Onto the rest of Germany..Dusseldorf, Munich, Karlsruhe (Picasa Link) and a few other cities. We were definitely seeing a lot of the country. One big reason is this sweet DB Rail deal that Awanti found online - the Weltmeisterinnen Pass, or the World Cup pass. I know, I know, the FIFA World Cup was over 5 yrs ago, but this pass was for the Women's World Cup which was held in June and July in Germany. The pass entitled us to unlimited travel on all of Germany's trains, including their crown jewel - the ICE. They have a speedo in each compartment and we saw it check in at 320 km/h when traveling from Dusseldorf to Munich.
Anyhow, from Hamburg we moved onto Dusseldorf, where Johanna, Awanti's exchange partner from yesteryears lives. After a day spent walking around Dusseldorf and the Rhine promenade, we took a couple of day trips to Cologne and Aachen. We also managed to drag Johanna, not the most enthusiastic of walkers, for a small hike near Bonn. Her parents, who Awanti stayed with for a month the last time she was in Dusseldorf, also invited us over for dinner and Annette, her mother, cooked us a fabulous Auf Lauf. One interesting tid bit that I feel worth mentioning is that Johanna owns a horse which she rides and cares for almost everyday and keeps at a stable close to her place. Coming from India, where owning a horse is something you only read of in story-books or need to be fairly wealthy to afford, it was interesting to see that normal people could and did own horses in Germany. The stables are set in a couple of hundred acres of rolling woodlands and hills, barely 3 miles from the city-centre and I enjoyed some good long runs on the wooded trails.
Post-Dusseldorf we took the ICE to Munich. If there's a city in Germany I could see myself moving to, it would be Munich. We spent 4 wonderful days walking around the English Gardens - one of the largest urban parks in the world, checking out the fabulous wealth in the form of jewels, crowns, and other ancient object accumulated by the Kaisers over the past 6 centuries. On one of the days we headed out to Schloss Neuschwanstein. This is THE CASTLE and is universally regarded as one of the most beautiful in the world. They say it also served as inspiration for the Disney castles. The castle was built by King Ludwig II, the last of the fore-mentioned Kaisers. As Bavaria moved towards democracy, the King was increasing side-lined, but still given a huge allowance to keep up appearances. Ludwig decided to build a couple of castles will all his money - but just not any castles. His castles are some of the most extravagant and over-the-top edifices built by man, and they bankrupted him in the process. The King wasn't able to enjoy the fruit of his labors though, as he was mysteriously found dead in 2 feet of water - his life is the stuff of pot-boiler mysteries. Getting back to the castle - it has probably the perfect location imaginable and it rises as if in a fairy-tale from the woods and a rocky outcrop. The crowds that turn out to see the castle befit it too. Feeling the heat, we decided to hike up Tegelberg, a 5000 ft mountain right behind the castle and were rewarded by stunning alpine beauty and clear vistas. At the top, which is also served by a cable car, there were hundreds of paragliders and hang-gliders taking advantage of the weather to soar with the birds. We enjoyed a nice picnic lunch watching the good and not-so-good attempt to emulate Icarus.
Before heading out from Munich, we also spent a morning at Dachau - the first concentration camp built by the Nazis. At its peak, the camp which was built to house no more than 2000 political prisoners, was crammed with over 200,000 Jews, POWs, Romas and Gypsies, and other sections of society deemed to be unworthy of an existence by the Nazis. The camp also served as a blue-print for other concentration camps, including the infamous Auschwitz and Treblinka concentration camps. The memorial and museum were a great source of information and served as poignant reminders of what could happen when fundamentalists take over a country.
From Munich it was onto Karlsruhe, a university town just north of the Black Forest, where Nayan, Awanti's college friend lives. We decided to spend a day driving around and through the Black Forest and really enjoyed the narrow winding roads through the heavily wooded forests. From the Black Forest we drove to Strasbourg over on the French side of things. Definitely one of the more prettier cities, it is dominated by a giant catherdrla and is is full of cafes and narrow cobble-stoned paths. There was a bomb-threat/hoax on-going, so we were only able to catch snatches and glimpses of the cathedral as we walked around the city. On our way back we hit a section of the famous auto-bahn and Nayan made full use of this by pushing his VW Golf to over 200 every time the road opened up.
We head to France tomorrow and its with some regret that we leave Germany. While German efficiency and the famous engineering is encountered at every turn, its not all straight lines and right angles. We were fortunate to meet and spend time with some fun and interesting people, take in a some great sights and sample new cuisines. Up next is a 120 km, 6 day hike in southern part of France.
Auf weidersehen or Au Revoir as I better start saying.
- Ashish
Anyhow, from Hamburg we moved onto Dusseldorf, where Johanna, Awanti's exchange partner from yesteryears lives. After a day spent walking around Dusseldorf and the Rhine promenade, we took a couple of day trips to Cologne and Aachen. We also managed to drag Johanna, not the most enthusiastic of walkers, for a small hike near Bonn. Her parents, who Awanti stayed with for a month the last time she was in Dusseldorf, also invited us over for dinner and Annette, her mother, cooked us a fabulous Auf Lauf. One interesting tid bit that I feel worth mentioning is that Johanna owns a horse which she rides and cares for almost everyday and keeps at a stable close to her place. Coming from India, where owning a horse is something you only read of in story-books or need to be fairly wealthy to afford, it was interesting to see that normal people could and did own horses in Germany. The stables are set in a couple of hundred acres of rolling woodlands and hills, barely 3 miles from the city-centre and I enjoyed some good long runs on the wooded trails.
Post-Dusseldorf we took the ICE to Munich. If there's a city in Germany I could see myself moving to, it would be Munich. We spent 4 wonderful days walking around the English Gardens - one of the largest urban parks in the world, checking out the fabulous wealth in the form of jewels, crowns, and other ancient object accumulated by the Kaisers over the past 6 centuries. On one of the days we headed out to Schloss Neuschwanstein. This is THE CASTLE and is universally regarded as one of the most beautiful in the world. They say it also served as inspiration for the Disney castles. The castle was built by King Ludwig II, the last of the fore-mentioned Kaisers. As Bavaria moved towards democracy, the King was increasing side-lined, but still given a huge allowance to keep up appearances. Ludwig decided to build a couple of castles will all his money - but just not any castles. His castles are some of the most extravagant and over-the-top edifices built by man, and they bankrupted him in the process. The King wasn't able to enjoy the fruit of his labors though, as he was mysteriously found dead in 2 feet of water - his life is the stuff of pot-boiler mysteries. Getting back to the castle - it has probably the perfect location imaginable and it rises as if in a fairy-tale from the woods and a rocky outcrop. The crowds that turn out to see the castle befit it too. Feeling the heat, we decided to hike up Tegelberg, a 5000 ft mountain right behind the castle and were rewarded by stunning alpine beauty and clear vistas. At the top, which is also served by a cable car, there were hundreds of paragliders and hang-gliders taking advantage of the weather to soar with the birds. We enjoyed a nice picnic lunch watching the good and not-so-good attempt to emulate Icarus.
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| Work sets you free - or so they say |
From Munich it was onto Karlsruhe, a university town just north of the Black Forest, where Nayan, Awanti's college friend lives. We decided to spend a day driving around and through the Black Forest and really enjoyed the narrow winding roads through the heavily wooded forests. From the Black Forest we drove to Strasbourg over on the French side of things. Definitely one of the more prettier cities, it is dominated by a giant catherdrla and is is full of cafes and narrow cobble-stoned paths. There was a bomb-threat/hoax on-going, so we were only able to catch snatches and glimpses of the cathedral as we walked around the city. On our way back we hit a section of the famous auto-bahn and Nayan made full use of this by pushing his VW Golf to over 200 every time the road opened up.
We head to France tomorrow and its with some regret that we leave Germany. While German efficiency and the famous engineering is encountered at every turn, its not all straight lines and right angles. We were fortunate to meet and spend time with some fun and interesting people, take in a some great sights and sample new cuisines. Up next is a 120 km, 6 day hike in southern part of France.
Auf weidersehen or Au Revoir as I better start saying.
- Ashish
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