slivka.com - Trips - Germany 2012

slivka.com > Trips > Germany 2012 > Fri Mar-23

Fri

Mar-23

Frankfurt, Gotha, Lutherstadt Wittenberg, In Vino Veritas; 288 miles
We arrived at the Frankfurt airport a little ahead of our scheduled 10:10 a.m. time. Passport control was a breeze and then we picked up our checked bags and walked (seemingly forever) to the Hertz rental car area. The initial car we were assigned was a BMW 3 Series but it had 28K km on the odometer and many people had been smoking in the car. So we managed to switch to a 2012 BMW 116i 5-door (hatchback) with only 4K km on the odometer that smelled as fresh as a daisy. The fancy BMW navigation system (we later discovered) also received real-time traffic updates over-the-air (especially handy for accidents and road construction).

We started driving toward Lutherstadt Wittenberg on the A5 at about 11:00 a.m. and we ran into traffic congestion (caused by a broken-down truck, we later discovered) soon after we switched to the A4. About 12:30 p.m. we were driving through Bad Hersfeld and we spotted a very large amazon.de distribution center.

After clearing the congestion we continued on for another hour and then pullled off in the town of Gotha in search of lunch We found a cute place, but they only accepted Euro currency, so then we hunted around for an ATM and found a Deutsche Post branch with an ATM one compatible with Ben's card.

Euros in hand, we headed back out onto the A4 and drove on. Ben needed caffeine to stay alert, and we were hungy, so at about 3:00 p.m. we stopped at Truck Stop Quirla -- a very traditional Gasthof -- and had a very simple, traditional German meal: Hamburger Schnitzel Kartoffelsalat for Nate and Sauerbraten mit Klossen for Ben.

We got back on the A4, switched to the A9, stopped for gas about 4:20 p.m. in Kockern, Germany and arrived at the hotel Best Western Stadtpalais in Lutherstadt Wittenberg just after 5:00 p.m.

Ben went out to find USA to Europe electrical plug convertors, then we walked around the town a bit and found dinner at In Vino Veritas. We enjoyed a simple 2010 Weingut Hanke Riesling Jessener Gorrenberg Kabinett trocken Sachsen white wine that was produced (according to our waiter) within 30km of Wittenberg.