RO: Recunoastem. Ni s-a cam pus pata pe Germania si cum-necum gasim mereu pretexte sa ne intoarcem. Ba o ruta a caselor din barne de lemne in Saxonia Inferioara, ba o ruta a castelelor in sudul tarii, ba un drum romantic prin Bavaria. Un Oktoberfest aglomerat ori poate mai bine un Starkbier (Festivalul Berii Tari) la beraria Paulaner Nockherberg, mai putin renumit la inceput de primavara. La fix cat sa dea startul vremii bune! O bere puternic alcoolizata in biergarten, un curry wurst, un pretzel urias si sarat de mama focului, o branza obazda si-uite asa incepe nebunia festivalului nestiut de turisti, dar mai vechi chiar decat arhi-cunoscutul Oktoberfest. Asta daca apuci s-ajungi la timp in ultima zi de festival, evident. Si daca nu se intampla sa aiba Wizz-ul o intarziere de 3 ore la Otopeni. Si daca nu se aliniaza planetele in asa hal incat sa pierzi si autocarul Flixbus de la Nuremberg spre Munchen. Si daca nu se dau peste cap planurile de inchiriat masina. Si cele de luat trenul. Si daca nu-ti intarzie si cel de-al doilea autocar de sa ajungi in Munchen pe la 12 noaptea, cand tot festivalul si toata berea-i gata. Ei bine, not a good day for science. Chiar delooooc, daca ne gandim ca stam pe drumuri de mai bine de 11 ore si nu suntem pe vreun long haul 😀 Dar nu-i bai, in loc de un pahar de Salvator al Paulanerului avem un vin sec de Malborough, taman din draga de Noua Zeelanda, si povesti pana in miez de noapte.

EN: Ok, we’ll face it. We have quite an obsession for Germany and somehow we manage to always find reasons to come back. Either a Timber Frame Road in Lower Saxony, or a castle route in the south, or maybe a romantic road through Bavaria. A crowded Oktoberfest or maybe even better, a less renowned Starkbier Festival (Strong Beer Festival) at Paulaner Nockherberg brewery, in spring. Just in time to mark the beginning of good weather! A strong beer in biergarten, a curry wurst, a huge pretzel and extremely salted, an obazda cheese and that’s how the unknown-by-tourists festival madness begins. But we have to add that Starkbier Festival is even older than the extremely known Oktoberfest. But that’s only if you manage to get there in time, in the last day of festival. And if Wizzair does not have a three hours delay at Otopeni. And if all the planets are not aligned in such a way that we lose the Flixbus from Nuremberg to Munchen. And if our rental car plans are not completely wrecked. And the ones with the train. And of course, if the second bus will not be delayed as well, as we reached Munchen at midnight, when festival and beer are all finished. Oh well, not a good day for science. Not a good day at all, if we think that we’re on our way to Munchen for more than 11 hours and hey, that’s not a long haul 😀 But there’s no problem, instead of a glass of Salvador from Paulaner we have a dry wine from Malborough straight from New Zealand, and talking all night long!   RO: Si daca weekendul trecut bateam in lung si-n lat casele barnoase din Saxonia Inferioara, schimbam foaia si pornim catre castelele din Baden Wurttemberg. Incepem timid cu Sigmaringen, castelul copilariei lui Carol I, regele cu cea mai lunga domnie a Romaniei (din 1866 pana in 1914), si mai apoi al lui Ferdinand I, cel care i-a urmat la tron in 1914. Te cam trec fiori reci cand te gandesti ca locul acesta are atata insemnatate pentru noi, romanii, si din fericire avem si in tara noastra un castel cel putin la fel de impozant ca Sigmaringen si Hohenzollern, construit de Carol I la Sinaia.

EN:And if last weekend we were wandering around the timber frame houses from Lower Saxony, we’ll change that for this weekend and we’re heading to the Baden Wurttemberg castles. We’re starting slowly with Sigmaringen, the childhood castle of Carol I, the king with the longest reign in Romania (from 1866 until 1914) and then Ferdinand I, the one that followed his throne in 1914. It really gives us shivers when we think how important is this place for us, the Romanian people, and luckily, we have a similar castle, equally impressive as the Sigmaringen and Hohenzollern castle, in Romania as well, built by Carol I at Sinaia.  

RO: Dar n-avem prea multa vreme de zabovit, ca trebuie s-ajungem si la fratele mai mare, castelul Hohenzollern din varf de deal, inconjurat de ziduri fortificate, din caramida. Si-l vezi inca de departe, cum sta tantos cocotat, cu fata catre muntii Padurea Neagra (aaaaah si uite-asa ne amintim de prajitura aceea delicioasa pe care numai svabii si numai svabii stiu s-o faca ca la mama ei acasa – Black Forest cake), superbitatea de lac Constanta sau Alpii Svabieni,  si adevarul e ca nu-ti ia mult sa intelegi de ce este considerat cel mai cel castel al Svabiei. Pai cu o asa istorie si asa renume al familiei Hohenzollern, cum ar putea fi altfel? Si apropo, undeva pe la 1400 castelul a fost distrus in intregime, insa slava cerului, a fost reconstruit imediat la loc, mai impresionant si mai puternic. Ca doar nu degeaba a fost ditamai fortareata cu importanta strategica in zona. Si cum intreaga zona e plina de orasele pitoresti (n-am uitat ca de aici, de prin preajma lacului Constanta incepe si drumul caselor din barne de lemn), ar fi si pacat sa nu vedem macar unul dintre toate minunile de pe langa castelul Hohenzollern. Fie Blaubeuren, cu superbitatea de lac albastru (Blautopf) si casutele autentice insirate pe marginea lui, fie Meersburg, in dreptul lacului Constanta (am spus deja ca lacul Constanta e al treilea cel mai mare lac din Europa Centrala?:P), sau poate insula gradina Mainau, din acelasi lac, orasul universitar Heidelberg, cu minunea lui de pod arcuit, ori poate Freiburg si-o vizita rapida la Europa-Park, al doilea cel mai mare parc tematic din Europa, dupa Disneyland. Hai ca are Baden Wurttemburg-ul cu ce sa se mandreasca! Si ei, ca si bavarezii, nemti mandri de nu se poate, considera ca land-ul lor e cel mai minunat din toate statele germane. 🙂 Daaaar pana la urma alegem sa dam o fuga pana-n Tubingen, ca prea ne-au cucerit casutele colorate de pe marginea raului Neckar. Insa despre Tubingen si frumusetile lui de case vorbim in articolul urmator 🙂

EN: But we do not have enough time to wander around, as we have to get to the bigger brother, the Hohenzollern Castle from the top of the hill, surrounded by brick, fortified walls. And you can see it from far away, perched on the hill top, facing the Black Forest Mountains (which reminds us of that delicious cake that only the Swabian people know how to cook perfectly – Black Forest cake), the superb Lake Constance or the Swabian Alps, and the truth is that you don’t need more than that to understand why is this considered the most beautiful castle of Swabia. With such a history and such a reputation of Hohenzollern family, how could it be different?And by the way, somewhere around 1400 the castle was completely destroyed but luckily it was soon rebuilt, even more impressive than it used to be. As this used to be a really important and strategic fortress at its time. As the whole area is full of picturesque villages and towns (we haven’t forgotten that from here, around Lake Constance, the Timber Frame Road starts), it would be quite a pity not to see at least one of the gorgeous places close to Hohenzollern castle. Either Blaubeuren, with its gorgeous blue lake (Blautopf) and the authentic houses on its shore, either Meersburg on Lake Constance (did we say already that this is the third largest lake in Central Europe?) or maybe the garden island of Mainau, from the same lake, the university city Heidelberg, with its renowned arched bridge, or maybe Freiburg and a short visit to Europa-Park, the second largest theme park from Europe, after Disneyland. Seems like Baden Wurttemburg land has a couple of reasons to be proud of! The Swabians, as well as the Bavarians, consider that their state is the greatest from all the German lands 🙂 Buuuut in the end we choose Tubingen, as it really convinced us with those colorful houses on the shore of lake Neckar. But we’ll talk more about Tubingen and its beautiful houses in the next article 🙂