Germany and Beyond

[tristessa]

Mary and I are going mostly to Germany for about 2-1/2 weeks next May. We realized we're in a position where we actually can do this if we buy airfare way in advance & space out the hotel bookings, which may not be the case a few years down the road.

The concrete parts of our itinerary so far: flying out of Portland on May 5, 2 hour layover in Chicago (O'Hare), 1-1/2 hour layover in Stockholm, landing in Berlin (Brandenburg) around 11am on May 6.

We'll be in/around Berlin until the 9th, flying to Helsinki (Finland) for a weekend-ish (Thursday AM - Sunday AM), possibly with a day-trip by ferry to Tallinn (Estonia), which is about 2 hours each way .. though some of the ferry companies do an "overnight" where spend the night on board even though it's docked at the destination. Flying back to Berlin on the 12th, then to Leipzig for the Wage-Gotik Treffen music festival from 5/16-5/19, back to Berlin on 5/20 and catching our flight on 5/21 -- 1:45 layover in Copenhagen, 2:45 layover in Washington DC (Dulles), landing home in Portland at 10:30pm on 5/22 .. and if I have to work on 5/23 it's gonna suck.

We've got some time to possibly go places & do things without rushing around constantly. Yes, I know we have to go to Wolfsburg and see the Autostadt & museum (and eat the currywurst), but that's pretty much a day-trip -- the high-speed ICE train from Berlin gets to Wolfsburg in just about an hour, and the rail station is across the river from the Autostadt.

So .. I'm throwing this out here to see if anyone's got tips, suggestions of things to do (things to bring back?), stuff to avoid .. that kind of thing. Aside from our days in Leipzig we don't have rooms booked yet, so suggestions on that could be useful too.

Should be fun and I'm looking forward to it .. the most international traveling I've done in the past were when we went to Vancouver BC for Expo 86 and a couple of post-Xmas trips to Puerto Rico in '89 and '91 when I was growing up .. and Puerto Rico seemed more like a foreign country than Canada did.

[Bleyseng]

Sounds like a great trip! When I travel in Europe I use the internet to book a place to stay maybe a day in advance. Allows me freedom to stay or leave a city. I use the hotel's or McDonalds free Wifi and look for hotel deals before booking. Deals are alway available as places are trying to fill up. I also look for hotel's, bed& breakfasts that have a breakfast included. In Germany this is usually incredible local breads, cheeses, meats, fruit etc and is a way to meet other locals/foreign travelers and ask about whats around thats a mustsee. I also make a lunch so I can travel/explore without having to worry about where to find food.
Germany is amazing and try to travel the countryside as its very beautiful and scenic where little towns are waiting for you to explore and enjoy! Ah, I hope you like beer because the German beers are so good. Drink lots of it! The food is good too with tons of small cafes offering local or international dishes but can be expensive.
Oh, on flying carry food with you as most flights don't feed you or charge you a arm and a leg for a sandwich. So we always carry some sandwiches and snacks as I get so bored and hungry sitting there.

Have fun

[Bleyseng]

blah

[Bleyseng]

triple!

[Hippie]

Bring back a museum grade Squareback and give it to me for free? Please?

That sounds awesome! Have fun!

[grandfatherjim]

If you end up going south, Stuttgart has the most excellent 4-story tall Mercedes museum. They also have a Porsche (zis is properly pronounced using two syllables!) museum, which is not as big but still very interesting for air-cooled enthusiasts.
As well, it is home to many hot-spring mineral spas; I could certainly recommend the SchwabenQuellen http://schwabenquellen.de/. (Be aware they do expect you to be nude there, except maybe once or twice a month when they have days for people who want to wear clothes. )
Jim

[Bleyseng]

yes, the Porsche museum is pretty amazing especially the diesel 56 bug!