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Here I want to talk a little about early mornings in a town you are visiting.
For example, you have been exploring a town for a day or two and now it’s time to leave for your next destination. You have an early morning train, so the night before, you set your alarm to wake up extra early for your walk to the station. You may not have thought much about your morning walk, only setting your alarm to wake up at 5a to have time to wake up, get ready and then walk from your hotel to the station for a 6a train. You may also be asking yourself: What was I thinking, scheduling a train so early?
Departing your hotel in the early morning, it’s still mostly dark with only a slight glow of the sun below the horizon. Different from the heat of the day, the temperature is much cooler and you are wearing a light jacket. As you are walking, you pass a bakery and stop in to purchase a pastry and a cup of tea for your walk. Proceeding through the town, you notice deliveries being made and people setting up shop for the day ahead. There are mostly locals up and about and a handful of tourists walking with their backpacks and luggage. Some are in a hurry, perhaps to catch an even earlier train, while others are slowing meandering about with an occasional stop to window shop.
You realize how different the early morning world is compared to the busy day when the town is packed with tourists.
The early morning is an amazing time and can be quite relaxing and memorable. As long as you plan your time, different from my Switzerland train example below, you can leisurely stroll along, enjoying the early morning hours, not bumping shoulders with other tourists like you do during the crowded day.
As a safety note, keep in mind that walking through a town depends on where you. Use common sense and be aware of your surroundings. Although it’s completely safe to walk though a town like Rothenburg ob der Tauber in Germany at any time day or night, you may not want to do this in other locations.
Writing this, I’m reminded of a time when we were staying in Grindelwald Switzerland and woke up extra early to catch the first train to Lauterbrunnen for an early morning gondola ride up the Schilthorn. Our hotel was a short walk to the train station and when we left, it was still dark and we only saw a few other people walking around in the early morning. We took our time getting to the station, doing some window shopping and not paying much attention to how much time we were taking. As we approached the station, our train was there and all we had to do was board. As we got closer, I noticed the station’s clock and the second hand slowly approaching the exact minute of our departure. I looked at my watch and realized it was a couple minutes slow, so we had to hurry. We starting jogging towards the train and were about 50 feet away when the second hand hit 12, the doors closed and we watched our train depart without us. Fortunately, there was another train in about 30 minutes, so we didn’t have to wait long for the next one
and in this case, missing the train only set us behind about 30 minutes. The moral of the story is, make sure you watch is set correctly, especially when it comes to train schedules. Plan to arrive early and make sure you don’t spend too much time distracted by window shopping and other things along the way.
Below are some examples of our early morning walks.
Strasbourg France – Walking from our hotel to the train station (shown in the background of the photo), Chris is holding a cup of tea and a small bag with our croissants for breakfast. I can still remember the cool early morning walk through town, stopping in a bakery and making our way to the station.
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Strasbourg France |
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Train Station |
Venice Italy – Walking from our hotel located just off St. Mark’s Square to the Train Station.
Tip: Arriving in Venice, most people purchase a ticket for a vaporetto (a public water bus), that will take them to a location closer to their hotel or to some of the many sites if Venice is only for a day trip. Figuring out what to do, waiting in line, prchasing a ticket and boarding a vaporetto can take time. It’s usually quite crowded at the train station and it may take several of the water taxes to come by before you are finally able to board one. Sure, it’s fun and exciting to ride a water taxi, especially if it’s your first time in Venice, but you should have plenty of other opportunities to do it and from less crowded locations. Venice is small and with your phone’s GPS navigation, you should be able to easily walk to your hotel or any of the major sites. We travel light, only with a backpack, so this is the best option for us. However, if you are traveling with luggage, even the kind with wheels, walking may not be the best option in
here due to multiple bridges with steps, bumpy lanes and alleys and crowds to navigate along the way.
The photos below show the crowded train station, the large plaza immediately after exiting, and people in line waiting to board a vaporetto.
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Venice Italy |
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Train Station |
In the morning of our last day on this trip, we decided to take the 20 minute walk from our hotel to the train station. We passed a bakery along the way and bought some tea and pastries for our journey. The morning was cool, not like during the day with the sun and heat. It was also very foggy if different areas as you can see from the photos, giving Venice an entirely different feel and appearance. There were only a few others people out and about, so the town was virtually empty and quite; much different than the daytime crowds.
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Venice Italy |
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On our way to the
Train Station |
Oberwesel Germany – Located on the Rhine River, we stayed in the town of Oberwesel at the Schönburg Castle located on the top of the hill. During our stay, we walked a trail up and down from the castle to the town below several times.
One evening, after we had dinner in the town below, the fog rolled in just as we were returning to the castle.
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Oberwesel Germany |
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Schonburg Castle |
The next morning, we left early and walked the trail down from the castle to the town to catch a train to some other locations along the Rhine River. It was cool and still a little foggy as we made our way down from the castle, making it a more memorable and interesting walk. In fact, with the fog it was cool enough to wear our winter hats, gloves and light jackets.
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Oberwesel Germany |
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Overlook |
Windsor England -
We lived in Windsor England for three years. Windsor is a major tourist town, especially on the weekends. During the summer months, the weekdays can be extremely crowded and more so on the weekends. Below the castle there is a large parking area where you could often find 20 or more large buses parked, all bringing tourists to the town for the day. The town is packed with people during the day, but in the early morning and evening after the daytrippers have departed, the town is virtually empty. The photo below is on Peascod Street, the main shopping street leading up to the castle showing some of the daytime tourist crowds.
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Windsor England |
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Shopping below the Castle |
Lichtenstein Castle Germany – This is not about walking through a town in the early morning, but rather arriving early. It often makes sense to arrive early at tourist attractions to avoid the crowds. Sometimes you may get lucky and will be the only ones there, giving you the entire place to yourself.
On this trip, we had a rental car and were staying the night in Stuttgart. We left our hotel early in the morning for the hour or so drive to the Lichtenstein Castle in Germany, not the castle in the country of Liechtenstein (spelled a little different). We needed to tour the castle early and then make our way back to Stuttgart to drop off our car then board a train to Munich in the afternoon. Arriving at the castle, it had just opened and we were the only ones there, so we had the entire castle grounds to ourself to walk around and take photos. When our tour started, it was still just the two of us, along with our guide, which was much nicer than being part of a large group of people. Due to this, our guide took us to areas of the castle and showed us things that they would not ordinarily do when there is a large group.
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Lichtenstein Germany |
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Lichtenstein Castle |
Rothenburg ob der Tauber Germany - Rothenburg is probably our favorite small town in Germany, or maybe anywhere. Sure, it’s very touristy, but we love it there and when we are traveling in the area, we try to fit in a night or two. We have visited in ever season, including in winter for the Christmas markets.
The medieval town is a place where you can walk around at any time, day or night and it’s always safe and magical. In fact, on our first trip there we ended up hanging out with two other German couples in a restaurant until about 2a before we walked through the town back to our hotel. In the early morning, we have walked to the train station while it was still dark and with exception to one or two other people, we were the only ones on the street. At night, parts of the town are lit up giving it a mystical glow, including the medieval town gates and parts of the wall.
As the town is very popular, it can be very crowded during the day. The photos below give you an idea of what the town looks like during peak times when it is packed with tourists compared to how it looks before the tourists arrive or when they have departed for the day.
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Rothenburg ob der Tauber Germany |
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