Germany is known for its excellent passenger rail system. It's also known for its wonderful roads. We'll probably do some travel by rail, some by car. While it would be great to meander without much of an itinerary, reserving a car might be best done stateside before leaving, so we'll need to know when and where we want to drive. We're also planning to meet up with my friend Mary Jo at some point. Mary Jo's husband, Jim, is on a Fulbright in Austria,. Both of them may join us in Berlin, which would be a blast as Jim is familiar with Berlin and they're both really good company.
Other things we'll need to consider is the amount of time to spend with Bob's relatives and whether or not I want to meet up with some of my far-flung kin. My father's family hailed from what was then Prussia before emigrating to the U.S. in the first part of the last century. I have cousins who have explored the family genealogy, and have identified and corresponded with relatives in Osnabruck and Hannover. It would be interesting to see how the roll of the gene pool dice worked out at their end, but I'm still mulling it over.
GruB Gott Val and Bob!
ReplyDeleteWie geht?
Jim and I just returned from a trip to Muchen! It had been since college for each of us--it was great to reconnect with the city. I found a website called Expat.com--found an inexpensive, clean, hotel 4 blocks from the train station(Hotel Schweiz)it has a great breakfast for 6 euro ,(and easy pickings for packing a free lunch!)wonderful produce stand next door and close to the Marienplatz. The Rathskeller is a must for food and drink-in the basement of the Rathaus. If you travel by train in the middle of the week you shouldn't need a reservation. But, our return trip was on Saturday and we learned a valuable lesson--never travel without a reservation on the weekend. We did not have a seat for the first hour of the trip and then had to move seats twice before finally getting a "nein reservierung" seat--It will cost you more but well worth it. Having never taken German, I study a few survival words daily. Fortunately, most people speak some English and are always willing to help. We always try to initiate in German but then fail quickly after a few words. Hope this info is helpful. I'll keep you posted as we make more discoveries!
Tshus!