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"Our Wonderful German Adventure" Travel Diary by Spot the Bus Winner Thomas Higgins and Wife, Alice
Don't think dreams don't come true, our's did with the wonderful contest from the German Embassy. We won a trip to Germany! On Thursday June 5th we rushed to Dulles Airport wondering what kind of trip we would have. "It is too good to be true," we kept saying. The trip met and exceeded our expectations. Our first experience was flying business class; we felt like VIPs. "So this is the way the other half lives."
Germany is a country of modern buildings, castles, educated wonderful people. It's where old meets current with an eye to the future. The young generation speaks English, which was very convenient to us. We were impressed with the honor system used when using the subway. Subway riders buy tickets for the metro, but they don’t have to enter any turnstile to enter or exit the subways. It made us wonder if everyone pays or does the government subsidize the metro system. Germany is far advanced in going “green”. Young and old ride bikes, there are a number of parking areas just for bikes. I see Germany as a country that is evolving, honoring the old and building the future. The new constructions are built with families in mind. The plazas between buildings are for people to watch games or sometime movies. The beaches along the Rhine river are for friends and family to gather, as we saw on our trip up the Rhine. The hotels where we stayed were outstanding. We loved the breakfasts. The only sorry part is that we did not stay very long in any one hotel. There is so much to see. Munich is a modern city yet with much history. We took the subway, which is very convenient, from the airport to the hotel. We dragged our luggage through cobblestoned streets, which are fascinating and rustic but not when you are pulling luggage on rollers. We arrived at 5:30 a.m. German time; the streets were empty on a nice cool day.
When Anton, our German liaison, arrived our marathon began. He had a packet for us with vouchers for our trip. As soon as we put away our luggage it was time to start the running by visiting the BMW showroom. We had the privilege of having a driver pick us up in a new hybrid car. The driver was so nice. We met Dr. Wagner, who gave us our wonderful tour. Although we were suffering from jet lag, our excitement kept us awake and standing up. Everyone we met was very friendly and so nice to the tired looking Americans. After the tour at BMW, at their courtesy we were driven to the Neuschwanstein Schloss castle. The car was quite smooth, a beautiful ride. It was raining when we arrived. The castle was spectacular! There were people waiting to see the castle from all over the world. It did not matter that it was raining, everyone waited patiently for the tour in their own language. We traveled by horse-drawn carriage up the hill to the castle entrance, where the tour was to begin. When we returned to the hotel, one of our German interns, Sophie, and her mother were waiting for us. They invited us to dinner. We were told we were having a typical Bavarian meal, pot roast with dumplings. At this point we were surviving on adrenaline; we ate, hugged, kissed, and we excused ourselves. We collapsed in bed at 10:00 p.m. Next time we would have to allow ourselves a day before we start the activities. The jet lag was very tiring. The transportation in Munich is excellent, many of the residents either take the metro or ride the bicycles, young and old. There are many cars, but it was not as noisy as one expects in a large city. The city is clean; we felt very safe but saw very few police. The architecture is a mix of new and old. It is great that the Germans are moving forward in the future and still honoring the old culture in museums.
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