Damn!berg

Continuing on our long drawn out story of our road trip through Cologne, Belgium, and France....

On the car ride back to Berlin from France we took a break in some of the cute German cities that aren't so prominent up in our NorthEast corner.

First stop:

Herrieden

This town is well known among American military men of a certain age because of the nearby base. The base is still there, but getting smaller every year. Ian's dad was not a military man (the idea of Greg in gear is pretty funny), but his brother was. Greg was lucky enough to spend a few months riding his bicycle, drinking apfelsaftschorle, and learning a little German. Naturally, we wanted to see this place we had heard so much about.

We arrived between lunch and dinner and there was a hardly a person around. There was farm equipment.

...and charm.

Love the exclamation point.

The storks nest has been there since before Greg was here in the 70s

 We were hoping to get some food, but unlike Berlin, this city sleeps. We found a delicious looking restaurant, ordered some beers, and were promptly told they were between service, meaning no food. Better comfort ourselves with beer.

Ian was the DD so he had a little titchy one and ordered me the regular .5 L. For those who haven't traveled with me, I get a wee bit mean when hungry so this was probably out of self-protection on his part. Definitely got a look from the server, me with the big beer and Ian with the little.

On the road again:

Ian standing on the autobahn

"Traffic"

We had 2 terrible traffic incidents on this car trip. We are more the plane/train travelers, but we treated this outing a bit like a treat, doing things we don't normally do. We loved it, but driving remains one of our least favorite ways to travel.

We drove on, and stopped for the night at:

Bamberg

Ian had heard good things about Bamberg, or what should be officially re-nameed as Damnnnnnnnnnnnburg! Picture perfect around every corner with tons of home-grown breweries.

One of our best meals in Germany - EVER. We bought the mug.

Not to mention the Cathedrals.

And castle.

 And rose gardens

We ran into some American Mormons here who were caught off guard by Ian's American English & In-n-Out T-shirt. As soon as they asked if we heard the news - we were out!

The town is lovely. We actually can't wait to visit again. BUT we had to jump on the road to return the car. 4 hours should be more than enough time for a less than 2 hour drive - RIGHT?

More traffic. We were sweating bullets about getting the car back in time.

Intense rain storm. Rainbows have to be a good sign right?
 

Gas. Sweating. 5 minutes till the office closes

Car - badly parked

And - geshaft! We did it. It was a miracle, I knocked on the window and they let us check in after closing. Berliners offering customer service! A miracle.

Car, us, glorious Belgian beers back in Berlin.