As a German car enthusiast this trip was way overdue. Since 1989 all my cars have been German made, prior to that was a Swedish made Volvo.
2 Countries
1,848 Miles
44 hours & 34 minutes driving time
12 Restaurants
18 Bakeries
8 Ice cream shops
Saturday, May 23rd, 2015
Chicago 8 hours to...
Sunday, May 24th, 2015
>...Berlin, Germany.
Being in the country that produces cars of the pinnacle of quality, workmanship and performance; with character and legend, the rental car selection was of the utmost importance.
Sadly, they did not have anything with a manual transmission like I reserved. “You people always want automatic", the rental car lady said in shock.
“We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace. General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
This is the location of Hitler's bunker. While nothing remains at the surface, since it had 10 foot walls and was 30 feet underground something likely survives subterranean. It was here he shot himself and then soldiers burned his body per his instructions so the approaching Soviet troops would not get it.
The next destination required a long walk that went through an area where I couldn't read the signs, but a certain letter being repeated indicated the store’s wares. Then a young lady approached me. Then another.
Kaufhaus des Westerns on the right and Ku'Damm (5th Avenue of Berlin) on the left.
Took the subway back so my new lady friends would leave me alone.
The Berlin Wall divided this capital city from August 13th, 1961 until November 9th, 1989. It was emotional to imagine how this Soviet act squashed freedom. How could anything like that ever happen?
On the left is the Topography Museum and to the right is a preserved section of the Wall.
The Topography Museum, built on the site of the SS and Gestapo headquarters, traces the Nazis. It was too disturbing and I had to leave.
Checkpoint Charlie is now a major tourist destination. Can you even see it in the crowd?
The Checkpoint Charlie Museum rambles over dozens of rooms documenting the rise of the Wall, escapes and deaths. One room (right) is dedicated to Ronald Reagan. “The Reagan name stands for freedom and democracy.” They got that right!
Augustiner am Gendarmenmarkt
Baked roast pork with Bavarian cabbage, fried potatoes and a dumpling. And that is why this was the only meal of the day.
Reichstag is like their parliament.
A long walk to the north side of Berlin.
The Berlin Wall Memorial has sections of the wall or outlines its route with vertical bars or stripes in bricks.
A section of security perimeter is preserved.
Meandered back into the downtown area....
...taking in all the memories while admiring how Europeans are better at living outside.
Monday, May 25th, 2015
Prior to this trip I told myself I’d behave on the Autobahn for the first day to get used to it and the car. That mentality lasted for 3 minutes. (That’s 130MPH.)
Volkswagen AG’s Wolfsburg facility is the largest automotive plant in the world.
After being bombed during WWII, the plant was brought back to life by the British. It was a thrill to see the four famous smokestacks.
The Volkswagen Autostadt is a major destination featuring car pavilions of their brands (Volkswagen, Audi, Seat, Skoda, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Bentley, MAN and Porsche), museums, car delivery, restaurants, boat tours of the complex, driving courses and shopping.
No plant tours that day. Drat.
Zeithaus is the car museum housing a priceless collection representing milestones of autos.
The Scirocco is near and dear to my heart. That Bugatti is the original 1999 show car. Since that model sold for $1.2 million imagine what this one is worth.
Seat Pavilion.
Audi Pavilion. Volkswagen Pavilion.
Porsche Pavilion.
The CarTowers have become a recognizable emblem of this complex. New cars move robotically from the factory through a 700 meter underground tunnel and are placed in the silos by mechanical arms. If you select to pick up a car at Volkswagen this allows the odometer to read “0”.
Celle.
Bergen-Belsen started out as a POW camp after the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. In April of 1943 the SS took over the camp for Jews.
Since the grounds are a series of mass graveyards for some of the 52,000 who died there, this is the only picture I took at the entrance. It was really rough to walk the grounds and imagine the horrors that happened there.
Driving from Bergen past Hannover through the NW part of the country I thought of the brave Allied troops marching through this area as they struggled to take Berlin.
Did between 100 and 120 to Dusseldorf.
Tuesday, May 26th, 2015
This morning’s hour run was a means to see the areas of Dusseldorf including Rhine Promenade, Alstadt and Konigsallee (the 5th Avenue of Dusseldorf).
Breakfast of champions.
Straddling the Rhine, Cologne was bombed 262 times in World War II.
Chunks of apple in a gooey dough under a crisp casing made this Apfelschnecken Berliner tantalizing.
Gasp! Turning the corner the intricate Dom reaching to God took my breath away.
It’s up there with the duomo in Florence.
Took a leisurely stroll. Love European train stations.
Took a swing through Bonn to check it out including seeing where Beethoven lived until he was 22.
Motoring down E35 in the middle lane at 110ish (MPH) suddenly a truck changed lines from the right. Always aware of surrounding cars I knew one was rapidly coming up on the left and the one he was passing would block me on the right. That left stabbing the brakes which propelled everything on the passenger seat onto the floor and verified Bimmer’s active seatbelt restraint system works.
Frankfurt effectively mixes modern and old.
Romerberg is the main square exhibiting a façade you’d expect in Germany. Loved it!
Berliner.
A myriad of pedestrian streets provokes wandering around taking in the delightful atmosphere.
Fressgass is called pig out alley from its dominance by eateries. Right up my alley. (See what I did there?)
First stop was a stand for the ubiquitous German darling Currywurst.
Then Pflawmenkuchen m. streusel . And then Rhabarberplunder. And then a food coma.
Tonight’s lodging in Heidelberg was at a grand old Europe hotel dating to 1856. Where the young lady at the front desk was wearing one of those traditional outfits. You know what I mean fellas. Since they went through the trouble I felt to compelled to evaluate. She passed.
The one mile long Hauptsrassse is Germany’s longest pedestrian street.
Hidden in a side ally housed in an old cooper’s shop is Weinstrube Schnitezelbank.
Time to cross something else off the German food bucket list with Weiner Schnitzel.
Heidelberg Castle oversees the town below.
There are two funiculars to take you to the top of Königstuhl. The first modern, the second from 1907.
View of the Neckar Valley from the top.
Got some gelato from one of dozens of stands and enjoyed it so much got more (Nutella) (when in Rome...).
Wednesday, May 27th, 2015
The morning's run took me down a desolate Hauptsrassse and around Alte Universitate. Checked out of the hotel. Different girl. Same type of outfit. More evaluating. She passed.
Perched on a cliff, Bad Wimpen’s rolling hills evoke marvel.
Stuttgart is home to two legendary car companies.
The Porsche Museum, across the street from one of the factories, is a work of art that contains works of art.
Ferdinand Porsche was an engineer at Austro Daimler denoted by this 1932 Austro Daimler Bergmeister (left) and then he created the people’s car, the VW Kafer.
The most legendary of all his creations. The 1948 Porsche 356.
A row of the benchmark of the brand. The 911. If you just tinkled yourself looking at that you’re not alone. See they are on turntables?!
Rented a 911 Carrera 4S direct from Porsche for an hour. Add this experience to driving a $250,000 Ferrari 458 Italia past the Ferrari factory in Maranello, Italy. (I know, I know, I look good with that cabriolet.)
Turns out when you rent an $118,000 car they put a sizeable deposit on your credit card.
Settling into the highly bolstered seats the transmission was switched to sport, Tiptronic moved to manual to use the paddle shifters and radio turned off to better hear that 3.8 liter German powerplant.
Leaving Stuttgart, entered the Autobahn northbound and as soon as the no speed limit sign was spotted I dropped the hammer unleashing the scream and gurgling of 400 horses behind me. It was a beautiful noise.
Pressed into the seat the ultra-low profile tires on 19” rims fastened to a sport suspension transmitted an ethereal connection to the asphalt.
Back on the Autobahn, the last chance at high speed in this beast was thwarted by traffic only allowing 130+ MPH. Look at this Renault move in front of me. Jeesh.
Passed through downtown Stuttgart on the way to the...
...Mercedes Benz Museum.
Of course everyone knows MB invented the car in 1886.
Signage traces world events tied with the ebb and flow of Mercedes.
Signage didn’t explain the famous gullwing doors of the coveted 1955 300SL are to deal with the wide sills.
View of part of the Daimler Benz factory from the museum.
Military industrial targets in Ulm left this 1,500 year old city heavily damaged after WWII.
Ulm Minster is the tallest church in the world.
Surrounding the Munster are pedestrian streets. And bakery!
Hit up Firats for Donner, the Turkish sandwich found all over Germany. Delectable with its succulent meat countered by cold and crisp lettuce in a toasted flatbread.
Tucked in a valley where the Alps begin to rise, Fussen is anchored in the past with today’s foothold in tourism.
Kasesahne and Apricot Gelato.
The main draws south of Fussen are a couple of castles.
Schloss Neuschwanstein was built by Ludwig II from 1869 to 1884 and is recognized as being the inspiration for Disney’s Sleeping Beauty castle.
Schloss Hohenschwangau was built from 1833 to 1837 for Crown Prince Maximilian.
The terrain and buildings’ Tyrolean feel increased the closer I got to Austria.
Oberammergau is known for its Passion Play.
MIttenwald’s streets twist among tree shaded shops.
Crossed into Austria, country #21 for me. (Barely making a dent. 175 to go.)
Where the Karwendel Alps drop into the Inn river lies Innsbruck.
Café Sacher invented the sachertorte in 1832. Which means they can charge 14 euros for this ‘Lilliput’ sized one.
Thursday, May 28th, 2015
A run through the working class areas of Innsbruck before heading east on 171 through a series of small towns.
The population density decreased and nature increased.
Kitzenbuhl is an old mining town that is now a big draw for skiers in winter.
Back to Germany.
Tucked in the Bavarian Alps, Berchtesgaden was a hotbed of Nazi activity in the 1930s and early 40s.
A bus takes tourists up a 7 kilometer road climbing 2,600 feet with only 1 hairpin turn to the Kehlsteinhaus.
AKA Eagle’s Nest or Hitler’s Lair (at the top of this picture), this mountain retreat was finished in 1939 and used for entertaining.
A 407 foot tunnel takes you to a gold plated elevator that rises 407 feet into the building.
It struck me as odd to see everyone lounging around and enjoying the restaurant at a place where such evil was planned.
At the base of the mountain was a major military complex that had 1,300 tons of bombs dropped on it at the closing days of the war in 1945. This building houses the Dokumentationszentrum Obersalzberg. The museum was only in German, so I couldn’t see how they portrayed the war.
Underneath it are the bunkers that protected the Germans and its design and accoutrements show they were in it for the long haul.
The 82 miles from Bad Reichenhal (pictured) to Munich took less than an hour. “I could get used to this.”
Across the street from the factory, BMW Welt house showrooms, restaurants, galleries and shopping. Did a little car shopping.
Too late in the day for a plant tour. Drat.
One of the plants on the left , tower is BMW HQ and the BMW Museum on the right.
Of course everyone knows Bayerische Moteren Werke started as an airplane motor manufacturer in 1916 and is why their emblem is a propeller. The motorcycle enthusiasts of the company convinced them to start making those in 1921. Cars soon followed.
The 506. I’ve always considered one of the most beautiful cars ever crafted.
From the BMW complex headed south into downtown Munich, stashed the BMW in a car park and headed to the Viktualienmarkt.
A sea of people.
Marienplatz. Yeah, even way more beautiful in person.
One of the most famous restaurants in the world, the Hofbrauhaus.
A series of rooms likes this and the gardens are serenaded by a band.
After placing my order the waitress was like, “You know how much food that is?” “Yep, have to keep trying German specialties.” That is potato salad, spaetzle, sausage sampler and sauerkraut.
Continued to stroll around the wonderful pedestrian streets soaking it all in.
Friday, May 29th, 2015
Went back to BMW Welt trying to get on a plant tour. Booked up until the end of the day. Drat.
Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site.
Dachau was opened on March 22nd, 1933 by Hitler as a concentration camp for political prisoners. By the time the Americans liberated it on April 29th, 1945 41,500 were murdered. The section that remains preserved today is the rectangular area on the right of this model.
The roll call area backed by a building that held showers, laundry and food.
One cannot prevent thinking of all the loss of lives and butchery of souls and weep.
In this shot of the showers you can see the picture of how they looked.
Two barracks were reconstructed in the 1960s.
The same poplar trees 7 decades later.
The only picture of the crematorium. Anything more did not feel right. The ovens are still in it.
GRAVE OF MANY THOUSANDS UNKNOWN
Ingolstadt is home to the four rings.
Audi’s emblem symbolizes the four car companies that merged to create the Auto Union brand.
Latin for listen, “Audi” became part of the Volkswagen group in 1966 as its luxury car brand. Decades before Toyota/Lexus, Honda/Acura and Nissan/Infiniti got credit for that tactic.
It was a holiday so no plant tours. Drat.
The Audi Museum’s three floors spiral down an open atrium and exhibit the finest examples from Audi, Horch, DKW and Wanderer. Tracing the history of the company, car culture and technology.
1937 Horch 853. 1939 Horch 855.
1932 Horch 670. 1938 Wanderer W 25 K.
THE Quattro.
Inside one of Audi's office buildings. Still trying to figure out what brand and model to get.
Nuremburg was a showplace for Nazi construction.
The Documentation Centre Nazi Party Rally Grounds will be recognized for the rallies of those nutcases.
There was a museum inside, but everything was in German. I would have been interested to see how they portrayed the war. This is the image I loved.
For most, Nuremberg will forever be tied to the trials of Nazi war criminals from November 1945 through October 1946 at this courthouse. In room 600 cases were heard and sentences applied.
Rushed to the alstadt of Nuremberg to stroll the old city streets.
Zum Gulden Stern was built in 1375.
It is a meeting spot for the city council to set standards for bratwurst.
Their small size harkens back to the day where they needed to fit in the keyholes to sell after hours.
HAD to have a bratwurst from a street stand.
Saturday, May 30th, 2015
Under an overcast sky this morning’s drive followed county roads through quaint timeless villages.
Hold on, there's a bakery.
The gated entrance over a moat into Rothenburg ob der Tauber indicates the delightful scenes you will be experiencing.
Half-timber framing, colorful facades, cobbletone…it’s all here to enchant.
Oh gee, they have some bakeries.
Schneeball is the local specialty going back centuries. It is a curled ball of fried pie dough. And not that good.
Bought this fixer-upper in Wurzburg.
Took a delightful drive through the countryside and more of those charming towns.
German engineering.
Buchenwald was one of Germany’s largest concentration camps.
Opened in 1937 there were 56,545 deaths until the Americans liberated it in 1945.
The ovens are still in the crematorium. When the Allied troops took the camp bodies were stacked in the courtyard to the left. Sick.
More motoring on the country roads before jumping back on the Autobahn.
Schooss Neuenburg outside of Freyburg.
Built by Thuringian count Ludwig der Springer around 1090.
Pictures weren't allowed....so these are downloaded from my memory.
After hundreds of thousands of miles around the world this was a first. Traffic stopped on 14. For half an hour. I actually got my Paperwhite from my backpack in the trunk and read. By coincidence it was maybe my sixth book on Easy Company who landed behind enemy lines early on D-Day and battled through France, Belgium and into the Fatherland.
Once part of East Germany, Dresden shows the Soviet influence in the block buildings driving into the city amid ornate old Europe buildings.
Found a car park and started trekking all over the alstadt.
After the February 1945 bombings, Fruenkirche sat as a pile of rubble as Dresden found itself behind the Iron Curtain.
In 1990 the rebuilding started. The dark stones are used from that pile of rubble.
After climbing a heck of a lot of stairs you are rewarded with this view from the cupola.
Seeing locals in line at this stand on a concrete island between tram tracks I discovered some of the best ice cream I’ve ever had. Somewhat airy with a hint of marshmallow.
The 200 kilometers from Dresden to Berlin...didn’t take that long.
Sunday, May 31st, 2015
Berlin- one last run.
9 hours to Chicago. Driving home at 70MPH was like slow motion.