Germany Day 3: Autobahn and Leipzig
On the third day of our Germany trip, we picked up our rental car at the Hauptbahnhof in Berlin and made our way to the Autobahn. The plan for the day was to drive to Munich with a stop in the town of Leipzig for lunch along the way.
Driving on the Autobahn was not as scary as I remember it, although it does require more attention and energy than driving on the interstate in the States. It did not take us long to remember what the street sign looked like that indicated there was no longer a speed limit and to get comfortable cruising (legally) at 100 mph (160 kph). But we needed to stay alert for when speed limit zones popped up. To give you an idea of distance, Google Maps says it takes about 6 hours from Berlin to Munich by car, but I'm not sure what speed Google Maps assumes you are going in the unlimited speed zones, perhaps the average speed of the traffic? Good question. We can't say for sure how long it took us, because we stopped in Leipzig and one or two Autohofs (rest areas) on the way.
The Autohof was similar to the rest plazas you see on toll roads in the States with rest rooms and places to eat and grab food and drinks. Most of them included American chain fast food restaurants, usually McDonald's. It seems like the fast food chains are much more common in Germany now than when we lived here almost 30 years ago. However, the McDonald's in the Autohof was a little different than the ones we've been to in the States. It had a little McCafe with grab and go items like all kinds of kuchen (cake), cold sandwiches on Ciabatta rolls, fruit juices, Red Bull, beer and wine. Not quite sure why someone would need a quick beer while driving down the highway, but there you have it.
Even at the fast speeds we were traveling down the Autobahn, we were still able to enjoy the views of the countryside. There were lots of yellow fields of rapeweed, sometimes dotted with large, modern windmills. We don't remember seeing many, if any, modern windmills in Germany thirty years ago. As we approached Munich and started passing fields of hops, Left Buddy, having spent some time brewing his own beer and becoming somewhat knowledgeable about beer when we used to live here, got all excited and exclaimed, "we must be passing through the Hallertau region"! And sure enough, we were. The Hallertau region is known all over the world for its hops and is considered the largest continuous hop-growing area in the world.
Our lunch stop was in Leipzig. We had never been in Leipzig before; it is in former East Germany. The border between East and West Germany opened up while we were living in Germany. The Berlin Wall collapsed on November 9, 1989 and the official Reunification of Germany was on October 3, 1990. We did not do much research on Leipzig before our visit, so we just headed to the center of town (Zentrum), parked the car and meandered through the streets on foot. We found a little shop to have a Döner Kebab to eat and then continued exploring. Left Buddy remembered enough about the culture to be prepared with coinage when visiting the public toilet though he didn't remember enough to ask if the people standing in front of the door were just hanging out or waiting for a chance to go in.
Although it was a Tuesday, it was May 1st, which is a holiday in Germany, Tag der Arbeit (Labor Day), so the Marktplatz was a busy place. There were lots of little booths set up with what we believe were informational booths for political parties and trade unions. There was also a live band playing which gave the town quite a festive feel. There was a lot of interesting old architecture to look at from the new city hall (Stadt Leipzig) to the old city hall (Altes Rathaus) with churches and monuments in between. There were also several indoor passageways lined with shops and a bank building shining with gold accents. It kind of makes you wonder what the bank was doing with all their customers' money, doesn't it?
After a full day of driving, we checked into a small, family-run hotel called Hotel Laimer Hof near Schloß Nymphenburg in Munich. We walked down the street to Könlicher Hirschgarten for dinner. The Hirschgarten is the largest beer garden in Munich and probably the real reason why Left Buddy picked Hotel Laimer Hof. OK, I guess it was also because the hotel looked like it had a lot of character, built in 1886. After filling our bellies with some hearty German food and Left Buddy had his fill of beer, we waddled back through the quiet neighborhood to our hotel room to call it a night.
(RB)