Day 4 Cologne (Koln)

We got up at 6:15, ate breakfast at 7:00 then walked to the train station at 7:30. The train left on time at 7:44 and made stops at the Frankfurt Airport, Mainz and Koblenz arriving about 10 minutes late at Cologne due to a body being found at the railroad tracks.

The train station is located right next to the cathedral so it was such a magnificent sight to see coming out of the main entrance. The only drawback was the weather because it was gloomy/overcast and raining. History lesson: the cathedral was built mainly to house the relics of the three Magis which were taken from Milan and given to the Archbishop of Cologne in 1164. Other trivial information: it features the largest church facade in the world; has 12 church bells including the St. Petersglocke (bell of St Peter), weighs 24 tons and is the largest free-swinging bell in the world. Didn't get a chance to see this though because we had to climb up to the belfry.

Here's a picture of the Sarcophagus of the Magi, the largest reliquary in the Western world and is thought to hold the remains of the Three Kings, whose bones and 2000 years old clothes were discovered at the opening of the shrine in 1864. The Gero Cross (Gero-Kreuz) near the sacristy, is the oldest large cross north of the Alps. In the Sacrament Chapel, the "Milan Madonna" (Mailänder Madonna), is a wooden sculpture depicting Mary and the child Jesus.

Walked to the Rathaus (Town Hall) and then on to the Rhine Bank to enjoy the scenery. Walking back towards the rear of the cathedral, we saw a replica of Michaelangelo's David except that it is pink-skinned and blonde. Really weird. Did a little bit of shopping, had a late lunch at KFC (of all places) and then headed back at 1515.

Bought one more luggage for the Christmas stuff, some snacks and returned to the hotel because it was still raining and cold. We just ate sandwiches in the room and watched the news and went down to the lobby later on and read about the Chargers news in the Internet.

Day 3 Rhine River Cruise

Had a late wake up call at 8:00 since the tour was not until 11:15 and had breakfast at 9:00. Returned to the room afterwards and took pictures from the veranda while the sun was still out. Went out to the the Hauptbahnhof (Main Station) and took some more pictures. Started to get cold and windy with the clouds rolling in.

Walked to the tour office at 11:00 with another couple from the hotel. The bus left on time with another full busload of tourists. We had to detour to the Mainz Hilton to pick up 2 more passengers and then had lunch at a restaurant by the Rhine riverbank. Nice and cozy with a booth made out of a wine barrel at the entrance and the food was really good. Continued along the Rhine bank enjoying the scenery and then continued up to the hills driving through the Taunus mountain range.

Passed some more open fields and villages along the way and then stopped at the Lorelei viewpoint. According to the German legend, Lorelei was a beautiful young maiden who jumped into the river in despair over a faithless lover. She was then transformed into a siren and could from that time on be heard singing on a rock along the Rhine River near St. Goar. Her hypnotic music lured sailors causing their ships to crash on the rocks. Anyway, the view was incredible.

The bus headed back down along the Rhine and stopped at the ferry landing at St. Goar. We boarded the cruise boat and headed downstream making a U-turn at Lorelei point. It must have been our lucky day because she wasn't out singing as the boat was making its turn. The view from the river was magnificent and we passed numerous villages and castles along the way. It could have been better if the sun was out but at least it wasn't raining and there was only a slight breeze.

We got off a short time later and the bus took us to the same restaurant but a different section for some wine tasting. Actually, it should be called wine sipping because we were given 4 kinds of wine in itty-bitty cups, just like the dosage cups that come along with the medicine bottle. The place was quite small and we were packed almost like sardines - no comparison to the bodega wine tasting in Spain.

Returned to Franfurt afterwards, had dinner at the Acapulco Restaurant which is actually an Italian restaurant and our waiter was Portuguese.

Day 2 Heidelberg

Got waken up twice: we got buzzed by mistake at 6:00 and then at 7:00 again. Had breakfast at 7:30, went back to the room to get our things ready, was picked up from the hotel by the tour rep and then walked with him for about 2 blocks to the tour office.

Another cold, wet and rainy day but it didn't deter the tourists like us because the bus was full. Our tour guide Inge was very knowledgeable and described everything that we saw along the way. She pointed out the castles on the hilltops but we weren't able to distinguish them because of the rain.

The trip was about an hour long and it was still drizzling when we got to the castle. The guide purchased our tickets and led us into the castle courtyard while describing its history. We walked onto the Belvedere terrace for a view of the Neckar River and the town but couldn't see much. Went back into the courtyard and then into the cellar where the biggest wine barrel in the world is stored. It is called the Grosses Fass (Big Barrel) and can hold over 221,000 litres of wine. It also had a little stairway which takes visitors to the top of the barrel. It was free time afterwards so we went back out to the courtyard and the ruins to take some pictures.

The bus took us to Altstadt (Old Town) afterwards where we visited the Gothic Church of the Holy Ghost, walked through the town square and bought some souvenirs and Romar's beer stein and also took pictures of the castle from Karlsplatz Square. We met up at the bus an hour later where the tour guide gave us our 'gourmet' lunch of a sandwich, drink and chips and then headed back to Frankfurt.

Walked to the Hauptbahnhof (Main Train Station) first where Mom bought her Germany Starbucks mug before heading back to the hotel to offload our things. Walked to the Römerberg which is the main city center and took pictures of the Romer (City Hall), visited the Dom (Cathedral) where the kings were elected and emperors were crowned, took pictures of Paulskirche (St. Paul's Church) and then walked to the Zeil shopping district to buy Christmas items.

Had dinner at a Chinese restaurant before heading back to the hotel.

Day 1 Frankfurt

Our flight at Jerez was at 10:00 so we got up at 7:30, had a leisurely breakfast and left the house at 8:00 since it's only a 25-minute drive. The line was still short so we were able to check in right away and get a low number. FYI, discount flights here are open seating so you have to be there early. There was no passport check conducted and the plane left on time. The weather was beautiful and the flight was uneventful except for the two jets heading the opposite direction looking like missiles as they flew by.

It was a direct flight and we landed at Frankfurt-Hahn Airport at 1300. It is the main hub for RyanAir in Germany and was once a US Air Force base. It's about an hour and a half from downtown Frankfurt with a shuttle bus service running every half hour during the day. Again, there was no passport check conducted (I think this is the standard for EU countries) and we headed out to the bus stop after collecting our luggage.

It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed the scenery along the way. We noticed that Germany has acres and acres of farmland like Spain and fall colors were already on the trees. The roads are well-paved and motorists observe the posted speed limits. Germany is famous for its Autobahns (expressways without speed limits) but it is mainly for long stretches of roads away from the city. Passed the city of Weisbaden and made one stop at the Frankfurt Airport before going into Frankfurt. The bus stop was behind the Hauptbahnhof (main station) and only a block and a half from our hotel.

Walked to our hotel, checked in and then had lunch/dinner at a Chinese restaurant named Ding-ding near our hotel. We'll try the local food later on because we were so hungry. Mom had fried shrimp with garlic and onions while I had chicken chop suey. It was excellent especially we had white rice and jasmine tea with it. Returned to the hotel afterwards and booked for a tour to Heidelberg for Saturday and a Rhine River Cruise for Sunday.

We had our first experience of German hospitality when we went to the train station afterwards to check on fares and schedules. The guy in the ticket counter asked for our destinations and approximate time frames and helped us select the best times and fares that fit our schedule. I think it was at least fifteen minutes that he assisted us and he never showed any impatience at all. He even informed us that we qualified for a 20% discount because we booked in advance. We ended up buying tickets for Cologne and Rothenberg for Monday and Tuesday because he was very professional, courteous and helpful. Outstanding customer service.

Headed out to downtown Frankfurt checking out the Christmas stores and walked down Zeil street which is a long pedestrian shopping promenade. Mom did some shopping while I took pictures. It's just too bad that we will miss the official opening of the Christmas season in November 23. The decorations are not put up yet but the stores have their window displays already. We'll definitely be back next year.

It started getting a bit windy and chilly so we headed back towards the hotel. Stopped at an Asian market and bought some water and then went to the underground shopping area by the train station. Found another Asian market and bought some Thai soup mix and barbecue marinade which were not available in Rota and El Puerto. It's just funny that we had to buy these items here like buying the bagoong when we went to London in March.

Had to fix the TV cable in the room to get a good reception and was able to watch BBC and CNN. Got woken up at midnight by a wrong number and again at 6:00 when the front desk dialed our room by mistake.

Prologue

I was a bit apprehensive about this trip since I didn't know much about Germany and was also concerned about the language barrier. The words especially the names of the cities are very foreign unlike Spain or Portugal and even have special characters for proper pronunciation. The map that we purchased also didn't help because the cities were listed in their German names such as Köln for Cologne and München for Munich. What helped me was surfing the internet while preparing our itinerary. I was able to find out about the history of each city (including the German names) as well the places of interest. But the best and most comforting information was finding out that English is their second language. Everywhere during our trip, we were able to communicate with anyone from the ticket counter in the train station to a teen-ager riding a bike that we stopped to ask for directions.