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Europe Fall 2022

August - November 2022
A 77-day adventure by Dave Read more
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  • 39footprints
  • 10countries
  • 77days
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  • TravelerEurope Fall 2022
    Day 37

    Fussen and the Bavarian Castles

    September 27, 2022 in Germany ⋅ 🌧 52 °F

    We hit the ground running in the morning. The main reason people come to Fussen is to see the famous Neuschwanstein castle of the "Mad King Ludwig." I don't think he was mad, just not good with money and after he went broke building it in the 1880's, he unfortunately only got to live in it for a little while before being deposed. Then he mysteriously died a few days later. His body was found in a lake, along with the body of his physician.

    We decided to take a scenic path to the two castles in the area: Hohenschwangau, where Ludwig was raised, and then onto Neuschwanstein, the picture perfect castle high atop the hill. Many say that it's the main influence for the Disney castle, but I've heard that at other castles before. The walk was amazing. Even though it rained off and on, walking through a lush Bavarian forest was a real treat. Everything was so green. There was lots of moss on the trees and in the distance, we could see the Schwan See and Alp see. These are two turquoise lakes that shine bright through the evergreens. We put in almost 12 miles of walking by day's end.

    We missed our opportunity to take a castle tour. They sell out days in advance, but that's OK because it's the outside of the castle that's most impressive. We walked by the yellow Hohenschwangau castle after an hour or so and then walked up and up to Neuschwanstein. The sun came out and after walking 20 more minutes to the famous Marienbrucke, we got the money shots of the castle in the distance. Marienbrucke is a pedestrian bridge built by Ludwig over a gorge that gives perfect views of the castle in one direction and perfect views of a waterfall if you look behind you.

    On the trail back to the cities, we ran into the 4 guys we sat next to at the Augustiner tent at Octoberfest in Munich. What a small world. We met in a city 2 hours away and were on one of the many trails/roads near the castles. We talked about where we're from and after I said "Madison, Wisconsin" another hiker walking by said "So am I!" He's an Econ student at U of Chicago now, but went to Madison Memorial. It's a REALLY small world. We almost always meet people from Madison when we're traveling abroad.

    We told the Octoberfest guys about the great deals on lederhosen and dirndls we found at a used clothing store in town. Fuessen is a really charming town with lots of locally owned shops in the pedestrianized old town. We just stumbled into a clothing store on a rainy day and I couldn't believe that they were selling lederhosen for $50. It was a resale shop. Score! Like I said in earlier posts, these things regularly cost well over $1000 new. I tried on one I liked, and even though it weighs about 5 pounda, I couldn't resist. I'll fit it in the luggage somehow. Deanne found a nice dirndl from the same company that made her dirndle she bought in Austria when she was 16. So we had to tell these guys about it. It's something a lot of tourists buy for Octoberfest, but usually those are just like cheap costumes and not the real deal. The next day, we went back to the store buy a traditional shirt and blouse.

    Most of Germany is drought-stricken but it's been all rain, all the time lately. Good for them and not so fun for us. But, we found out there's a thermal spa just right outside of town. We tacked on an extra day here because it's so nice and we need to chill a bit. And spending the day at a Bavarian spa is something I've never done before. For about $34 each, we could spend 4 hours changing between saunas and pools of various temps. Problem is, the saunas are naked only, and they're mixed sex areas. It's actually not a problem, but it's a bit of an adjustment. They just let it all hang out. Afer 15 minutes, you don't even notice. It's all ages (mostly over 25) and the population skews older. We loved the brine pool that was 24% salt. You could float on your back and soak it all in.

    Our last night here, we ate at a nice Italian place and our bubbly, extremely gay Slovakian waiter was a hoot. We talked about the places we'd been in Slovakia and he was pretty surprised we knew Poprad and Stary Smokovek. And that Andy Warhol's parents were from near Kosice and not Pittsburgh.

    Tomorrow, we're off for one night only to Lindau, a small German town on lake Konstanz. We know nothing about it and we're kinda winging it.

    More photos and videos are here.
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  • TravelerEurope Fall 2022
    Day 39

    Lindau

    September 29, 2022 in Germany ⋅ 🌧 50 °F

    We were looking for somewhere new to visit and kinda chose Lindau on a whim. Deanne has a friend that lives here, but here's in Greece on vacation. Since we researched it, we went anyway.

    It's just a one- nighter, but we're already regretting not staying longer. We found a great apartment in the pedestrian- zoned old town on a small island in the lake, the Bodensee. That's known to most Americans as Lake Constance. It's yet another charming German town with lots of locally owned shops, great restaurants, and not too many tourists.

    Somewhere within the Bodensee is the border with Switzerland and a tiny sliver of Austria. Ferries go between cities in all 3 countries. It was overcast and a little late, so we skipped a ferry ride and just walked the quaint city streets. There wasn't a whole lot else to do except eat and amble, so maybe one night is enough. Tomorrow we're off to Augsburg for a couple days.

    More photos and videos are here.
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  • TravelerEurope Fall 2022
    Day 40

    Ulm is where the (oldest) Art is

    September 30, 2022 ⋅ ☁️ 54 °F

    From Lindau, Ulm isn't too far of a side trip if you're going to Augsburg. So we checked in our bags at the station there after a short train ride and checked out the Fisherman's Quarters., which is a lot easier than saying Fischerviertel-Blau. The rest of the city is modern and not too much to look at, but this area is chock-full of half-timbered houses along a canal near the Danube. It's what I would call a muddy river and definitely not blue.

    We're in the state of Baden-Wurttemberg now, so we grabbed lunch at a tradional restaurant. Deanne ordered a strange, yet delicious meal with turkey, Brie cheese, fresh horseradish and berries on a large pretzel sliced in half like a bagel. My Nuremberger sausages with potatoes and kraut filled the bill. I'd had the Regensburg version years ago, and they were similar. Are those fighting words around here? They are small and look like American breakfast sausages, but they're a lot better.

    And are we on the Einstein trail? If there is such a thing. Einstein was born here in Ulm, Germany and he worked in Bern, Switzerland where he developed and published his theory of relativity while working at the patent office. Check and check.

    We ended our brief stay by visiting the Museum Ulm. It was an interesting hodgepodge of art and history. A modern art wing displayed some pop art from Liechtenstein and Warhol. But the piece de resistance of the museum was a carved ivory tusk of a half man, half lion that was found in a nearby cave. It was found in pieces in 1939 and was reconstructed just about 10 years ago after they found missing pieces in the same cave. It's estimated to be between 35,000 and 40,000 years old. Wow. To put that in perspective, it's the OLDEST statue EVER found. And one of the top 10 oldest pieces of art EVER found. Ulm is where the art is. After a quick stop for coffee, we got on a high speed train to Aubsberg where our hotel was waiting.

    Hey Matt Gallo: I never could find any Grain Belt here.

    More photos and videos are here.
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  • TravelerEurope Fall 2022
    Day 41

    Augsburg

    October 1, 2022 in Germany ⋅ 🌧 48 °F

    Augsburg was pretty much a rest stop for us. There's not a lot for tourists here. But staying in the namesake of a former favorite beer or mine (Augsburger, or "Augie's") did have a certain appeal. That was made in Monroe, Wisconsin and not here though. Augsburg is about the same size as Madison and is also a university town.

    I booked a 4 star hotel using credit card points, so it was effectively free. The weather was rainy and cold, so we mostly chilled out and read up on the next few sites we will visit.

    The hotel did have a sauna and we found an amazing pizza place in town that served gluten free pizzas. We were on the 11th floor of the only tall building in town and had a balcony, so it wasn't all bad. And we needed the rest.

    Tomorrow, we're off to Baden Baden, one of Europe's premiere spa towns.

    More photos and videos are here.

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  • TravelerEurope Fall 2022
    Day 44

    Baden Baden

    October 4, 2022 in Germany ⋅ 🌧 61 °F

    What a difference a day makes. We arrived in pouring rain to our apartment across the street from the spas. There wasn't anything to do EXCEPT go to a spa on a day like this. But the lines were over an hour long at 4:00 on a Sunday, so we decided to chill a bit and try later. We went back at 5, and the lines were now an hour and a half long and the negative reviews on Google Maps and Facebook were rolling in. Uh Oh. But we did arrive on the night before German Unity Day, a national holiday. And it was raining all day. I checked in at 6 and the lines were still too long at Caracalla spa, the new one. The reviews for the traditional spa, Friedrichsbad, were so horrible we decided against going there. They jacked up the price and took away the included brush and soap massage that has been standard for decades "because of Covid." But they didn't mind putting people in small saunas and steam rooms while charging 20 percent more.

    So, we had dinner and drank some wine and decided to go early the next morning. And what a difference a day makes. The Caracalla spa opens at 8 and we made it in by 8:15. Hardly anyone was there until 11, and even then it didn't get too crowded. We paid extra to get into the sauna area, which like most spas in Germany is a clothes verboten area. No biggie. We're veterans now. We spent 7 hours there and moved between pools and saunas of varying temperatures and even cooled off outside naked as the sun came out. Lunch at the cafe in our suits was pretty reasonable and delicious. I had trout in a brown butter lemon sauce for the same price or cheaper as in town.

    Next to, and behind the spa is a grade school on a hill. From their upper floors, they can see into the spa area. But given the average age here, why would they? I looked out and could see them playing ping pong, totally oblivious to us naked old people.

    Since the sun was out for the first time in a week, we enjoyed a long stroll through town afterwards. And yes, we had our clothes on. Lots of rich people have vacationed here and many built mansions in the late 1800's. The heyday here was probably 1880. At that time, there were twice as many hotel rooms in town, and right now, there are a LOT. There are lots of Russians and Cyrillic signage also. Many Russians have settled here since a Russian Czar married a woman from Baden Baden 120 or so years ago. And so lots of businesses are now run by Russians, including the owner of our apartment. It doesn't hurt that this is the warmest spot in Germany.

    Next door to our apartment is the Fabrege Egg museum. These exquisitely crafted jewels are pretty amazing to look at, but we opted out when we saw the price of the museum was about $27. Most museums in Germany are in the $10 range. We both ran for the door as I yelled "Last one out is a Russian egg!" Many people wonder how we can afford to travel so much. The big secret is to not pay for any bullshit.

    So we strolled some more past the casino for the rich and famous and admired the gardens on the Lichtentaller Allee, and drank some mineral water from the source at the Trinkhalle, a fresco lined arcade.

    Today, we went back to the same spa for the morning only and there were even fewer people. What a great feeling to go from a super hot wood-fired sauna to the 'ole bucket of cold water on the head. They have one rigged up that auto fills with water and has a handle on the side to tip it. Then it's off to the cold pool and the next thing you know, you're blissed out.

    And we finally took part in one of the Aufguss ceremonies. There are signs posted in spas with starting times for certain saunas that will have particular aroma ceremonies. It's a bit of a deal. The Aufguss master opens the doors to a sauna 15 or so minutes early to cool it off and then at the exact hour, he closes the doors and adds the water scented with the aformentioned oil to the sauna in a great display. Then he waves a huge fan around the room and in front of each person a few times to reallly stir up the new heat. It's exhilarating. I started counting bodies when we were doing this. It was me, Deanne, and 10 old dudes! They must have loved it. At the end, everyone claps and jumps in cold water.

    It got even warmer outside today, so we walked through a residential area to a small mountain/ large hill just outside of town. We walked to the funicular and paid our 6 Euros each for the round trip ticket that saved us a few hours of hiking. After getting off, we went up to the top of an observation tower and had amazing views. To the west was a flat plain, the Rhine River valley and beyond it, France. To the south was the start of the fabled Black Forest, a protected hilly area covered in trees. That's a rarity in Europe. North Woods Wisconsinites would say "meh" but from this vantage point, it's pretty impressive.

    Tomorrow, we head south to Freiburg, one of Madison's sister cities.

    More photos and videos are here.
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  • TravelerEurope Fall 2022
    Day 46

    Freiburg, Germany

    October 6, 2022 in Germany ⋅ ☀️ 72 °F

    Freiburg is one of Madison's sister cities, and it sure feels familiar. It's a mid-size univeristy town with lots of bicycles, students, and charm. We arrived several hours before the check-in time at our apartment, so we locked our bags in a locker at the station. These are so convenient when day tripping or arriving early. For $5, we can drop the anchors and explore.

    It was the hottest and sunniest day of the trip since we arrived in Stockholm, so we spent it walking around the old town. It was market day, so the first stop was the large gothic cathedral, the Munster. Surrounding it on 3 sides was a weekly market full of goodies, including brat stands selling about 8 different types of sausages, including the Langer Rote, or long Freiburg sausage. When you order one, they fold it in half and put it in a roll that's wider and shorter than our traditional hot dog bun. The Munster is in pretty good shape and wasn't covered in scaffolding, like most ancient sites in Europe. Everything falls apart and Europe does a great job of preserving it's heritage, and that means scaffolding!

    In Freiburg, businesses hire an artist to make a stone mosaic in the sidewalk in front that describes the business. There's beer steins, knives, jewels, books, etc. etched out of small Rhine river stones inlaid in the larger cobblestones. Very cool. Like many German cities, this one keeps vehicles out of the city center for the most part. It's a walker's paradise. Freiburg is home to Germany's Green Movement, and we saw climate protestor's in front of the Rathaus where there are mosaics of the sister cities' emblems in the sidewalk. Near campus, we saw students carrying bowls and silverware as they headed towards a restaurant. Is that a thing?

    There are lots of sidewalk cafes and restaurants and we enjoyed a brat here, a coffee there, and even stopped into a small museum that was included on our 3 day city card, which included all transportation, museums, and a cable car to a mountain just south of town. After buying some cheese and olives at the market before it closed, we grabbed our bags and took a tram to our apartment, located just outside of the city center in a lovely neighborhood. It's chock-full of mansions, trees, parks, families on bikes, a nearby school (gymnasium) that looks like a castle, and an old cemetery.

    The balcony from our second story apartment looks down onto a small intersection that's absolutely perfect for seeing a slice of life in Freiburg. It's very family oriented and we see lots of parents with their kids on bikes, a hybrid bus goes by every fifteen minutes. There's a small fountain at the edge of 2 angled streets that draws people in to read or rest or chat with neighbors. The old cemetery a block away is like a city park. It holds tombs from the 1500's through the mid 1800's only and is an oasis of tranquility. People come here to read and rest and walk and even do tai chi. And that reminds me that this city is so QUIET. There are so few cars and many of those are electric. It's wonderful. I still reel from the thought of the noise pollution of large Asian cities, and traveling anywhere in India was the worst for that.

    We visited the Augustiner museum the next day. It houses a lot of the original stain glass and statuary from the Munster. It was well done. Lunch was at the Markethalle, an old food hall with a diverse selection of ethnic foods. We split a large fish soup that was hearty and filling for only 8 bucks. The variety of ethnic foods made us want to go back. Then it was a tram and a bus ride to the Schauinslandbahn south of town. It's the oldest cable car in the world with an enclosed cabin. On the top, we hiked on some trails, enjoyed the views, and had coffee in the sun.

    After the descent, we made our way to an Aldi Sud for some food shopping for the train tomorrow. Long train days require a picnic. There's food on board often, but it's bread heavy and I'm gluten sensitive. It's not hard to pack a picnic, and the lightweight cooler I bought before the trip is worth it's weight in gold. It fits in my day bag. If we have an apartment, I'll freeze a water bottle the night before and that cools the cheese, meat, and wine we bring for lunch the next day.

    For dinner, we went back to the Markethalle. Tonight it's Brazilian fare. I got the coconut shrimp and rice and Deanne grabbed the Fejuado, a classic rice, sausage, and bean dish. For some reason, we're craving rice and beans. We''ve learned to follow what our bodies tell us.

    On the cable car earlier, we shared the tram with a local paraglider. He commented "You must think our food is cheap." Hell yeah. Dinner for 2 with wine is regularly under $50 in classic settings. We mentioned that vegetables in stores are so cheap, about half of normal prices and 1/4 of organic prices in the states. He told us that they are subisdized by the government. Can you imagine the US government subsidizing healthy food and taxing unhealthy food? I can't.

    Afterwards, we went to the recommended wine bar on the Munsterplatz and sampled some German wines in the shadows of the cathedral at night. Tomorrow we go the Rothenburg ob der Tauber, a medieval town known for its beauty.

    More photos and videos are here.
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  • TravelerEurope Fall 2022
    Day 48

    Rothenburg

    October 8, 2022 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 63 °F

    Rothenberg is one of those picture perfect postcard towns. While it received some bombing damage in WW2, it was the 30 Year's War in the 1600's that did a lot more damage to it. A lot of buildings from that time period have survived intact and make it a living museum. That's why hordes of tourists flock here. It's early October, so the high season is over and most of the rest of the tourists are day-trippers on tours. We're spending 2 nights which is plenty of time to soak up the views.

    Something about this town seemed so familiar, and then I found out it's the setting of "Vulgaria" in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and the infamous Child Catcher! Yikes. I thinks some Madison 20 somethings are still having nightmares from when I dressed up as the Child Catcher one year for a Halloween party for kids. It was really me scaring the parents, which scared the kids.

    Anyhoo, the photos will give you a better picture than I can describe. The weather is perfect, a sunny early Autumn day, and after a few walks around the well-preserved town walls, we're chiling out after another delicious lunch. We're staying in a zimmer (room) above a restaurant. It's about 300 years old and we've got a really nice room. The floor is slanted a bit, which gives it a funhouse kind of feel, but we're not complaining. We opted for dinner on the first floor last night, and Deanne had half of a very large duck and I opted for more pork, a humongous pork shoulder with kraut and potato dumplings. My god, the portions are huge here.

    Breakfast below had the most fresh fruit we've seen anywhere on the trip and it was a welcome surprise. Of coure we also had the requisite cold cuts and cheese. Only a couple other people are staying here.

    About 75% of the town works in tourism of some sort here, so I think everyone breathes a sigh of relief in late fall before business picks up again for Christmas. They sell a lot of cuckoo clocks and Christmas memorabilia. We went to a few museums and took the famous Night Watchman's tour around town at night. It was a humorous take on what living here during the middle ages was like.

    More photos and videos are here.
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  • TravelerEurope Fall 2022
    Day 50

    Nuremberg

    October 10, 2022 in Germany ⋅ ☀️ 59 °F

    Nuremberg's got a nice feel to it. It's a large town but it's got a small-town vibe. It was mostly destroyed at the end of WW2. It was, afterall, the home of the large Nazi rallies before the war and along with Munich, pretty much home to the Nazi party. It's mostly known to Americans as the home of the Nuremberg trials for Nazi war criminals. But there's much more to it than that. It was rebuilt in a blended style of old and new and some buildings used old stones but look modern. It is an ancient city and has a large, rebuilt medival city wall. The former moat is a walking and biking path now. There's an old castle on the hill and lots of museums. We spent our 1 1/2 days here mostly walking around and soaking up the sights. We've been taking a lot of Deutsche Bahn (DB) trains lately and the DB Train museum was surprisingly huge and interesting. The first train in Germany ran from here to a nearby suburb in 1835. The highlight might have been the fancy train car used by Ludwig II, who built Neuschwanstein Castle in Fuessen.

    We did go to the Documentation Center Nazi Party Rally Grounds on the SE edge of town. While it's undergoing a renovation, the temporary exhibit at the KongressHall was informative and well-done. They pulled no punches and did a great job of showing how the Nazi party took power by, among other things, bullying the opposition and disrupting town hall meetings and then forming huge propaganda rallies and bringing in Nazis from around the country until Naziism spread. They took control of the media also. Sound familiar?

    We walked around the huge area where the rallies were held. It was initially a site for a large exposition, a park, and a zoo. We walked around a small lake to the Zepellin field, where the largest rallies were held and where Leni Reifenstal filmed Triumph of the Will, a propaganda masterpiece. She used 16 cameras and 100 staff when using 3 or 4 cameras was unheard of. Many of the buildings at the complex were torn down, but several, like this arena based on the Greek Pergamon altar, are preserved. The sites are a mix of history and modern usage, including a modern football stadium and a cultural festival, and the Documentation center. We even stood on the podium where Hitler gave his speeches at the rallies. It was chilling.

    Unfortunately, the site where the trials were held is closed to the public today. We were going to go to the opposite side of town to see it, but Deanne called in advance and found out they still use the courtroom for trials and it's closed for that.

    We took an S Bahn, or suburban train back to the city and walked some more and saw Albrecht Durer's house. He's probably Germany's most famous painter. Across the street was an Augustiner tied house, or restauarant/bar that sells Munich's Augustiner beer. I can drink it and it's delicious, so we ate more Nuremberger sausages there. Those are the tiny specialty sausages. We ate them last night also at Bratwursthausle bei St. Sebald, the most famous brat house in town. With kraut, potato salad, and freshly shaved horseradish, there's nothing better on a warm Autumn day, as long as you're downing it with an Augustiner Helles.

    More photos and videos are here.
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  • TravelerEurope Fall 2022
    Day 53

    Leipzig

    October 13, 2022 in Germany ⋅ ☀️ 59 °F

    We splurged a little bit on a larger apartment in Leipzig. It was a newly remodeled apart-hotel and had a sauna in the bathroom. Couldn't pass that up. But by splurge, we mean spending $150/night instead of $125. The neighborhood of EisenbahnStrasse where we're staying is a bit edgy. It's full of immigrants, graffitti on every wall, and lots of vegetable and kabob shops. It feels totally safe, but this is the immigrant neighborhood for sure. There are lots of Syrians and Turks, which means..... Great food!

    We arrived at the massive Bahnhof (train station) in the early afternoon after a quick 2 hour direct train from Nuremburg on an ICE train. That's the Inter City Express train, the fastest in Germany. It's slightly slower than Spain's AVE trains or France's TGV. But wow, the station is majestic and humongous. There's a two-story mall underground and the usual eateries and coffee shops on the street level where there's a couple dozen or so tracks.

    We bought a 3 day Leipziz Card at a kiosk in front of the tram line. For the same price as just transportation for 3 days, we get museum discounts with it also. After checking in, we found a Syrian restaurant that gave huge, delicious portions. We paid $15 out the door for 2 entrees. Then we trammed it back to the center and walked around, soaking up the sites. Leipzig won't win any beauty awards for its architecture, but they do have a few old-style buildings, including the Rathaus, or city hall. Today was market day, and we caught the end of that in the huge MarktPlatz, or central plaza. They've been having a market there since the early days of the Holy Roman Empire. Leipzig was at the crossroads of the Via Imperii and the Via Regia, which connected Rome to the Baltic coast and Western Europe all the way to Turkey.

    Leipzig is famous for a few things, mostly musicians. Wagner was born here. Bach worked and composed most of his work here and ran a boys choir. And Mendolssohn worked here and "discovered" Bach's mostly underappreciated music and helped make him famous long after his death. Lepzig is also in the neigbhorhood where Martin Luther lived and worked (and hid for awhile). The city museum in the Rathaus was a fantastic place to get the full story of Leipzig from its beginnings through the Cold War. They had many original documents printed and written by Luther. This was a printing town, among other things. It's fun seeing the "95 Theses" and other pamphlets he wrote that were printed here. They were quite the bestsellers of the day. And if that's not enough fame for one city, Goethe also went to the university here, as did Angela Merkel, who liked to drink at the same pub where Goethe frequented.

    Leipzig was behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War, and was the 2nd biggest city of the GDR, after Berlin. It suffered during those years but the decades of neglect led to a lot of empty warehouses and factories and what usually happens then is that the hippies and artists move in. They don't call this town Hypezig for nothing. There's a large university and lots of young Germans and immigrants, which gives it a great, lively feel. They're saying that Berlin is "over" now and that it's been too gentrified. Rents and hotel costs are double from when we visited Berlin 9 or so years ago. But Leipzig sure seems on the way up.

    The next day we went to the Stasi museum. The Stasi were the GDR secret service during the Cold War and the small museum showed how the Stasi spied on everyone and paid untold informants to spy on friends, neighbors, and family. To this day, German citizens can go here and look at their record, assuming it wasn't destroyed. Many don't want to see it because then they'd find out which people they trusted ratted them out. One of the interesting exhibits was the technology used to tap phones. They didn't have a lot of money, so they'd confiscate cassette tapes of rock music sent from the West and use that to record phone conversations.

    We ended the afternoon by exploring the Plagwitz neighborhood. I found an art installation that had immersive light shows and this one featured a recent artist named Tubke and did this amazing 23 minute light show on just one of his pantings, a panarama painting. They digitized it and animated many parts of it. With the intense soundtrack, it was a great show. We've seen a few of these now and just love them. Our first one was in Paris at the L'Atelier Lumieres, where this technology premiered with the original Van Gogh show, which is now shown all over the world.

    Tomorrow we're off to Wroclaw, Poland to visit our new friends Bogdan and Beata. We meet them at a fest in Madison this summer. It will be our 2nd time there, but our first with hosts. We can't wait to see them again.

    More photos and videos are here.
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  • TravelerEurope Fall 2022
    Day 57

    Wroclaw, Poland

    October 17, 2022 in Poland ⋅ ⛅ 72 °F

    We met Beata and Bogdan Labaz at a festival in Madison this summer. They were surprised we had been to their hometown of Wroclaw before and we made fast friends. Beata is a soil scientist at the University here and was doing research in Madison. When we told them about this trip, they invited us to stay with them, so here we are.

    Bogdan picked us up at the train station and whisked us away to his home. Beata had made gluten free desserts and bread for me. We'll be forever indebted for their hospitality. We were treated like a king and a queen. We went out to a jazz club for a Godfather themed night that night. The house band was really good. Afterwards, we walked around the hopping Market Square and had a nightcap of the local cherry liqueur.

    Afer a huge breakfast, we drove south through Lower Silesia towards the Czech border to Ksiaz Castle. Poland has a long and storied history. This land was Polish, then Prussian, then German, then Polish again. The castle was built by a Prussian family, the von Hochbergs and the castle was their home for generations. It was furnished with period piece furniture and was perched high on a hill with amazing views.

    Then it was off to the secret Nazi caves of Sztolnie Walimskie. The Nazis built a slave-labor camp here for prisoners and made them dig tunnels in the mountains through hard rock. Nobody really knows what the plan was. Was it a secret bunker for Hitler? A research lab for the V-2 rocket? The war ended before the tunnels could be finished. Afterwards, we got a taste of a delicious cheese that a woman was grilling and topped with a cranberry sauce. On the way back, we stopped in the town of Swidnica and had some humongous schnitzels at a Czech themed restaurant.

    The next day, we had a Thanksgiving style feast at home. In the afternoon, we visited the Panarama painting celebrating the battle of Raclawice, where Polish peasants defeated an invading Russian force in 1794. It was led by General Kosciuszko, who 18 years earlier went to the American colonies to fight for Washington. He's the hero of the Battle of Saratoga, a crucial early battle in our revolution. Bogdan was pretty surprised to see a statue commemorating him when he walked through Lafayette Square in front of our White House.

    We got to meet Michal and Kuba, the Labaz sons during our stay. Michal lives at home and works with Bogdan doing IT work and sound and lighting solutions for businesses. Kuba was on leave from the Polish Navy Acadamy on the Baltic Sea, near Gdansk. It was fun getting to know them and get their perspective on things. We sat around and talked about a lot of different things, which was fun and so different than what we've been doing for the last 7 weeks. Since Helsinki, we haven't seen any friends. But that will change soon. We're visiting Deanne's exchange family in Austria in another week or so. All in all, we had an amazing time with an amazing group of people. We hope to repay the kindness when Bogdan and Beata return to Madison next summer.

    More photos and videos are here.
    https://photos.app.goo.gl/TVSzAG47FRjGofybA    Read more

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