We finally learned how to ride the German train - Speyer

Monday morning we woke up WAY too early, bundled up, picked up two of Justin's buddies and headed to the train station in Kaiserslautern. We had signed up for a USO trip to the town of Speyer which also included a short lesson on navigating the German train system. It turns out the train system is just as easy as I thought it was going to be but our guide was able to give us a few tips. For longer trips there is a place in the train station that will actually book your trip for a small fee, the accepts VAT forms (a form that waives the 19% sales tax) and if you purchase a yearly Bahn card it is another 25% off. Basically if we played our cards right we could take a train all the way across Europe for about 30 euro. Pretty good deal if you ask me!

We bought our train tickets and boarded our first train to Mannheim, we had a short layover and then hopped on our next train to Speyer. The boys of course took this opportunity to buy beer and breakfast. The train was crowded and made frequent stops but overall the trip was only about two hours. Once we arrived in Speyer our guide took us on a short tour of the town pointing out the main sights and ending at the famous cathedral in the center of town. Speyer is home of the pretzel and there were permanent pretzel stands throughout the town. According to our tour guide the pretzel shape was to mimic the arms crossing of the monks, I have not yet verified this fact but it does make a good story. We were able to walk through the last remaining ancient gate in the city which is still in use today. After a short stroll down the main road our guide pointed out the first church where Martin Luther posted his thesis. A couple of hundred yards down the road lay the most spectacular cathedral I have ever seen.

Martin Luther statue and church 

The Cathedral is a UNESCO world heritage site and is the burial place of kings and emperors. In 1925 the Pope raised the status of the cathedral to the rank of a minor basilica of the Roman Catholic Church. Today it remains the finest example of romanesque architecture in Germany and quite and impressive site. We paid a small donation in order to head down to the crypt housed below the cathedral. Justin loved it but I was seriously freaked out. At first we were the only ones down below, there was little lighting, a cold draft and an eerie quietness which added to the overall creepiness that follows hanging out in a crypt. There are 8 german kings and a couple of bishops buried in the catacombs. I just got shivers thinking back on the experience...

The door to the cathedral 

The view inside 

The small chapel in the catacombs  

A few of the tombs in the crypt

Afterwards we headed across the street to a local brewery/restaurant. They made the BEST beer I have had in Germany so far. About half way through our lunch a random German gentleman over heard us talking and asked if he could join us. Sure, why not. As it turns out he has a home in Florida, used to be a professor in both Germany and the United States AND his son owns a winery only two hours from our apartment! He invited us to come over and "see how a real German family lives and drink REAL wine." The area where the winery is located is known for their Reisling.  He left us his email and phone number so the next time we were in the area we could give him a call. This is not the first time we have been joined by the locals while we are out. Everyone is so gosh darn friendly! After finishing up a ridiculous amount of beer and of course taking a few bottles to go we headed out into the rain to the Technik Museum.

Brewery!

We made it to the Speyer Technical Museum with only and hour and half before we had to be back at the train station. It was no where near enough time! The museum was definitely one of a kind, the main building had rows and rows of older cars, trains, tractors, farm equipment and small planes. We then went outside where full size airplanes, helicopters and even a full size submarine were on display. My favorite part was the full size Boeing 747 they had mounted, you had to walk up a really tall spiral staircase but they had the plane opened up so you were able to walk out on the wing! We were running really short on time so we rushed through the Space display, walked into a real space shuttle and then finished up by climbing down into an old submarine. By this time we were super late and had to run all the way back to the train station. We arrived just in time, hopped on the train and slept the rest of the way back home. 

A piece of the Berlin Wall 

An old Fire Truck 

Climbing down into the submarine 

The submarine! 

Real Apache helicopter

Out on the wing of the Boeing 747

Speyer was an incredibly interesting town with so much to offer, we are hoping to go back soon and check out two of the other gothic style churches, aquarium and of course to buy some more beer!