[volkman10]

Planned trips especially when on business could be less exciting but when in Europe and more so when a place you are familiar and dear to you breeds a nostalgic feeling.
Europe cannot be described in words much because not many words can express the beauty of the place or the vibrancy the open cities.

Almost all places in Europe offer the same menu - architecture, museums,churches and a happening city square where you can relax after a hard day of sight-seeing with a beer or wine.

Hameln in Germany -the land of the Pied Piper is one such place.
Brief on Hameln- A town in the northern part of Germany inhabited by ~ 60000 inhabitants, loacted 60 km from Hannover. A popular toursit place due to the widely popular Pied Piper legend.
Well without touching on the story this travelogue would not do justice to the place, so here is a recap of it.
According to the familiar legend, rats overcame the medieval town of Hameln. A stranger dressed in multi-colored clothing bargained with the town, in the person of the mayor, to get rid of the rats.They set a price.
The Piper then led away the rats to the music he played on his silver pipe and drowned them in the river. Afterwards, the townspeople refused to pay the promised amount, whether because of the "little work" the Piper had to perform.
The angered ratcatcher returned to the town two days later and, while the adults attended church, the Piper began to play.
This time the children came running out. The Pied Piper led the 130 children past the local hill of execution, called Calvary, to a mountain called Koppen and closed them up in it and Hameln has lost all its children.
To this day the palce in summer on every sunday the Pied Piper story is enacted and draws tourists from all across Europe to Hameln.

Having stayed (10 months)in Hameln in the past and travelled 4 times after this place has a 'special' satus in my travel list. Added to this, had planned a drive ~ 580 kms south to Munich with other colleagues.
As the Schengen Visa validity still existed only ticketing was to be done. Opted for Lufthansa, knowing that this is not the best, but transit timings suited the best. On currency front forex card is the best option to take.

The long wait for the 3:00 am flight @BIAL


Nice to be on ground after the 9 hours flight - @ Frankfurt (9:00am)- bright and nice @ 12deg C



Jaguar displayed at FRA.



The next lap was a 50 min flight to Hanover.
Take off from FRA

Descent to Hanover


Monday evening drive (taxi) from Hanover to Hameln - an hour's drive.


Reaching destination - Hameln. First signs on how popular VW's UP is as a city car! ( in pic- used for advertising!)



Stay at Mercure - Hameln, decent for 99 Euro/ day. Good time to be ( not spring yet) and temperatures of 20+ deg c.


Pied Piper awaits @ the hotel


Figurines depicting the story @ the lobby



Now for the outside, a guide accompanied for the guided city tour.



The building 'Rathouse'adjacent to the street where the 'children disappeared' as the legend goes!


..and the inscription depicting the end of the fable!


Some more architecture from the 12th century (restored).




Typical alleys as seen in Europe.


And the relaxed mood on a weekday, restaurants doing brisk business but would be closed at 7:00pm.




..and an Indian store!


A community park. For the kids ..


..and for the aged


Outside what seem to be a Farmer's market - Pre spring - only from 8:00 - 12:00pm

[volkman10]

Germans take the breakfast to the next level, unlike the Italians or the French having a light breakfast, the typical German would have lots of different cheeses, meats, multiple jams and honey, boiled eggs, fruit and vegetables, smoked fish and of course, every kind of roll or hearty, seeded bread your heart could desire.
For the sweeter-toothed there are at least a couple of jams, jelly, and strawberry-rhubarb, honey, cakes,tarts,etc

Here is a week day spread. The variety and guests would triple on weekends!

Breads


Bacon, Ham, Sausage,



Cereals


Yogurt


Cakes



A few cars within the group

1. Nissan Juke - Small in european terms, quirky design, odd looking dash.





2. Skoda Superb - Not liked since compared to Audi A6. Sluggish acceleration but robust build.





3. BMW320d


Next was the 5 hour road trip to Munich.

Petrol - Diesel prices nearly same , diesel higher by a few cents!


German country side, very scenic and thank God for the sunny weather in April!




In Auto Bahn




Accident b2b, Cops in action!



Halted at Nurnberger, local site seeing - Trip in a regional train


Typical Eu steet, deserted look at 8:00pm


Dinner for 4, German way - but inspite of there being 2 Germans could not do justice to this meal.


The drive from Nurnberger to Munich was in the 2013 WCOTY - GOLF
The version was the Golf 2.0 TDI - the hottest diesel version of the seventh generation VW Golf based on the MQB platform. Mated to the 1968cc TC, 4 cylinder engine was the six speed DSG.
Got a feel of it driving in the Auto bahn with top speed touching 180 km/h (avg). Rest in pics.

[volkman10]

The true weather German weather shows up, light drizzle and cloudy - the trip to Munich.




Speed limit of 80 km/h at certain stretches in Auto Bahn


and touching 180km/h (avg) in Auto Bahn, car feels well planted








A hybrid BMW lightly camouflaged 'under test'


Nearing destination at Munich - Bauma 2013- 30th International trade fair for Consturction Machinery.
Giant machines on 570,000 m² of exhibition space with morthan 3,400 exhibitors and around 530,000 visitors—bauma is the largest and perhaps the most impressive trade fair in the world.
































Stay in Munich (@ Novotel) was a bit pricey @200 euro/day , reason could be due to the ongoing fair and located close to the airport.


Now after my business work it was time to get back to Munich to catch my flight back to India.
Munich airport is now the new airport( since my previous visit)



This sums up the account of the German trip of eraly 2013!

Cheers!

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Travelogues Section. Thanks for sharing!

[JoeMichael]

Nice write up. Spent a lot of my childhood at Rosenheim , just about an hours drive from Munich. Thanks for the pics , especially for the A9 (i guess) ones. I always wonder how a BMTC driver or Namma Auto driver , behave in an Autobahn.

[chaudh2s]

Why on earth you posted those pics of breakfast menu? Typical european breakfast i miss sooo much here in India. Just love those breads!
It's nuremberg (not nurnberger i guess as you mentioned). It's famous as a place where trial of nazi war criminals took place. It's just 20-30Km's from erlangen, global headquarter of Siemens. Those pics of hameln streets look just like any other german city/town. In fact they all look the same. It's very difficult to differentiate one from another.
Beautiful!!

[volkman10]

Originally Posted by chaudh2s

Typical european breakfast i miss sooo much here in India!
It's nuremberg (not nurnberger i guess as you mentioned).

Yes the breakfast is typically European but in Germany the spread and variety is more than the other EU
Yes the place is Nürnberg, an hour + drive to Munich.

Cheers!

[Wireless]

While growing up in a small city,as a kid I always wondered why does a car has speedo display up to 180 or 240 KM and 5 forward gears. In the back to back traffic we never got any opportunity to go beyond 3rd gear and speed beyond 60/80 at best that too for very short stretches.
Your picture tells me why

[Jeroen]

Having lived most of my life in the Netherlands I am very familiar with our next door neighbour Germany. Spent a lot of time on business and holidays there. Hameln brings back memories. Have been there several times, but not recently. Very nice little town, the town square with the terraces where you sit and eat is very typical for many German towns/villages. Very pleasant and enjoyable.

And then the Autobahn. Yes, there are still plenty stretches where it's perfectly legal to put the hammer down. No speed limit.

Jeroen

[hydswift]

Thanks for sharing your experience. I keep travelling to Germany once in a while on business. Nice country with a varied culture. Each place is unique and amazing architecture. The one thing I missed is travelling on Autobahn highways. You must have really enjoyed the high speeds. I generally use the ICE trains and local trains to commute which itself is a good experience.

[volkman10]

May 2015

A trip to Hamburg and a bit of Amsterdam covered in last month's trip.

Hamburg













Amsterdam

[volkman10]

Amsterdam