to finish the ice cream. I think it is actually gelato, not actual ice cream. I realized that nearby the hotel was a Martin Luther monument, so we walked over to view it, then returned to the hotel.

Tomorrow at 8:45 we’re heading to the Wartburg castle, then some sort of Bach thing. We don’t care to go to the Bach thing, but we’re probably going to be stuck doing so, or we’ll miss the Wartburg.

Today is June 11, which is Shannon’s birthday. Today was meant to be a leisure day in Coburg, but nearly the entire group decided to go up to the Veste Coburg castle, one of the largest in Germany. After breakfast at the hotel, the group got on the bus and at 9:30 we were on our way. Another gentleman on the tour has a birthday today as well, so everyone on the bus sang the Happy Birthday song to Shannon and him.

By land, the Veste is only a mile from the hotel, but there is a notable elevation stage as the castle is up on a hill. Sergei got us close with the bus, then we walked up to the entrance from there.

I enjoyed this castle much more than Neuschwanstein, probably because it was actually a functional castle at some point, and not merely a decorated palace. The appointments were not as rich and ornate as at Neuschwanstein, but still quite nice. The Duke and Duchess of Coburg lived in the residence here. Martin Luther was also in residence for a time in 1530 while the rest of the Lutheran princes and his colleagues such as Melanchthon were at Augsburg composing the Augsburg confession. This was apparently as far into Bavaria as Luther could safely travel during the Reformation, for fear of the Catholic princes of Bavaria. We were able to visit the room where Luther lived and worked, as well as a Luther Kapelle, or Chapel, at the castle. Also on display were weapons, torture devices, carriages, sleds, and all kinds of other interesting items.

Many beautiful works of art are in the castle museums, including some by Lucas Cranach.

Arms and armor were on display at the Veste as well.

Finally we reached Martin Luther’s rooms at the Castle.

The hourglass below is for timing sermons.

Some historical musical instruments.

Some torture and punishment devices, including a scold’s bridle.

Some additional arms, including dog armor.

There were numerous carriages and sleds in the castle’s garage.

After several hours at the castle, we rode the bus back to the hotel. Originally it was thought that some people might walk down, through the gardens, but we spent so much time at the castle, the consensus was to ride the bus back. The afternoon was a leisure period.

I went into the corner discount grocery store when we got back to the hotel and picked up some beef sticks (a pack of garlic and a pack of cheese) as well as a chocolate sampler for us to try, and a thing of wild berry tea bags to take to my Grandma as a souvenir. In Franconia, which I believe we are in that portion of Bavaria, tea is a much beloved drink.

We decompressed for a bit, then Shannon determined that she wanted to get some empanadas at an Argentine restaurant a couple minutes from the hotel. We ordered one each of a jamon y queso, carne, onion and cheese, and caprese empanada. They were all very good. They also came with little cups of what may have been pico de Gallo or something similar. It was all delicious. I had a sparkling water to drink and Shannon ordered a wheat beer, but I think ended up with just a lager of some sort. Another couple joined us for lunch, and we paid for theirs because they had covered our lunch previously up at Kehlsteinhaus.

After lunch we went into an Apotheke shop where a specific priest’s medicinal alcohol is available for sale, one of a very few places it is on offer in the country. We did not buy any yet, but we might pick some up.

We then visited a Lutheran church where Luther himself had preached in 1530. Someone was getting an organ lesson, and the tune was familiar, but I could not think of the song name.

On the way back, we went into a board game store and bought \a Star Wars matching game that is in German as a souvenir for some family members. Despite the language barrier, they should be able to figure it out. We stopped at an ice cream stand and Shannon got a scoop of coffee flavored in a cone and I got fig flavored. The fig was very good, and I’m glad I got something that isn’t readily available in the US.

Shannon went into a shoe store, but it was just like a Payless or similar store and she did not purchase anything. I perused books and we ended up getting one for our niece, “Komm Spiele, Kleiner Tiger” which means “Come Play, Little Tiger.” We then walked to another toy store, which Shannon went into while I went back to the hotel. Shannon just came in with a bunch of souvenir chocolate bars for our entire list of people back home.

Tonight the group is going to the Coburg copy of the Munich Hofbrauhaus, the famous beer hall, for dinner. John’s wife apparently bought a nice cake for the birthday celebrations.

At 5:45, the group proceeded to walk to the Munich Hofbrauhaus Coburg. It is a good thing we went with the group, because it was located in a totally different direction and location than Google Maps had indicated to me. Thomas was telling us a Bock beer that was “dark” and “more powerful” than their normal beer. It was a good Bock, but nothing crazy from what I could tell. I ordered the Bock, Shannon had the Lager. Later on we ordered another Bock to share.

I had the jaegerschnitzel for dinner, Shannon had the HB Spezial Schnitzel. Mine came with mushrooms and a thin white sauce, and fried potatoes. Shannon’s was smothered with onions, feta cheese, and bacon, as well as a side of fries. It was really too much food and we could’ve shared one plate. There was a salad too. I had it in my head that food was expensive in Germany, but by this point in the trip I think I finally decided that’s really not so true. This meal would’ve easily cost over $100 at the Austrian restaurant we’ve been to a couple times in Kansas City, but the whole spread was only 60 EUR.

After dinner we walked back to the hotel and they let us into a wine tasting room that normally you’d have to pay to reserve. The cake John’s wife bought a had a bottom layer of crust, then a white cake that may have been extremely light cheese cake, then more crust, and on top of that was raspberry jam and gelatin, and some strawberries. The outer edge was flakes of white chocolate. Shannon and I shared a piece as we were already quite full.

When we got back up to the room, I transitioned my big suitcase into the new dirty clothes suitcase for both of us, and moved my clothing to Shannon’s smaller carry on. I think I’m still going to need to do laundry before the trip is over to make it, but maybe just one outfit. I’ve been making my pants go 2 days use, which hopefully isn’t a horrible mistake.

Tomorrow we set off for Erfurt, and deeper into the Martin Luther topics. We stay there two nights, then two nights in Wittenburg, before returning to the US. Apparently there is a horrible 8 hour layover in the Newark, NJ airport we’ll have to deal with upon returning to the US.

As with every other day on the trip so far, we began with breakfast in the hotel after finishing our packing to leave Salzburg. I stuck with my German breakfast tendency, and in addition to the prosciutto, ham, and smoked salmon, I had some kipper and a couple soft cheeses. They may have just been cream cheese, but it could’ve been a different soft cheese. One had oregano and basil or something like that on it, the other had little sun dried tomato bits.

Before leaving, I mailed a couple post cards we filled out, both to my family. It cost 3.85 EUR to send a postcard to my grandma and my parents. We boarded the bus and prepared for a basically 3 hour drive up to Regensburg. There either was no Autobahn route to Regensburg, or I may have overheard Thomas saying something about a main route being closed, but it seemed like most of the journey was through back roads. It was great seeing more of the Bavarian countryside, and Sergei showed off his impressive skills maneuvering the bus around roads it shouldn’t have been able to navigate.

At some point the bus stopped to let everyone go to the bathroom at a gas station. Shannon got me a peach tea, which was good. First tea I’ve had in the country. The 0.75L bottle had less sugar in it than a 12 oz can of coca cola. She got a cookies and cream white chocolate ice cream bar for herself, but did not much care for it.

We finally arrived in Regensburg and immediately began a walking tour of the city. Regensburg is old enough there was a Roman presence here in ancient times, which is rare in Germany. It was the site of Casta Regina, I believe that was the name. Essentially a large Roman fortress. On top of that, a wooden Bavarian city, and eventually a stone Bavarian city was built over time.

The exposed stones shown in the image below are remnants of the Roman wall and/or citadel. This may have at one point been a gatehouse. You can see how successive buildings were just built into/on top of the Roman structures.

The large Catholic church was being renovated, as seems to be the case in many of the churches we’ve seen. The adjoining Bischoffshaus or Bishop’s House, was now a rather cool looking brewery.

We eventually arrived to a town square called Neupfarrplatz, or new church plaza. This area had been a Jewish quarter, but the residents were driven out in the 1500s, their buildings torn down, and a church and town square built on top of it. There was an underground excavation where you could see the layers of Roman castle, Jewish cellars, the Lutheran church, all surrounded by a WW2 era air raid shelter. A Canadian lady who has lived in Germany since 1986 was our guide at Document Neupfarrplatz, the museum/excavation site below the church. Prior to going down into the cellars, we were able to visit the interior of the Lutheran church above.

From there we were supposed to visit a brewery, and made our way over, but not enough time had been left for lunch, and the trip participants were becoming peckish. Rather than taking the brewery tour, the group decided to head over to the market street and get lunch. This abrupt change in the schedule was much more troublesome to the Germans than I think it would have been to Americans. Thomas had to call the home office and explain everything and get permission to deviate from the plan.

The simple solution would’ve been to order some pizzas from the place right across from the brewery, take the tour while they were being cooked, then eat them afterward in the biergarten. Thomas had expressed to the tour planners that the itinerary was too tight timing-wise, but they hadn’t listened.

We walked along the road after lunch to the bus, which took us to Coburg. This was another 2.5 hours or so further north. The hotel we are in is built like a fun house. We had to climb stairs to get to the reception, which was difficult with baggage. Then we had to go down different stairs to get the elevator to the 4th floor, then down some stairs and up a bunch more stairs to get to our room, which is at the top of the structure. There is definitely no air conditioner here. The mini fridge does not appear to be functional, but the contents are free, a gift of appreciation from the Mayor, according to the gentleman at the desk who checked us in.

The hotel provided dinner, buffet style. I had a couple bratwursts and some fruit. There was a bunch of other stuff available as well, but it was not to my liking. Shannon said the brat was the best item she got, and she does not much care for sausages, so this is high praise. The brats were grilled, and had a very smooth interior, which is not that similar to the brats I’m used to in the US which have a more coarse interior.

We took a brief walk to a nearby square after dinner. There is a statue of Prince Albert, the husband of Britain’s Queen Victoria. Nothing was going on in the square on Monday night around 9pm. The area was mostly deserted. One of the most picturesque squares we’ve been to so far.

Back in the room, I called my mom and filled her in on the last few days activities. Then I took a shower, and though I would have found it hard to believe, the shower here is even worse than the one we had in Salzburg. No room to maneuver at all, although it was less of a step up to get into it at least.

The shower in our Salzburg hotel room is the worst we’ve had on this trip. You have to step way up through a narrow gap to get in and there are no handles or anything to grip onto. It feels unsafe. This morning I did some laundry in the sink and shower in the bathroom and hung it to dry. Hopefully by tomorrow when we leave here, it will be sufficiently dry and fresh that I’ll be able to wear it again. The hotel offers laundry service but to do what we would need done would be quite expensive, several Euro per item.

Theoretically today was a free day, but most of the group chose to engage in the optional activities. Our first destination was the Stille-Nacht-Kapelle, or Silent Night Chapel in Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria. This small space is where the song Silent Night was written. Our group barely fit inside the chapel. We had a guided tour from an 85 year old gentleman named Hermann, who has an English wife, and was a cake baker in London for many years, though he was from this part of Austria from childhood. He was old enough that he remembers being given food by American soldiers after WW2.

We had a church service inside the chapel, very briefly. Rev. Hagen and another gentleman who has also served as a pastor previously, cooperatively conducted the service. We sang 3 verses of “From Heaven Above to Earth I Come,” and the first German verse of Silent Night as well as 3 English verses. We also sang Away in a Manger. Hermann and Thomas were surprised to hear us singing in German. This area also had a water fountain, the only one we’ve seen on the trip so far, and it was fed directly from springs up the mountains. I wish I had taken a picture. Rev. Hagen, Shannon, and I all drank from the fountain. The water tasted good. This is the only free water we’ve had this entire trip! The fountain was affixed to the wall on the tower in the picture below, but you can’t see it in the image.

Our next adventure was heading over to Berchtesgaden to ascend the mountains and visit The Eagle’s Next, one of the few Third Reich-era buildings left intact, evidently. It rained a bit on the way over to the location where you board the official bus up the mountain, and generally the day was cloudy and gray. We had lunch while waiting for the bus to take us up at 1:30. Shannon had a bowl of goulasch and I had a Radler beer.

The bus ride up the mountain takes 15 minutes, and apparently there is only one switchback the entire way. You pass through 5 tunnels of varying lengths. The first is the longest. When you reach the top, there are impressive views, and then you walk down a long tunnel, which today was very cold and drippy, to ride a golden elevator to the top of the peak. It is an additional 120 meters up the elevator. The top normally has great views, but today it was very cloudy and most of our three hours up there, you could barely see anything.

The building at the top, the Kehlsteinhaus, is now a privately owned restaurant. While waiting for the clouds to clear, Shannon and I joined another couple from our group at the restaurant. We had another Radler, which in this case we had to mix ourselves. The beer was Munich Hofbrau, and there was a lemon lime soda they sold us to pour with the beer. We also had Apfelkuchen, which is a word I learned on Duo Lingo. It seemed like apple pie, but very thick with appels, and not a lot of pie filling goo holding it together. The Apfelkuchen was good, as was the Radler. The other couple regaled us with stories of their prior mission trips to Russia and the Dominican Republic.

Eventually the clouds cleared up a bit and we were able to take a few decent photos before heading back down the mountain. 3 hours up there on a cloudy day was definitely too much. Our guide Thomas tried to get our return trip moved up, but all the busses were booked solid, so we had to wait the full span of time.

We then returned to Salzburg, and this is a free evening. Rather than waiting in line for the elevator, Shannon and I walked to the bakery across the street to have some dinner. Shannon got a crispy chicken sandwich that looked like a spicy McChicken with tomato and lettuce on it. I got a salami sandwich with 2 slices of salami and a bit of cheese on a kaiser roll. There was also a piece of lettuce, but I disregarded it. We also got a chocolate muffin. I don’t believe Shannon was satisfied with the meal, and she was expecting that the staff would have heated up her chicken sandwich, but they did not. We may go out again later on this evening for a more complete dining experience.

Upon returning to our room, I wrote out a post card to my grandma. The picture is of the Stille-Nacht-Kapelle in the winter time, covered in snow.

***

As it turned out, we did go out later after a brief rest at the hotel. A couple blocks away was what turned out to be an Irish pub called Celtic Spirit. We ducked in there just as it started raining, passing some other members of our group on their way back to the hotel from the dinners they had already taken.

I had a beer called “Elvis Juice” that was a grapefruit IPA from Scotland. Shannon had an Irish Mule and then a Whisky and Cola. We also shared a pizza that was half pepperoni, half ham, with banana peppers on the whole thing. It was good, and the banana peppers did not add much heat at all. The bartender was half Mexican, half Irish. He had lived in the US at some point, as well as in other places in Europe, before coming to Salzburg a couple years ago following a girl.

It dumped rain for a while as we sat at the bar, then when it stopped we left and visited an ATM on our way back to the hotel. The ATM fee was extravagant, as well as the transaction fee.

We left the windows open overnight in our hotel room in Fussen, and it really helped cool things down. There did not appear to be much air-conditioning, if any, in the hotel.

Though American style breakfast options were available in Fussen, I decided to embrace the German way and had various cold cuts (I think they were all pork-based, but no description), cheese, and bread. Some of the cold cuts seemed like pancetta, capicola, and mortadella, and maybe they were. I had a couple wedges of cheese with herbs on it as well, and hausbrot.

We boarded the bus and headed out of Bavaria for Salzburg, Austria. I still found Bavaria the most appealing of the places we’ve been so far, and spent a lot of the bus ride thinking about how I would design a Bavaria-style house. Maybe someday if I have money, I’ll build one back in Missouri.

Our bus stopped one time for gas near Austria, but I did not get off. We passed right across the border without stopping for inspection, although Thomas told us that sometimes busses get stopped since migrants try to enter countries and claim asylum via bus.

We were fortunate to be able to ride our bus right up to the hotel in Salzburg, which we had originally thought would not be possible since the old city is closed to busses. The rooms were ready early fortunately, and we got checked in a decompressed for a couple minutes before reporting back to the lobby for a 1230 walking tour.

A local guide was required, Thomas said that the rules for tour guides are more strict than other positions, where people can work anywhere within the EU without much hassle. Our local tour guide was Igor, who lead us around Salzburg. We started walking through the Mirabell gardens surrounding the Mirabell palace. Many scenes of The Sound of Music were filmed in and around these gardens, and elsewhere in Salzburg.

We crossed a bridge covered in love locks, similar to the original love lock bridge in Paris. At this point, Shannon and I had learned enough about the Sound of Music and decided to go our own way. It was also quite hot and the tour was very much in the sun.

We walked along the river, which was fast-moving and tan in color. This is the Salz river, which, according to Igor, gets snow runoff making it too cold to swim in, even if you could deal with the fast current.

After going back across the river on another bridge, we passed by the only Lutheran church Igor said was in the area. I think this was the one he mentioned anyway, it said it was Evangelical. There appeared to be a wedding or other event happening there, people were coming in and out wearing traditional dress of lederhosen and dirndl. Other weddings were definitely happening around the Mirabell gardens also, we saw several groups getting pictures taken.

It was time for lunch, so we went to Cafe Konditorei Furst, which Igor had commented on when we went past earlier in his tour. This place was famous for a certain Mozartkugel, or Mozart Cake. We ordered a Berliner Kaffe, which was a frozen coffee dessert with whipped cream and cocoa powder on top, and a slice of the Mozart Cake. The inventor of this cake won an award in 1900 or thereabouts. The texture was quite smooth, and the bottom layer may have been somewhat like the ladyfingers of tiramisu. Then there was a layer of pistachio material, and more chocolate on top, with a final harder layer of chocolate icing on top. The cake was fine, but coffee drink was better. Apparently there is also a bite-sized candy version of Mozartkugel which may have been better than the cake version, but we didn’t get to try it.

Continuing down the street, we decided we needed an actual lunch, so we ordered a bacon double cheese burger and what turned out to be sweet potato fries at a second shop. We took this food back to our hotel room to eat while cooling off. This has definitely been the warmest day so far. The fries came with a sauce reminiscent of tziki sauce like you get with Greek food. I ate more sweet potato fries today than ever before in life, since normally I don’t care for them. But these were good, and so was the burger.

After relaxing for 45 minutes or so, we went down to the coffee shop that adjoins the hotel. We both got iced lattes, first time we have managed to find an iced coffee drink on a menu anywhere. This wasn’t exactly the street side cafe experience I’ve been looking for, but the coffee was good, and the venue was nice. At some point we moved to an upper floor near an open window and the cool breeze was nice.

Shannon worked on some of the paperwork she has to do for her colloquy before she can begin the program. It sounds like a lot of endorsements and back history are required. The program begins in July, so we need to get the ball rolling for her to get a scholarship as well, if possible.

At 6pm, the group set off for the Mozart concert and dinner that the Luther Tours had arranged for us. We ended up walking through a lot of the same areas covered in the portion of the walking tour we skipped, so I think the only thing we really missed was a bunch more Sound of Music references. It was definitely a full 15 minute walk to get over there. This restaurant and show occurs inside a building that I believe used to be a monastery or some other type of church building. The room the dinner was in was very ornate. Super high ceilings, with a light blue trim on top of white. I think there were some gold accents as well.

The performance did not begin until approximately 7:30pm. There were 4 separate Mozart works performed, and most of them were from Operas. I recognized some of the music, and the finale was from the Magic Flute. I’m glad we did this, because I never would have come up with it if planning this on my own.

The highlight of the meal was the extremely fresh bread with honeybutter. Shannon had a glass of prosecco and I ordered a water, which of course was not free! The first course was a bowl of chicken broth with a dumpling of ground up chicken and cheese curds with lemon. There were also tiny green onions in the broth. I ate the dumpling, and some of the soup. Then the main course was chicken on top of polenta, with some roasted squash and carrots. The chicken was good, seasoned with herbs de provence. The polenta was like a sweeter version of mashed potatoes, and could’ve used more of the chicken juice/gravy. It was a touch too sweet of an accompaniment for the savory chicken in my opinion. If there had been salt and pepper shakers on the table, I would have added some of each, and probably finished the polenta. Finally dessert was basically 3 puffs of meringue, and tasted like a high end s’more without the chocolate or graham crackers. There was a very small portion of raspberry jam at the bottom. More would have been better. Shannon did not like the dessert.

We walked back in the rain via a different route than how we had gotten there, but did make it to the hotel, perhaps more quickly than the trip out to the location.

Salzburg is an impressive city. The Salz of course means salt, and in times past salt was a source of the city’s riches, although apparently there was gold here too. There is a fortress/prison atop a hill, and many churches and monasteries around. The old city on the south side of the river has many little court yards and passage ways that connect different areas. Many of the roads are these narrow “gasse” passages that are more like alleys than streets.

Tomorrow there is an option to have a “leisure day” in Salzburg doing whatever you want, or a trip up the the Eagle’s Next and Obersalzberg, as well as the church where Silent Night was composed and first performed. I think we’re going to take that option, which means meeting in the lobby at 8:45.

We missed our alarms but fortunately woke up around 6:15 today. The bus had to be packed and ready to leave by 7:15, so this left us little time to wrap up our activities in the room, get down to breakfast, and then out the door. Fortunately we made it on time.

I think the hotel we stayed at in Würzburg was very nice. Very modern, which is normally not to my taste but it worked great for me this time. When Shannon went out to dinner, I took a shower that I didn’t have to climb into, it was a walk-in. The toilet was in a separate little room, and there was a sort of mini-kitchen/sink area. I turned on the German TV for the first time and watched half of a 2nd season episode of Star Trek The Next Generation. The Germans apparently prefer to dub all their shows, not using sub titles with the English voices remaining. I also saw a couple minutes of a cop show, and a game show, both of which were of native provenance.

After breakfast, we set off on a 4 hour bus ride into Bavaria and down to Obergammerau. As we went along, the topography gradually became more mountainous, and the trees started to mix in pine with the oak. When we got into Bavaria itself, it really was a beautiful place. If you’re an American, Bavaria is the Germany you see in your imagination, most likely due to Bavaria (and I think Hesse?) being the portions of the country controlled by the US after WW2 and before West Germany was incorporated as a counter to East Germany.

The houses here are white plaster, but often painted with scenes or other embellishments on the sides and around the windows. Everything has shutters as well, and theyr’e actually functional, not purely decorative. We saw more cows in this region, and lots of chopped wood piled up everywhere. Maybe these houses are largely heated by wood during the winter. At least one house I saw had smoke curling up out of the chimney as we went past. The roofs are mostly red-orange clay tiles. There are also many balconies.

The bus pulled into Obergammerau near the Passionspiele Theater. Passionspiele means Passion Play. Every 10 years a huge portion of the city of Obergammerau participates in an amateur production of the Passion Play. More on the Passionspiele later.

A few of us followed our guide Thomas who wanted to show us one of the most famous of the painted houses, which is called the house of Pontius Pilate. It was being renovated, so I couldn’t get a perfect picture, but you could see the intricate detail on the paint. At this time, the group was free to wander for a while, so Shannon and I went into a couple shops, one of which was a Christmas Store, similar to the one she had visited the day prior in Heidelberg. It also started to rain at this time, and I regretted not having my jacket.

After a bit of shopping, we went to the Wolf Hotel Restaurant for lunch. I had 2 pairs of wieners with house bread, which was basically some hotdogs and rolls. Pretty good though. Shannon had a pork cutlet that was not breaded and fried, but maybe pan-seared, with mushrooms, cranberries, and spatzle, which is small German shell noodles in a white/butter sauce. Several other members of the group ended up in the same hotel restaurant for lunch. Shannon and I tried two of the local liquers with lunch, Wildsau which was like a raspberry vodka or something, and Odl, an herb liquor. The Odl was syrupy and slightly tan in color. I liked it a lot. Shannon didn’t care much for either.

From there we rejoined the larger group to get a guided tour of the Passionspiele Theater. The lady who took us around had been a participant in a minor role back in 2010. The town was afflicted with plague in the 1600s and offered to God to perform a passion play every 10 years if he would relieve them of the plague. The plague stopped, and the citizens made good on their promise, nearly every decade other than a few times when the government forbade it for various reasons.

The town of Oberammergau has a population of roughly 5500, and approximately 2500 of them will take part in the Passion Play each time it is performed. The theater has a seating capacity of 4500. The play is performed numerous times during the appropriate season.

To participate in the Passionspiele in Oberammergau, you have to either be born in Oberammergau or live there for 20 years. This is due to the high demand people have to participate in the Passion Play from outside the area.

There are two different actors who play each of Jesus, Mary, and Mary Magdalene. In addition to the roles you would expect, there are hundreds of crowd members and choir singers. There are also scenes from the Old Testament performed as “Living Pictures” where the actors stand motionless as a live painting. The tour guide also informed us that after receiving bad press a number of times in the latter half of the 20th century for the play being antisemitic, they with members of the Jewish community from New York who helped them rewrite the script.

After another bus ride of 45 minutes or so, we were ready for the trip to Neuschwanstein Castle, which I anticipated to be one of the highlights of the trip. The bus dropped us off by where the tickets were purchased by Thomas. Visitors have the option to walk up the mountain to the castle, which the map says takes about 40 minutes, or ride up in a carriage. I foolishly thought we could walk it, but fortunately Shannon convinced me to ride up in the carriage, which cost 8 EUR per person for a round trip up and down the mountain. I never would have made it to the top walking.

Even after the carriage ride, there’s still a good 10 minute hill climb to get to the top. The views were incredible though, and the pictures I took of the outside from various angles cannot do the castle justice.

We got a 30 minute guided tour inside, which did not cover much of the actual castle itself, possibly because it has been undergoing renovation since 2016 which are expected to be complete this year. First thing you have to do is climb a spiral staircase to the 3rd floor. We saw the throne room, which is made to look like an Orthodox church. The king’s bedroom was also extremely ornate. There were wood carved features everywhere, including the canopy bed and a reading chair, both of which were meant to look like Gothic cathedrals. The king had running water fed from a spring up to his 3rd floor room, thanks to the pressure and elevation from a spring higher up the mountain. The king also had a chapel, which was dedicated to Ludwig IX, who is actually King Louis IX of France, or St. Louis, the namesake of St. Louis, MO.

There were many swan-themed decorations around the castle, which is the heraldic symbol of Ludwig II’s family. We then went up to the 4th floor which was a singing room, or something like that. A very ornate ballroom. Then we descended the servants stairs down to the 2nd floor to pass through a gift shop, then another staircase down to the bottom level where you’re greeted with another gift shop, then you exit.

Unfortunately, the last horse carriage leaves around 6pm as we came to find out, but at 5:50 when we got down to the horse carriage pickup area, there were no more carriages and we had to walk down the mountain. Though this was certainly easier than walking up would have been, it nearly wiped me out, and I was the last one down. However in-shape you think you are before going on a trip like this, more training is surely advisable. If Shannon had not brought us electrolyte packets to mix with water, I don’t think I’d be surviving this trip. They’re definitely the only thing keeping me from getting cramps every night.

20 minutes on the bus later and we arrived at the Hirsch hotel to check in. Shannon gave me water mixed with an electrolyte packet, then another. While I rested she went next door to a grocery store and picked up some snacks for us to enjoy. I had a banana, which should help my potassium levels, and also she got me some beef sticks, the name of which was translated as “cattleland hunter.” Rindlanderjager or something like that. Best beef sticks I ever had. She also bought a couple chocolate and waffle cookie type things, and a snack pack of various crispy bits of matter with savory powders on them.

A few more thoughts on the Germany we have seen so far. As far as fauna we have seen, mostly it has been birds that I’ve noticed at this point. In the Rhineland I saw herons in various places, also pigeons in the cities. I heard doves, but have not seen them. There have also been swans in the area around Heidelberg, including, I’m pretty sure, black swans. I haven’t seen any squirrels or chipmunks or deer or anything like that.

The hotel we’re staying in is called Hirsch, which means Deer. It is in the city of Füssen, which I wish I had more time to enjoy. I wish I had more time with Bavaria in general. This is probably the most “German” hotel we’ve been in so far. The shower drains into the wall/floor. There is a shelf toilet with 2 buttons as you expect. There’s a drying rack for the towels, and also the floor is heated, which is nice.

This morning, Shannon and I both happened to wake up around 4:45 AM. Shannon had looked up the time of the sunrise, and it was to come at 5:19 AM. We decided to go down along the Rhine and watch the sunrise. We went out behind the hotel and enjoyed the sunrise. We then walked along the Rhine a bit, saw some bas-relief sculptures of knights with various flags/emblems, then went back inside to prepare for the day.

We joined the Hagens and another gentlemen from our group for breakfast at the hotel buffet. It was very good once again. Then we went back to the room, finished packing up our stuff, and left the hotel. When the whole group was loaded onto the bus with our luggage stored, it turned out that I had not properly settled our bill somehow. I was unaware that I would even have a bill. Apparently the sour lemonade that I got with dinner on the prior day was 17 euro. Our tour guide Thomas had paid it, and I paid him back with a 20 euro bill. Rather embarrassing, but a good lesson that apparently you can never have any liquid in this country for free, even when you’ve been told it is included with your meal.

One big mistake we made on this trip is not having enough water bottle capacity. We should’e gotten a large soft pack collapsible water bottle to fill up in the hotels to keep ourselves hydrated during the day. I think I’m probably dehydrated rather seriously. We were smart enough to bring electrolyte packets, and I think those have been a life saver. The lemon lime ones are quite good, the white peach not as much.

The bus left Mainz at 9 AM and took us to Heidelberg, which lies along the Neckar river. It was about a 90 minute ride away. We got off at a tourist information area, and some members of the group used the bathroom before we did an hour or so walking tour of the city. Heidelberg is an important university city. The university is still in operation today, and continues its legacy of being one of the more important universities in Germany.

We located the site of the Heidelberg Disputation, which at this point is just a marker on the road. The building where it occurred is no longer standing.

Several times Thomas has told us that buildings that no longer exist were destroyed by French troops either during the 30 Years War, the Napoleonic Wars, or at other times. Some things of course were also destroyed during WW2. A decent portion of Worms was apparently destroyed in WW2 for example. Heidelberg was left mostly intact physically during that conflict, allegedly because the Allies during WW2 (British and American, not Soviet) saw potential for a future military headquarters there, and NATO did later on operate in that area, evidently. Thomas said this was something he had heard. I suppose people may have been planning for the aftermath of WW2 by that point and anticipating that the Soviets would be opponents in the future.

We also saw a Studentenkarzer, or student jail. Apparently there were special jails for students of the university who got too rowdy back during the Middle Ages.

We next took a funicular up a steep hillside to get to the castle above Heidelberg. It is mostly in a ruined state, but some parts of the building are not ruins, and other parts are being restored in some form or fashion. The views from the castle on the hill were quite spectacular.

After wandering the castle grounds, we had some bratwurst (allegedly, it was some kind of sausage anyway) and fries for lunch. The folks operating the cafe the credit card was declined, but we have had no indication that there would be a problem, and they may have just preferred cash. After lunch we took the funicular back down the hillside. Shannon went to a souvenir shop and purchased a fine leather bag and a snowman.

After our bus driver, Sergei, picked us up, with impressive feats of maneuvering the bus, we drove for 2 hours or so to Würzburg. We checked into a modern sleek hotel operated by Mariott. The dinner for tonight included wine tasting, but was a far distance away, and the meal consisted almost entirely of asparagus-based dishes. I declined to attend, and stayed back at the hotel to shower, rest, and try to re-hydrate. I had a couple bites of the steak jerky we brought along, a bottle of water, another bottle of water with electrolytes, and I’ve got 2 more bottles of water on deck.

We have an early start tomorrow going to the Neuschwanstein castle. The bus leaves at 7:30. I’m going to have to make breakfast count.

We started the day with hotel breakfast. I had scrambled eggs, a couple slices of bagon, a weisswurst, some hash rounds, and 2 little miniature pancakes with nothing on them. Also some sauteed mushrooms. I learned later you’re not supposed to eat the casing on the weisswurst, but it was good. They also had a cappuccino machine.

At 9 AM we were on the bus and headed to Speyer, which was not on the original itinerary, but was added after the Rhine river cruise in Mainz became impossible due to the flooding. The ride up to Speyer took probably a little over an hour.

This entire region is the Rhineland, and it looks exactly the Missouri Rhineland, which was named for the original Rhineland. Oak trees, rolling hills, bluffs, and vineyards all around. Verges and sidewalk areas, and the center strip splitting roads are not mowed. That may be due to wanting to leave those natural for pollinators like bees this time of year. We’ve seen a lot of un-mowed areas already.

In Speyer, we walked through the cathedral gardens to get up to the Speyer Dom cathedral. This cathedral, and apparently the other Doms in this region as well, were specifically “for the emperors” or something to that effect. The Speyer Dom had crypts with at least 4 emperors buried there, from the same family line. This cathedral was also beautiful.

After that, we walked past an area that was historically Jewish, then visited a Prussian Union church, which was much newer. The Union church had balconies all around, lots of wood, and is rather ornate for a protestant church. There was a German lady present who told us about how they were proud of the democratic decision where 99% of people (excluding women) voted to become a Union church. We were probably not the right group to tell that detail to! The origin of the LCMS is Lutherans leaving Germany to avoid being put into the Union.

From there we went up to the main market area over to a Biergarten for lunch. Apparently this wasn’t a “real” Biergarten per our guide because you weren’t allowed to bring your own food. Shannon and I split the Brewer’s Plate, which consisted of a small steak, 2 small pork chunks, fried potatoes, sauteed mushrooms, and green beans with a white sauce. I enjoyed everything but the green beans, which I declined to try. I got a small Radler and Shannon had an Apfelschorle, which is a German apple juice soda type drink. We liked the Radler so much we ordered a second larger one.

After lunch we walked back to the bus, and then rode down to Worms. Speyer is a city of approximately 50,000 people, Worms seemed much larger at 80,000 people. We de-boarded the bus and walked to a monument of Reformation figures, of whom Luther was at the Center. But Zwingli and Calvin were also represented among others. From there we went to the Worms Dom cathedral, rounding out the 3 Doms in the Rhineland region.

Luther also appeared in the stained glass at the Worms Dom, which was interesting. I think this is because in Germany, Luther is a national figure as much or even more so than a religious figure. We returned to the bus which took us back to our hotel in Mainz.

Shannon and I walked to a restaurant called Cubo Negro for dinner. We split a bruschetta, a cheddar burger, and some fries. For dessert Shannon had a Caramel Macchiato ice cream cone and I had a lemon ice cream. It may have been gelato. Shannon drank a Rose wine with dinner and I had an Old Fashioned. The Old Fashioned was quite good. The entire meal was somewhat expensive, over 50 EUR. Water is not included for free at restaurants. Other than at the trip-provided meals, we’re kind of taking half rations, which is probably good for us, and as much as we actually need anyway.

I called my mom to check in when we got back to the hotel, took a shower, and went to bed.

I got up around 6:30 and went down to the Pear Tree’s continental breakfast. It was decent all things considered. I had a couple biscuits, some sausage patties, and scrambled eggs. I went back down later to get Shannon a cream cheese bagle and some sausage patties because she was busy preparing to leave.

We checked out around 10:50, then boarded the hotel’s airport shuttle at 11. Apparently the shuttle will be available to pick us back up from the airport when we return on 6/16. We checked in at the United counter and turned over our checked luggage, both of which were below the 50 pound weight limit.

Some other members of our Luther Tours group were checking in at the same time, and we ended up sitting by them over at the gate as well, and chatting a bit. Nice folks from St. Joseph.

Other tour members showed up bit by bit, including LCMS Missouri District President Pr. Lee Hagen and his wife, the tour’s hosts. The first flight from St. Louis to Chicago was quick and uneventful. The second flight from Chicago to Frankfurt was brutal. We were in a 787, and the seats are only 17.3 inches wide. Also, during an 8 hour flight, your legs fill up with blood. A tip we should remember is to take compression socks for a long flight. Halfway through it felt like pure torture.

When we got to Frankfurt, we were happy to deboard the plane. Then we had to walk for ages within the airport to get to the customs. They pretty much waived me right through, but Shannon got interrogated for a bit. After that we reclaimed our bags, then went out of the baggage area towards the exit and encountered the rest of our group that had gone on ahead in the airport, as well as our tour guide for the week, Thomas.

We then took another quite extensive walk out to the bus, loaded up our luggage, and made for Mainz. Our first destination in Mainz was St. Stephan’s church. It was smaller compared to the next few we viewed, but very nice. Still a basilica-style building. We had to walk to it from the bus for probably 8-10 minutes. This would become a theme for the rest of the trip. The bus can only get so close to the old centers of cities built long before the development of the automobile.

After returning to the bus, we drove down to the Mainz market place, which we had to walk to, and then went on a tour of the Gutenberg museum. We had an hour long tour given by one of the museum docents who is also apparently a police officer. This tour was interesting, but would’ve been much better if we had not been awake for 24 straight hours by the point.

After the Gutenberg Museum tour, Shannon bought some post cards in the gift shop, and then the group took a break in the market plaza for lunch. We were trend setters by going off this way on our own before anyone gave permission. Actually now that I think about it, lunch was before the museum trip. We got fried cod fish with potato salad. The potato salad had ham in it, but not much. The fish was good, the potato salad was OK. It cost us 15 EUR.

After the museum, we walked over to the Mainz Dom cathedral, which was probably the most impressive of the cathedrals we have seen so far on the trip. Both St. Stephan’s and The Mainz Dom are Catholic churches. Evidently they’re lucky to get 30-40 people in attendance for services on any given Sunday.

As I understood it from our tour guide, the churches here are supported by taxes, and anyone who is a member of a church has to pay an 8% income tax in support of the church. This is apparently part of the reason why people don’t attend church much, not wanting to pay the tax to support the church, which is required by law.

Finally we walked from the Mainz Dom to the hotel, passing along the Rhine river. The Rhine is flooded right now, which prevented us from taking the Rhine River Cruise on Day 2. After checking into the hotel around 4:30, I took a shower and we went down to the group dinner at 6 at the hotel restaurant. They had buffet style food for us. I had a sour lemonade to drink which was good. On the buffet, I had some stuffed beef, roasted potatoes, salmon, and shrimp. I also had some bread with pesto, and for dessert a piece of lemon pie and tiramisu. The potatoes were nothing special but the rest of it, especially the beef, was very good.

We retired to the room and were asleep by probably 8 PM, maybe earlier, after having been awake for 36 or so hours.

Shannon’s mom drove us down to the Union Station in Kansas City. Shannon got us lattes from Parisi and we waited for time to board the train. The lattes were very good. Nearly as good as Friendly Bean. When the time came to board the train, we walked out and there was a long walkway that lead to stairs, which most people took. We and some others took the elevator down to the platform because of our baggage.

We boarded the last car of the train. There was a luggage area to put the bags, and then we selected some seats. Shannon had been worried about the train trip since she had taken the train to Chicago a few years ago and had a poor experience. Thankfully the fears were quickly alleviated, because the train ride was great. The last car must have been fairly new. Everything was clean and well-put-together. There was free wifi on the train, and we were able to work on personal projects during the trip. I spent time reading the DAMA-DMBOK2 in preparation for the test I hope to take when I get back. Shannon also put together some good notes on how we might drive volunteerism at church.

The train ride takes nearly 6 hours compared to the 4 hours driving, because there are numerous stops where the train waits 5-10 minutes. There was a dining car available as well, and Shannon bought us some drinks. The biggest mistake we made for the train was not having our water bottles filled ahead of time, which made for a thirsty ride until she bought a diet Coke and a water bottle for us to share.

My sister picked us up at the Gateway Travel Center in St. Louis. I had designed the trip so we could have ridden the MetroLink from the train station to where our hotel was, the Pear Tree right across from the airport. However, with all our baggage, and bad experiences the last time we rode the MetroLink related to safety, we were glad to have her get us. She drove us to the hotel where we checked in, then we went over to her place.

We visited with her, her husband, and our niece for a couple hours, and eventually walked down the street to a local pizza place. Shannon and I split a medium which had pepperoni, salami, capicola, and possibly other meats. It was salty, but good. A medium was definitely enough, especially with a walk on both ends of the experience.

After dinner, it was getting to be Sunday evening and they had to prepare for the week, so my sister took us back to the hotel, where we relaxed for the remainder of the evening.