Ticket to Ride Germany: Spring Break 2024

All right, Meeple People, it is time for real-life Ticket to Ride Germany. Here is the gameboard again.

And now, in Grandma-Red, we will show you each part of our journey. Are you ready? First leg:

Berlin to Koblenz (and Trier):

As you may have noted from the Prologue, we took the leap on an EV for this trip.

We figured it would benefit the environment, teach us the ins-and-outs of our future mode of transportation, and maybe even save us a dollar or two. It might have done all three, but the eclipsing take-away, at least three times repeated over the course of the whole trip, was that it cost us a lot of time. We were hoping to check out Koln, for instance (--a cool cathedral there reportedly), on our way to Koblenz, but after two long charging sessions and one terrible pizza meal, we ended up bypassing Koln in the night and arrived late at our lodging in Koblenz. This created a lot of stress for us each time it happened, and put out our hosts, but, I also loved how well Charlie, Kiefer, and Scout handled it each time, and, what the hey, our main objective was just being together.

Our place in Koblenz might have been the best of our trip, something called Vintage Meets Modern, but after a late arrival and an early morning run, we were off to Trier. On our way, we saw two cool castles

(--that first one is touted the most beautiful in Europe, which I suppose I can grant it), and we walked across a huge suspension bridge

(--we minus Suzy, but she tried--made it just about halfway).

Another morning run with Suzy (up a mountain), then we checked out the Black Gate

(some ancient Roman porta) before we fell off the gameboard to get to our next destination.

Trier to Luxembourg: I don't think we just fell off the gameboard. I think we fell off the world and landed in a model train set (like the great one up in Hamburg).

Luxembourg is one of a kind, both for its architecture and for the way it's situated: half on a cliff-steep mountain, and half in the valley below it, with trains and rivers and gardens and I'm pretty sure those fake little smoking chimneys.

Seriously, I kept thinking some towering impulsive child was going to pierce Wunderland, reach in with his pincers, and pluck one of us up. It was so cool.

Once again, I was reminded of Dad's hobby-train days, except that even our imaginations then could not have completed the world we were in now.

We had easily the most delicious hot chocolate I have ever had,

and then jumped in the EV again and went to a World War Two American cemetary, and saluted (in our way) George Patton.

After another long charging pause, we stayed on theme and drove through the Vosges National Park (beautiful countryside, actually), and then arrived late in a surprisingly bustling Strasbourg, France, or, as it is called in Ticket to Ride, Frankreich.

Luxembourg to France (Strasbourg):

Two nights here, and much to see and eat. Oh, the French can make a baguette, though that was not the culinary highlight, not even close. First, we went to a cathedral

(--also called Notre Dame--no, not as grand, but grand enough), and then Charlie took Suzy's phone and led us to La Petit France, which was beautiful and romantic.

There we had the meal of the trip (and one of our top five meals in Europe): French onion soup, German spaetzle for Scout, and a Italian risotto to share.

What a blend of cultures and tastes. Delicious. And it was only lunch! A great part of a great day. The next morning, Suzy and I tried unsuccessfully to run around a lake, but still managed to get our distance (--we were training, by the way); and then we jumped back in our four-wheeled time-suck, and headed to the famous Black Forest of southwest Germany.

Strasbourg to Konstanz:

Again, the Romans had their input here. Well, little more than that, actually, they named it is all. According to forest service lady, it is called the Black Forest for two possible reasons: 1) you can easily get lost in it, like marching your legions into a vast room with no light;

or 2) you might be ambushed by barbarian guerilla, and have the lights turned off on you, so to speak. We, fortunately, stuck to a suggested and well-marked path, and only ran into two mustached barbarians,

who were preoccupied by other matters.

(In truth, those two were engrossed in their endless conversation about Fifa Mobile dream teams the whole time: Charlie, in the picture above, is actually pointing at the right flank of an imaginary soccer field.) Anyway, once through the park, we hit one of our main trip objectives: Hohenzollern Castle.

From there, we headed south, to Lake Constance,

where we were greeted warmly by the owners of our next lodgings (--easily the best stay of our trip). Two nights there, a great long run the first morning on the Wunderweg,

followed by a no less wonderful family bike ride on an edge of the lake.

The mountains in the distance there--that's Switzerland. It was awesome.

With an evening soccer kick-around, and a game or two of Hearts, and a spontaneously planned stop at the Zeppelin Museum in the morning, Lake Constance, or Bodensee, made a sure bid for the highlight of the trip.

But when morning came we were off to what became our unanimous favorite: Garmisch.

Konstanz to Garmisch (close to Lindau on the board):

To get to Garmisch, we took a road that meandered into Austria before coming back across the border and bringing us to another of our main objecives, the most popular castle in Germany: Schloss Neuschwanstein--the brief home of the Fairy Tale King.

Get this: the Neuschwanstein is actually the model of the Disney castle, and it is no less fantastical.

What I mean is that the king, while he lived there--a very short time long past the Middle Ages (18-something or other), he'd never let people fill the hall or come to his love grotto or come to anything else, because he did not want their soiled and silly modern reality to interfere with his airy dreams. Imagine that! For me, it felt other-worldly, not historical. And from the Marionbruke behind it (a bridge), you could get a magnificent picture.

Do you see the drying up lake beyond it? It's fake! It was built and placed there and filled up to the brim--for the sake of this very view. Apparently, the Fantasy King was a bit eccentric. Imagine that. Anyway, after a little trouble finding a charging station, and another terrible pizza meal, we landed in Garmisch, where we stayed for the next two nights.

It was fabulous. The site of the first Winter Olympics.

A cool hike up a canyon.

A great running path that Scout joined us on.

And beautiful in every direction. It was like having the best parts of Colorado of every season all squeezed onto a teaspoon.

We all loved it. More Hearts, another soccer field, even a local chocolatier on Ludwigstrasse. This is the sign on their register.

Translation: "Too expensive? Just close your eyes and charge it." And, as if that weren't enough, on the day of our departure, we drove to the base of the Zugspitze (Germany's tallest mountain at 9700 ft) and then walked around the Eibsee, what many consider to be the most beautiful lake in the country.

I believe it. In fact, Kiefer went back to Garmisch this last weekend, skied there for the second time with his bud William, ate lunch at the top of largest mountain, and said the lake was beautiful from up there, too. (Garmisch is Kiefer's favorite place in Germany hands down.)

And with that, we started our journey back to Berlin.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen to Dresden:

We broke that drive up with a night and day in Dresden, what once was called the Florence on the Elbe.

Of course, it is also the site of perhaps the most notorious bombing in history, during World War Two (Vonnegut survived it as a prisoner of war, and then wrote about it in Slaughterhouse 5). But the city has done much to reclaim its former glory, and really, that's what this whole trip did for me and, I hope, for my children too. We can remember and be reminded--and want to be reminded of those sinister parts of German history without failing to recognize everything else that defines this country and these people. For nearly two years I was working to break down the thick walls of all too narrow a construction, and that, I suspect, might be the greatest gift of this whole European adventure for me personally. I hope it expanded the horizon for my three, but for me it also grew my heart--strengthened it.

Case in point, Suzy, Scout, and I went on another run along the Elbe, itself. The distance I needed to run was a bit further than theirs, so I said goodbye, and made a goal of a bridge further down the way. As I approached it, I saw a statue to my left. I thought, "What if it were someone like a Shakespeare or Whitman?" Usually, I don't pause a run for anything, but I took a look. It was Dostoevsky. I stayed and read the placards of explanation and dedication. Apparently, he loved Dresden, had a child here, fled from creditors here, even wrote one of his first major works here. I ran to my bridge and then headed back beside the city center, and thought, "Yes, indeed, Fyodor, there is something to love about this city, and about this whole country."

And finally, Dresden to Berlin ("Home, sweet temporary home"): We made it! We completed our route. And you made it, too! Yowzers, that was a looooong post. And it's still not over. We have to see how we did in our real-life game, which I'll calculate for you in the Epilogue...