Germany & Austria

Well it only took us three days of waiting in the Charleston Airport but we finally made it to Germany. We flew the 8 hour flight on a C-17 laying next to two 38,000lbs armored personel vehicles. It was exciting to be a part of a real mission. Jeremy was also able to get me in the cockpit to see how they air refuel with a KC-135 over the Atlantic Ocean (getting gas while flying).

We arrived in Ramstein AB at about 6 am local, both exhausted from no sleep and the anticipation of getting there. Jeremy and I tried to stay awake for as long as possible, but as soon as we were able to get into a room, we passed out. The next day we met with Tobias, a nice German National who pointed us in the right direction for our European vacation.

We rented a car for the week. It had all the bells and whistles of an American classic. Our legs were a little cramped though, as we paraded around Germany and Austria. Here’s our car... just kidding, this is a "smart" car, but our A-series Mercedes was only slightly bigger than this one. The autobahn was also an event.

The first day we took a day trip to Trier, Germany; which is about 45 minutes west of Ramstein AB. Here we saw 2000 year old Roman ruins: the Porta Nigra, and other sites.

We even got to meet some of the locals.

The next day we left the comforts of our Air force Base and decided to venture on our own. The first stop was Baden-Baden, just 10 miles from the France border. Baden-Baden was a quite little town full of cobble stone streets resting in a large valley. We had the best hotel with a room that looked out onto the stone street below.

Driving the car up the winding 2 way road was an adventure in itself, but Jeremy managed just fine and didn't even lose a mirror. When we first arrived we enjoyed a nice lunch. We were not really sure what we ordered, but when lunch arrived, we were pleasantly surprised.

After a nice lunch we went to the bath house; which has been a tradition in Baden-Baden since the days of the Romans. It was so nice to relax and soak for hours with water falls pounding on your neck and back. Luckily, clothing was mandatory, unlike the all-nude bath houses down the street.

The next day we packed once again and drove to the little town of Ruette/Triol, Austria. This cottage town was 7 km from Fussen, Germany, where we visited two of King Ludwig’s castles: Hohenschwangau Castle (left pic) and Neuschwanstein Castle (right pic) .

Minus the scattered rain showers, the view was amazing But don’t worry we found a nice German hat to protect us from the rain. After the long hike down the mountain side we had a traditional German lunch.


After two nights in Ruette we drove through the Alps to Munchen, Germany. We saw spectacular clear blue lakes, rivers, and country side.

We also saw King Ludwig’s third castle (Linderhof Castle) and were awe struck with its beauty.

During the drive we saw horses and cattle with bells around their necks. We learned that these bells are necessary in case the cows or horses wander into the mountains, the owners can find them by listening for the sound of the bell. We bought one of these bells as a souvenir.

We departed with our rental car and ventured onto the train systems for the rest of our trip. While in Munich we went to the famous Hofbrauhaus and drank Liter Beers as the local Germans sang beer drinking songs.

On the train from Munich we sat with some very nice Catholic Nuns on the way to Salzburg, Austria. This is the town were the Sound of Music was filmed. When we arrived we wanted the experience of “hiking” in the Alps, so we hiked a couple miles in the blazing heat to our hotel room. See pictures below. Salzburg was full of history and well worth the visit.

From Salzburg, we took the train back to Landstuhl, which is right out side Ramstein’s main gate. When we arrived in Landstuhl, we checked into the Hotel Christine. We stayed on the top floor with a nice view of downtown Landstuhl.

We decided to head back to the base and start our trip back to the states. We were able to get on a hop to New Jersey and then rented a car to drive back to Charleston. We had an amaizing time and were sad to leave, but we knew there were going to be two smiling faces to greet us when we got home.