The Blue Pot

If you know me in real life (and I imagine that everyone who reads this does), you know that we've been back from Germany for several days, and you also probably know that I always fall behind on this kind of thing.  I am determined to finish blogging about our trip, though!

Our next stop was Ulm, but right after our train got in, we made a side trip to the Ulm suburb of Blaubeuren. Blaubeuren is probably not a place you've heard of, and we weren't able to find it in any tourist books.  I discovered it by accident when I was looking for Ulm hotels.  When I was searching, I saw a few adorable-looking hotels, then saw the distance was something like "9 miles from city center."  Without a car, that wouldn't really work for us in Ulm, but what was this Blaubeuren place with these quaint hotels?

If you bothered clicking on the Wikipedia link above, you saw that the Blaubeuren was pretty much non-existent.  Truthfully, this site is much better, but you have to have your Google Translate installed and ready to go.

Anyway, Blaubeuren is a small, quiet town just outside of Ulm.  Their main attraction is the Blautopf, or "Blue Pot," which is a deep, bubbling spring that is a startling shade of blue.  We didn't quite see the vibrant blue at first, and attributed it to being an overcast day.

I mean, the water is definitely a nice shade, and that mill is quite quaint and picturesque, but the "Blue Pot" is supposed to B L U E.  Like this:

Not my photo.

You might have noticed that these photos are taken at different angles...as we also realized that the B L U E part of the Blautopf was not in front of the mill, but behind it.

My photo.

Definitely a lot bluer.  The Blautopf is tucked back in what seems to be preserved nature/historic area.  After passing through the town on our way there, we came across the Blaubeuren Abbey.

 

 It's not necessarily captured in these photos, but this whole compound was very expansive and peaceful.

Blaubeuren was the first of our side-trips, and a very pleasant one.  We were there on Saturday and much was closed, but there still didn't seem to be many shops.  A few restaurants and hotels, though.  Ulm is only a 10 minute train ride away, so I could see this being a quiet alternative if you were traveling through the area.

Return to Heidelberg

Heidelberg is the first European city I ever visited, back during a 1998 whirlwind Chorale tour of Europe.  We visited 5 cities in 16 days, something I would encourage anyone should do...once.  Fascinating, eye-opening...and EXHAUSTING!  In any case, I was excited to return to this charming town, although the experience of a two thirty-somethings booking their own stuff and figuring out their own rail transportation is quite different from being herded with 50 other college students on a tour bus.  This time, I saw Heidelberg more as a real city and not just a idyllic European town.

We got into Heidelberg mid-afternoon and wanted to take advantage of what seemed like would be limited nice weather.  We took off across the Necker River and climbed the hills across from Heidelberg to Philosopher's Way (Philosophenweg).  It's a strenuous walk, rewarded with a beautiful view as you climb the hills.  As we hiked up, I was reminded of the travel journal I kept during that Chorale tour, in which I wrote, "Those philosophers must have been in good shape!"  

Heidelberg from Philosopher's Way

Sun setting on Heidelberg as we walked down
 Schlanegenweg (Snake's Path).

We had a traditional German dinner at Brauhaus Vetter under the recommendation of my friend Brian, and it was delicious!


The next day we visited the Heidelberg Castle.  Parts of it in are in ruins, while parts of it are still intact and open for tours, which we skipped this time around.  We just explored the grounds on a ticket that combined a trip up the Heidelberg funicular with entrance to the castle.

An example of the castle ruins.

Kevin and the castle.

Tracie hanging out of a tower with Heidelberg in the background.

The former "big barrel" for storing wine,
which wasn't quite big enough...

So here is the new, improved, bigger barrel!  See Kevin
on the top?

Included in our admission was entrance to the Apothecary Museum, which essentially showed the development of the pharmacy in Germany.  You can still see remnants of that history today, with real pharmacies ("Apothekes") being separate from what looks more like an American drugstore, and looking very official.  I was most entranced by this scene of a historic apotheke:

Complete with rats and kitties to catch them!

There was also an evening Christmas Market on the castle grounds, which was really lovely.  It probably had more handmade goods than any other market we'd been to.

Castle courtyard at night.

I had flamlachs...salmon staked to a wooden plank
 and cooked over an open flame.  Yum!

And, of course, some gluhwein!

And then...onto Ulm, of course!

Across and along the River Rhine

Before leaving Cologne, we crossed the railroad bridge to the other side of the Rhine River to get the best views of the city. Take a look at this railroad bridge:

Kinda looks like a glass mosaic, doesn't it?  Or, at least, that was my first impression.  Now, look a little closer...

They're locks!  "Love locks," which I had never heard of, but are apparently a somewhat new but widespread tradition.  How sweet!  If only we had known!

Once across the bridge, Kevin took 75 photos that essentially amounted to this:

And, the previous night, we had also crossed and took the exact same photo, only it was dark:

During the day, while Kevin was taking his 75 pictures of Cologne, I became fascinated with a puppy trying desperately to get his person to play with him, while she was busy texting.  He stopped being as persistent as soon as I got out my camera, of course, but this is still pretty cute:

It was time to move on to Heidelberg, but not before the most exciting part of the trip so far (for Kevin): riding the train!

Waiting excitedly for the train.

We had decided it would be most economical and convenient to get a German Rail Pass.  Luckily, Deutsche Bahn had a promotion that allowed us to splurge for first-class for pretty much the same price as second-class, which came in super-handy with our two-weeks worth of luggage.  Kevin and I could both wax poetic about the convenience of European rail, but I think that's for another post.  

Tracie likes the train, too!

After her experience with German rail this summer, Kevin's cousin had strongly recommended reserving seats on the train (which costs a few euro extra), but we threw caution to the wind and had absolutely no problems (yet).  We were the only two in a first-class compartment for six, and it didn't seem that anyone needed to share with strangers.  Of course, this was a weekday during the (somewhat) low season, so it certainly might be different in the summer.

We took a longer, more scenic route along the Rhine to Heidelberg by making sure to route our trip through Mainz.  This was definitely worth it.  It took about an hour longer, but we passed through several scenic villages and a number of castles atop the hillside.  It was too late in the season for us to do a Rhine castle cruise (they seem to only run through October), but this was a pretty good substitute.

Next stop: Heidelberg!

Chocolate and Kolsch

And, we're back!  Internet was a little tricky in Heidelberg, and Kevin keeps hogging the computer.  :-P  But before we get to Heidelberg, let's finish up Cologne.

We went to the Schokoladenmuseum, which details the history and process making chocolate.  Pretty interesting!  Kevin was fascinated with the mechanical side of it.  At the end of the chocolate-making, they give you a taste from their elaborate chocolate fountain - yum!  We also found a mustard "museum," which was more of just a shop with a bunch of different kinds of mustards - and they weren't even that good, really.

On our way to the Schokoladenmuseum, we finally found "Old Town" Cologne, finally! We had liked modern Cologne well enough, but we always love quaint, historic areas.

Not really a prime example of Old Town architecture as much as attitude. :-)

According to one travel book, the best place to have a Kolsch.

We went to Peter's Brauhaus upon a travel book's recommendation for a Tuesday special on potato pancakes.  However, the book did not tell us that the special didn't start until after 5PM, and we were there at 3PM!  So, we settled for marinated beef, venison stew, and, of course....kolsch.

We came upon the Aldstadt (Old Town) Christmas Market, which we thought had much more charm than the one below the Cathedral.  Kevin finally satiated his desire for potato pancakes, while I tried some currywurst, which was just bratwurst cut up in a spiffy cutting machine and doused in a curry ketchup.  I actually liked it even more than I thought I would!    It might make an appearance at our next Oktoberfest, but I'll probably have to cut it by hand.

Here are some pictures of the charming Aldstadt Christmas Market...

Puppy worn out from the Christmas Market!

There was even a brass choir!

Once we got back towards the Cathedral Market, Kevin wanted to take even more photos of the Cathedral at night, so I left him to that and perused the Cathedral Market a little more.  We had agreed to meet "under the arch at the other side of the market" (my memory).  At the appointed time, I waited under the brightly-lit arch right at the entrance to the Market, and after 5 or so minutes in the cold and wind began cursing Kevin and wondering how long it could possibly take to take more pictures of an object he had already taken at least 50 pictures of.  Turns out, he was waiting under an unlit Roman arch and former city entrance  in the Cathedral courtyard, about 50 yards away.  It's quite reflective of us, really - I assume it's the pretty, bright (and obvious) arch, but Kevin is thinking of the structural arch that is less obvious and more complicated to find.  :-)

I leave you with a festive photo in front of the much more obvious meeting point.

Cologne, Day 2

Today, we toured the Cologne Cathedral.  It took over 600 years to finish construction on the cathedral, from 1248 to 1870, and there are some parts inside that still look like they might not be quite complete.  Talk about slow by little!  I hope Kevin doesn't start comparing his projects to that!

God is in the Cologne Cathedral.

After touring the cathedral and opting NOT to climb 500 steps to the tower (thank you, thank you, thank you!), we had lunch at Früh am Dom, where they make things really simple by serving one type of beer:  Früh Kölsch.  Also by just carrying what is essentially a basket of 0.2 liters around the restaurant and dropping a new one in front of anyone who doesn't have one.  Kevin narrowly avoided ordering pork knuckle, but then wondered if he was missing out.

Kevin loves his baby beer.

The small, not even half-pint 0.2 liter size is supposedly to prevent the beer from getting warm.  Kevin says that, when we get to Munich, they will give us a full liter but expect us to drink it just as fast as the 0.2 liter, so it doesn't get warm. 

Still a little jet-lagged, we headed back to the hotel and took and afternoon nap before heading out to the Cathedral Christmas Market.  We enjoyed our first mugs of glühwein .

Here is one of the more festive-looking stalls inside the Cathedral Market...

I had a bowl of mushrooms from this stand for dinner.  They have a giant griddle, and start at one end with fresh mushrooms, onions, and seasoning.  As it cooks, it gets pushed down to the other end and is served up as deliciousness with a slice of white bread.

Goodnight, Cathedral! Tomorrow, we're going to check out one of the two (yes, two) mustard museums and the chocolate museum!

And We're Back! ...in Germany!

After a several month hiatus, I decided that I couldn't pass up blogging our trip to Germany.

What??? We're in Germany?

Yup!

Kevin and I had been talking awhile about doing some belated honeymoon travel (we only had a "mini-moon" and our friends' wedding cruise - which didn't count.  :-)), and after considering such temperate destinations as New Zealand and Hawaii, we settled on gray, blustery Germany.  Ok, we've only been here a day, so it's not fair to say yet that it's cold and blustery - that might just be today.  But several years ago, I read an AAA article about German Christmas Market cruises, and we agreed it would be nice to do someday.  This fall just felt like "someday" to us, so here we are, touring the Germany Christmas Markets, only by train instead of boat - much less expensive.

Before sunrise this morning, we arrived in Köln (Cologne). Which is not as early as it sounds - the sun was just rising as our train pulled into the Hauptbahnhof at 8:12 AM.  After sleeping for less than 2 hours on the plane, we were so grateful that the nice folks at the Hilton Köln had a room available for us and let us check in at 8:30 AM.  And our room is just so awesome.  Sure, our window peers into the windows of an office building next door, but the room is really spacious, sleek and modern.  Maybe I'll post some pictures tomorrow after our bed is made - we took a four hour nap!

We plan to explore Köln more closely tomorrow (predicted to be sunny and seasonable), but here's a peek at what we previewed today:

I made this gingerbread house on the plane.  My mother-in-law would be so proud.

 This was an awesome little toy store with a special little door for it's young (and young-at-heart!) patrons.

 It's magic inside the Kölner Dom Christmas Market!  And SUPER CROWDED!

The other side of the gothic Kölner Dom looks pretty ominous at night!  Pretty cool picture, though!

Now that it's almost 10PM German time but my body thinks it's 4PM (or does it?), I think I'd better attempt to get it on schedule by getting some sleep!