In 1978 we went on a 2 weeks holiday to Nesselwang that’s laying in the Allgäu in Bayern (Germany). Because Jenneke JR. did her final exams for the HAVO in May (for the third time!), she became an earlier vacation so it was possible to left Holland on June 10th already.

We went of with the TEE (with very comfortable chairs that really not every train had) on eleven o’clock in the morning from station C.S. here in Den Haag. In the train we got company of the family Homveld and Mrs. Brauer. There was also a friendly tourmanager of NS holidays travelling with us. He gave us stickers and a calendar of 1979. The man stayed with us till we reached Mainz and then our tourmanager (Jaquelien) for the rest of the trip accompanied us. She started with giving everyone a sticker that we had to put on our luggage. These stickers had numbers that corresponded with the numbers of our rooms in Nesselwang. Jenneke JR. got room number 17 and her parents number 12.

Especially Jenneke JR. found the whole trip with the train a never-ending story and she was glad that the train finally, arrived at Ulm at 17:51 in the afternoon. Nobody realized that they had to make another trip now. There was still a 90 minutes drive by bus to Nesselwang! And they all were so hungry. The last time everyone eated something was at lunchtime around 1 o’clock. To "entertain" us, Jaquelien gave us some brochures about Nesselwang and our hotel. We also received a "Kurkarte" and a map of Nesselwang.

Nesselwang lays at the bottom of the "Alpspitze" and is popular for the summer and the winter. You find the "St. Andreaskirche" there and some old farmhouses.

Finally at half past seven the bus arrived in Nesselwang. There were 48 people in our group, 28 of them stayed in Hotel Marianne or Bergcafé. We stayed in "Hotel Engel" and were dropped first. After taking some refreshments in our rooms we went downstairs to the diningroom where we got a table with the family Homveld and Mrs. Brauer.

Later that evening, we took a walk through the neighborhood and then went to bed.

Following the details of our program, we had a day off. And that’s exactly what we did. In the morning we went to the "Kurgarte" and watched some shops. In the afternoon Jenneke JR. and her father had the plan to walk to the waterfall, but they couldn’t find it.

Suddenly, there landed some people hanging on a short of kite nearby the Sessellift. They had never seen something like that before. It was very fascinated and they found out later that this was a very popular sport here. Later that week they even saw more of this sport, but that’s something for later to talk about.

In the evening they made another walk through the neighborhood.

We left Hotel Engel at the time we had to. That was better organized as the people who stayed in the other Hotels. These people were constantly complaining about something or had arguments with each other.

Finally at half past 10 we started our first "official" trip of our holiday. First we drove with the bus through the "Illerdal" and "Sonthofen" to the "Breitachklamm" by Oberstdorf that we visited.

The river the "Iller" crossed through the area and going higher and higher up in the mountains, you need an umbrella to catch all the rain that’s falling down from these mountains. It wasn’t possible to climb almost to the top. First of all, we hadn’t had any time for it and second, the way was very small and there was a schoolclass with yelling children coming downstairs. Not so good for Jenneke Jr’s constitution with highs! She was glad to be at the bottom again and get some cafe.

After this visit, the bus drove to "Mittelberg" where they eated something. Then it was back again to Nesselwang. First through Oberstdorf and then the "Oberjachpas". Obersdorf is very popular in the summer and in the winter. There are a lot of mountains with, normally, a lot of sunshine and not so much wind. There’s a church and a "Kurtmittelhaus" with a library. There’s also a "Heimatmuseum".

Mittelberg

Back in Nesselwang, dinner was waiting and after some tea and another walk, it was time to go to bed again.

Today it was another day off so you could do what you wanted yourself. We went to the "Pfarrkirche St. Andreas" in the morning. We also bought some cards of Nesselwang. On one card they published the song of "Nesselwang" and later Jenneke JR. bought a Music Cassette with the song (and others) on it as well. We also visited the "Sport-Kur" building of Nesselwang.

In the afternoon, it started to rain. That wouldn’t be the last time during our holiday when we had a day off so we decided to watch the European Championship Football 1978, we hardly missed a game.

After diner, a citizen dropped by to show us some photos of Nesselwang. He made most of the photos himself and especially the ones of Nesselwang in the winter with a lot of snow were fabulous and we watched them with big enthusiasm.

In the early afternoon, we bought some other cards and watched the costumedolls that were for sale in Nesselwang.

Then later, we went on a trip again. This time we visited the "Plansee" and castle "Linderhof". That was really a very wonderful castle with a lot of interested rooms and a beautiful garden. Unfortunately, the "Maurish Kiosk" was closed, but there was enough to see.

On the way back to Nesselwang, we passed "Oberammergau". Maybe you heard about the place. There are some games taking place. It happened for the first time in 1634 and then every ten years till 1674. Then they waited till 1680. The games takes place between mid May till late September. Everyone who participates in the games is a citizen of Oberammergau.

Of course, Oberammergau is also famous about the sculptures of wood they are making over there and we really saw a lot of these wonderful ornaments in mostly every shop we passed.

In the afternoon Jenneke JR. and her father went to "Kempten". We took the bus that had his station at the "Kurapotheke".

In the center of Kempten we saw some nice little shops and a short of promenade where cars weren’t permitted. We walked through the city for awhile and then set down at a restaurant were we eated a big ice-cream. They had very funny umbrellas there for the sun in a dozen of different colors.

Kempten is the capital city of the Allgäu and one of the eldest cities of Germany. On the westside of the city, you find the eldest houses and on the east side the modern ones. There’s also an "Allgäuer Heimatmuseum" with collections of things they discovered in the Allgäu. In the center of the "Neustadt" there’s the Residentsplatz". You can also find the "Weidlehaus" here and the "St.Lorenzkirche".

At half past four we went back to Nesselwang by bus.

Today we made a trip in which we visited a lot of hotels with the name "Post" a funny experience. Obvious is Post a very popular name here for a hotel or restaurant.

It all started in the morning when we made a stop in "Steeg" for a cafebreak. Steeg lays in the Lechtal in Tirol. In Steeg Jenneke Jr. received her second costumedoll for this holiday. It was a costumedoll of Austria. After Steeg we passed "Lech". In Lech you can find our Royal Family during their winterholidays. Then we passed "Zürs" and we crossed the "Flexenpas" and the "Arlbergpas" and we finally arrived in "St. Anton" for the lunch in, of course, another hotel Post.

Our way back, brought us to "Landeck", through the "Inntal" and over the "Fernpass". The last one is 1210 m. high and you can watch the "Zugspitze" from there. Unfortunately, it was very foggy that day so that we missed most of the views.

In the afternoon, we visited "Nassereith" and we got some tea with biscuits. At 5 o’clock we arrived back in Nesselwang, just in time to take a long run to a flowershop to buy some flowers for Jenneke Sr’s birthday tomorrow. It wasn’t possible to buy them tomorrow, because June 17 was a national celebrationday in Germany. We came back with a lovely basket with flowers, special made for "Geburtstagen" (birthdays).

Today we celebrated Jenneke SR’s 61st birthday. We didn’t inform our group. It was the second birthday in our group. Last Wednesday Mr. Homveld celebrated his birthday too.

In the afternoon, Jenneke JR. and her father decided to do another search for the waterfall. This time they climbed another way and this time they succeeded. They indeed found the waterfall. It was a nice one with very clear water.

In the evening, we watched another football game. Jenneke JR. had orders to listen to the Radio because the people in the hotel were only interested in the German team. It was funny, because when she came down once and said that it was 5-1 for Holland, they didn’t believe her! The group had to see it first on TV for themselves before they realized, she told the true!

In the afternoon, they planned a "surprisetour" for the whole group so we had no idea first what to expect.

The bus drove us to the "Visalpsee" where it was possible to take a long walk.

Remember we told you earlier about the people hanging on a short of kite? Well we heard they were "Drachenflieger" and this time they were flying again in the "Tannerheimertal". They circulated above the bus and landed in the field nearby. Of course, we took photos and there was one person who taped everything for the people at home.

In the morning, we spend some time in the "Kurpark" and in the afternoon Jenneke JR. and her father traveled to "Reutte". This time they took the railbus that looked like the little one Jenneke JR. had at home herself to play with.

When we arrived in Reutte, it started to rain. Okay, no problem we just visit the "Heimatmuseum", but unfortunately that was closed between June 19 – June 24. Reutte is a very nice city with a lot of old (painted) houses. Reutte lays in the valley of the Lech and has big mountains. In the North, the "Säuling" (2048 m.), in the East the "Zwieselberg" and the Tauern (1814 m,) and in the South the "Schlossberg" and in the West the "Tannheimerbergen" with the "Gehrenspitze" so there were a lot of other things we enjoyed here.

After buying the doll father and daughter went to a restaurant for a drink and then decided to go back to Nesselwang, because it started to rain again.

Today we only had a trip in the morning. We went to "Marktoberdorf" that we crossed and then drove to "Kaufbeuren-Neugablonz" where we visited a juwel fabric. It was very interested to see how they made all these things. In the shop we bought some things and after that we visited a little church.

Unfortunately it was raining again that afternoon so we decided to stay in the hotel and played some bordgames with other people in our group.

In the morning we drove to "Füssen" to visit "Neuschwanstein". That castle is build by King Ludwig II between 1869 and 1886. The castle itself is made from Schwangauer Marmer and lays high in the sky on a mountain (965 m.). When you look down you see the Hohenschwangau, the Alpsee and the Tannheimer mountains. Very interested are the royal rooms on the third floor and the big "Sängersaal" on the fourth with frescos. Ludwig only lived here for a year before he died.

Before you reach the castle, you have to take a long walk up-stairs and the castle itselfs has another 165 steps. The last thing we visited over here, was the kitchen. The diningroom is on the third floor and the kitchen downstairs. There were no elevators available and they had to walk all the steps up and down with all the food!

Later that afternoon we did some shopping and I started to pack a part of my luggage. The last couple of days, I became very nervous. Not really a surprise. I had been through the same experience twice before in 1976 and 1977 and then I failed with getting my diploma and this would be the last time for me to graduate after all.

Today we went first to "Lindau" where we visited the city. It was so hot there and even the sun was shining! Lindau is a beautiful city situated on an island. After Lindau we took the boat to "Bregenz" over the Bodensee.

Bregenz is the capital city of Vorlarlberg between 396 and 450 m. In Bregenz we also had our lunch and then we drove to "Balderschwang" "or tea. It was much colder here, because Balderwang lays higher in the mountains on 1044 m.

Then we drove back to Nesselwang again.

The last day of our vacation. We spent the time with packing our lugguage, taking a walk and going to bed very early.

We left Hotel Engel at half pas nine in the morning and drove to Hotel Marianne and Hotel Bergcafé to pick up the rest of our group. Then we drove to Ulm and took the 12:02 train. We arrived in Den Haag at 9 o’clock in the evening and passed our frontdoor at half past 9.

So ended a beautiful 14 days holiday in Germany.

And by the way: there’s some good news, on June 27, 1978 I got a phonecall that I, finally, got my diploma of the HAVO!

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