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Dear Friends,
Here is a short report of my trip to Germany and Spain, which lasted from September 13th to October 13th.
When I planned the trip, I made a huge mistake by not booking a direct flight to Cologne. The original plan was to fly to Munich, rent a car there and travel in style and comfort with a rented Beamer to Cologne, while visiting friends along the way. Well, it did not go that way………
The first company I booked with tried to scam me out of $450, which took about a week to sort out. Eventually, I got my money back but still did not have a car one week before my trip started.
I then booked another car with another company. Renting a car with automatic transmission and a/c proved to be much more expensive than anticipated, but eventually, I found a great deal for another Beamer for $850 for one month. The only problem – if you want to be 100% insured for all eventualities, the additional insurance for one month runs nearly $1700, so that the total would have been about $2500 for one month. I know that one is supposed to NOT buy the additional insurance since one has coverage with one’s credit card. But I did not want to take the risk to be liable for thousands of $’s in damages if something major would have happened, so the risk was greater than I was willing to accept. Instead, I decided that it would make more sense to buy a car once I get there, since I want to move to Germany anyway next year.
I was not able to find a flight from Munich to Cologne (my main-stop on this trip), so I decided to take the train instead.
I left Ft Lauderdale for my first stop, Philly (2 hours), where I had a 3-hour layover. Then on to Munich (8 hours), where I took the Lufthansa bus to the train station (1 hour). 3 hours later, my train left for the 5 hour trip to Cologne. (Total travel time – 22 hours !)
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I arrived beaten, tired and hungry, but to a very warm welcome by my friends Gaby and Ralf, who had a lovely apartment waiting for me to use free of charge during my stay.
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The next day, Gaby asked me if I want to join her and Ralf for a short trip to Spain, where they own a beautiful villa by the sea. Of course, I said yes, so off we went for a long weekend in Mallorca. Spain is everything I remembered from trips I took there many years ago – wonderful people, great food, perfect weather; everything is just beautiful. We had great bbq’s at home and superb dinners by the beach, paella, seafood, wine, company………ahhhh 🙂
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Two day’s after returning to Cologne, I bought myself a car and was now ready to visit friends I had not seen in many years.
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First I went to the town of “Adenau” in the “Eifel”, a beautiful mountainous area about 45 minutes from Cologne, where I stayed at the lovely home of my friends Heiner and his charming wife Sigrid. Heiner and I are friends since the early 80’s. We met in Manila in the Philippines, so our memories of that time and place are plentiful, happy and exciting 🙂 .
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My next stop was Bietigheim-Bissingen, where my friends Albrecht and Heide own a lovely restaurant for 30 years, the very cozy “Kueferstueble”. Albrecht and I worked together about 40 years ago, first on the “Royal Viking Sky”, then at the “Restaurant Ratskeller” in Ludwigsburg.
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After spending 3 nights full of great food, many bottles of tasty wine, and many happy memories, I went on to visit “Gechingen”, the little village in the “Black Forrest where I grew up. There I visited Gisela, the widow of my childhood friend Roland, who left us way too early 10 years ago.
Not much has changed in the 50 years since I left. If anything, Gechingen has become even prettier than I remembered.
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From Gechingen I took the scenic route through the heart of the “Black Forrest. Starting in “Freudenstadt”, the “Schwarzwaldhochstrasse” stretches about 65 kilometers to its end in Baden Baden”. I took my good time, stopping many times to take in the beautiful views and enjoy the typical specialties in small Inn’s, such as “Schwarzwaelder Kirschtorte:, “Schwarzwald Becher”, and for lunch, “Schwaebischer Rostbraten mit Hausgemachten Spaetzle”.
Once I reached Baden Baden, I splurged and spend a night at the “Brenners Parkhotel”. At $600.00 a night, not exactly budget-friendly, but what the heck…… 🙂 .
Next morning, I traveled back up the “Schwarzwaldhochstrasse” to the “Kurhaus Sand”, where I took a right turn down the steep and hairpin-rich road towards “Buehlertal”. This took me past the “Hotel Wiedenfelsen”, where I did my Apprenticeship 50 years earlier.
In Buehlertal I visited my former boss, “Ersatz Father”, and nowadays great friend, Karl Mueller and his lovely wife Uschi.
I did not have their address nor phone number, but I remembered the general area where they live and where I visited them many years ago on my last trip to Germany, when I was accompanied by my wife Maria, who has since passed away.
After asking a few people on the street, I got directed to the house of Karl and Uschi. I rang the bell, which was answered by a man I judged to be my age, so I assumed him to be Karl’s son Markus. I asked him if Karl Mueller lives there. He asked me what I want. I told him my name at which time he remembered me and happily hugged me. Turns out, it was Karl, 82 years old, but looking not a day over 65 🙂 Uschi remembered me right away, and from that moment on, we had a great time remembering times past, a million small things long forgotten but now easily recalled.
That evening we had a great dinner, followed the next day by a wonderful afternoon of conversation, coffee and sweets in a typical “Black Forrest Inn” on the “Scwarzwaldhochstrasse”.
I stayed another day in the “Rebstock” in “Buehlertal”, then took the “Autobahn” from “Baden Baden” back to “Cologne”.
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After another week with Gaby and Ralf, filled with huge amounts of food and wine, on October the 13th I took the same horrible journey of 22 hours back to Fort Lauderdale.
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And here are a couple of great things you’ll find while traveling on the Autobahn:
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Click here to watch the video of the self-cleaning toilet !!!  🙂

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And finally – the craziest thing I encountered during this month :

 

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Conclusion:
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1) Real friends are the best thing in life !
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2) Germany is the best place to retire, assuming you love cold and rainy weather (Which I do) 🙂
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3) In Germany, if you want to eat real Italian food, don’t go to an Italian Restaurant. (It seems that most “Italian” Restaurants in Germany are now run by folks of other  ethnic backgrounds)
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4) Food, in general, is still far better in Germany, especially in traditional German restaurants.
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5) Ethnic restaurants in Germany don’t serve ethnic food 😦 . Just like in most other countries, “Ethnic” food has been adapted to local taste, but in Germany much more so than anywhere else, to the point of being unrecognizable (see # 3)
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6) Everybody should visit Europe at least once, to get a better perspective of life and circumstances in places with strong traditions and immense History.
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7) Life is Good !
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