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Many thanks - Northern Germany trip report

After all of the help so many on this forum gave me in planning our travels in northern Germany, I wanted to come back and tell you how it went. This trip was a bit of a leap of faith for us.  I knew we wanted to go to Berlin after our tour, but that was all I had.  I put out an appeal for help on this forum, and, from your suggestions (and generous help with details), our itinerary was developed.  We had never even heard of any of the towns we visited after Dresden, but it turned out to be a marvelous journey.  

After our St. Petersburg/Tallinn/Helsinki tour, we flew to Berlin, where we spent five nights. This was our first time in Berlin and we enjoyed the city thoroughly. Unfortunately, we hit several days that peaked at 99°, so we had to adjust our planned schedule several times. Our reserved visit to the Reichstag was limited when the dome was closed due to extreme temperatures.  I had really been looking forward to climbing up the spiral ramp but, unfortunately, it was closed for the rest of our week here, so that was our one chance.  We spent much of one very hot day at the Tiergarten seeking shade and, while we were there, we found a beer garden by a lake for lunch and some relief from the heat.

From Berlin, we took the train to Dresden. To the person who suggested that we purchase seat reservations - many thanks! The train was very crowded with travelers who filled every seat and all of the aisles. Right now, I can't remember who told me to extend my planned two nights in Dresden, but I'm so glad we did. There was so much to see!

We took two day trips out of Dresden.  The first was to Rathen for the hike to the Bastei Bridge. Thanks to Martin for the step-by-step directions, along with photos. We even ate a very good lunch at the restaurant you recommended. We had an amazing day hiking up to the bridge and, then, beyond to take photos. Our other day trip was to Meißen, another recommendation from this forum.  I think we walked most of the streets in the Old Town and I'm pretty sure we climbed all of the stairs.  We had no particular agenda in mind, other than to enjoy the town and that we did.

From Dresden, we went on to Quedlinburg, a town that looks as though it's straight out of a fairytale.  I read that there are 2069 half-timbered houses along Quedlinburg's narrow cobblestone lanes and they’re just amazing to see. During the days there were German tourists there, but we rarely heard anyone else speaking English.  The locals were very patient with us and were most welcoming. We had some very fun chats with people, although I wasn’t always positive that we were talking about the same thing.  Mornings and evenings were free of tourists and we often seemed to have the city to ourselves. Our dinners on the near-empty Market Square were such a treat; we could almost convince ourselves that we belonged there, rather than being tourists passing through.

When we were in Quedlinburg, I thought that we must be in the most picturesque town in Germany, but then we moved on to Lüneburg and we were in awe all over again.  We left the half-timbered houses behind and moved on to seeing everything built of bricks.  Having survived the Second World War unscathed, it still has its charming medieval center with winding cobblestone lanes.  We loved Lüneburg!

From Lüneburg, we took the train to Lübeck, a much larger old Hanseatic town, but one that is still filled with winding cobblestone streets and elaborate brick buildings. Most amazing its huge 15th-century gateway.  We walked from the train station, through the gate and over the river to get to our hotel, which was in a 14th-century building - very cool.  We had a wonderful room looking over the river and the gate, and there was a bottle of local wine (Lübecker Rotspon) waiting for us as a gift for booking online.  We had a very good stay in Lübeck!

continued . . .

Posted by
681 posts

Our last stop was in Ostseebad Binz, which was simply a perfect beach town, with a long cobblestone promenade running along the sea. The setting was completely unlike anything else we had seen on this trip. We spent much of our time there strolling on the promenade, eating ice cream and people watching.  We did take one trip on another narrow gauge train pulled by a steam engine, but most of our time was spent right along the beach. It was the perfect place to end our travels.

We stayed in mostly small, family-run hotels in the center of town. They were often old buildings that had been retrofitted as a hotel. This led to winding hallways, many stairs, low beams and some interesting rooms.  Finding our particular rooms was an adventure, too. In one hotel, we were in room 104, which was on the 3rd floor next to room 78.  Another was room 74, which was on the 2nd floor, down a hallway, up some stairs and right next to rooms 1 - 7.  They were all memorable! Twice, when we gave our name to check in, we got a hearty, "from Beaverton, Oregon!" I think we were a bit of a novelty.

Breakfasts in the hotels were all quite hearty.  Always eggs, hot and cold meats and lots of cheese, bread galore, herring in various forms, yogurt, muesli with bowls of things to add in (seeds, nuts, dried fruit), fruit, veggies, and cake, always cake.  Our Binz hotel offered twelve different types of milk.  Then, around 10 a.m., everyone was out sitting in cafes eating ice cream.  I'm not sure what is typical for lunch, but, by 5 p.m., the cafes were again full of Germans eating ice cream.  This is a country of serious ice cream consumers.

During the first several weeks of our travels, when we took a table at a restaurant, and before we said a word, we were asked if we'd like an English menu.  By the time we got to Quedlinburg, we had to ask if they had a menu in English, and often they would be able to locate one for us, but the translations were a bit of an adventure.  One in particular listed "Homemade per soup with sausages deposit and baguette."  We didn't order that.  From Luneburg on, there were no more English menus and few waiters who spoke any English, so food became more of an adventure.  

We Portlanders consider our city to be quite bicycle friendly, but we pale in comparison to Germany.  There seemed to be dedicated bike paths, usually physically separated from car traffic, everywhere we went - in cities of all sizes, out in the country and along roads between towns.  And, they were very well used by young and old alike.  I loved that about Germany!

Our train rides weren't terribly interesting, but they've got us where we wanted to go.  Much of the way, we were traveling through farmlands or wooded areas that could well have been in Oregon.  Then, all of a sudden, we'd pull into some medieval town and we were jolted back to reality.  We were most definitely not in Beaverton!

I want again to thank all of you who helped me put this trip together. Your suggestions and advice were far better than any guidebook I've seen. Special thanks to Lee, Tom and Martin for all of your train advice, including itinerary, schedules and the basics of using the German rail system. I know I'm leaving names out, but please know that I so appreciate all of your input. I think that this Helpline is simply an incredible resource!

Posted by
13809 posts

Wow Nancy, what a wonderful report of an amazing trip!

Posted by
915 posts

Sounds wonderful! I'm going to look up those towns. And, yes, German breakfasts are among the best! :)

Posted by
14481 posts

Hi,

That soup dish must have been "Hausgemachte Erbsensuppe mit Wursteinlage und Baguette." (homemade pea soup with sausage bits thrown in and the French baguette bread on the side)...good, tasty stuff. I'm glad you liked Lüneburg, one of my very favourite towns, a peaceful lovely place, in Germany since my first visit there as a day trip in 1971. Did you see any of the museums in Lüneburg?

Posted by
681 posts

Fred, I love pea soup! I should have ordered it. Thanks for decifering it for me and for reminding me that I need to be braver in my ordering. This reminds me of a salad on a menu in France that listed "lawyer" as an ingredient. That took a few days of thinking until I remembered that the French word for lawyer is avocat. It did prompt my husband, who is a lawyer, to wonder how many cases you'd have to lose to end up in a salad.

Christine, we've been to Germany, but only in the south. Aside from Berlin, I hadn't given any thought to northern Germany. I had planned to go on to Denmark until people on the forum convinced me that there was much more to see in Germany.

One more forum inspired day trip we took that I forgot to mention -
We rode a bus (free with our room tax as advised here on the forum) to Wernergerode in order to catch the steam train up to the Brocken. It was fun to ride the old train and the views from the top were wonderful, but the highlight of my day came when we got back down to Wernergerode, where we found yet-another charming town filled with half-timbered buildings. At one point, we heard the most wonderful bells ringing. We immediately looked around for a church, but instead found it was coming from a bookstore with big outdoor bells. They play a beautiful tune at five minutes past each hour so as not to compete with the official town clock. It was just magical the way the music filled the little streets.

Posted by
14481 posts

Hi,

I am glad you did visit several places in North Germany, aside from Berlin, of course, Lüneburg, Lübeck, Wernigerode and its Schloß, Meißen (also a very nice town that mostly escaped war damage), etc. You got out of the American comfort zone of Bavaria. Lots of interesting, fascinating, cultural, historical places in North Germany, whether you're in Saxony, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg, Schleswig-Holstein, etc. True, the overwhelming majority of tourists up north you'll see are German, although I have seen some French and more Russians in ,say, Dresden.

That pea soup (Erbsensuppe mit Wursteinlage) is pretty common in the North. You'll have another chance to order it. German menus usually list three to four soup choices.

Posted by
2527 posts

Great trip report Nancy. There is so much to see and experience in this part of Germany and much of it overlooked by North Americans. A minor comment about Binz, as it was one of your stops. Surely it's where the French poodles go on holiday as it is seemingly (a bit too for my tastes) perfect in every way.
Travel on Nancy!

Posted by
3696 posts

Great trip report... I am missing Germany. I have been many times but not to most of your destinations and they sound wonderful, Don't you just love visiting obscure little places that most people have never heard of and finding these wonderful gems?? It's one of my favorite parts of travel... I guess because I have no expectations whatever I find it a wonderful surprise.

Posted by
2252 posts

Oh, Nancy! Wonderful trip report about what must have been a most wonderful trip. I, too, love the smaller towns and villages and hope to take a trip like this one day soon. Thank you for posting your thoughts on this forum.

Posted by
552 posts

Great trip report, Nancy! So glad to hear you enjoyed your travels in the north!

Posted by
681 posts

Terry Kathryn, you are so right. Many times on this trip I thought of one of my favorite travel quotes -

"I can’t think of anything that excites a greater sense of childlike wonder than to be in a country where you are ignorant of almost everything. Suddenly you are five years old again. You can’t read anything, you have only the most rudimentary sense of how things work, you can’t even reliably cross a street without endangering your life. Your whole existence becomes a series of interesting guesses.” –Bill Bryson, Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe

Posted by
868 posts

Don't you just love visiting obscure little places that most people
have never heard of and finding these wonderful gems??

They are only obscure to Americans, who ignore 3/4 of the country... ;-)
On her last stop for instance, Binz, Nancy visited the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, which is more popular among German tourists than Bavaria.

Posted by
12172 posts

Yes, If you want to avoid throngs of American tourists, go north. Most Americans don't have enough vacation time, or haven't been enough times, to get past the main sights.

Posted by
681 posts

I think RS could do a wonderful Village Germany tour in the north. We were simply enchanted with these towns.

Posted by
14481 posts

You can always skip the sights in Bavaria and go to North Germany first on the first trip to Germany. That's a more accurate picture of the country. Bavaria has always been the American comfort zone in Germany, RS or no RS.

Posted by
14481 posts

@ Nancy...my thanks too for a very interesting report, great that you had this cultural experience.