Germany (Trier, Heidelberg, Romantic Road)

Germany was always on our destination list. As a tourist, one can divide Germany into two parts, historic Berlin and other big cities. And the second part, smaller quaint towns with castles. Germany has two tourist routes, Romantic Strasse (with all the quaint towns) and Castle Strasse (with all the castles) with a decent enough overlap between the Romantic Road and the Castle Road. We chose Romantic Strasse for our road trip, which runs from Wurzburg to Fussen and we stopped by a couple of other towns on our way from Luxembourg.

Here is our itinerary:

Day 1: Trier -> Mainz -> Heidelberg
Day 2: Heidelberg -> Wurzburg -> Rotheburg ob der Tauber
Day 3: Rothernberg ob der Tauber -> Dinkelsbuhl ->Nordlingen
Day 4: Nordlingen -> Augusburg  -> Fussen/Schwangau
Day 5: Fussen -> Konstanz -> Zurich

Our road trip route

Getting Around

We rented a car in Trier and returned it in Konstanz, our last destination in Germany. Driving around was pretty simple and roads were not crowded. There are some online sites to help you get acquainted with the road signs. Also, our favorite store was ALDI to buy water, snacks or anything else we needed. Getting vegetarian food isn't difficult in Germany and most of the restaurants do offer a vegetarian variant of most of their dishes.

Day 1: Trier -> Mainz -> Heidelberg

Karl Marx's birthplace

We reached Trier from Luxembourg via train. We took the local bus to the Hertz rental where we rented a car and drove to the old town. We spent some time wandering about in the old town (Altstadt) area. All the major attractions are in this area. We grabbed some lunch here. Saw the old cathedral, Point Nigra and Karl Marx house. From here we drove to Mainz.  Mainz was a comparatively bigger city and all we did there was to have a burger at Hans im Gluck. Burgers were really good and so was their lemonade. I highly recommend them. I guess they are a chain so you can find another restaurant in some other city.

Trier

Heidelberg Citadel

Up next, we were headed to Heidelberg. The drive was through vast rolling hill pastures. We reached Heidelberg in the evening. Parking on street is hard to find, but there are enough parking garages in the city. Also, try making a reservation for your stay where parking is included. Once we found parking and checked in to our hotel, we decided to head out to Old town for getting some dinner. We walked along the Haupstrasse. Its a lovely pedestrian area with many local shops all around. We walked all the way up to the old bridge. Crossed the bridge and took picture. The views of the hilltop citadel are also great from here. There are many dining options in the old town area, and we decided to get some Thai food. Now was the time to head back to out hotel.

Day 2: Heidelberg -> Wurzburg -> Rotheburg ob der Tauber

Wurzburg Marketplatz

We had initially wanted to go to the citadel in the morning, but decided against it. You see, there are so many citadels in Germany, that they get repetitive after a while, so we decided to skip this one. Instead, we spent our morning going to a swimming pool (Thermalbad). Finding parking was not easy in the morning as there were no parking structures closeby and the directions for one way streets can get confusing. But after some struggle, we did manage to find a parking spot with an hour validity or something. After our swim session, we head a sumptuous brunch at Mindel Cafe. Another cafe I can recommend. Now we were off to Wurzburg.

We drove straight to the top of the Wurzburg fortress which overlooks the city. It was too hot and we were just looking for some shade. We walked around the fortress to get some views of the city. I remember there was a tiny little shop in the corner which had ice creams! Yay! Then we drove to the Old town area. There was a pretty old church as usual and lots of shops all around. We found parking in one of the garages and then just walked around the Marketplatz before settling in at a Bierhaus for the football match. It was a party!

Night Watchman Tour

Rothenberg ob der Tauber

After the match we drove to our next destination, Rothenberg ob der Tauber. Such a cute little town on a hilltop and my favorite town in the country. You can only enter from one side and it was hard to find where to drive in from. But once we figured, we were good. It felt as if we were transported in to a fairytale village. We were here in time for the popular "Night Watchman Tour". It was so much fun walking around this tiny little town and hearing the stories of this watchman in his costume. This is the best way to go around this town. It takes only about an hour or so. Later, walking around cobbled streets we got dinner at a local restaurant. Surprisingly enough, finding vegetarian food in Germany hasn't been tough at all. There are quite a few boutique hotels in this town and we stayed at Golden Rose. And do not forget to take the famous picture at the most photographed spot in the city.

Day 3: Rothernberg ob der Tauber -> Dinkelsbuhl ->Nordlingen

Romantic Road

We had initially thought of renting bicycles and biking around the town, but the bike shops were closed on Sundays, so we decided to go for a run instead. I think the whole loop around the city was less than 5 km! But what fun running around this city. This city has a lot of souvenir shops. We wanted to get a cuckoo clock and we found the one we liked and shipped it directly to our home in US. There are a lot of price ranges and options if you want to get one. We got ours safe and sound in the next few weeks and it works just fine. 

After brunch, we headed to another small town of Dinkelsbuhl which was like a miniature replica of Rothenberg ob der Tauber. We found parking right outside and went for a walk in the city. Got coffee at a local gelato and coffee shop. Wandered around aimlessly, perfect vacation!

From here, we drove to Nordlingen. After checking in to our hotel, we went to the cathedral. Here you can go up the tower for a minimal fees and get some views of this tiny little town. These towns are so small that you can walk around the entire town in a few hours and be familiar with the entire layout of the town. We rented bikes at the JUFA hotel for 24 hours. Plan as to go biking the following morning. We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant, Pablo Cantina. Again, the food was awesome. Then we got back to our hotel to watch Croatia vs. Denmark. 

Day 4: Nordlingen -> Augusburg -> Fussen/Schwangau

Biking countryside

We were up early, Bright eyed and bushy tailed! Ready to for a short 15-mile ride around the German countryside. We had to get back in time for the checkout. Sumit had already chalked out a route the night before, so we knew where to go. We had our water bottles and energy bars ready in Sumit's backpack. Be wary of the drivers around as these are not popular bike routes so it can get scary and risky when you cross roads. I am so glad we biked around, it was a very different way to experience the countryside. Totally loved  passing through fields with cottages, small towns and coffee shops.

Once we got back to our hotel, something interesting was waiting for us. A parking ticket! We had unknowingly parked overnight in a parking spot without displaying an appropriate parking sign. So now we started looking for the municipal office to pay our fine. After some sign language and broken English, we figured where the office was, of course everything is close by, the towns are so small! We went to the office and paid our fine.

Experiencing the German countryside

Augusburg

After getting some bad Italian food for lunch, we headed out to Augusburg. We drove past Donauworth as we didn't have much time on our hands. Augusburg was a big city. We parked in a garage. Walked around the old town (Altstadt), saw the fountain and the old church. The golden hall had closed by the time we reached. We spent some time walking around the marketplace and shopping. There was an Indian restaurant in the vicinity, Sangam, so we decided to get dinner here. We got some food to-go and headed out to Fussen, where we were staying overnight.

Drive to Fussen got prettier as you got closer to the Swiss border. As you get closer to the Swiss Alps, the scenery just keeps getting better. We reached a pretty little cottage in the Schwangau area and were all set to go see the Sleeping Beauty castle the next day.

Day 5: Fussen -> Konstanz -> Zurich

Carriage ride up to the Castle

So glad that we had made the reservations earlier for the Neuschwanstein castle. This place gets super crowded. We drove up to the visitor area and parked. Walked upto the ticket window to collect our physical tickets, but it was a long wait. Then to get on the horse carriage was another long queue and wait. Glad that we started the day early. Once at the castle, you are called in groups and have to stick to your group tour. From inside this is like any other castle. Lavish and bautiful. The real beauty of the castle is its location I believe. There is a short hike to the bride close to the castle where you get beautiful panoramic views of the castle. That is a MUST DO. This is where we got all our great pictures and lovely views. We spent good enough time around this area and then hiked all the way downhill to the visitor entrance.

View from the bridge

Next up was the drive to Konstanz where we had to return our car and take the train to Zurich. The views just kept getting prettier as we drove.After we returned our car in Konstanz, getting to the train station was a but of a struggle. Public transport wasn't as frequent and we had to walk quite a bit to get to a bus stop. Nevertheless we made it and reached Zurich pretty late in the night.Voila! That was a lovely German road trip.

Pointers:

• Payments are accepted mostly in cash. Very few restaurants and shops accept credit cards
• There are very pretty boutique hotels that you might want to stay at instead of hotels. So prefer AirBnBs.
• German countryside, atleast the area we were in aren't as scenic. But as you get closer to the Swiss Alps, the scenery keeps getting better.
• The towns are quite but very similar. Pick the towns you want to spend your time at. Pick a few citadels, castles you want to go see. 

Luxembourg City

For our summer trip to Europe, the cheapest flights were in and out of Paris. So, we decided to plan for our trip accordingly. The first destination we chose was Luxembourg. This tiny little land locked country in tucked in between France, Belgium and Germany. Since we were planning to go visit Germany this time, this was a perfect choice for a few days.

Places to visit in Luxembourg

However, since our flights were delayed (not a surprise- flights Gods haven't been happy with us for a while now!), we got to spent much less time than we had anticipated.

Here is the itinerary we had initially planned for:
Day 0: Arrive In Paris -> Train to Luxembourg city
Day 1: Day in Luxembourg city
Day 2: Drive to Echternach and Vianden -> Train to Tier

What really happened:

We arrived in Paris a day late. And hence had to reschedule the train to Luxembourg city. We had to cut short our trip and skip Echternach and Vianden from our itinerary to get to Trier on time. I will write about roaming around Luxembourg city and some pointers for Echternach and Vianden from our plans.

Getting in/out:

Luxembourg City station

Luxembourg City is very well connected by rail, like most of Europe. There are frequent direct trains from Paris to Luxembourg city and also from various other cities in Germany and Belgium. Its a short 2 hour train ride on TGV from Paris.

Getting around:

the city itself s very well connected with public transport. The buses are frequent and convenient. We took the bus to get form the train station to our AirBnB and also to get around the city for lunch and dinner. Pretty convenient and the Google maps are always there to guide you through public transport.

Day 0 in the city

Running aound to explore the city

We reached late at night, around 8 pm and wanted to grab dinner before heading out to our accommodation. We found an Indian restaurant close by, and not knowing the fate of our future dinner cuisines, we decided to grab a bite. I think it was Taj Mahal restaurant and food was a-okay. The city was very lively even at 9 pm in the night. There was quite a bit of hussle bussle and we felt safe walking alone. After dinner, we took a bus to our AirBnB which was located a little away from the city centre. The hosts were lovely and we had a room to ourselves on the top floor. Their pet dog was especially adorable. 

A day in the Luxermbourg City

Notre Dame Cathedral

We had until late afternoon in the city as we were supposed to get to Trier in time to rent our car for our Germany trip (my next blog!). So, we decided to go for a run and explore the city. Luxembourg isn't flat. It has varied elevation and levels, and following the google map directions can be tricky, which we discovered only once we stepped out for a jog. 

Palais Grand Ducal

We started off with navigating to the Notre Dame Cathedral first. On our way though, we stopped  for a cuppa joe and a croissant at a local coffee shop, which I can't remember. They had good strawberry yogurt too. Ahh! And most importantly, they told us, that instead of taking the zig zag uphill route, we could take the elevator upto the plaza level. Who needs a hilly run on a vacation anyway! ;)

Once at the plaza level, everything was right there. The cathedral of Notre Dame, Palais Grand Ducal, Casemates and the souvenir shops. Walk down Chemine de la Corniche to The Grund. A few other touristy spots to stop by if you are interested and have time. This level gives you good views of the city and is the centre for touristy and old-town stuff. Our rough walking route.

Central Plaza - Domfreihof

Coming back was easier as it was mostly downhill. You could also take the local bus if you want to get around via public transport. But the most exciting thing was yet to happen. Sumit decided to jog back and I waited for the bus. He reached home before I did and when I reached, I rang the doorbell. He was of course in the shower and only heard my doorbell after, umm, unbearable fifteen minutes or so. And in his quest to open the door asap, he accidentally opened the door without realizing that our host's pet dog was let out running on the street. They weren't at home and it was us running behind the dog in middle of Luxembourg. He was getting farther and farther away, while some good Samaritan got hold of him and picked him up to return him to the huffing and puffing folks running behind him, i.e. us. 

Whew! We now packed and took the bus to get to the train station for our bus to Trier. Would have been nice to go visit the other cities of Echternach and Vianden, that we had initially planned, but oh well, next time!

What we didn't do:

• Echternach: Town on your way to Trier in Germany. A small town with old abbey, basilica, an old town area and a lake to boast of. 
• Vianden: Boasts of a famous castle and Victor Hugo museum.
• Beaufort: A small little town on your way from Vianden to Echternach. Boasts of cobbled streets and very famous chateau.

Tips:

One of the day trip itineraries that I liked.