Saturday morning we ate breakfast at the hotel buffet. Food was quite good. Cheese, cold cuts, bread, fresh pastries, and other assorted goodies. A large Japanese tour group decimated the buffet right as we sat down. The staff apologized and put out fresh food for us. We stayed at the Prinz Hotel Rothenburg. Good location right inside the town wall. Tourists walking the wall had a wonderful view of our room. Room was fine, the curtains worked and the price was reasonable. Staff was a bit cold but not too bad.
After breakfast we walked the town wall. Worth doing if you are there. We went to the market set up in the town square. Most of the shoppers looked like locals, not tourists. We bought bread, fruit and cheese that became our lunches for the next few days. I don't remember what kind of cheese we got. Wish I had, it was really good. Debbie bought chocolate from one of Rothenburg's many shops. I also stopped in a at a book store and got paper maps for Germany, Belgium and the The Netherlands.
We set the Nuvi to Trier, and then checked the route against the maps I'd bought. The route to Trier was mostly Autobahn. There were long stretches on the A6 with no limit. Debbie and I took turns running the X3 up to the 100mph break in maximum. The car was smooth, quiet and comfortable at 100mph and clearly would have had no trouble going even faster. There was a lot of construction and the speed limits constantly changed. We had to keep a careful watch for limit signs. None would suddenly become 120km/h and that could change to 100, 70 or even 60 with little notice. 60km/h is darn slow after you've been running at 160.
Driving the Autobahn requires constant attention. Even at 160km/h one is expected to drive in the slow lane. The left lane is for passing only and must be used with care. Cars in the left lane might be going warp 9. More then once, I had cars run up behind us in the left lane. With the break in speed limit, I couldn't go faster. My only choice was to get back into the right lane as soon as possible. Most of the time we were under no speed limit, I set the cruise control for 140km/h which kept my time in the left lane down to a minimum.
Autobahnen have many opportunities for a break from driving. A typical Rastof has a Tankstellung (gas station),clean restrooms, parking, and a restaurant or two. There is usually a 50 cent charge for the restrooms. In between the Rastofs are smaller pullouts marked by a blue and white P sign. Most of these smaller pullouts (we called them P's) are wooded and only have trash cans and parking. We used the occasional P to switch off driving. We would have liked to use one as nice place to eat lunch. However the main use of a P prevented that. Most German males are too cheap to spend 50 cents to use the restroom at a Rasthoff. Instead they take advantage of one of the numerous trees at a P to relive themselves.
Just past Ramstein air base we turned off the A6 onto the A61 and then onto the A1. That part of the route goes through a hilly region with some spectacular high bridges over valleys. Debbie drove part of that segment and I was able to enjoy the view. As we approached Trier I reset the Nuvi to Berghotel Holzerath, our actual destination.
Holzerath is a small vilage about 15km south of Trier. Exiting the autobahn, the Nuvi took us down an ever decreasing set of back roads, ending with a one lane road through a forest. Nice to look at, but it made us wonder about the Nuvi's sanity. Just about the time I was ready to check against a map, we popped out of the forest into the tiny village of Holzerath.
I picked the location mostly because I couldn't find hotel room in Trier. After we saw Trier, I'm glad we stayed out of town. The hotel was solid two star. Nothing fancy at all, but it was clean and comfortable. Inexpensive too. The staff (owners??) speak English and are very friendly. After the 3 and 4 stars we'd be staying at it did feel less luxurious. The bathroom was decidedly cramped and much more like the Europe I remembered.
Trier is home to Dom St. Peter and a holy relic or two. Trier itself was a let down. Maybe we didn't go to the right places, but most of what we saw wasn't worth the trip. The only photo I took was of the inside of the Dom. We ended up eating dinner back at the Hotel. Food at the Berghotel was quite good. Better than we expected. If I had the day to do over, I would have skipped Trier and explored the forest around Holzerath. Even better would have been staying an extra day at any of our other destinations. Amsterdam certainly deserved more time then we gave it.
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