Next up: Germany

After our wonderful evening in Brussels, we were back on the road the next morning and left Belgium for Germany.  I studied in Germany for May Term my freshman year of college, and was excited to get back and to try out my nearly 10-year-old German.  

Our morning drive was fairly uneventful, but castles could be seen fairly regularly out the windows, which was pretty exciting.  That, and watching the cars zoom past us on the autobahn.  I was also surprised to see so many vineyards along the sides of the hills.

 Late in the morning we found ourselves lazily winding around the Rhine River.  There was an optional cruise that we opted not to take so instead we spent our Sunday wandering the streets of Oberwesel.

Lorelei Rock

 It was a nice little town, but it was Sunday so there wasn't much to do besides wander.  All of the stores were closed, but we did find a place to eat.  I was so proud of myself ordering in German.  The woman behind the counter asked if I wanted sauce on my doner.  Yes, please.  Again she asks me about the sauce and I realize that she's asking me what type of sauce I want.  My German cover is blown and I struggle through pointing and then a confusing discussion about which came first, the eating or the paying.  In the end, the doner was great and my ego was tarnished, but the mission was accomplished.

 Then we wandered the streets.  We did have a German woman ask us for directions, so we must not have looked too toursity.  I am amazed at the buildings, though.  So pretty.

 The city had walls and we climbed up in one of the towers for a better view.  Pretty little town!

 Once the cruisers returned and joined us at the bus, we were off to Marktheidenfeld.  This was a pretty long day on the road, so recounting the day seems pretty slim, but we had a nice day with some great views.  The hotel we stayed at that night was very nice as well and we had a great meal of what can best be described as butter soup, wienerschnitzel, and a dessert that wasn't memorable.  But it was a very cute hotel and a very good meal!

Castle in the Rhine--the up current end is pointed like a bow of a boat

 The next morning we were back on the bus to see more of Germany.  Our first stop of the day: Rothenburg ob der Tauber, a beautiful little city.  It too had city walls, but they were more intact than those in Oberwesel.  The clock tower and city square were so beautiful! 

 Sadly, we only had an hour and a half to walk around this town.  We spent most of the time shopping; we bought ourselves a cuckoo clock (which has yet to arrive at our doorstep) and we found an amazing Christmas store whose package beat us home.  Had I known that we wouldn't find many other great stores I would have bought more here.  The store was amazingly huge and had some really great ornaments.  I see some online shopping in my future...

 After too short a time in Rothenburg, we were back on the road and heading even deeper into Bavaria.  Next stop: Neuschwanstein.  I thought this was a must-see on our European vacation since Rick's family loves Disney so much and this castle was the inspiration for the iconic Cinderella's castle.

Neuschwanstein was built by King Ludwig II and it was a tribute to the works of Richard Wagner.  The walls are painted with the legends that inspired Wagner's works, and Ludwig built a choral performance hall in the castle in the hopes of holding operas.  Sadly, Ludwig died before the choral hall was done and the castle is only a third finished inside (I've heard construction stopped because of his death; I have also heard it stopped because he ran out of money).  Aside from the legends, there are also a lot of swans everywhere. It's a very neat castle, and though it was cold and misty, we got a lot of great pictures here, too.

The castle where King Ludwig grew up, a stone throw away from Neuschwanstein

 We had a nice afternoon, and the views were beautiful.  After the castle, we loaded back up into the bus and headed south to Austria.  Overnight in Innsbruck (with a carbon-copy meal from the night before); more on Austria soon.