Our German Holiday!

The holiday was unplanned.

It came as a pleasant surprise when my husband got detailed for a course in Germany. He was going for a month. And I joined him in the later half for 15 days. And I think it was one of the best decisions we took jointly!

It was more than a holiday. It was a testimony of how despite our disagreements and occasional squabbles through more than two decades we snuggly fit into each other’s space to become each other’s perfect “holiday partner.”

While we have always enjoyed our holidays together, this was different since it was just us …and to our surprise our interests in food, places to visit, and things to do… aligned seamlessly. Barring one time where I craved for  a stiff cup of “adrak chai” while he effortlessly sipped on “black coffee” through the holiday.

I don’t know who influenced whom over the years but we were now literally “twinning”. And it took us a holiday to realize that we were more alike now than we were twenty years ago! It was both reassuring and scary! But more reassuring than scary.

So, the first lesson that came from this holiday was “take one…. just the two of you”. A family holiday certainly should be an annual affair but so should a couple holiday. Both serve the relationship differently.

Week One

It was my first and my husband’s third week in the land of Beer and Sausage. He had spent about two weeks in Donauworth before he moved to Ingolstadt for further training. And this is where I joined him. It was a pretty little town on the Danube.

The place had a merry vibe and reminded me of “Virgin River”, the quaint countryside town in the Netflix series . Everyone knew everyone and the Christmas fervour made the Bonhomie conspicuous. Evenings in the town saw people in their uber-chic winter wear huddled around wooden tables in the Christmas market chatting and cheering over pretty mugs of gluhwein (mulled wine).

The vibe was palpable and rubbed onto the tourists too. Christmas, I reckon is the best time to be in Europe.

Ingolstadt as a town needs to be seen on foot. Nothing is too far. At least nothing worth seeing is too far. There’s the Audi Museum -it undoubtedly should be on your list. Its story is awe-inspiring and the museum beautifully depicts its rather impressive journey.

Here I learnt that the word “Audi” translates to “listen” in Latin. It was a translation of the word “Horch” which happened to be the surname of its founder August Horch. Also, the interesting story of the four rings of the Audi logo was a revelation.

This apart we visited The Bavarian Army Museum, The Liebfrauenmunster Church, and the Medicine Museum. These are worth a visit if you are staying in Ingolstadt.

For the brand conscious there’s the Ingolstadt Village, a small marketplace for the most premium brands at discounted prices. Since we are both not brand conscious we only shopped at the Lindt Store …and it was a loot!

However, the most fascinating part of our stay in Ingolstadt was our trip to Nuremberg. It’s about an hour away from Ingolstadt and is highly recommended

We took a train to Nuremberg. The train rides in Germany make travel extremely comfortable and simple. Take the RE and not the ICE if u want to save up. Both are equally comfortable but the RE takes slightly longer. 

Nuremberg  is unmissable! It holds within it tales of triumph and tragedy. It was once a stronghold of the ancient Roman Empire and recent history mentions Nuremberg as the harbinger of Nazi rallies and then later how it symbolically was chosen as the site for Nuremberg trials. There’s lots more to see and learn. Its glorious Gothic-style architectural marvels are a sight to behold. You can see these on the City Mini Train- it’s the cutest way to get a feel of the city.

After the train tour, we visited its charming Christmas market. It’s one of the best.

Week Two

In the second week, we moved to Munich. We made it our base and decided to see places in close vicinity. It was a conscious decision to stick to places within two hours of travel from Munich.

Munich was big. And impressive. Its sheer size and grandeur contradicted the literal translation of its name, “the home of the monks.”

We had a rather long “to-do list” with breweries at the much-celebrated MarienPlatz, the city’s townhall sitting pretty at the top. We also tried Bavarian food like the widely enjoyed and justifiably popular pulled Pork burger.

On other days Pretzel and coffee fuelled us well.

From Munich, we travelled to Salzburg, the city of the VonTrapp family from the timeless classic “The Sound of Music.”  We took the “sound of music” bus tour and I urge you to take it. It’s a four-hour drive through Salzburg all the way to Mondsee covering all places of relevance. The drive was unreal and felt like a dream.  Enroute, we saw the Red Bull headquarters, and you got to believe me when I say it was a masterpiece.

The other half of the week took us to Neuschwanstein Castle in Fussen and   Lindau, Bodensee.

First the castle.

The New Swan Castle was the inspiration for the “Sleeping Beauty” castle. Do you remember seeing it in the Disney logo?   It looks straight out of fairyland despite its two-hundred-year-old history. It’s a must-visit not only because you get to see the iconic castle but also for the quaint little town, Fussen at the  foothills.

Next day,  we planned to visit Lindau . The train journey to Lindau turned out to be quite an adventure. Unaware that the train carriages separated after a specific junction, we remained seated and unexpectedly arrived at a different station—twice! So please remember when you take a train keep a tab on the stations especially when you hear the engine winding down.

Even though the journey to Lindau was adventurous, landing there we realised it was worth it. As we stepped out of the station, we found ourselves staring at Lake Constance in its pristine form totally awestruck by its vastness and sparkling water with the lighthouse and the Lion sitting elegantly on it. It completely captivated our senses.

The spell was broken by hymns from the adjoining church.

Running short on time, we decided to explore the lanes and by-lanes of Lindau. We greedily covered as much ground as we could on foot. While the good part of landing there on Christmas Eve was that the place was decked and looked pretty with festoons and lights but the not-so-good part was that everything was shut barring a few cafes. I peeked through the glass windows and felt a sharp urge to break into the fairy-talish collection of souvenirs and curios.

I strongly recommend saving Euros for shopping at Lindau.

Since most places were shut for Christmas I may not be able to say with certainty that Mokka Café at Lindau is the best but I definitely can say that its “orange pie” is like no other. Put it on your “must devour” list.

The last two days were dedicated to Munich again. Despite giving it a good three days there is so much of it still unexplored. But we aren’t complaining because we chose our pace. We took our time and strolled through every nook and corner, immersing ourselves in the essence of the city. Both of us prefer exploring on foot, and that’s precisely what we did.

For the city tour we did take the hop on hop off bus. But it was a let down. While enduring the biting cold and winter showers we had to wait long for the bus at most stops. Disappointed, we ditched the tour and covered only The Nymphenburg Palace, Glyptothek and KonigPlatz square.  I can’t say which was better. Each had an interesting blend of classicism and antiquity. But given a choice I would go back to the Glyptothek since the Romano-Greek sculptures there were enigmatic and stories behind each exquisitely compelling.  

We clocked close to 18.3 kms on foot that day- the longest on our trip!  Our average through the trip was 13 kms. We slept like logs that night! But woke up like daisies!

We saved the last day for what we knew was going to be a sombre experience- a visit to the Dachau Concentration Camp-one of the first and longest running concentration camps by the Nazis. The visit was moving to say the least. The German government has preserved the barracks, crematoriums, gas chambers and baths as they were. To think of it, it’s not even a hundred years since tyranny of such magnitude was unleashed right where we stood. The thought gave us gooseflesh.

The visit was anything but pleasant. It was dark, sad, unnerving, and gut wrenching ….as it should be. But despite it, I urge you to visit because its important we show our respect to the fallen and remind ourselves that humanity has an evil side and it should never be left unchecked.  

Some travel notes

It’s always good to exchange notes when traveling to a new location more specifically a new country. This is what we discovered:

•       Carry physical currency, they need the money, honey. Forex card is a must too but not all places accept it

·       Carry a mug for the washroom. Their washroom habits are different from ours
·         Do not cart toiletries unless you are too particular. Everything is available at the same cost or maybe cheaper
·         Definitely carry your medicines
·         Drying clothes is easy. So carry less (you can shop more that way!)
·         Beer mugs -a must buy when in Germany
·         Book yourself in a place close to the main station-trains are super-efficient and super-economical in Germany so you walk upto the station and jet set from there
·         Avoid cabs they are pointlessly expensive
·         If you happen to plan a winter holiday do carry waterproof shoes (we shopped Quecha from Decathalon)
·         Walk/Cycle/walk as much as you can

 As they say “it’s better to see a place once than to hear about it a thousand times” …so plan your vacation soon before you hear from me again!