Germany Day 6: Drive Through the Alps
Our plan for day six was to drive from Munich to Böblingen (near Stuttgart) via a drive that Google would never suggest through the Alps, through Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Innsbruck and Konstanz.
Our first stop was Garmisch-Partenkirchen. We parked at the Rathaus and went for a walk, in search of cute buildings with beautifully painted façades. We were not disappointed. Our short walk took us down Ludwigstraße which looped back around to Hauptstraße. We went into the gas station back on the main road to buy our Austrian toll sticker (Vignette), which is needed for driving on the expressways in Austria. Luckily, we had read about the toll in Rick Steves Germany 2017 book.
From Garmisch, we drove across the Austrian border to Innsbruck for a delightful lunch at a sidewalk cafe near the Goldenes Dachl in the old town center, watching the people and tourists walk by. After lunch we climbed to the top of the Stadtturm (city tower) for a view of the city from above and a view of the surrounding Alps. It was a mostly cloudy day with periods of drizzling rain, so our view of the mountains was not that spectacular, when we could see them at all.
From Innsbruck, we took the expressway towards Konstanz on the Bodensee (Lake Constance). We quickly learned why there is a toll. There were so many tunnels! I remember tunnels in the Alps before, but not this many. We were inside of tunnels more than we were outside of tunnels. And most of them were several kilometers long. So much for a scenic drive through the Alps! If we had more time, we would have gotten off the expressway and onto more scenic roads. Another interesting expressway experience was paying for the restroom at a rest area gas station. We were used to the fact that you have to pay to use public restrooms in Europe, but here there was a turnstyle which required the insertion of 50 cents in Euro coins in order to enter the restrooms. However, the turnstyle did give you back a slip which was good for 50 cents towards a purchase at the convenience store. And from what I could understand from the fine print, it looked like the slip was good for quite a few days.
We had dinner in Konstanz on the Bodensee (Lake Constance), after a quick walk around the old town near the lake. The air was cool and the breeze off the lake did not help much, so we opted for an inside table at a Turkish restaurant. We picked the restaurant because it looked like it was popular, but that meant that they squeezed us into a small table for two which all the waiters and customers were constantly brushing by. But it was warm and cozy and the food was good. However, there was an awkward moment in the restroom stall when the handle on the stall door broke and I was locked in for a short while until another customer came in and was able to let me out. That's one way to start a conversation with a local, but not my favorite way.
After dinner, we still had a couple of hours of driving to make it to Hotel Böhler in Böblingen. Hotel Böhler is the hotel we lived in for a month when we first arrived in Germany to live thirty years ago. It is a family-run hotel. When we were here before, Wolfgang and Karin Böhler were the friendly hosts, but now their nephew Manuel and his wife Melinda make everyone feel welcome. The hotel has been remodeled since we were last there, with a little more of a modern feel. What used to be the restaurant and bar is now a lobby and breakfast area.
The hotel still has the typical German touches. The typical German windows which, with a 90 degree turn of the handle allows the window to be tilted in at the top. Another 90 degree turn allows the window to be swung wide open. Screens on German windows are rare, but they normally have metal or wooden blinds on the outside, called Rolladen. The slats of the Rolladen can be turned totally vertical, locking together, to create a solid surface that blocks out all light from the outside. They are great for blocking out any annoying light while you are trying to sleep, but make it hard to know when the sun has risen, which can be good or bad depending on your point of view. Also common in Germany are two twin beds attached together instead of one continuous king bed. Even the comforters are separate, one for each side. The comforters (Bettdecken) are usually filled with puffy down in the winter (Federdecke), while thinner Bettdecken are used during the summer, perhaps filled with wool. The Bettdecken usually have a thin, sheet-like cover on them, so no top sheets are used. And the pillows are usually the large European squares. I can't tell from the picture and I don't remember if the pillows at Hotel Böhler were square or rectangular.
Even though the hotel had changed some, it was still friendly and still felt like coming home.
(RB)