Somewhere in mid 2025 we decided we wanted to enjoy the Wine Harvest and the Christmas Season, one more time, in Germany, and Europe in general. Our original plan was to go there in mid September and return in late December right after Christmas. That would allow us to do the Wine and Beer fests Germany enjoys in late September and October, then all the Christmas Markets in December. Our trip would wrap up in Grindelwald, Switzerland in a Hotel we had the pleasure of spending Christmas at some years ago. Thinking this would be a really swell time we started planning.
First, we realized that there is very little to do in Germany from Late October, when it cools and the October Fests and Wine Fests wrap up, until early December when the Christmas Markets open. We really didn’t mind just hang’n out and killing the time until we realized we would be paying for hotels and meals the entire time. Hmmm $$$$$
Next, we realized our Granddaughter, Cathy, was going to graduate from High School in late November and we did not want to miss that. The school year in Australia ends in December and the Graduations are in Late November.
So, “When you get lemons, make lemonade”, and we decided to return to Australia when we finished the fests in October, go to Cathy’s graduation, then bring Cathy back to Europe and share with her the wonders of Christmas in Europe as a graduation gift. That’s what we did and here’s the story.
We flew into Frankfurt via Dubai (Green Dashes), rented a car, and checked into a hotel in Frankfurt to do three things. First; get a little recovery time from the jet lag. Next, show Cathy a little of what she can expect in Germany and Europe. Lastly, take Cathy to the Christmas Market in Frankfurt during the day and in the evening (not necessarily the same day.) That’s what we did. I didn’t take as many photo’s as I usually do because we were going places and doing things we already have pictures of. You can find them in these different posts:
https://www.adventurzwithnancy.com/2025-september-october-germany-denmark-norway-finland-and-sweden/
https://www.adventurzwithnancy.com/europe-september-2022/
https://www.adventurzwithnancy.com/germany-switzerland-september-2021/
https://www.adventurzwithnancy.com/a-revisit-to-germany-september-2018/
Here’s our time in Frankfurt.
When we left Frankfurt (You can follow our sojourn on the map at the start) we drove to Rudesheim which is a touristy town on the Rhine River. It’s where most Rhine tours start and has a huge statue that overlooks the river that you can ride a lift to.
There are many castles long the Rhein. Some quite well restored and some not so much. All interesting to see. We left Rudesheim and headed up the Rhein. Oberwessel was our destination where we would be spending the night.
Our next stay was in Trier. The Roman Gate (Black Gate) is always interesting to see and the city had a fine Christmas Mart.
We left Trier and did a side trip to the US World War II National Cemetery in Luxembourg on our way to Kaiserslautern. It is a sobering place to visit but worth the trip. Kaiserslautern is were we lived the first time we were stationed in Germany and several times after that. While we were there we took Cathy to the little village we lived in, Mehlingen, where her father was born. Again, Many of the places I mention we went to are available for viewing in other posts (especially those in Europe!).
Our next stop was in Heidleberg. This old city hosts a fine castle and a nice Christmas Market. Because it is not too far from Kaiserslautern we got there around noon and were able to tour the castle during the day. The castle is well preserved/restored so it provided some interesting sight seeing.
From Heidelberg we proceeded south and into France. Our destination was Strasbourg. Two very impressive things here. First, the cathedral … it was huge and very impressive. Second was the Christmas Market and street decorations … amazing.
The next day we moved back into Germany and went on to Stuttgart. I worked in Stuttgart for a little over a year. Nancy remained in Mehlingen and would come and visit for weekends and events. Other weekends I drove home to Mehlingen (about 2 hours). They have a very nice Christmas market there as well.
From Stuttgart we went south to Fussen where the famous Neuschwanstein Castle is located. This castle is the model for the castle featured in all the Disney stories and parks. There was not much of a Christmas market there so we just scouted out our next day plan to visit the castle and walked about town a bit.
From Fussen we drove south into Austria. We had booked a Tyrolian Folk Show in Innsbruck. We checked into our hotel, explored the downtown a bit, then went to the show that evening. The show was a hoot … knee slapping great!
Okay. Inspired by the Tyrollean entertainment, we started out the next day for Grindelwald, Switzerland where we would spend four days including Christmas. The distance was too far in the mountains for one day so we spent the night in a little country called Litchenstein. Spent the night in a nice hotel, had a good dinner and breakfast and were on our way again. Here’s Litchenstein. When we were coming into town there was a heavy overcast. Just for a second a small opening occurred exposing the Alps. I was lucky and got a photo of it. Pretty proud of it.
On to Grindelwald, Switzerland. Nancy and I have stayed at this hotel in Grindelwald several times. Sometimes in Summer when we were hiking the Alps, and sometimes in Winter when we were skiing. The people who own and operate it are fourth Generation owners and their sons just opened a hotel across the street taking their business into the fifth generation. They are exceptionally helpful, pleasant, and have a lovely hotel. We wanted to go there this time because they have a special Christmas dinner. So we did. The hotel is the Gletschergarten Hotel. They have done extensive updates and renovations and it is a very pleasant place to stay. You can get whatever ski, bus, train, or any other kind of pass you need right there. They give you expert advice what and when to do things so we were all set.
Lets move on to Christmas Eve. The hotel is fortunate, having been around so long, as it is a regular stop for Santa … and he did come by with gifts for everyone.
After Dinner we vegged out for a while then went to Midnight Mass in Grindelwald. Lovely ceremony, cold, Christmas. The next morning we called all the folks back home and had a little gift opening event. We were restricted by baggage limits so the rule was we would buy one gift for each other then exchange them at Christmas. Nice time, we all cheated … bought several each (who can resist the Christmas Market stalls?)
I was on the injured reserve list on Christmas day so Nancy decided she would take Cathy Ice skating. Cathy has ice skated before and Nancy is an excellent skater so they had a great time at the indoor ice rink they had in Grindelwald.
That was Christmas Day. The day after, known as Boxing Day in Europe and Australia, I was able to walk so we decided to do a tour of the mountain. We have done this before and it’s always interesting. Here’s the route … take a bus to the lift Terminal, take the lift to Mannlichen at the top of the mountain, walk over to the cable car that goes down to Wengen, take the cable car down, walk to the other end of Wengen and hop on the train going to the top of the mountain at Kleine Scheidegg, walk over and get on the train going down to Grindelwald, get off the train at the train station in Grindelwald, walk across the street and hop on the bus going back to the hotel. To spice things up Cathy and Nancy hiked to the top of a summit point at the top of the mountain … I waited. We got to see a lot of territory, snow, skiers (not a lot of snow so far this year), and some nice shops and towns. Here’s the trip; (follow the yellow line)
Here’s some photo’s of the trip:
That closed out Boxing day. Time to pack and get ready to head to Zurich tomorrow morning. The next morning we drove to Zurich, checked into our hotel, drove around a bit, had a nice dinner and turned in.
This is our last day in Europe. We are in Zurich so naturally we will go to The Lindt House of Chocolate. From there we will proceed to the airport, turn in the car, and get ready to fly home.
The tour of the Lindt factory was a self guided tour with a sound device that provided information at a number of stations. Of greatest interest to the ladies were the points where free chocolate was provided for tasting. I wasn’t sure we were going to make our flight!
Much to my relief we did make it out of the Factory, did get to the airport, did get the car turned in, got checked in, through Immigration and customs, and only four hours later boarded our flight to Brisbane. Six hours from Zurich to Dubai, three hours layover in Dubai, fourteen hour flight to Brisbane from Dubai, and a five hour drive from Brisbane to Home. Good thing we had a lot of chocolate to fuel us. We did make it, decided we had a great trip and wonderful time, and are ready to do it again … sometime.
That was our trip. Lots of memories old and new. Thanks for coming along.
