On May 22, 26 people from New Ulm left for two weeks. They visited the countries of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Stops along the way included a visit to the BMW museum in Munich, several “Sound of Music” sites in Salzberg, and a gondola ride to the top of Mount Pilatus for a view of the Swiss Alps. The trip was organized by Joe Meyer, owner of Germania Tours.

Meyer explained what all went into organizing such an extensive trip.

“They gave me a basic itinerary where they wanted to go to A, B, and C,” Meyer said. We did the logistics and selected hotels with an eye to cost factor to keep it manageable and don’t blow the budget for the clients coming along. Another aspect is to keep the travel days to a minimum and keep the travel distances to a minimum. Bus time is dead time. You want to get the people off the bus and doing things and seeing things. That’s where the excitement and the adventure of tour comes into play.”

Even with careful planning, not everything went to plan for the trip. Meyer said there was only one hiccup in an otherwise flawless experience.

Photo by Jim Bartels: Dale Fieldseth of Annandale stands 7,000 feet up on the peak of Mount Pilatus as Switzerland stretches out behind him. A cable car brought the group up the mountain, giving them a picturesque view of the Swiss alps.

“Tourists suitcases are usually pretty heavy,” Meyer said. Loading the suitcases one morning to go to the next destination, [our bus driver] moved wrong and got a pinched nerve in his back, which required going to the clinic. It delayed us a little bit but we were able to find a couple of drivers. It did not hinder too much our scheduled activities for the day.”

Meyer’s favorite part of the tour was the people he was able to meet. “Yes, we stopped at many unique locations and tourist spots. However, my greatest thing is the interaction with people.”

Sister City Commissioner Dick Seeboth helped to put together the initial itinerary. He said it was a collaborative effort to figure out where they should go.

“The automatic one was Ulm and Neu Ulm,” Seeboth said “We knew we wanted to spend at least three days there, which worked out. To put together a package, we used our shared knowledge of what else would be interesting. Where it would be fun to go, things that had general interests people would want to see. I think we got it pretty well on the nose.”

Seeboth cited Mount Pilatus as his favorite experience of the trip. “I had never been to the top of an alp before and it was certainly spectacular,” he said.

Photo by Jim Bartels: The joining of the Rhein and Blau Rivers in Koblenz, Germany as seen from the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress. The group visited several sites in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

As for the center of the trip, being recognized by the people of Ulm and Neu Ulm, Seeboth said it was a warm feeling.

“Because [there were] shared experiences and the whole idea of sister cities as a people to people situation,” Seeboth said. “The only way to get those relationships built up is moving people back and forth between the communities and sharing time together. Time was offered by the folks in Ulm and seeing those people who hadn’t been in New Ulm for three months or more cemented those friendships.”

Jim Bartels was the trip’s cameraman, documenting all of the group’s experiences. He felt a combination of factors made the trip an obvious success.

“We had a good group, we got along well, we had good weather every day, and the tour was well organized,” Bartels said. You can’t help but have a good time when you have all those factors.”

Bartels cited the Sound of Music tour and town of Rudesheim as some of his favorites.

“In Salzburg we had a tour guide who took us around to different locations where parts of The Sound of Music were filmed,” Bartels said. It was memorable, it’ll make watching the movie a whole lot more interesting. And the town of Rudesheim is always a memorable town. The narrow streets, shops, bars, and restaurants. It was a fun way to finish our trip up.”

He created a video showcasing the groups many adventures, which can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-WYWzqbDDw

All three noted they embarked on the trip with many people they had never met before. They agreed it was a great group of people and they made many friendships through their shared experiences.