My first attempt at a trip report: Germany via Singapore, direct out of Canberra

[GarrettM]

Brings back some memories. Although you haven't REALLY visited Neuschwanstein unless you walk up the hill. The bus doesn't count

 

[VPS]

Great photos and memories - thanks for the TR

 

[OZDUCK]

Thanks for this. Bought back a lot of memories of trips to Germany. Last time at Neuschwanstein we also caught the bus. The first time we walked up - but saying that is a bit of a cheat because in the 1970's the car-park was only just below the castle and not down in the valley like it is now.

Looking forward to more.

 

[CaptJCool]

Brings back some memories. Although you haven't REALLY visited Neuschwanstein unless you walk up the hill. The bus doesn't count

I walked up the hill !

Havent REALLY visited if you didn't take an inside photo haha joking....

i was just amazed at how many people were herded through the day I was there. It reminded me being at a theme park with a big eared mouse lol

 

[GarrettM]

Havent REALLY visited if you didn't take an inside photo haha joking....

Shhhhh....



This was all I could get away with at the time. Small pic but was quite some time ago.

 

[Colin 2905]

Brings back some memories. Although you haven't REALLY visited Neuschwanstein unless you walk up the hill. The bus doesn't count

I feel bad for not having walked up the hill, honestly. I had intended to. The situation was that by the time I'd done the tour of the first castle my stomach was well and truly rumbling and by the time I'd taken care of my stomach there was a good chance that I'd miss my timeslot for the second castle if I'd walked it. Even catching the bus and skipping the bridge until later (doubling back to do so), I still didn't have much spare time up my sleeve when I arrived at Neuschwanstein.

 

[Colin 2905]

i was just amazed at how many people were herded through the day I was there. It reminded me being at a theme park with a big eared mouse lol

Apparently the castle provided the inspiration for something similar that's part of the big eared mouse franchise.

 

[GarrettM]

I feel bad for not having walked up the hill, honestly. I had intended to. The situation was that by the time I'd done the tour of the first castle my stomach was well and truly rumbling and by the time I'd taken care of my stomach there was a good chance that I'd miss my timeslot for the second castle if I'd walked it. Even catching the bus and skipping the bridge until later (doubling back to do so), I still didn't have much spare time up my sleeve when I arrived at Neuschwanstein.

Don't feel bad. The hill is a nightmare for unfit people like me. I remember walking up it and more than once wondering if it was worth the effort. Of course it was.
Our tour group also grabbed some bikes from the town to explore the fields, and ended up swimming in Schwansee. A good but tiring day.

 

[Colin 2905]

The next segment of my trip was the ICE train(s) from Nuremberg to Cologne, changing at Frankfurt. There's a high speed line from Frankfurt to Cologne but I took the more scenic route via Koblenz that follows the Rhine for a fair bit. When I booked my first class ticket for this one and reserved a seat the direction of travel wasn't indicated on the DB site as is usually the case, so I made a guess..... and got it wrong. My reserved seat (seat 61, LOL) was on the opposite side of the carriage to the river, and faced the other way. But it didn't matter, since there were only about three other people in the same carriage, so I was free to move . A few more photos.....







(As we snaked our way along the Rhine, we passed an ICE travelling south. Call it a railfan photo.)

 

[Colin 2905]

My hotel in Cologne (the Novotel Köln City) was a couple of kilometres from the Hauptbahnhof, but according to Google Maps, looked to be a quite do-able scenic walk alongside the river. What Google Maps doesn't tell you is that it's mostly cobblestones, which made for a rather noisy experience with my luggage in tow. By the time that I reached the hotel it was evident that I'd be catching a taxi back when it was time to leave.

I had a bit of a wander around Cologne that evening, but these photos are from the following day......






The Cathedral....

 

[Colin 2905]

Took the Seilbahn (cable car) across the Rhine and back......

 

[Colin 2905]

Back to the Cathedral for a look inside.....








I would've liked to have made the climb, but luck wasn't on my side. It would be open again the next day, but not until 9am, and my train was leaving at 8.28am. Oh well.....




One more shot of the outside, at night.....

 

[jukebox333]

Thanks for taking the time to post such a comprehensive report - and kudos to you for making the trip, to see a concert!

Congratulations!

 

[CaptJCool]

I vitiated the DDR Museum, which I found quite interesting, but this was the only photo I took (Doh!)......

View attachment 81363

In case anyone wants to check out more pictures The DDR Museum in Berlin: a unique museum experience

i liked this museum for its authenticity.
As a simple sense of those times will not be coming back. Audi was split in two when the Wall went up..... 40 plus years later, the West had Audi and the East still had the same ole Trabant rolling off the production line - keeping people governed at 50 mph, no one travels fast nor far.....

 

[PLANT]

Any info on the Berlin accom?

 

[Colin 2905]

Thanks for taking the time to post such a comprehensive report - and kudos to you for making the trip, to see a concert!

Congratulations!

Thanks. Still a couple of days worth to go, which I'll get to later tonight, hopefully.

On the subject of the concert, I figured that I'd have a greater chance of winning the lottery than Schiller ever coming to Australia, and I don't even buy lottery tickets. I've been a Schiller fan ever since a friend in Germany sent me a copy of his second album, Weltreise. I've since bought all of his other albums (whilst in Germany on previous trips), and picked up his latest, Future, on this one. (I bought the first one I saw, for €21.99. A couple of days later I saw it for €6.99, dammit.)

 

[Colin 2905]

In case anyone wants to check out more pictures The DDR Museum in Berlin: a unique museum experience

i liked this museum for its authenticity.
As a simple sense of those times will not be coming back. Audi was split in two when the Wall went up..... 40 plus years later, the West had Audi and the East still had the same ole Trabant rolling off the production line - keeping people governed at 50 mph, no one travels fast nor far.....

A few amusing things that I learned about the Trabant at the DDR Museum.....

They didn't have a fuel gauge, the theory being that was just another thing that could break. Apparently their owners had to estimate how much fuel they had left by how much driving they'd done.

The brakes were so weak that they had to get special permission to produce them.

Parts were so difficult to obtain that if you took one to a mechanic for repairs, the first thing he'd ask you was if you'd bought the parts with you.

 

[Colin 2905]

Any info on the Berlin accom?

Sure. I stayed at the Ibis Styles Berlin an der Oper, in the Charlottenburg area. The nearest U-Bahn station is Berlin Oper, and there was literally an entrance to it half way across the road.

It cost me €64.13 per night for the three nights that I was there. Breakfast was included, as was Wi-Fi and calls to German landlines (not that I made any). Had I been travelling with Mrs 2905 I probably would've gone for something bigger and a bit more upmarket, but since it was just me, it was fine.

Here's a couple of photos of my room.....





And the view from the window (nothing flash).....

 

[Jay Cee]

Thank you so far for the wonderful photos. It's rather ironic that since Europe suffered so much damage during the last war that they have such beautiful buildings. Haven't seen any photos of light rail ?? have you no time for light rail ??? :mrgreen:

cheers

 

[Colin 2905]

7/10/16. My last day in Germany and it's also our wedding anniversary. I'd visited one of the Pandora shops in Cologne the previous day with my credit card at the ready, so I'd already purchased a couple of charms for Mrs 2905 as a souvenir-come-anniversary present. One of them is only available in Cologne (or so they told me).

The ICE only takes 30 minutes to get from Köln Hbf to the Düsseldorf Flughafen station, so I had to forgo the warm Belgian waffle with icecream that I'd become so accustomed to. Sigh.

At Düsseldorf Flughafen station there's a monorail (the SkyTrain) which takes you the short distance to the actual terminals. When I got to the SkyTrain it seemed as though half of Germany was already waiting for it. I had plenty of time up my sleeve, so I let a few go until the backlog had cleared. From my observations, once you're more than six people or so back from the door you have little chance of getting on, so you're better off swapping platforms (about six paces) and being first in line for the following one. There's usually a SkyTrain every five minutes or so.

I still had one free Priority Pass lounge visit left, but rather than use it at DUS, I saved it for my return through SIN. So at DUS I just mingled with the crowd at the gate, waiting to board. And waited. Then waited some more. Eventually it was announced that the toilets (on our almost brand new A350-900) had gone tech. They weren't able to fix the problem but were at least able to work around it by providing us with bottled water with which to wash our hands. All up I think we were about two hours late departing. A worry for some, with tighter connections, but for me it simply meant about 15 hours to kill in Singapore instead of about 17.

My assigned seat, an exit row seat for which I'd stumped up an extra USD$75, was 47J but when I got to it I was asked by the guy who had 47H if I would swap seats with his wife in 48K so that they could sit next to each other. I politely declined his request. Even though 48K has some extra leg room (due to there being no 47K) I knew that it was still going to be a bit of a pain to get in and out of, having been in 47B on the SIN - DUS leg, and observing 48A. He then asked if I would swap seats with him, so that he could at least be closer to his wife. I agreed to that, so here I am in 47H.....



This time around I fired up the IFE, and it was quite good. (So it should be, given that SQ only took delivery of these earlier this year.) Plenty to choose from, and I ended up watching three movies back to back, which helped greatly to pass the time of the twelve hour (or so) flight.