by Ben

Looking back on the year 2013 I would have to list three highlights for myself and our family. First being the birth of another grandgoober (our first grandson - Connor). Secondly - my retirement from the ranks of the working class. Hopefully I have put on a uniform for the last time. After twenty plus years of becoming a young man in the military and twenty plus years of becoming an old man with the US Postal Service I finally said enough. Thirdly - another awesome vacation in the land of Schnitzels and Lederhosen.

For whatever I might be remembered for at the Post Office where my Frau and I worked for 26 years - I know most of our fellow workers will remember me for my annual jaunts to Germany and Austria. After two years of quiet and solitude (2011 being a solo adventure and 2012 a second honeymoon for Dee Dee and I) - I decided to liven up the experience by inviting some of our fellow letter carriers along for the ride. Initially - we had half a dozen interested but after a planned summer trip fell apart due to lack of enough vacation spots available - we settled for an autumn trip with three of our favorite mail toters - Ricky, Frances and Rolando. With all vacation spots confirmed - I got into the enjoyable task of planning a trip that hopefully they would remember for a lifetime.

Itinerary: Visiting southern Germany with a group of firsttime overseas travelers requires a plan that must include highlights of the Rhine Gorge, the Schwarzwald and of course Bavaria. With only two weeks to play with - I ended up with three days in the Black Forest - three days in the Royal Castles area near Füssen - three days in the alpine region of Berchtesgaden - two days exploring Rothenburg ob der Tauber - and finishing up with a few days on the Rhine in and around Bacharach.

Ground Trans: With five adults and accompanying luggage to worry about - car rental options are limited at best. It comes down to renting two small cars or one multi-passenger van. Wanting to keep our group together and able to benefit from the musings of the tour guide - I opted for a 7 passenger van (cost $1009). Split five ways - the price was tolerable. The biggest question became - would we have enough room for the passengers and their baggage. Some folks on the internet travel forums thought we would be OK - others considered that it would be a stretch for us to be comfortable. That would play out in our favor at the AVIS counter at Frankfurt airport.

Air Trans: Airfares to Europe are becoming tougher to deal with (especially on tight budgets). Flying out of DFW you have basically two main choices - American Airlines or Lufthansa. Until I change my mind my choice will be Lufthansa. The prices are within a few dollars so it becomes personal preference. This year Lufthansa was on time and provided great in-flight service.

Accommodations: It was important to me to give our new tourists a taste of rural Germany and Austria. And that translates to farms and B&B type lodging. No big cities - no hotels. I went with tried and true places where I knew the owners (or knew well of the owner based on our Stammtisch's recommendations).

Days 1-3

Smooth flight - awesome service to Frankfurt. Buses from airplane to terminal - no fun (especially for a wife with motion sickness problems). Customs and baggage claim - piece of cake. Good hump through the bowels of the terminal to car rentals. The AVIS desk attendant was having a problem entering our info in her computer and was taking an especially long time. I spent the time asking questions about upgrading to a 9 passenger van and we ended up with a 9 pax Mercedes for an additonal 125 Euro (including the amount for an additional driver, GPS and automatic trans). Our lucky day - lots of additional space for crew and luggage at minimal cost and a diesel to boot.

Headed south on A-5 to Offenburg then southeast on B-33 to Gutach. A lot of driving on a day of arrival but between two drivers - not so bad.

and an afternoon at the Zum Sternen in Urach. Tina was the only family member in residence that day but she introduced us to Chico and her new dog Mikey. Tina spoke of retirement in the near future for herself and Rudi and turning over the Sternen to Marina. It seems like only yesterday that Marina was just a cute kid...

There are several nice restaurants in the Gutach area. Here are three where we ate this trip -

Days 4-6

The drive south to Reutte, Austria was fairly uneventful except for one Umleitung that had us frustrated and going in a big circle for a while. We stopped for lunch in Meersburg on the Bodensee and enjoyed walking the Altstadt for a few hours.

Gintherhof Gästehaus-Bauernhof
Annelies Paulweber
Unterried 7
A-6600 Ehenbichl
Tel - 5672/67697
Email - gintherhof@aon.at

While staying here - there is an excellent restaurant located just a short stroll from the farm. Gabi and her staff are awesome and once again allowed us to sit at the owner's family table since the restaurant was full that evening. The first time we were here a few years ago the same thing happened. Excellent service - excellent food... Thanks Gabi and Alex...

Hotel Maximilian
Familie Koch
Reuttenerstr. 1
A-6600 Ehenbichl/Reutte
Tel - 5672/62585
Email - info@hotelmaximilian.at

From the Gintherhof we visited -

Days 7-9

From the Tyrol we drove southeast to Berchtesgaden area for three days (home base Ramsau at the farm Waxenlehen).

Waxenlehen
Herbert and Katharina Sieger
Alpenstraße 101
83486 Berchtesgaden/Ramsau
Tel - 8657/1502
Email - Sieger-Waxen@freenet.de

Cafe Gasthof Baltram
Familie Graßl
Alpenstraße 100
83486 Berchtesgaden/Ramsau
Tel - 8657/572 ~ Fax - 8657/705
Email - BALTRAM.RAMSAU@t-online.de

On the evening that the Baltram was closed (Monday) we enjoyed the Hofbrauhaus in Berchtesgaden.

Hofbrauhaus Bräustüberl
Bräuhausstr. 15
83471 Berchtesgaden

If you visit the Hofbrauhaus on a Friday evening you might be lucky enough to witness excellent entertainment in the form of an Heimatabend with Schuhplattler, Musik and Tanz. We saw it a few years ago and it's one of the best shows of it's kind that I have seen.

Spent first day (Sunday) looking around Berchtesgaden and Ramsau in the rain.

Third day (afternoon) - Eagle's Nest (looked a bit cloudy from the bottom but we took a chance). The top was covered in three inches of snow for several hundred meters down the mountain but were able to get some clear photos for first ten minutes. Then came an odd snow flurry on the top with near zero visability. Most folks who came up with us never left the restaurant. We made it up to the cross before the bottom fell out. When we got back to the Documentation Center it was sunny and clear down below.

Haus Karin
Hans and Karin Weiss
Hans-Sachs-Str. 26
91541 Rothenburg o.d.T.
Tel - 9861/3962 ~ Fax - 9861/938949
Email - Karinweissrtbg@aol.com

Days 12-14

Up and out early our last morning and said goodbye to Larry as he began his three week vacation. Easy drive to Bacharach on the Rhine for last two days in-country.

spent rest of afternoon in Rüdesheim for more shopping. I rode up to the Nederwald Denkmal alone while they continued to shop.

Just barely made a late ferry to Bingen and spent the last evening in Bacharach.

While in Bacharach we ate at two of my favorite restaurants there -