At last, a book that can help you travel, find adventure, save money, and, if you're looking, maybe even get a job!
EDITOR’S NOTE: The updated 2009 edition will be available for purchase February 2009. Due to the introduction of more exciting attractions and destinations, the 2009 edition will see the adventure novel split from the travel guide, creating two separate books for sale.
HARRIMAN TRAVEL BOOKS (HTB), a European guidebook series, is the first to break with tradition and add an adventure novel to its resources.
A plain travel guide was not good enough for the series' author, Brett Harriman, who insists that every North American’s European journey should begin at home. To complement his comprehensive and practical travel guide — Germany & Austria — Harriman
appended an adventure novel — Quest for the Bavarian Cross. The journeys of Sydney Endicott, the novel’s heroine, are sure to get you off the couch and following in her footsteps. Miss Endicott, an American college student, is lured to Europe by a job ad in the newspaper (click ad on right) and a mystery involving an ancient jeweled cross formerly belonging to Bavaria’s “Mad” King Ludwig II.
Sydney is the kind of girl who guys want to meet and girls want to be like. They will discover Europe through her entertaining travels, including exploring medieval castles and historical sites, coming to terms with co-ed nudity in a German bathhouse, and searching for the mysterious cross.
Once in Germany and Austria, this handy guidebook will transform you into a savvy traveler with its lists of 180 accommodations, 438 points of interest, 89 museums, 62 headliner concerts, 97 FREE tourist attractions, 37 maps, and sections listing the grave sites of famous people e.g. Bach, Beethoven, including all 20 U.S. military cemeteries in Europe. (Note: You can read the latter military cemetery section by clicking Lest We Forget.)
Of particular interest are HTB’s 16 do-it-yourself themed tours, which include “The Sound of Music”; “Grow Up With Arnie” (Schwarzenegger); the “German (cuckoo) Clock Road”; “Hitler’s Munich, 1914-45”; the “Eagle’s Nest”; and a bike ride along the Danube River, Melk to Krems.
With this fully updated guidebook you have many opportunities at hand. For example, you can explore medieval castles, indulge in Black Forest cherry cake, yodel in the Alps, drink beer by the liter, sip wine in a Gothic cellar, discover WWII sites, relive "The Sound of Music," soak in curative baths founded by Romans, surf Munich, dine at Europe's oldest restaurant, enjoy a bike ride along the Danube River, visit King Ludwig's fairy-tale castle, see the pope's birthplace, whoosh down Austria's longest toboggan, run, and relish a romantic stroll on cobbled lanes under a moonlit sky.
What’s more, this two-books-in-one edition is the first to include GPS (Global Positioning System) coordinates linked to a satellite-based navigation system used to determine precise locations. These are indispensable when searching for such things as hard-to-find accommodations, tourist attractions, treks or villages.
Germany & Austria: Quest for the Bavarian Cross is an exceptional read that not only inspires wanderlust, but will lead many readers to a life-changing experience. You won't find another book like it!
Publisher: Harriman Travel Books -- Size: 5.5" x 8.5" (softcover) -- Pages: 588
Price: $23.95 -- ISBN# 0977818810
Germany & Austria: Quest for the Bavarian Cross is available for purchase at our online store as well as the Hofbrauhaus Las Vegas and at Amazon.com. Note: If you order your copy from our online store, you can request that it be autographed.
Contents: (the travel guide, pages 130-574)
Germany & Austria
GERMANY: Rothenburg; Dinkelsbuehl; Noerdlingen im Ries; Harburg; Augsburg; Landsberg am Lech; Wieskirche; Neuschwanstein; Füssen; Munich; Oktoberfest; Dachau concentration camp memorial; Hitler's Munich DIY tour; Berchtesgaden; Obersalzberg (WWII bunker DIY tour, Eagle's Nest DIY tour); Baden-Baden; Black Forest (High Road, Cuckoo Clock Road, Wine Road); Freiburg; Mosel Valley; Burg Eltz; Cochem; Beilstein; Bernkastel-Kues; Trier; Rhine Valley; Bacharach; Loreley; St. Goar; Boppard; Koblenz; Cologne; Berlin; Potsdam; Dresden; Meissen; Frankfurt.
Tomb-Lovers, Who's Buried Where? (a chapter featuring the grave sites of famous people, e.g.) Alzheimer, Bach, Beethoven, Benz, Brahms, Brother’s Grimm, Dietrich, Hitler's parents, Mozart, Rommel, Schubert, Strauss, Vivaldi, etc.
Traveler's Tips: Itinerary; Drivers; Railers; Glossary; Measurements & Temperatures; Work, Study in Europe.
AUSTRIA: Salzburg; Oberndorf; Werfen; Salzkammergut (Fuschlsee, Wolfgangsee, Mondsee, Hallstaetter See); Hallstatt; Sound of Music DIY tour; Innsbruck; Graz; Grow Up With Arnie (Schwarzenegger) DIY tour; Mauthausen concentration camp memorial, Vienna; and a bike ride along the Danube River, Melk to Krems.
Excerpts from the adventure novel: (pages 1-129)
Quest for the Bavarian Cross
Chapter 1: "I Need A Break" (Diplomaville, USA)
I’m not among those online enthusiasts who spill their guts to cyber-strangers or indulge in all-night sexual fantasies with aging, overweight, unhappily married men pretending to look like Brad Pitt. If I were to crave such a fantasy world, I would hardly go to one that used a keyboard as its primary mode of transportation.
I had found something more interesting and certainly more intriguing: puzzles. Not just any puzzles, not like jigsaws or anything. These were more like mysteries.
... That’s when he mentioned the puzzle Web site.
The site was engaging, featuring brainteasers, intriguing quests, and any story with a twist. Most interesting was the subtopic: “Searches for Lost Relics.”
Some of the guys hooked on the site regularly held treasure-hunt parties and cyber-geek get-togethers, which I backpedaled from as quickly as possible. But, a few mysteries leapt out like a 3-D movie — that’s how I came across ShoSho12. We’d been chatting about relics stolen from noble landlords in Europe when he referred to a mystery involving his German ancestors, a lost crucifix, and a dead monarch. I read his story eagerly: ...
Chapter 2: "A New Beginning" (Southern Bavaria)
I rested the pillow they gave me against the window to comfort my head while I pondered home and the future. It was hard to fathom that the time had come and I was actually en route, covering half the globe on a journey no one in my family had ever undertaken. My conclusions repetitively traveled in one direction; home was 13 months away and the future held new adventures. I felt an inner glow. Ripping open the complimentary plastic headset, I got comfortable with a jazzy music channel and the in-flight magazine.
Sleep on the plane proved more difficult than I had expected; for some strange reason I assumed airplanes rolled off the assembly line with bucket seats and generous legroom. Nevertheless, umpteen nonstop hours later we landed at Munich airport.
Grainy-eyed and lifeless, I waited in a monster line at Customs. I thought they’d ask a zillion questions, rifle through my bags, and look suspiciously when I showed them my passport. When it was finally my turn to face the blitz, the officer in the booth motioned for me to slide my passport and Customs declaration under the window. “How long vill you stay in Germany?” He asked while examining my documents.
“Thirteen months,” I replied.
The officer looked baffled. “Zat lengz of time ist not authorized in Germany.”
“But I’ll be working here,” I stated.
“Verrking...?! Do you have a verrk visa?”
“Oh, no, I have a contract with the U.S. government, Department of Defense.” I produced my assignment letter with the DOD letterhead.
With that proof, he stamped my passport and shoved it back under the window. “Auf Wiederseh'n.”
Chapters 3 & 4: "Jesse's Tour" (Salzburg, Austria)
Not far from Mozart’s birth house was a Japanese restaurant, Jesse’s favorite. We ordered a sampler of California rolls — adding to each roll a scant portion of wasabi, a slice of ginger, and a dousing of soy before consumption. During the intervals, we drank green tea and discussed the pros and cons of a backpack versus a suitcase. The backpack had no cons.
Shortly thereafter came our tempura dish with mixed vegetables and king prawns. I plucked a pair of chopsticks from the table and clumsily snapped at my share of the dish, hooking mere scraps. Jesse, in contrast, handled his chopsticks like an expert, smoothly transferring copious amounts of rice and nutritional substance from bowl to mouth. I managed to consume a few noodles while a few more slid onto my lap. Hopefully he didn’t notice.
“So, what brings Sydney Endicott to Europe?”
“Ha! Where shall I begin? How ’bout a break from college, a sense of self-achievement, the quest for a golden crucifix, and the opportunity to travel and meet new people.”
“Huh...? The quest for what?”
“A golden crucifix studded with precious gemstones that is supposedly buried in the Chiemsee area and came from the fairy-tale king, Ludwig II . Sound familiar?”
“Uh... No.”
I didn’t think so, but it was worth asking. Although, I’d better change the subject before he thinks I’m some kind of nut.
Chapter 5: "Look But Don't Touch" (Black Forest, Germany)
Jesse had been conducting some investigations of his own, as I found out when he excitedly burst into my room and explained that it’s possible the crucifix was dug up right here beneath the Chiemsee resort. He said he’d been speaking with some older locals who had worked on the original construction of the Lake Hotel and admitted unearthing a golden crucifix. They weren’t sure what happened to it after that as the on-site foreman, who was a high-ranking Nazi official, immediately spirited the cross away. What’s more, each individual Jesse interviewed hinted that the hotel’s cellar might hold a clue.
Upon hearing this, I grabbed my coat and we dashed out of the Waldheim for the Lake Hotel. At the reception desk, Jesse signed for a special key and grabbed two flashlights ...
Chapter 6: "A Quiet Village" (Berchtesgaden, Germany)
All around us were vacant lots wrapped in alpine flora that once prospered with structures devoted to a dictator’s pursuit of world domination: administration buildings; archives and planning rooms; military barracks for Hitler’s protection guard, the SS; an air-defense command bunker, which signaled the approach of enemy planes and alerted local anti-aircraft units; a kindergarten for the children of Obersalzberg personnel; and even a greenhouse.
“A greenhouse?” Reuben asked.
“Hitler was a strict vegetarian who demanded his vegetables fresh. Additionally, Eva Braun used the greenhouse to hold Easter-egg hunts for the officers’ children.”
“Who was Eva Braun?” Reuben questioned, refusing to miss a trick.
“She was Hitler’s longtime mistress, whom he married on April 29, 1945, only days before the end of the war, in Berlin’s catacomb-like bunker system below the Reich’s Chancellery. Hitler believed the German people had failed him, thus he divorced Germany to marry Eva. Some 40 hours after tying the knot, the wedding couple consummated their bond by committing suicide in the bunker. Honoring Hitler’s wishes, both bodies were then carried outside to the chancellery garden by staff, doused in petrol and cremated. Lovely honeymoon, huh?”
“How did they do themselves in?” I asked.
“Sitting on a velvet sofa, Hitler opted for the foolproof poison-and-pistol method, biting down on a cyanide capsule and then shooting himself in the head. Sitting next to Hitler and wearing an elegant black dress, Eva bit into her poison capsule at the sound of Hitler’s gun...concluding her life with a simple but lethal pill.”
Chapter 7: "The Letter" (Munich, Germany)
Reuben exited the room. A minute later a frail man in his 70s or 80s with thin gray hair and a sagging face appeared at the door. He gave me a stern look, kind of freaky-like as if to say, ‘It was you I came for.’ Without breaking eye contact, the frail man reached into the pocket of his hand-woven sweater and pulled out a small piece of scratch paper that had been folded in half. The man then lifted the paper up and held it in front of his old face.
“This is for you,” he said.
Okay, this was really weird. I hoped Reuben would return, soon, and join the fun.
The man slowly extended his hand outwards and gave me the paper. I opened it and read the contents: ...
Chapter 8: "Bulwarks and Mysteries" (Romantic Road, Germany)
We knew Reuben would’ve loved to have hit the road with us — however, going in spirit would have to suffice. Jesse asked me if I wanted to take a drive up north with him for a few days. His girlfriend, for some reason, wasn’t going. Reuben had mentioned something about “trouble in paradise.” I could only hope. There was no way I was going to pass up such a serendipitous opportunity.
The trip was research for one of the chapters in his travel book, with emphasis on the Valley of the Loreley. This is the castle-studded stretch of the Rhine River from Bingen to Koblenz that recently joined the ranks of such unique and diverse places as the Great Barrier Reef and the ancient pyramids of Giza as an esteemed member of UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Here we’d encounter picturesque hamlets and juicy vineyards adorning the riverbanks, as well as the famous Cat and Mouse castles, the bewitching legend of a maiden named Loreley, and a boat cruise likened to a mythical ride at Disneyland. I was especially looking forward to the latter, cruising back to a time when robber barons and petty kings occupied the magnificently medieval castles that crowned the unassailable bluffs. I even packed my bikini for the sundeck ...
Inside the Book
Look inside the book: Intro, Con-tents and first three pages of the adventure novel (PDF file)
Look inside the book: Index as well as Berlin intro from travel guide (PDF file). For more city intros go to the Store page.
If you don’t do it,
how will you feel?
© 2007-2008 Brett Harriman, Harriman Travel Books. Use of our Web site content without permission is prohibited.
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