Day 5, Saturday, September 15, 2018

Itinerary: Rothenburg to Bamberg to Berlin

Time awake: c. 7:30 AM

Odometer (in kilometers/miles) at start:

Weather: Pleasant all day

Steps: 14413

Asleep:

Map Link(s):

Again I arose early and before Sharon and took a few pics of our room. Soon afterward we headed down to the dining area in the basement for breakfast. It consisted of another lavish spread with many of the same delectables as we had in Lucerne, only more so and with many more diners. The rental car could only stay legally parked where it was until 9 AM, I believe, so we checked out a little past 9 AM and moved it to the lot in front of the Akzent, which required figuring out how to use the parking payment kiosk with a credit card and instructions in German. Somehow we managed.

The time had come to explore this most delightful little town again, so we set off to do just that. After walking for a bit we came upon a couple of shops selling Christmas decorations (and only Christmas decorations). But they didn’t open until 10 AM, which was still a few minutes away. So we bided our time, until Sharon got to do one of the things she likes best—shop for Christmas stuff. And shop we did at a place called Kaethe Wohlfahrt. The place was large and both of its floors were filled to the brim with an incredible array of holiday decorations. I’m sure Sharon could have spent thousands of dollars there, but in the end she settled for a small dresser scarf with a lovely winter scene costing 20 euros.

Afterward, we hiked through town to the Park Burggarten at the eastern edge. It’s hard to believe there is a prettier place anywhere on earth—the grounds and view here were idyllic and fortunately all but deserted upon our arrival except for a man selling CDs of classical music. Soon more folks showed up, and shortly after that we wended our way back to the car. A little past 11 AM, and with much regret, we said Auf Wiedersehen to Rothenburg ob der Tauber and got on the road. As we exited the walls of the city, we spotted a municipal parking lot not more than a 100 yards from our hotel. If only we’d seen it the day before.

The drive to Bamberg took us through lovely countryside along sparsely used two-lane country roads. It’s the best way to travel in my opinion, although in Germany and elsewhere in Europe, those roads are often narrower than is comforting. We reached Bamberg, our first destination of the day, at about 2 PM and overshot it but had no trouble doubling back. Once in the thick of things, we started our search for a place to park, which was troublesome as usual, but all the more so because there was a festival going on. We eventually found a spot on a side street a couple blocks from the festivities in the heart of town. We fed a euro in the meter and headed off to see what was going on.

I don’t know what they were celebrating, but they seemed to be having fun doing it. Several streets were blocked off for pedestrians only and were lined with vendors selling food and beer, although the latter wasn’t the focus of the event, so I don’t think it was an Oktoberfest celebration. Whatever the cause, the streets were filled with people partaking in it.

Our first stop was the grassy plaza in front of the Hotel Bamberger called the Schönleinsplatz. The plaza is graced by a couple of disparate yet impressive statues—one of a noble conquistador on horseback and another consisting of eight entirely red, bald-headed guys squatting in a circle (yes, it was very weird). Then we ventured into the festival, stopping at a bank to replenish our supply of euros by way of an ATM withdrawal. We continued strolling amidst all the festivalers and soon found ourselves on the bridge in front of the Old Town Hall (Altes Rathaus). After admiring the scene encompassing the hall above and the river below, we ventured back the way we’d come, stopping at a place called the Piano Bar to get a cup of coffee to go. The shop was cool, which may explain why my cup of plain American coffee was so expensive, but I’m not sure what would explain why it was so crappy.

The time on our parking meter was running low, so we walked back to drop in some more coins and then returned to town to get a couple of beers. We chose the have those beers at the Boulevard Cafe Luitpold, which is alongside and part of the Hotel Bamberger. It was a gorgeous spot to relax and take in the scene and enjoy a cold one. After our quaff, the time had come (nearing 4 PM) to get on the road to Berlin.

Sharon took the wheel and drove to Berlin, which covered about 250 miles. It was a long drive, but all went smoothly and uneventfully until we hit Berlin traffic. En route to our hotel, we circled around the Berlin Victory Column. The column sits amidst the greenery of Tiergarten Park, and atop it is a statute of Victoria, the Roman goddess of victory. The statue alone is 27 feet high, and although it’s made of bronze it radiates gold, blindingly so. It’s striking just how gold it is. We very much wanted to revisit the column during our stay in Berlin, but this brief viewing would prove to be our only sight of it. Soon afterward we came upon one of the three or four massive intersections we encountered driving in. As we approached, it wasn’t clear if we had the traffic light or not (perhaps we’d been blinded by Victoria), but the highway looked to be clear, so Sharon proceed to make a left turn. Just then traffic on the intersecting street to our right came barreling toward us. I don’t know how we avoided an accident, but we did, and fortunately, it was our only close call the whole trip.

We reached our hotel, the Radisson Blu, none too soon, since Sharon had had enough Berlin driving for one evening. But we still needed to park and were boxed in the right lane which ended up ahead. Luckily, it ended at the entrance to the underground garage in front of the Radisson Blu. So we entered, parked the car, and were done with driving around Berlin for a couple of days. We proceeded to the check-in counter of this luxurious hotel, featuring a 25 meter-high aquarium called the AquaDom. The aquarium rises 9 stories up from the lobby and is filled with deep blue water and an assortment of large fish. The Radisson Blu in Berlin is a fancy place to say the least. Our assigned room, however, left a lot to be desired. It was located on the ground floor and, as such, afforded no view to speak of and came equipped with a handicapped bathroom. So given that we were paying $500 to spend two nights there, we asked to be moved. It took the desk clerk some doing, but he set us up in another room on the 4^th floor, which offered a great view of the 9-story aquarium. Before we could see the room, however, we had to figure out how to use the elevator, and that proved to be a challenge. As I recall, our pass key had become demagnetized and thus useless, so we had to get a replacement. Or maybe we tried using the wrong elevator. Or both.

No sooner had we checked into our room, we headed out again to look for a place to eat. It was getting late, so we didn’t plan to venture far afield. We settled up on the Palm Beach Gaststätten, a Caribbean-themed eatery with incredibly loud techno-disco music that paired well with the restaurant’s incredibly tough steak that we ordered. Had it not been for the obnoxious noise and leathery meat, I’m sure we would have enjoyed our meal, but then that would have meant dining elsewhere. By the time we got out of there it was after 10 PM, so we walked back to our swanky hotel room, where we enjoyed a bath, a few beers, and our splendid view of the AquaDom.