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Necessities: If you are going in the fall, you need a light jacket or maybe even one with a hood. October was much colder than I expected.
Prague
My boyfriend (now husband) and I had been dating for three months when we decided to travel together. In the fall of 2006 we flew overnight into Prague in the Czech Republic, landing on a Friday morning. We only had two days in Prague and the Jewish area would be closed on Saturday. I scheduled a walking tour for the afternoon so that we wouldn’t miss out. My boyfriend apparently didn’t hear me when I told him in advance and was so mad when we arrived in Prague. To this day, I haven’t been forgiven and have never again scheduled a walking tour on arrival day!
The reason visiting the Jewish Ghetto was so important to me was because it was surprisingly not destroyed during WWII and the area was used to store the Jews confiscated belongings. I was told that Hitler had planed to build a museum of an extinct race.
The Charles Bridge, founded in 1357, is lined with statues. It is crowded during the day but very pretty and fun to walk over or take a boat ride under.
There is a great restaurant called Kampa Park that overlooks the Bridge. It’s a great place if you are celebrating something special, even if what is special is the vacation itself!
There was a lot of ornateness to the buildings in Prague. I loved the detail in the astronomical clock tower built on the facade of a building.
Prague Castle sits high on the hill, overlooking the old town.
Karlovy Vary
Upon leaving Prague, we drove toward Germany, stopping in the town of Karlovy Vary. It’s an easy stop on the way to Munich. The area is known for its Colonnades (springs) and people go there to drink and bathe in their healing waters. Some of the water was cold, some warm, and some was salty.
The Strudel Colonnade is the oldest and best known.
The Mill Colonnade, aka Zatek’s Colonnade, is the largest and houses five springs.
Munich
We stopped overnight in a small town in Bavaria and then headed to Munich. One of my favorite things about Germany is all of the sausage. It was in such abundance you could buy it as street food, or enjoy it in a restaurant. Eating sausage at the Viktualienmarkt was delightful.
The BMW museum is in Munich, so of course we visited. It had been heavily bombed during WWII.
The symbol of Munich is the lion and they can be found all over. Make sure you rub one for good luck!
Our last night in Munich was spent at the Hofbrauhaus, a place famous for Octoberfest, where even regular days inspire traditional attire.
Dauchau
An easy excursion from Munich is a visit to Dauchau. It became a concentration camp immediately after Hitler became Chancellor (March 1933) and served as a model for all later concentration camps. It was liberated in April 1945. There is not much original left there, but I visited on a foggy morning that felt quite eerie. Visiting Dauchau is hard, but important. Since history tends to repeat itself, we need to remember to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
The Romantic Road
We left Dachau for a much more happy place: The Romantic Road. We stopped in a charming town called Rothenburg. If you are interested in Christmas markets, this might be the town for you. There are stores abound selling nutcrackers and ornaments.
This is Plonlein (aka Little Square) and Siebers Tower.
Our second stop was to Wurtzburg, part of the wine region. The Marienberg Fortress looks over the town and has grape vines on the hill below it. The day ended in the tow of Mainz, just outside of Frankfurt, to visit a friend..
The next day we drove to Waldeck where we stayed in a castle. It was built in the 11th century and was home to the Counts of Waldeck. It has served as barracks, a state penitentiary, a state archive, forestry office and then became a hotel in 1906. It was recently renovated and is now called Hotel Schloss Waldeck.
We also visited the town of Kassel along with Wilhelmshöhe Castle, the Evil Bridge aka Devil’s Bridge and the Hercules Monument.
Named Devil’s Bridge because it was dangerous to build and defied nature so people assumed it must have been built by Satan.
Berlin
Our driving trip ended in Berlin. There is so much history in Berlin and it is so interesting to see the differences between the vibrant West and grey East, although that is changeing over time. We stayed at the Kempinski on the West side, but found we spent more time in the East. The West side had the high end shopping and was generally much more colorful and bright.
The Brandenburg Gate, one of the few things not destroyed in the war.
This Communist TV Tower was built to be seen. It was modeled after Sputnik because the Soviets were ahead in the space race. The West called it the “Pope’s Revenge” because it reflects the sun into a sign of the cross and the communists had an atheist foundation.
There is a great historical fiction book about a girl living in Berlin when the wall went up called A Night Divided that I highly recommend. One way of escape mentioned in the book is hiding in a vehicle. If you visit the Checkpoint Charlie Museum, you can see an example of how it was done. Some sections of the wall still remain and offer a lot of information for those interested.
Driving in Germany was very easy. Just remember, there are no speed limits…except when there are. Look out for construction zones!
