Germany 2025

For graduation I give each of my offspring a trip to the destination of their choice. T and I went to England and Paris the summer before his senior year of high school. Because COVID, B and I delayed travel and since he's about to graduate from college*, we had to get moving! Over his spring break in March we went to Germany because after he visited Italy with his brothers last summer, B's interested in ancient Roman history and has a goal to see the furthest northern, southern, eastern, and western borders of the Ancient Roman Empire. For obvious geopolitical reasons, we hit the northern border together, focusing on Bavaria. Sadly for B, it might be a while before he enjoys a visit to the eastern border.

I took so many pictures, and B did, too, but he hasn't sent me his yet, so my photo album from our trip is spotty. Also, I take terrible pictures. You can find much better photography of all the places I mention in this post online. Please do not let my terrible photography skills deter you from visiting this remarkable country!

We landed in Munich and after checking into the Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten Kempinski (luxurious, lush, located smack in the center) we took a 4 hour walking tour. Munich is gorgeous. The Bavarian influence is strong and evident in architecture and food. On a Saturday the beer gardens were packed, the markets were busy, and the vibe was joyful and relaxed. We learned about the history of this amazing city and appreciated how walkable and accessible everything was. An egalitarian ethos permeates Munich, from beer gardens where people sit communally to the Englischer Garten where people freely enjoy nature. Our guide pointed out the glass beer bottles neatly lined up beside the trash and recycling bins and explained how Germans pay a deposit on their bottles (they're very committed to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle), but people who don't want to deal with the deposit will leave it sitting out so pensioners and other poor people can easily retrieve them to cash in. That small gesture of thoughtfulness for the greater community hit me hard and summed up my experience with people in Germany. They're neat, organized, and considerate.

The markets were an absolute delight. The booths have metal roofs and vendors sell everything from fresh flowers to cheese. One popular booth only sells varieties of POTATOES. I've never seen so many different spuds. There's wonderful art in Munich, and the influence on the city from the Catholic church and the major breweries is evident everywhere you look. Toss in pretzels and sausages, loads of people riding bicycles, and cobblestone streets and I felt like I landed in paradise.

The town hall in downtown Munich, just off the city's square, the spot where municipal meetings take place. So lavish! Very gothic! (also empty since it was a Saturday, but our guide had friends and got us inside closed buildings!)

A traditional sausage shop centuries old. Intimate (tiny) and one of hundreds of specialty shops along the streets in Munich. We enjoyed a pretzel and steamed veal sausage with mustard, all Bavarian style. A yummy combination of savory and sweet.

Surfer on the river in Munich. Fun fact: Munich has a HUGE city park, bigger than Central Park in NYC, and this river runs through it. People gather on the shore and on that bridge to watch surfers take to the water from that platform.

Outside another of those tiny old shops, this one sells fried dough. It has been in business for HUNDREDS of years. B enjoying a bite while admiring the shop's sign (original). Look at the crowds! Everyone was out enjoying the market and beer gardens on a Saturday. I was amazed at how ACTIVE people were, even elderly people pedaled around on their bicycles like it was no big deal. Also, people really do wear lederhosen in Munich, unironically.

Each city we visited had a model, which I've never encountered before. Here's our guide, Eberhart, showing us all the places we visited at the end of our 4-hour walking tour. I loved finding these models in each city we visited. This one's made of metal and situated outside a church, the one in Heidelberg was inside a municipal building and constructed with wood.

It must be noted that breakfast in Europe far surpasses any breakfast one gets in America.

Sundays are QUIET in Germany. This nation takes its day of rest quite seriously. Most shops are closed, even grocery stores, and no trucks are permitted to drive on the roads, with some exceptions for medical and agriculture. I found this very restful and as we traveled I noticed people sitting outside chatting with neighbors, biking or walking along the myriad of paths, and generally taking it easy. Let's face it, if you know everything will be closed on a particular day, you'll adjust, and how lovely to take a breath and a break and just live a little. Our drive to Rothenburg ob der Tauber was peaceful and picturesque.

B and me in Rothenburg ob der Tober. That city gate behind us and the Romantik Hotel Markusturm (yellow building) where we stayed both date back to 1200 AD.

The view from the medieval town walls are stunning with the lovely and preserved old town on one side and beautiful countryside on the other

This area escaped serious damage during WWII, what was ruined was restored to look authentic.

The temperatures in March hung steady in the low 60's and spring was in full bloom.

Yes, it looks like we dropped into the movie set for Beauty and the Beast. Among things we visited: Medieval Crime and Justice Museum, German Christmas Museum, Market Square.

A very typical village along the highway. Note the solar panels. German houses are about the same size as houses in Wisconsin. I expected them to be smaller. Also note the path for bikers and pedestrians.

EASTER is well-celebrated here and so many stores and homes decorate with charming ornaments and flowers. I could've taken thousands of photos of the Easter decorations.

So much charming Easter...

We spent Monday morning exploring this small city for a while longer before driving to Heidelberg where we stayed at the beautifully appointed Hotel Europäischer Hof. This college town (pop. 160,000--a manageable size) is situated along the Neckar River and also dates back to medieval times. The old capital of Palatinate has stories to tell! It also boasts a uniquely warm climate, so figs and palm trees grow here and you can see these brightly colored African parakeets flitting in the trees. B and I got our steps in as we explored both sides of the river and enjoyed gorgeous views and balmy weather. There was a music festival happening at the University, which added to the local color.

It must be said that there's nothing ugly to look at in Heidelberg.

That's the law college across the street from our hotel. The University is one of Europe's oldest and widely regarded. The buildings we toured on campus were lovely and made me wish I could be young an return to college.

Inside the grounds of Heidelberg Castle. It's a mashup of architectural styles as rulers added to it over the years. This view shows the Renaissance end of things. That courtyard hosts outdoor performances, they were setting up for a concert while we were there. Among interesting features: the largest vat ever constructed and used for storing wine. It's two stories tall and stored indoors.

A view of Heidelberg Castle from the town. Because of the University, there's a very metropolitan vibe even though it's not that big of a city. There's a LOT of culture, great shopping, interesting restaurants, and many museums. We visited The Museum of the Palatinate to learn more about the area's ancient Roman history, but most of the signs were in German, so we didn't get as much out of it as we'd hoped.

You can stop by little kiosks along the river to buy a beer, so we did. Scenic and peaceful.

The Student Prison is part of the University. The interior of this building is COVERED with graffiti, used for unruly students from 1778 to 1914. It was a badge of honor for the boys (they were young) to be carted off to prison for a few days. In a rite of passage, they'd commit a petty crime (steal bread, for example) and get locked inside this building which still looks as it did while in use. That board showcases photos of the students who "did time" here. The graffiti is funny, even if you don't know German.

Me and B taking in a great view from Heidelberg Castle. Our local guide took this photo and I'm going to put in a plug for the value in hiring a local guide. They give you so much info and can really customize your tour experience.

After Heidelberg, we hit Trier, an ancient city 15 km from the Luxembourg border. When I say "ancient," I mean there are Roman ruins EVERYWHERE in Trier that date back 2,000 years. If ancient Rome is your jam, you MUST visit! We got lucky because our guide called in due to emergency surgery and her replacement was a HISTORY WIZARD. He was SO enthusiastic about ancient Rome and gave us loads of information about how the buildings were constructed, how people lived in Trier, the history of the city, and why it was such an important part of the Roman Empire (Close to the Rhine River, along the Mosel River, which is, incidentally, a big wine region). The architectural discoveries are still happening and what was particularly fascinating is how the Romans brought in all this stone which kept being used throughout the city's history. Plus, lots of the original Roman architecture is still being used! We also got gobs of information about the city's history after Roman times. Trier is a really cool place.

We took a train, a clean, efficient train, to Trier. Every 15 minutes or so we'd look outside the window and admire a view like this one. The Rhine River is FULL castle ruins and cute villages.

That, readers, is Porta Negra, the best preserved Roman city gate north of the Alps. You can climb all the way to the top (we did) and admire what the Romans built in 2 AD. Porta Negra only has one tower because during the 11th Century they tore the other one down to repurpose the stones as they remodeled the Roman gate to be a medieval church. This happened throughout the city.

As you can see from this picture of the Constantine Basilica, an early Christian structure built between AD 300 and 310 during the reign of Constantine the Great, the Roman architecture got renovated over the years. Now it's a Protestant church fronted by a government building. You can admire better photos here. The size of these structures is shocking, even if they hadn't been built 2,000 years ago. It's amazing to think people go to church every week and sit inside the same building that housed Constantine's throne room.

After our 3 hour tour (we wished we could've had a 9 hour tour because everything was so interesting and there was more to see), we had dinner at the restaurant our guide recommended (Brasserie) and of course we tried the local wine (service, meal, and wine were fantastic)

I'd go back to explore this city further. It's so pretty and just LOADED with ancient architecture (did I mention that?). Also a fun fact: Karl Marx was born on the same street as Porta Negra, about a city block down from it. I wonder how living near such an ancient structure influenced his sense of the world and human history.

Back down the Rhine by train again! I played a game where I heard the stops announced and tried to guess how the cities were spelled. Then I'd turn around to read the digital board. I never got the spelling right. German is HARD. I'd hear "Whushitte" and read "Hochscheid."

Our final city on our tour was Cologne, but locals call it Köln, which sounds like "Kohen." This city is a BIG DEAL on the Rhine River. I found it very modern, but there are some older neighborhoods. We walked around the corner from the train station and saw the Cologne Cathedral right across the street from our hotel.

It's GINORMOUS and GOTHIC and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Excelsior Hotel Ernst was FANCY and over 160 years old. This is the flower shop in the lobby.

This is the foyer outside the door to our suite. SO fancy.

This is the hotel bar, hands down one of the most beautifully decorated rooms I've ever been in. We ate lunch, it was good.

Me again, walking along the Rhine River. There's a LOT of shopping, much to see, a lively city. March isn't a real busy time of year, but there were loads of people in the beer gardens and walking along the river with us (and probably annoying the locals).

Nice view from the bridge--those riverboats parked along the edge are of the Viking river cruise variety.

The Historic Old Town. Those are "off-season" beer garden crowds!

B and I ate and browsed our way around Köln. He got a tattoo because kids these days like to commemorate big events like trips by inking their skin. I got a magnet for my fridge.

The next day we took a ride to the MAIN reason for visiting Köln: Limes Germanicus.

What is Limes Germanicus? It's another UNESCO World Heritage site where archeologists have excavated and recreated a lot of ancient Roman daily life along this northernmost border of the empire. They're constantly learning about everything, from how the Romans blew glass to how they heated the famous baths without dying of carbon monoxide poisoning. It's literally ancient history brought to life.

Once again, B and I got stupid lucky because our scheduled guide called in sick. Our replacement was the EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THIS UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE! Yeah. Pretty amazing. This guy had ALL the keys, knew ALL the things, and didn't need anyone's permission to show us behind the scenes, plus we were the only visitors that morning, so it was as private a tour and as exclusive as you can get.

Our guide and a map showing the Roman Empire at its peak. There wasn't as much war and skirmishing along the Rhine River border as there was trade and commerce with the Germanic tribes.

Archaeologists are always learning new details about the Romans, including that they wore chain mail as early as 3 BC. That's what they think a Centurion looked like.

Roman-style bakery. You'd grind grain between those heavy wheels.

Re-created Roman toilets, flushed clean with water from the baths because their engineering was quite advanced.

A coin trove, typical of those found all over in Europe. We saw people with metal detectors in farm fields, probably searching for buried treasure. Our guide in Trier told us about one recent find: 1,000 gold coins in a farm field. Old Roman coins are easy-ish to date because of their inscriptions.

Imagine the Roman frontier. It's easy to do if you stand here. It would be pretty neat to follow the Limes from the North Sea all the way across Europe. UNESCO can't manage the entire expanse due to political problems in some areas.

Replica of a Roman watchtower. These would have been spaced along the entire border. No walls, just watchtowers. They'd send signals using flags.

Germany is beautiful in mid-March. It's quiet and blooming and friendly and clean. Its ancient and medieval history are embedded everywhere you look. Instead of breaking for tea, they do coffee and cake in the afternoon. Their language is tricky, but we always found someone who spoke English. A lot of people visit to learn about WWII history, and naturally it came up but people were quite matter-of-fact about the more recent past and didn't sugar-coat the awfulness of it. They'd reference destruction from WWII, but I detected more of a "we deserved that" vibe than any kind of resentment.

It was sweet to spend a week alone and uninterrupted with my middle son. B's super laid-back and curious to learn and experience everything, which makes him an awesome travel companion. I wouldn't have seen Trier or Heidelberg without his interest, so kudos to B for choosing well! We made some memories, enjoyed some wonderful conversations, and came home feeling NO regrets about this trip. And huge thanks to Pure Germany and Alicia Oberg at Destination Directive for helping design the trip of a lifetime for us!

Spill it, reader. Have you ever traveled solo with one of your offspring? Have you been to Germany? If so, how was your experience?

*I'm posting this in the nick of time. B graduates from college TOMORROW!