Die Romantische Strasse

The "Romantische Strasse", is the oldest tourist route in Germany, with a length of 350 kilometers (217.48 miles) between the Frankish Würzburg and Füssen.

I will take you along the "Romantic Road" starting in north (Würzburg)and ending in the south (Füssen).

Würzburg:

The university and convention city on the Main, is in the heart of the Franconian wine country. Worth seeing: the old cathedral, Neumünster, Mary's Chapel, New and Old Main Bridge. Numerous museums (Mainfränkisches Museum, Museum am Dom, Museum in the Cultural Memory), theater and attractive festival highlights (Mozart, Africa Festival, Würzburg Bach days). Recommended are visits to wineries and travel through the Franconian wine country.

Tauberbischofsheim:

Is one of the oldest cities in the 'lovely Tauber Valley'. The symbol of the city is the watchman's tower. Around it, is Kurmainzische castle, a must see. The neo-Gothic city hall, in addition to a plethora of historic houses, is the most striking buildings on the square and also worth visiting. Bike ride and hike through unspoiled nature.

Lauda-Königshofen:
A Wine town with magnificent churches from the heyday of the Franconian Baroque, historic bridges, imposing half-timbered houses and shrines of six centuries. Museum (emphasis wine), guided tours through nature, culture and wine trails, leisure facilities including indoor heated swimming pool, indoor pool with sauna and solarium. Directly on the Bike-Trail "Charming Tauber Valley", starting and ending points of the Main-Tauber-Fränkischen Rad-Achters, short and beautiful hiking trails through idyllic countryside.



Bad Mergentheim:
Enjoys an international reputation for decades as a health and holiday resort. Bad Mergentheim is known by the Teutonic castle and museum with the Stuppacher Madonna, the bathing and wellness park Solymar or the wildlife park.  Around the market square with its magnificent Renaissance town hall and the Cathedral of St. John and the Cathedral Treasury you will see half-timbered houses and Baroque palaces.



Weikersheim: 

Weikersheim is a state-approved health resort with a beautiful Castle, a marketplace with its gorgeous state office building and a village museum. A must see, the Gothic Church and the Rococo fountain is just of singular unity. Weikersheim is nestled in vineyards by the magnificent Renaissance castle with its spacious and beautifully landscaped palace garden in the style of Versailles. Weikersheim has well-developed hiking and bicycle trails.

Röttingen:

This friendly town, offers several spectacular facilities.  Röttingen was named the first European town in 1953. It is know by its historic town center with charming half-timbered houses (Fachwerkhäusern).

Some of the historic buildings are:

• Castle Brattenstein (12th century)
• Parish Church (12th Century)
• St. George's Chapel (15th Century)
• Town Hall (18th Century)
• Fortress with seven towers

 

 

 

Creglingen:

Creglingen is located in the district of Baden-Württemberg in the Main-Tauber-Kreis. The Celts founded this town around 200-100 B.C.
If you travel in the month of February and love horses, make sure to plan a visit on the second Wednesday on every February, Creglingen has a special event since over 80 years. The horse market. This event offers all horse lovers from the Tauber Valley and the Bavarian neighboring communities, a mixture of old horse market tradition and modern horse market. Besides awarding the best horses, the highlight on this day is the traditional parade followed by open-air concert. 

If you don't care much about horses (by the way, I love horses!), then take a Historical tour through Creglingen.

Information boards will provide insights into the Creglinger history of past centuries. The "Mühlweg" will lead you to the "Herrgottskirche" (God Church)  that is approximately 1 km outside of the city, with the famous altar by Tilman Riemenschneider and unique Thimble museum (Fingerhutmuseum). 

The tour takes you to: the Schlosserturm, the Jewish Museum, the Lindleinturm Museum, the Romschloss, the Old Town Hall, the Old School House (now the Town Hall), the Historical Pharmacy, to the vicarage, the Courtyard - historical Schlossbäck, Old Jewish Cemetery, the thimble Museum and the Church of God (Herrgottskirche) with the Riemenschneideraltar.

Here is a pdf file with the historical sights, provided by the city of Creglingen: 

 http://www.creglingen.de/sehenswuerdigkeiten_karte.pdf

Next stops: Rothenburg o.d.T. ► Schillingsfürst ► Feuchtwangen ► Dinkelsbühl ► Wallerstein ► Nördlingen ► Harburg ► Donauwörth ► Rain ► Augsburg ► Friedberg ► Landsberg am Lech ► Hohenfurch ► Schongau ► Peiting ► Rottenbuch ► Wildsteig ► Steingaden ► Halblech ► Schwangau ► Füssen

The Oktoberfest is coming up! Prost!

September 18th and everybody is going "PROST"!


The 177th annual Oktoberfest is starting September 18th and will last until October 4th.  I have been once to the "real" Oktoberfest and it was fascinating! Definitely not a place for people with OCD ;-)


Here are some things that I thought might be interesting to know:


How is an Oktoberfest beer mug "Stein" made?

Did you know that a complete series of all Oktoberfest steins is worth several thousand euros. Each step, to make the Stein, requires precise manual work, so that each of the limited edition Oktoberfest steins a little work of art.

I researched it a little bit for you and I found out, how the mug is made. 

The "Stein" also called "Maß" is made out of clay. The first step is to form the Stein without the handle. Afterwards the handle will be carefully added to the mug. 

With a damp sponge, the transitions from the handle and the mug are smoothened out, so that the whole surface is evenly and smooth.

In a large brick furnace, the mugs are then brazed at about 1000 degrees Celsius until they are hard like stone ;-) (get it? Stein = Stone)

After the "Stein" has cooled off, the official Oktoberfest logo is carefully placed by hand on the mug and smoothed out. Now the beer mug looks almost like a proper Oktoberfest beer stein.

With a fine brush, colored edges are painted around the mug. A rotating disc, on which the Oktoberfeststein is placed, mades this procedure a little bit easier to do. 

Next up, the "Stein" is put back in the furnace. With this procedure, the Logo is inextricably linked with the mug. Now the collector "Stein" is read! For the "Stein" that is used at the Oktoberfest, a tin lid is added as a last step in this procedure.

A solid, handmade tin lid is added to the "Stein". Every year, a different embossed lid is placed on each mug. this year, the lid will have an embossing from Crown Prince Ludwig and Therese Hildburghausen's royal wedding. 

For Sale: 1998 BMW Dinan 5 - with a 6-Speed Manual Transmission

SOLD :-)


Hi Everyone,

I have my Bavarian "Black Beauty" up for sale. It has a 6-speed Manual Transmission, just like a German car suppose to have ;-)

It is a great car, but it's time to move to something a little bigger. No, not an SUV but maybe a BMW Touring. This Dinan 5 is truly a special car. Anyone who loves a fast, comfortable ride, will love it! It just has everything: Torque, Speed and Comfort... what else do you need?

Please check out the auction on eBay: http://bit.ly/adhNVI and please feel free to forward it to anyone who might be interested.

Thank you!

Aldi / Trader Joe's Co-Founder dies at 88 in Germany

Theo Albrecht died Saturday in his home city of Essen, Germany.

Theo Albrecht was the secretive co-founder of Germany's worldwide discount supermarket chain ALDI and co-owner of Trader Joe's in the United States and one of Europe's richest men.

When I used to live in Germany, Aldi was one of the grocery stores I went to a lot! Great products and cheap. Why? Because they did not sell the name. Aldi had "No Name Brands" but it was the exact same product then the "Brand Name" products, just a lot cheaper. Why pay for the name! I used to love shopping there. 

Then I moved to the States and I found Trader Joe's. My favorite grocery store here and who new, it was the same owner then Aldi! I did not know that until about a year ago. They are totally different stores, yet something about them makes them great! I guess it's the price/quality they have. 

Rest in peace Mr. Albrecht. Thank you for opening those great stores! 

Danke!

This is an Aldi close to where I used to live

This is how an Aldi looks inside. Really nothing special or fancy but easy find the things that you need.













This is the beer sections! And yes, most Germans buy it in the case!

Auto und Technik Museum - Sinsheim

Want to see nice cars, airplanes and more, view more than 3,000 exhibits from all areas of technical history on more than 30,000 square meters of indoor space and in our open air ground. The exhibitions include a genuine CONCORDE from Air France and the Russian Tupolev TU-144, more than 300 classic cars, 200 motorcycles, 40 racing cars, the largest permament formula-1 exhibition in Europe, 60 airplanes, 20 locomotives, and much more.

The best "No Speed Limit" Autobahn's in Germany

Here are the best "Autobahnen" without speed limit:

A5 - between Frankfurt and Darmstadt

A9 - north between Bayreuth and Hof

A81 - between Heilbronn-Würzburg

A81 - between Stuttgart-Singenand

A70 - between Schweinfurt Bayreuth. Here you can test out your car :)

A31 - north of Bottrop. This stretch is really recommended for test drives. It is also being used from the guys at Brabus! You could for example drift of to the Nordschleife You'll just have to look for the opening times, maybe you can find a section, with "free" lanes and then... wroom

And last but not least: Munich - Garmisch. Is by far the best Autobahn, about 100 kilometers without limitation, Traumlandschaft! Long curves, sometimes even slightly banked curves... a dream come true! Is also not so far away from the Schweitz.

Driving in the Rain - Skidding and Hydroplaning in Rainy Conditions

I just saw an article on weather.com and I wanted to share it with you. Since I learned how to drive in Germany (and believe me, it rains A LOT there) I liked the article. Here it is:

Skidding and Hydroplaning in Rainy Conditions

Losing control of your car on wet pavement is a frightening experience.

Skids are scary but hydroplaning is completely nerve-wracking.

Hydroplaning happens when the water in front of your tires builds up faster than your car's weight can push it out of the way. The water pressure causes your car to rise up and slide on a thin layer of water between your tires.

Taking these simple tips into account can save your life.

1. You can prevent skids by driving slowly and carefully, especially on curves. Steer and brake with a light touch. When you need to stop or slow, do not brake hard or lock the wheels and risk a skid. Maintain mild pressure on the brake pedal.
2. If you do find yourself in a skid, remain calm, ease your foot off the gas, and carefully steer in the direction you want the front of the car to go. For cars without anti-lock brakes, avoid using your brakes. This procedure, known as "steering into the skid," will bring the back end of your car in line with the front. If your car has ABS, brake firmly as you steer into the skid.
3. Avoid hydroplaning by keeping your tires inflated correctly. Maintain good tire tread. Don't put off replacing worn tires. Slow down when roads are wet, and stay away from puddles. Try to drive in the tire tracks left by the cars in front of you.
4. If you find yourself hydroplaning, do not brake or turn suddenly. This could throw your car into a skid. Ease your foot off the gas until the car slows and you can feel the road again. If you need to brake, do it gently with light pumping actions. If your car has anti-lock brakes, then brake normally. The car's computer will automatically pump the brakes much more effectively than a person can do.
5. A defensive driver adjusts his or her speed to the wet road conditions in time to avoid having to use any of these measures. 

Drive Safe!