8 days in Germany

drbassman · April 28, 2009, 09:12:20 AM

My kids will be in Germany for 8 days in June. What are the must see places for them to consider, assuming they take a couple days for Paris at some point.

I've traveled extensively in Germany myself, but it was 30+ years ago! I've seen all of Ludwig's castles, most of Bavaria, Eagle's Nest, Luther's church, and all the major cities, etc.

What should they focus on?

Chris P. · April 28, 2009, 09:23:39 AM

Uwe can answer this better, but I think Berlin is a great city, especially for young people.

Rocker949 · April 28, 2009, 09:27:23 AM

I think Rothenburg is a great place for young people.

Pilgrim · April 28, 2009, 09:58:56 AM

My daughter made a trip to Germany in Jr. High, and Ludwig's castle was right at the TOP of her memories.

Highlander · April 28, 2009, 04:17:28 PM

Urban Myth re a British Airways pilot being berated by a controller for not knowing where to go on his first commercial flight into a principal German city...
"hav you never been to xxxxxx before...?
"Only once, in 1945, but it was dark" was the BA pilots reply...

Here's crazy.. My daughter flies out to Berlin in the morning with her school (curriculum stuff) and comes home Friday - one of the points on her itinerary is to visit Hitler's "car-park", which is all that remains of the "bunker", unitentified but known to all...

There is a "secret" destination but I'm sworn to... urrghp.........

Nearly forgot - a stage production of Mel Brooks' "The Producers" is opening in Germany, with the Swastika in the flags replaced by a black pretzel...?

drbassman · April 29, 2009, 08:52:34 AM

Thanks guys. I hope Uwe chimes in too..................

uwe · April 30, 2009, 01:44:36 PM

He will, I promise! Just busy right now ...

eb2 · April 30, 2009, 03:03:50 PM

One day I will go. My interests would be Prussia/Danzig - or whatever they call that now - and any former DDR hamlet with machine gun holes in the town square.

Highlander · April 30, 2009, 03:58:29 PM

You sometimes get to see some interesting supergroups...

Highlander · May 01, 2009, 05:00:56 PM

Well, my daughter enjoyed her trip (found herself near some of the "riots", today...!) but I'll get her to write up a brief blog to post, so you can get a perspective of a teenagers view...

They went to the Hard Rock Cafe for their evening meal on their first night; saw a number of instruments belonging to various artists (an Angus SG, a Billy Gibbons exotic, a Metallica thing, etc) but the "secret mission" was aborted... Supposedly, JAE's spider's web Alembic is there, so I suggested a pic with my daughter in the foreground, but the bass was nowhere to be seen... oh well

I got a BERLIN BEAR pin for my Hohner and the other (shared) item will look nice in our display cabinet, amongst a few hundred minature owls...

A very nice little bit of treasure... and my Berlin bear...

uwe · May 05, 2009, 08:30:39 AM

Berlin, Germany's only metropolitan world city with a lot of old and recent history and style to see, also lots of green and parks to catch your breath. You can easily spend a week there without getting bored or running out of things to do. Berlin is to Germany what New York City is to the US, the most American and the most un-American, i.e. the most German and the most un-German city in one.

Hamburg is beautiful, if slightly aloof, think of Boston.

Munich, Heidelberg, Freiburg, Bayreuth, Baden-Baden, Lübeck, Passau are all "gorgeous" medium to smaller size tourist sightseeing cities. You don't need to spend there more than a day though.

Cologne isn't a beautiful city in a strict sense, but bustles with life and has places to see if you have a good guide book. As is Frankfurt.

In the East, Dresden (a curious mix/antagonism of rebuilt trad. buildings, post-stalinist "workers' paradise" architecture and zoning plus the battle scars from the bombing raids) and Leipzig (more cohesive in architecture than leipzig) are worth a look.

If your kids are into green, the Black Forest or the countryside around Munich are good choices.

Uwe

drbassman · May 05, 2009, 01:30:17 PM

Thanks Uwe. I'll ask more questions as we do our homework for the trip.

drbassman · May 23, 2009, 05:23:08 PM

Well, Uwe, he's off. Landed in Frankfort on Friday at 7 PM your time and took a train to Trier. Since most of the college studies will be done in Trier and Munich, he's decided to stay in the southern half of Germany the entire trip. He had zero interest in Paris and is going to focus on Bavaria, the Black Forest, etc. He'll be there for 5 weeks and then his sister will join him for 8 days at the end when he's finished with his school work. Thanks for the tips! Man, am I envious.....

8 days in Germany

Rocker949