This is part 2 of the three post series.
Rudesheim am Rhein is a quaint village town on the way from Frankfurt to Trier. It is a place where we wish we should have stayed. It is very idyllic, paved with cobblestones with very lazy feeling. We first went to the Niederwalddenkmal - a monument dedicated to commemorate the unification of Germany in 1800s.
After having breakfast at Rudemsheim, we headed to Trier where we stayed at Fourside Plaza hotel - a typical franchise kind of hotel.
At Trier, we first went to the cathedral museum which had lots of exhibits from the older palace that was destroyed. Germany had a nice technique to recreate the original. They would draw the original picture and then on top of it place pieces of the wall pieces found from the excavation. Even though the pieces are incomplete, the final image looks complete because of the background image. We saw this technique again in Berlin museums as well.
Unfortunately, the cathedral closed early this day. So, we spent the remainder time at the Trier christmas market. Trier had two circles of market, we visited both. Had the best pizza of the trip, made freshly in the oven. I bought leather gloves. The market was smaller than Frankfurt but very crowded and had a very festive look. It was just outside cathedral, in the downtown and the entire town was checked up. This gave a very holiday feeling. We also walked to the Karl Marx statue, walked to the Porta Nigra. It was quiet cold and ofcourse we had gluwein. Less today since I had to drive :)
Covid tests - In Germany, many places required a valid negative Rapid test report that is not older than 24 hrs or a PCR test not older than 48 hrs. While browsing the Frankfurt market, we by chance saw a testing station who said that they can do our Rapid test for free. In Germany, govt had made the Rapid test for free for its citizens, while for non-citizens it is 15-euros per person. But at many places. we got freely tested.
In the trip, we had a test done almost daily. Special shout-out to the German govt, they have really made the testing easier. There were test stations literally everywhere. This was super easy for us and except one, all of them did the test for free for us. This was amazing. The amount of effort taken to open so many testing stations, and give a report via email in 20 mins, we saw this in city after city and I was really impressed.
At Trier, we found one such testing station and this one had the longest queue since you can only enter the market with a negative report. We waited 45 mins in this queue and this was our longest wait time. At everyplace else, we were able to get the test done in < 5 mins.
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Day 3
We checked out early. The plan was to drive down to Baden-Baden but visit the Heidelberg castle along the way. We briefly stopped at a Bäckerei Braunshausen Ruwer on the highway. German bakeries and breads are really good. A cheese sandwhich became our staple breakfas during the entire trip.
Hiedelberg castle was good. It was a huge castle, sadly destroyed a lot by wars. It also hosts a pharmacy museum which is really good one. It traces the roots & evolution of pharmacy in Germany. Germans call it apothecary and they are everywhere in Germany. It is a fascinating part of the culture.
After the walk, we went to the other bath Caracalla spa. Caracalla is cheaper compared to Friedrichsbad and is almost a water park inside. It is a different design, there are different temperature controlled Sauna rooms upstairs and water pools down below. Here, I tried the 90deg for 20 mins, and 95 degree Sauna for 5 mins only. The water pools also go outside and it was amazing to be in hot water while the outside was freezing cold. After the baths, we cooked pasta at the homestay.
The dinner activity was to visit the Baden-Baden casino, a 200+ year old casino where it is required to be in dress-code of tie and jacket. Fortunately, they allow jackets on rent. I played Holdem and eventually broke even from where I started.
Baden baden market was also very lit. Even though there was no christmas market, it was decorated in style. Baden Baden is also an expensive town. There was also an ice skating rink here which I wanted to try out but didn't.
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Day 5 (21 Dec)
Day 4 was a long drive through the Black forest to Fussen. Black forest is scenic this time of the year, a lot of folks come here for Skiing at various points. We saw many Ski resorts along the way. The drive indeed was scenic. Along the way, we had plans to stop at multiple places but couldn't because of snow. Our first stop was at Mummelsee lake which was completely frozen. We did a round of the lake walking on snow and ice literally.
I also learnt how to take panorama photo here from a photographer who clicked the above photo :) Palace is palatial, wall murals are amazing.
After the Nymphenberg palace we went to the science museum - Deutsches museum. Dinner was ordered via UberEats from a Mexican restaurant. Word of advice - Germany is not at all a good place for Mexican food, a lesson I learnt much later.
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A note on driving in Germany
Highway driving was amazing. The logic is very simple - you always overtake on the left. Once you overtake, you come back to the right lane. Everyone follows this. Like everything German, it was effortless. Even the high speed car that would overtake you will merge into the right lane ahead. No one was just driving on the left most lane. This discipline is amazing. I rarely saw any cop cars too.
There was no upper speed limit. Saw cars going upto 250km/hr as well. My speedometer went upto 300+. The black forest one was in particular one very scenic. Wherever eyes would go on left or right, it was cover with snow.
I drove less in city but it was hectic. Primarily because of lack of knowledge and too many vehicles.
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From here on, we were in cities - Munich then Berlin and lastly in Frankfurt. We were lucky that we got to see both the countryside and city-life of Berlin. The country side part of the itinerary was way more experiential. We got the best christmas markets, scenic views, castles and the baths were an amazing experience. This part of the trip was also better planned since this itinerary was set. Our earlier plan was to go to Strasbourg/Paris. Munich became our Strasbourg and Berlin our Paris. Our itinerary and stay would be decided almost in real time.
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