Today was a very exciting morning as we were to begin the train section of this trip. This was a new ambition that we had never experienced before. I felt a little anxious and even scared as we were about to embark on a two month train journey as the car portion of this trip was complete. I was also a little nervous for Mom, as she was also about to head out for the week back to Paris to have three days to herself in the city. That drive could be dangerous in a country she didn’t know much of, nor how to get around. Nonetheless she was ok with the doing it as planned, so I was happy she would be able to have some time to herself now instead of just with us three huddled in the car like a can of sardines!
Our beginning of the morning was a nice start at Mcdonalds in Strasbourg. We needed to be at the train station for the first train departing into Germany. We unfortunately missed this, as we had a couple rude French people decline helping us find the check in counter, due to the fact we were American.
PROTIP– The Eurail Pass is valid from the dates you specifically mention OR the point of stamping. We decided to get our passes stamped in Strasbourg, incase the event of delay, we could start the journey a day later. Fortunately we didn’t have a delay, thus we had our passes stamped at the train station. This can be done at any MAJOR train terminal. As far as determining what a major train station is, I believe it is any terminal that accepts international train routes. I recommend getting your passes stamped when you are ready to start you adventure!
The town of Strasbourg is on the border of France and Germany, thus our train ride was a short connection, directly east. Our connecting train terminal was Appenweier, which is a small German town about 30 miles east of Strasbourg. From that point we were to head north to the town of Baden Baden. This is the first goal destination of the trip by train.
This town was a great start to the trip, and we decided to do a walking exploration around the city, after having breakfast. This town was known for its elevation and scenery, but even more important, its luxurious casino. We did not have time to gamble but we were able to tour the casino for a bit, and enjoy the walking grounds of it. The name of the casino was the Baden-Baden Casino, as you can see below.
The main area for the town was located about a mile from the Train stop, and I was almost ready to walk the distance (albeit with our luggage on our backs) to the city center. Ashley stopped me from doing this, and bite the bullet to pay 5EU for two round trip bus tickets to town. This was undoubtedly worth it once we hopped on and realized how far the walk would’ve taken us. I was afraid we may have to pay for bus passes every time we departed the train terminals, thank fully this town is the only exception to central town delivery of the European train system we encountered.
PROTIP– Research where your train station is in relation to town center, in order to get a better idea of budget, and time usage walking. This will save confusion, and despair if you know exactly how far it is to the sites you want to see. Also, I like to create a walking map of the places I want to explore, so as not to backtrack.
We arrived in the town center and immediately sat for breakfast at a metro diner called…. We were able to enjoy a more traditional breakfast of bacon, eggs, and tomatoes (as opposed to the coffee and croissants we had been used to in France). This only set us back about 14EU, and we were able to have time to enjoy the morning walk. The site we wanted to reach was called Stiftskirche, which is a really interesting local church that had a wild looking marble structure inside of demons and angels. Aside from this, and the nice walk, there was not much else beside residential places to see.
We turned around at this point and headed back towards the train station with the intentions to see the outdoor markets, and the casino. The outdoor fresco market called Trinkhalle was something to behold as we headed back. This outside area is where vendors and musicians would gather during the day. We didn’t have much time in this area, but from here we were able to tour the casino which was very close to this area as well. Since there was no way to tour the casino, we only stepped in for a minute to appreciate the interior.
We took our round trip pass back to the train station after exploring and headed south to the next stop of the day….the charming town of Germany called Gengenbach. This is one of the most iconic looking towns for local German architecture and culture. As soon as we departed the train terminal directly into this small town, we were overcome with old German architecture, and people around us. This was along with an afternoon market, parade, and cookout that was going on. We were lucky as this was not planned, and we were able to have first hand experience of German traditions and parties. I was in heave, as the smell of roasting pig, and flowing beer saturated the air.
We had to explore the towns buildings and then head into a local bar/ pub for a midday beer and lunch. This was one of the best parts of the day as the timing was perfect, and the food experience was perfect as well. We started with a Gelato, which could have been the best chocolate ice cream I have ever had in my life. We followed this with a walking tour of the Stadkirche Sankt Marien. This was the cities primary Catholic Church, and had an incredible blue ornate interior which was unexpected in this part of the country.
We decided to stop at a local bar for food, as unfortunately the pig roast was not ready when we were ready to have lunch. The name of this bar was called Frei (Steinkellerhaus), and the interior was an old mill of sort, where they could process alchohol. This was great as we were able to learn from the bartender about the place, and the history of the town. It’s experiences and local places like these that keep me coming back for more when traveling. We finished up our meal, and beer, as it was time to continue however… and our next stop for the day was Triberg.
Triberg is a town that exudes Germany. When you think of the Black forest, this is the place you want to visit to experience it. The reason we picked this town was its location in this historic, and the famous waterfalls that it is known to have. The city is located deep in the mountains of South west Germany and was very different than the flat areas we had toured in the earlier part of the day. The train ride to Triberg was equally as spectacular since we were embarking on new lands we had never seen.
As we disembarked from the train we had to walk a small mountain which led to the town, perched almost 500 feet above where the station was located. The only goal of this town was to see the waterfall and of course the local population, but what we didn’t expect to see was the world largest grandfather clock. Evidently, this is the location of such a site, and we were able to witness it first hand.
Ashley wanted to buy a grandfather (cookoo) clock to send back to the United States, as part of the remembrance of this trip. We toured one of the shops, and she bought 2 clocks and had them shipped to the United States for when we returned back to the states. After touring the shop we headed north to get to the Triberg Waterfall, which was our primary area to visit. Upon walking the streets of this incredibly charming German town, we found ourselves within a German parade, which seemed to be geared toward a local celebration. I was unsure what this celebration was, but it was great to see, and be a part of the music and dancing in the streets. We continued to ascend the streets to get to the entrance of the Triberg Wasserfall. This is a fee area unfortunately, even after all the hiking that we had to do just to get to the entrance of the visitor area.
We didn’t let the 2$ deter us, and we continued to the waterfall to soak in the weather and scenery from the top of the town. These falls are a series of cascades which start high within the Forest….so high in fact, you cannot see the top of the falls where they begin. It was after hiking the different overlooks that we both realized we were starving, so we headed to Restaurant Tresor, where we were finally able to sit down in need of a large German dinner.
Aside from beer, I had spatzle for the first time, with pork Schnitzel….once again a first. I was not a huge fan of spatzle however. I also had a side of amazing Potato soup. We of course had to have a world famous German turnover as well! This was a wonderful dinner in such a rich German town, and was such a wonderful experience.
From here it was time to use the rest of the day to take the train and ride it all the way to Munich. This was a wonderful train ride, as the Black hills started to become chalk cliffs, and eventually the landscape became littered with German towns and castles in the distance. The biggest of which was the Hohenzollern, which we could only see in passing via train. This massive castle lurked over the landscape and was obviously designed and built from a power perspective. Either way, it was extremely impressive, and one day would like to tour it in person.
We continued to the major city of Munich. With our three connections to get to Munich, we somehow had obtained an appetite again, and decided to have a small snack on the train, by splitting a beer, and a sandwhich. This was our first experience eating on a train, and it felt wonderful being able to tour the country in the comfort of a train, seeing the beauty of this famous country. We were able to make our connections in Immendingen and Ulm, and we made it to Munich with a little daylight left.
As we pulled into Munich’s train terminal, I was pleased to know that our hotel for the night was actually well kept, and very close to the train terminal for easy access to the city, and connection points. I had booked this hotel for three nights so we could explore the town in ease the next two days. It was now time to catchup on some rest after a whirlwind day, and of course carrying all of our things around the country.
HOTEL: Smart Stay Hotel Schweiz
EXPENSES-
2.40 coffee
5 bus tickets in Baden bAden
13.70 breakfast
3.20 snack
5 bus
5 ice cream and beer gengenbach
10 waterfalls in Triberg
8.10 train beer and sandwich
Total- 90.87- 15 cash found= 75.87 (+7)