Stuff to do in southwest Germany

[Rumline]

So my company is sending me to Ramstein for two weeks in June, and I'll have one weekend to myself while there. I've never been to Germany and don't speak German. Any suggestions on historical museums or castles that cater to Anglos? Or maybe tour companies? I'll have a car and I'm willing to drive a few hours.

[fitz19d]

Unfortunately been too long and was too long to remember where the really cool museums about the dark ages were that i saw. Most of the castles I imagine boring or packed. Stuff like Lichtenstein Castle I remember steep walk in long lines.

Really I liked most small towns and their bakeries and food especially if any kind of festival is happening. Forests are nice as well as hilly farm side. I remember some kind of park with a odd mix of old folklore and old agriculture stuff like these giant walls of reeds or brambles that water ran thru.

Probably too far but on East side is bavarian first which has breweries and glass blowing. Then over the border and into praque was fun in high school. Lots of old architexture there and cheap food and drink if you avoid tourist traps.

Some of the big cities along the big rivets and such are cool too.




Not sure how awful it is these days and where the biggest pockets of refugees are. But I'm less excited to return after merkels reign and the many news stories of refugee shenanigans. Same country police have been attesting people posting mean words about the violent immigration problem.....

[Wulf202]

Paging jerry Mr c

[ray1970]

Paging jerry Mr c

Yep. Hopefully he'll be along with some sage advice.


My recommendation would be to drink beer until you can't hardly stand up and then think of something fun to do.

[SideShow Bob]

Yep.

My recommendation would be to drink beer until you can't hardly stand up and then think of something fun to do.

Just be sure to show everyone around that you are an American by prefacing the fun part with "Hold my beer and watch this".

[Rumline]

I'd highly recommend a trip to the Burg Eltz castle. It looks like about a 2 hour drive from Ramstein and you'd be driving through some really scenic areas of Germany.

Wow, great recommendation! Looks really nice. I was thinking I'd only want to see one or two castles, this looks like it's worth being "the" one.

My recommendation would be to drink beer until you can't hardly stand up and then think of something fun to do.

That will be every weekday.

Unfortunately been too long and was too long to remember where the really cool museums about the dark ages were that i saw. Most of the castles I imagine boring or packed. Stuff like Lichtenstein Castle I remember steep walk in long lines.

I hear you, but I gotta see at least one.

[jimbolay]

I'd highly recommend a trip to the Burg Eltz castle. It looks like about a 2 hour drive from Ramstein and you'd be driving through some really scenic areas of Germany.

http://burg-eltz.de/en/eltz-castle-t...s-history.html

If you are interested in seeing castles and small villages - drive east to Ludwigshafen and then go north along the Rhine river.

[Rumline]

I'd highly recommend a trip to the Burg Eltz castle. It looks like about a 2 hour drive from Ramstein and you'd be driving through some really scenic areas of Germany.

http://burg-eltz.de/en/eltz-castle-t...s-history.html

This was an awesome recommendation. On Sunday my coworker and I drove up the Moselle River from Trier to Koblenz. We toured both Cochem and Eltz castles, and in my opinion there was no comparison. Eltz was exactly what I was looking for: an actual castle that was not rebuilt in a "fairytale recreation" by some rich guy in 1880. The castle tour was very detailed and gave a good sense of how the rich lived during the middle ages. Their collection of fine arms was really impressive. They had a number of ornate old rifles with O.G. Damascus steel barrels...not the modern recreations. And yes you can tell the difference. All the guns looked extremely well-kept despite being 200-300 years old. It wouldn't surprise me if they could still be fired today. They didn't allow photography at all inside the castle, which was very disappointing. They do sell a book for about $10 which covers the history of the castle. It has plenty of photos of the castle itself, which is great, and a few pictures of the guns in their collection, but the pictures don't do the guns justice.

Warning: After you have German beer and food, coming back to the US will be a letdown. Don't say I didn't warn you.

This is true. I love that they can't use high fructose corn syrup and other artificial stuff in their food. Everything I ate was more "basic" tasting than food here, but more satisfying. Also the breakfasts at the hotel were freakin' awesome. Between those and the beer I must have gained 10 lbs. Oh, the beer....everybody talks about German beer to the point that it's a trite conversation point. But similar to the food, the beer was basic but very tasty, perfect texture, and in some ways more satisfying than beer here. I've had Paulaner hefeweizen on tap here in the US before, and from my recollection it was about the same, but I can't do a taste comparison across multiple years. But I feel like a lot of hefeweizen's here are mixed with other flavoring agents, or are actually belgian-style as opposed to German-style. Anyway, I liked them, and miss them already.

[Circuits]

But I feel like a lot of hefeweizen's here are mixed with other flavoring agents, or are actually belgian-style as opposed to German-style. Anyway, I liked them, and miss them already.

We use different hops than the germans do - it makes a huge difference in the flavor profile(s). Not so much "flavorants", but regional/national differences in the products used to make it.

[ray1970]

Oh, I'm sure after about the third or fourth beer pretty much everyone will realize he's an American.