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A quick trip to the other side of the pond to get the Christmas feeling of old Europe. Read more
  • 8footprints
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  • 8footprints
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  • TravelerGermany kristkindel markets
    Day 1

    Time to fly

    December 9, 2024 in Germany ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    Short trip, going to try bringing the backup phone instead of the main one.

    Shall I post my first mishap? Left my wallet in the security bin, noticed it in the tram, went back out, back to security, "ahem sir, I went through before and left my wallet in the bin, my id is in it" the people around me were probably looking at that old fool. But they were nice and it was good for a laugh. My T shirt should say: Travel with me, it's always an adventure.

    Uneventful flight, all in the dark and clouds. A very surprising movie called Daddio with Sean Penn. No sim card, no WhatsApp, rainy in Bayern, jet lag, lugging camera gear. New city to discover; Regensburg.

    Walking around putting together the pieces of this small city. Back in the 1200s it was the trading powerhouse of Europe situated on the Donau river between the west and the east. Caught great documentaries at the tourist centers of its history. There are remains of Roman walls all around the city.

    Check in to the hostel, nap time, and back out to the Christmas markets. Started with heidelberry gluwein, there is a joyous mood, lots of people jampacked together. I catch the eye of a woman in line waiting for our bread with bacon delicacy. While we eat standing in the crowd we have a nice conversation. My German is still passable after 43 years. She goes on her way and I get a second gluwein, I'm living it up. A choir of women holding sparklers sings a Christmas song and I happen to walk by as they sing the chorus, hallelujah, and I chime in a little baritone to their surprise. That's the feeling!

    Dinner is Schweinebraten with knodel, an old favorite of mine. That's a long day in two time zones 5000 miles apart. Arizona is suddenly so very far away.    Read more

  • TravelerGermany kristkindel markets
    Day 3

    Nuremburg

    December 11, 2024 in Germany ⋅ ☁️ 1 °C

    Nuremburg impresses with it's pedestrian friendly old city. It's well preserved and clean. Oriented toward tourists, you easily could spend a few days here. I walked all over for a few hours playing photographer. Fun!

    I go out for a gluewein and run into a man from Augsburg, he has a thick German accent which I take for that of a local. But during the conversation it turns out that he's actually Russian, that he emigrated to France when he was 13 and that he considers French culture to be his home culture. The conversation slides from German into French, and then he hits me with English and we switch to that, only to switch back to German again. His boyfriend is a conductor for symphonies in Germany. So he tells me all about the places to go and after the Met in New York, according to him the next best is the Bavarian symphony out of Munich, The other one he mentions that is absolute tops is in the small town of Meiningen, as von Below directed there and he is up there with the best in the world.

    After a dinner of käse spatzle, on the way to a final check on the festivities, I come by a bar where the music is loud lots of people are having a fun time laughing. They are dancing and I stick my head in the window and dance along and they wave me in. It's a group of 35 older Americans, five of whom are men, they are having the time of their lives just enjoying being out. Great to watch them have fun. I'm after one more drink in the streets but things are shut by 9. Time to go in and sleep.    Read more

  • TravelerGermany kristkindel markets
    Day 4

    Fulda and Heidelberg

    December 12, 2024 in Germany ⋅ ☁️ 0 °C

    Revelations occur when you do what you didn't intend to do. The idea was to go from Nuremberg to Heidelberg by train. Somehow I managed to buy a ticket to Fulda only. The rest of the trajectory was supposed to be on a competing train line. So I got the Fulda and had about an hour layover to catch the next train to Heidelberg. The nice thing about traveling by train is that you can walk right out of the station into the center of town. I got a nice little walk in and saw their Christmas market and significant historical buildings. Even though I lived two years in Germany I never heard of Fulda. Nice surprise, this town is an off the beaten path small regional City with a lot of life to offer.

    As a birthday treat I had taken a first class ticket and now I'm back in second class and the seats in second class are way more comfortable. Isn't that funny.

    In Heidelberg I went to my old apartment which is now derelict, went by my old school building which is now an office and found that the Christmas markets here are nicer than in Nuremberg.

    After flamkuchen and special rum flambee gluhwein I walked towards the restaurant where I used to work and ran into a small theater that was having a play so I got a great birthday treat to watch this excellent play performed by three professional actors.    Read more

  • TravelerGermany kristkindel markets
    Day 5

    Heidelberg

    December 13, 2024 in Germany ⋅ ☁️ 2 °C

    Made new travel arrangements. Oliver is coming home a few days later so I'll fly in at the same time more or less and then we can drive home the 5 hours together. Much better than me spending 10 hours in the car to pick him up, that's why I decided to fly somewhere on mileage with AA. So now I'll fly out of Milan Italy, which was far cheaper and better timing than from the Northern countries. I'll get to spend a few days in Schwartzwald, the black forest, in the city of Freiburg.

    Got out the door and up the hill to the famous castle of Heidelberg. I lived here from 1979-81, it's interesting to be back, so familiar and there's so much I forgot, it's been 43 years. Did the cold walking tour in the afternoon, not that is truly cold it's just bitter the way that it feels. Fascinating history in a town I once knew.

    Caught up on my photography edits and I'm out the door again for gluewein with Jurjen from the Netherlands and Mohammed from Egypt. After they go back to the hostel I go to the St Peters Church for a concert, they sing unknown to me Christmas music in a choir, harmonizing between twelve male and female voices that ring and echo through the church. Beautiful harmonies but not melodic.

    The restaurant with a typical meal of egg spatzle, lentils and wurst is beckoning. I sit down at the counter and meet up with a metal smith, Werner, who likes to talk. I listen to his heavy southern German accent, barely understanding enough to nod along and keep him going. It's highly entertaining given that we are both on our third or more drinks. Fun times. The meal is excellent.    Read more

  • TravelerGermany kristkindel markets
    Day 6

    Freiburg am Breisgau

    December 14, 2024 in Germany ⋅ ☁️ 3 °C

    Hanging out in the Heidelberg hostel living room talking to Jurjen in Dutch and a few Germans over a cup of coffee, it's chill, I'll catch whichever train I'd like to the next town. Any time today is fine. This hostel is cozy and people are fun here.

    Eventually, I get on the train. Nice break in Karlsruhe. Overall, the trains are an easy way to get around Germany, but they are not exactly economical. It's really starting to add up. Bicycle touring has that economical advantage.

    The Freiburg Christmas markets are cozy like Heidelberg but I couldn't get into the swing of it. It's a new city to me and HD is still like home even after 43 years, it felt strange to stay in a hostel. I had this pull to just go home to my old apartment. I was looking for an event tonight in Freiburg but only found funk music. Later I came by the theatre and they had a Shakespeare play that had already started. Lesson: search online for theatre as well as concerts. That would have been good.

    I talk shortly with a couple in German and the woman says "you are Dutch". I'm astonished, I know I don't sound native, but it wouldn't have surprised me if she would have said an american accent. The neutral programming happened 43 years ago, and those tracks are still as they were laid down back then, when I spoke more Dutch than American English, including the inflections and the muscle memory. Interesting. As I was walking home a women cycles by while singing opera in a beautiful voice.

    Some photo editing to finish the day with a cup of tea while waiting for most hostel sleep mates to get to bed. I'm up early tomorrow.    Read more

  • TravelerGermany kristkindel markets
    Day 7

    Freiburg

    December 15, 2024 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 3 °C

    Went to bed late and got up late. Headphones came in handy in the noisy hostel dormitory.

    Doing some accounting and work in the morning in the hostel common room. Then I escape to an internet café where I have a wonderful lunch and continue on my planning for 2025.

    The walking tour in the afternoon is just for me, no one else braves the penetrating humid cold accentuated by a down valley breeze. It's a fascinating history of Freiburg, the guide was truly a treasure trove of information.

    Hoping for a ticket to the symphony at the door as they are sold out. I'm lucky there are a few extra and I get to attend a concert by Joseph Suk, Dvorák and Brahms center stage in a stunning modern concert hall. The Brahms symphony No 1 blew me away. There are online live concerts that can be heard on SWR kultur.    Read more

  • TravelerGermany kristkindel markets
    Day 8

    Bellinzona

    December 16, 2024 in Switzerland ⋅ ☀️ 5 °C

    Up early with plenty of time to go Christmas candy shopping. I'm taking another train ride heading south towards Milan. I'm going to have a stopover in Bellinzona, a very interesting town in Tirol, the Italian speaking southern part of Switzerland. It's a city dominated by three castles. I think it's a photo op.Read more

  • TravelerGermany kristkindel markets
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    Day 9

    Flight over the Alpes

    December 17, 2024 in Switzerland ⋅ ☀️ 0 °C

    Taking off from Milano, the plane is climbing steeply to clear the Alpes. I get lucky and get to see the Alpes under sunny skies I recognize Zermatt, the Matterhorn, Bietschental, and other landmarks I know and have spent time there skiing or biking.

    I get the feeling there will be many more Europe trips. Milano gives the feeling of a European Denver in terms of its size and proximity to the mountains.    Read more

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