Would you travel to Europe right now?

[mrmarklin]

My husband, son, and I have been planning on traveling over to Germany the first week of December.  We are just traveling for fun, wanting to visit the Christmas Market in Nuremberg, and a few other popular tourist attractions over there.  I haven't been too overly concerned about traveling and our safety, until the US State Department issued a travel warning.

 

If we cancel our trip we are not out any money since we fly standby, and we haven't yet reserved our hotels and rental car.  I was going to do that this week.  Now, I'm having second thoughts.  So, what say ye?  Would you go?

 

BTW, I love Germany.  I try to get over there every other year.  Germany is where I served my mission.  And, I really, really, want to visit a Christmas Market in Bavaria.  We chose Nuremberg because it is the most well known.  We could always choose a different Christmas Market that isn't as touristy.

 

I go to Germany every year.  IMHO it is the safest country in Europe. 

 

In Nuremberg, see the Christmas markets and the National transportation museum near the train station.  Try the Nuernberg sausages with sauerkraut at the HeiligerGeist (Holy Ghost) restaurant in town.  Go to Lebkuchen Schmidt in the Pedestrian zone for the best in the world cookies and pastry.  Very German.

 

All this is walking distance.

 

Yeah, I'm a fan. :)

[Vort]

Although I would love to visit Germany, I think Nuremberg would be at the bottom of the list. I know it's a popular tourist attraction, but I don't quite understand why. If I'm going to Europe, I'm not going there in order to visit some ghastly place. I'm sure there are some who are into such things, history buffs and such. A good Italian friend of mine just made a visit to Nuremberg. To each his own.

[mrmarklin]

Although I would love to visit Germany, I think Nuremberg would be at the bottom of the list. I know it's a popular tourist attraction, but I don't quite understand why. If I'm going to Europe, I'm not going there in order to visit some ghastly place. I'm sure there are some who are into such things, history buffs and such. A good Italian friend of mine just made a visit to Nuremberg. To each his own.

 

Nuremberg is certainly not ghastly.  It's a beautiful Bavarian city. 

 

I know you like to speak (write?) with out thinking through your ideas, but this is one of the worst.  I think I've mentioned this before:  Some of you need to get out more.

[Vort]

I know you like to speak (write?) with out thinking through your ideas, but this is one of the worst.

 

You know that, do you?

[theSQUIDSTER]

Nuremberg is certainly not ghastly. It's a beautiful Bavarian city.

I know you like to speak (write?) with out thinking through your ideas, but this is one of the worst. I think I've mentioned this before: Some of you need to get out more.

Righto! If you want ghastly then Radagast the Brown achieves that much more convincingly than Nuernberg.

Vort! What were you thinking? Perhaps you need to watch your phraseology more carefully...

Wait.. Are we talking about ideas, places, or fictitious characters..?

Ah well.. To each his own.

..or her own..

... As you were!

Edited November 24, 2015 by theSQUIDSTER

[classylady]

I've been to Nuremberg once before.  We visited the Old Town which is charming.  The modern city itself didn't impress me, but the Old Town is fun.  Nuremberg is known for it's Christmas Market.  And the Christmas Market is in the Old Town.  So, it will be lovely.

 

I decided today, that we are still going.  But, I changed our itinerary somewhat.  We are actually going to fly into Zurich, Switzerland.  Rent a car there, and then drive over to Basel.  Then right across the border from Basel, into Germany, I have a good friend who has invited us for a real German dinner.  I haven't seen her for over 35 years, and we finally connected a couple of years ago on Facebook.  We will probably attend church with them in Basel.  We then will hit the Black Forest where we want to buy a couple of cuckoo clocks.  And then we'll drive over to Bavaria and along the way visit Wieskirche, and Linderhof Palace.  These are two places I haven't seen yet.  And then we'll drive up to Nuremberg for the Christmas Market.  We'll also stop at Rothenburg ob der Tauber (an old medieval town).  We've been to Rothenburg many times, since my son was stationed in the military about 15 miles away, but it will be interesting nevertheless.  Then back into Switzerland for our flight home.  Taxes for our flight is much cheaper into Switzerland rather than Germany.  Germany has a Visitors Tax of about $45 to 50 per person.  We save that by flying in/out of Switzerland.  Our round trip tickets into Switzerland is approx. $24 pp.  Into Germany it is closer to $90 pp.  Like I said, I can fly almost anywhere in the world for less or about the same price it would take to fill the gas tank of my pickup.

Edited November 25, 2015 by classylady

[mirkwood]

I carry a gun all the time.  Everywhere I go.  I went to Jamaica earlier this year.  Unarmed.  Did I mention I carry a gun everywhere?  I can't wait for my next out of country trip.  Won't have a gun then either.

[Traveler]

I plan to be in Europe with my wife this spring - but then I am not much of a fan or the tourist or popular spots.  Plan some hiking and cycling - not there for shopping or city stuff.

[Guest LiterateParakeet]

I carry a gun all the time.  Everywhere I go.  I went to Jamaica earlier this year.  Unarmed.  Did I mention I carry a gun everywhere?  I can't wait for my next out of country trip.  Won't have a gun then either.

 

LOL, this reminds me....did you know that you guys know you can't take pepper spray into Canada?  

 

Yeah, I didn't know either....caused a few awkward moments at the border.  

[mrmarklin]

You do realize don't you that Zurich is the most expensive city in the most expensive country on the Continent?

A few years ago my wife ordered the most expensive hotdog (Würst) with rösti in a restaurant there. USD36!

Be careful!

[Guest MormonGator]

LOL, this reminds me....did you know that you guys know you can't take pepper spray into Canada?  

 

Yeah, I didn't know either....caused a few awkward moments at the border.  

 Lit-After 9/11 a border patrol agent having a bad day tore into me when I tried to cross the border.

Why? I took my girlfriends car, and her key ring had mace on it.  

[Mahone]

We were planning on flying back to England this Christmas, but that isn't going to happen now based on finances.

I have no more concerns about being in most European countries than the USA

[classylady]

You do realize don't you that Zurich is the most expensive city in the most expensive country on the Continent?

A few years ago my wife ordered the most expensive hotdog (Würst) with rösti in a restaurant there. USD36!

Be careful!

 

We're only flying in and out of Switzerland and renting our car there.  The car rental was similar to Germany's prices.  When making our hotel reservations I made sure we were over the border into Germany for the first night.  Prices are high everywhere in Switzerland, not only in Zurich.

[classylady]

I'm so glad I didn't let the Travel Alert deter us from going.  We had a wonderful time!  I brought home lots of chocolate!  My son got the cuckoo clock he wanted.  We managed to visit 5 countries in one week--Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria, and France.

 

We pretty much just drove through Switzerland.  Only stopped along the way once and took some pictures.  Beautiful.  Since Liechtenstein was just a short distance from the freeway we stopped there for a few hours.  Not much to see in Liechtenstein, but I was able to cross it off my bucket list.  It was so foggy/misty we couldn't really see the castle where the prince lives.

 

We managed to finally visit the castle ruins of Ehrenberg, which is near Reutte, Austria, just across the border from Fuessen, Germany where the fairy tale castle is.  It's quite a hike to the ruins.  Glad we went.  We were dressed in our coats, scarves, gloves and hats.  The climb was rather strenuous so we warmed up and were shedding the winter gear by the time we got to the top.

 

We've been to Neuschwanstein (fairy tale castle) many times, so didn't want to tour the castle, but I did want to get a photograph of Neuschwanstein from the Marienbrucke (Mary's Bridge).  The bridge was closed for repairs. Drat.  Travel all that ways just to get the picture I want, and the bridge is closed.  But, we did manage to find the trail with a good view of the castle in the back ground along with the bridge.  I haven't had a chance to really look at my pictures yet.  I'm hoping we got some good ones.

 

We went to church in Ansbach, Germany.  It's a military based ward, but there are German members there.  It was Fast and Testimony meeting, and all but one spoke in English.  We've attended this ward before, when our oldest son was stationed in Germany for four years.  Some of the German members remembered him and us.  It was nice to visit and renew acquaintances.

 

I wasn't too impressed with the Christmas Market in Nuremberg.  It was too crowded and I felt overwhelmed.  So, we left (and got lost trying to find where we parked our car) and drove over to Rothenburg ob der Tauber.  The Christmas Market was crowded there too, but I know Rothenburg, nearly in-and-out, so we were more comfortable there.  We visited with a shop owner who is nearly 90 and she showed us her photos of her driving a Harley and visiting Sturgis, ND.  She was amazing.  So many life experiences to share with us.  She treated us like family, and only because we were looking for her son (who just retired from the business), who had helped us in the past.

 

Then we drove over to Furtwangen in the Black Forest and visited a clock factory.  It wasn't what I expected.  But, okay.  Then we drove through mountainous roads (gorgeous) to Rheinfelden, Germany.  Rheinfelden is just across the border from Basel Switzerland.  We had Family Home Evening and dinner with a good friend of mine from my mission days in Germany.  It was wonderful to meet her husband and one of her sons.  She had the missionaries over too.  Then the next day she and her husband drove us up to Freiburg.  This is where my son got his cuckoo clock.  The town is charming!  I had never been there before.  There was a Christmas Market there too.  Then we took another drive from Freiburg over the border into France and visited Colmar.  Again, another Christmas Market.  But, the old town is wonderful.  It's very German.  And, this part of France has gone back and forth between Germany and France several times.

 

Those were just a few highlights from the trip.  But, the best was seeing my friend after more than 35 years.  We had such a wonderful visit and reminisced about people we love and talked about the Church in Germany.  I would love to see the Church grow over there, but the German people for the most part don't feel like they need religion in their lives.  The Elders seemed a little disheartened.  Very little success.  But, they struggle and carry on and hope for the best.  It was much like that when I was a missionary.  I just want to say how much I love the German people.  I wish so much to see the church grow over there.  I'm grateful for the good members in Germany who are so dedicated to the Lord.  They are wonderful examples to those around them.

 

Edit:  We are also to visit Linderhof Castle and Wieskirche.  We stayed in Oberamergau which is fairly close to those two places.  Our room was in a bed and breakfast owned by a husband and wife.  They rent out their upstairs bedroom along with a bathroom.  The husband does some beautiful wood carving which he/she showed us.  He does the carving and she does the painting of them.  There was a beautiful Nativity Scene he had carved and she had painted.  I was drooling.

Edited December 11, 2015 by classylady

[Guest]

CLASSYLADY, I NEED A DROOL BUCKET!

 

You are one blessed lady to be able to fly to Zurich for $24.  If I had that ability, I'd be in the Philippines every weekend.

 

Loved your recounting of your trip.  Pictures would be awesome!  And, girl, you went to Liechtenstein and didn't stop by the stamps museum?  That's like... my brother's most favorite place in the world!

[mnn727]

Germany, currently probably. Another year or 2 with Merkles immigration policies - no way.

DW's brother who has lived in Germany 35 years now (with 2 kids born there) is talking about moving back to the U.S.

Edited December 11, 2015 by mnn727

[classylady]

CLASSYLADY, I NEED A DROOL BUCKET!

 

You are one blessed lady to be able to fly to Zurich for $24.  If I had that ability, I'd be in the Philippines every weekend.

 

Loved your recounting of your trip.  Pictures would be awesome!  And, girl, you went to Liechtenstein and didn't stop by the stamps museum?  That's like... my brother's most favorite place in the world!

 

I went to the Post Office and bought stamps.  Does that count?

[mrmarklin]

Thanks for the report! I decided to go to Nuremberg on the spur of the moment! I'm invited to the annual Toyfair exhibition held at the end of January each year. My hobby is model trains, so it's a fairly big deal since the fair is normally only open to trades. I'm getting a special pass.

Sorry you didn't care for the Christmas market there. Of course they're always crowded. Even though Germans seem very secular, they do get into their religious holidays!

I'll be staying mostly in Munich (impossible to get a room in Nuremberg during the fair), but may get as far north as Hamburg. The biggest model train layout in the world is there.;-)

[Ironhold]

Thanks for the report! I decided to go to Nuremberg on the spur of the moment! I'm invited to the annual Toyfair exhibition held at the end of January each year. My hobby is model trains, so it's a fairly big deal since the fair is normally only open to trades. I'm getting a special pass.

 

 

Coincidentally, I wrote up the bulk of TF Wiki.net's page on Toyfair.

 

Hasbro announced that because Toyfair NYC, Toyfair UK, and Toyfair Nuremberg are scheduled so closely together in 2016, they're going to skip Toyfair UK in order to focus on the other two. Given this, I'd expect a fairly big Hasbro presence there this time around. 

[mrmarklin]

I'm leaving for Germany the 21st. Heading to Berlin before going to the Toy Fair.

Will only be passing thru Cologne for a train change so I shouldn't have any problems. I'm a guy anyway.:-)

Hopefully the Munich train station will be open when I get there on the 25th!

[classylady]

I'm leaving for Germany the 21st. Heading to Berlin before going to the Toy Fair.

Will only be passing thru Cologne for a train change so I shouldn't have any problems. I'm a guy anyway.:-)

Hopefully the Munich train station will be open when I get there on the 25th!

 

I doubt you'll have any problems.

 

The Koelner Dom (Cologne Cathedral) is right next to the train station there in Cologne.  It's a shame you won't have time to go through the Cathedral.  It's beautiful.

[JojoBag]

No.

[mrmarklin]

I doubt you'll have any problems.

 

The Koelner Dom (Cologne Cathedral) is right next to the train station there in Cologne.  It's a shame you won't have time to go through the Cathedral.  It's beautiful.

 

 

It is a beautiful Cathedral.  I have been inside.  Have you been to the Schatzkammer in the basement with all the gold?  It's super cool too.

[mrmarklin]

I'm in Berlin now. I just did Berlin Walks which is a take off on the original London Walks. Spent most of the time east of the wall, which pre WW2 was the cultural and governmental part of Germany. Very interesting. Our guide was a history Student of Humboldt university in Berlin. Saw the wall or what's left of it, and many other very cool sights. In a few years the former Imperial palace will be restored, then I'll return.

Off to Munich tomorrow.

[classylady]

Berlin is on my bucket list.  And, I've only driven through Munich, and changed trains there in Munich.  One of these visits I'll spend more time in Munich and definitely visit Berlin.