Germany Day 15 - One last day of Castles

Plans changed at the last minute before we started for the day when Paul learned there were giant redwood trees and a minor castle ruin in the area. Yeah, those big trees from California are in Germany! Some fancy noble over 150 years ago thought that redwoods looked cool and started growing them over here. Tragically, it was a freak hot day, over 94 degrees, and by the time we got to the ruins, about halfway to the trees, we were brain-fried and overheating.

The good news was that the ruins, called Albeck were WAY cooler than described on the internet. We had the castle ruins all to ourselves, and it was cool to see some pictures/descriptions along the route about how the castle was attacked and such. I have no idea why anyone attacked castles back then, since they were all built on super steep hills or mountains with really clever defense structures!

After the ruins, we headed off to Hohenzollern Castle. It was gigantic and super fancy, and in typical german-fashion, it turns out that it was really just a show off castle back then, and used only once a year to go hunting in the area. It was amazing to tour the lavishly styled rooms and think that this was just their hunting lodge. Crazy, stinking wealthy nobles!

The castle and the tour were great, however, Paul of all people had a headache through the whole thing. Paul rarely has headaches, so it was kinda concerning. I had unfortunately taken all the medicines into our airbnb, so we were without headache pills. By the end of the tour, I also had a small headache, so we were starting to get a bit miserable.

It was one of those moments on vacation when you debate just heading home, wasting precious sight-seeing time, or you suck it up and try to squeeze in more memories. Well, Lichtenstein castle was on the way home, so we decided that we would at least look at it on the exterior, before heading home.

Sadly, by the time we paid for parking, my headache was raging bad. I was so miserable that I didn't even look at the castle, I couldn't walk without making the pain worse, so I sat on a bench by the parking lot and Paul went to check out the castle alone. Yeah, I skipped out on a castle! That's how bad it was.

After briefly checking it out (you had to pay even to see the courtyard, so Paul didn't see much), we headed for the car. I had high hopes that we could get back to the airbnb without me barfing from the pain. Unluckily, there was a HUGE detour around a closed road that added about 30 minutes to the trip back home and Paul had to pull over for me to...admire the wildflowers. Sigh....

Back to the airbnb for pills and sleep, but still full of energy and excitement for more adventures tomorrow!

Germany Day 14 - Black Forest Fun

We (especially Paul) are getting a bit sick of being the car for long drives, and today was another long day of driving, so we are probably going to start adjusting the schedule for a bit of a driving break hopefully. There's quite a lot of traffic in Germany and lots of slow trucks so a two-hour trip can turn to 3 pretty easily. And don't get me started on the ridiculously long detours. 

We drove for a bit in the morning and stopped at Rotteln ruins, which were really beautiful castle ruins and they are some of the biggest ruins in the area. This castle was well defended with lots of gates, a thick wall around a village, followed by more gates, drawbridges, and thick walls around the castle. There were towers, arrow slits, tar holes, etc. for protection. This castle saw a lot of battles!

After that, we wanted to enjoy the beautiful Black Forest so it was time to go up a mountain. Feldberg is an apparently popular place to hike and it was busy, which was kinda annoying. We were looking forward to a nice, quiet hike in the mountains. Instead, you had to pay for parking, pay if you wanted to use a ski lift for half of the hike (we chose to walk), and pay to climb the tower at the top of the mountain (we didn't do this either). We were able to have a nice hike and found a bench all to ourselves to enjoy the views.

There were giant fields of flowers at the top of the mountain. Sometimes I like to get a bit artsy with my camera with mixed results:

Germany Day 13: Spa time, baby!

Our AirBnb is on the top floor so it gets hot up here, but there is a big window with a great view so it's okay. Overall, the places we've stayed have been really great, there's a lot of nice people and thoughtful hosts in this part of the world.

The main goal for today was to enjoy the thermal waters of the spa town called Baden Baden. There's something about the water in this area that makes it (supposedly) really good for your health/skin. It's been a thermal spa town since the Roman times!

We decided to get the 'all day' package for the more modern spa place. The other one is old tradition, and men and women HAVE to be naked together in a bunch of small pools. No thanks!

There were a bunch of pools of water (everyone has to wear bathing suits at this spa place) that were different water temperatures, and some of them had waterfalls or bubbles, etc. One was even a lazy river. There was also an aromatherapy sauna room and a salt inhalation sauna room. Paul got the extra package for more sauna rooms, but I chose to get a 50 minute massage instead.

Ahh...this was the perfect way to relax halfway through our vacation. We were there from 10am until 3pm, and I would have gladly stayed longer! Paul didn't enjoy it quite as much as me, but we were both very relaxed by the end.

We stopped at Cafe Konig so that Paul could try their famous Black Cherry Forest cake, a local delicacy. I had something else, since I don't like fruit and chocolate together.

Then we stopped at two sights on the way home: Geroldsau waterfall, which was okay, and Allerheiligen Cloister ruins, which was also just okay. It was a great day!

Germany Day 12: More castles and another medieval city

Today was a great day, but there *was* a tiny annoyance because our next airbnb host wanted to meet and greet with us before handing us the keys. They were old people, so they preferred that we be there before 7pm. When we looked at our plans, that was impossible, so we managed to get them to compromise for 8:30pm. However, that just meant that we were looking at the time more than we usually do, which can put a damper on things.

First up, we went to Harburg Castle. I LOVED this castle! It was super beautiful, and it's still a residential home for some German Prince sometimes, so it was interesting to see how that works in an old castle. The tour for this beautiful castle was fascinating: they had a clever wooden ball thing to make shooting cannons easier back in the olden days. They also had a TON of different prisons. There was a prison for enemy knights (kinda decent), a prison for local villagers (not very nice), a pit for really bad prisoners (the longest anyone survived down there was 30 days), and a few torture chambers. This was an actual working castle for the area back in the medieval times, so it was a center for justice and such. That was cool to learn about and see. Also, the castle *only* burned two women at the stake for witchcraft. The staff was really proud of how progressive the castle owners were. Laugh.

After Harburg Castle, we headed to Nordlingen. This is the only city left in Germany that is completely walled in by medieval walls. It's also built in a meteorite impact crater. It's really cool seeing it on Google maps, because it's almost a perfect circle.

You can walk the entire wall system, which is over 2.5 kilometers long. If I lived in that city, I would walk the walls every day. So cool! We did a bit of the walk, and these wall walks were taller than Rothenburg's, so Paul didn't have to hunch over. Then Paul wanted to climb the church tower (350 stairs). The church had a lot of really intricately carved things all over so I looked at those while Paul climbed.

 Unfortunately, it was a Sunday, and Germany closes down most things on Sundays. So even though this was a tourist town, almost everything was closed. It was a bit of a bummer. Also unfortunately, we were pressed for time, so we strolled around a bit, but then it was time to go. I think I would like to go back to Nordlingen when it's not a Sunday and we aren't in a hurry. It wasn't as beautiful as Rothenburg, but there was still cool stuff to see (like the Ferrari and the nest of storks in the below pic).

Then we left for Ludwigsburg Residential Palace. We had to hurry a bit because the last tour was at 5pm, and then it closes down pretty quick. We made it in time to get the last tour for the day. This palace is called the Versailles of Germany, and for a good reason! It's gigantic! The tour was really interesting and we saw a lot of the rooms. I was especially excited to see a few of the servants halls and rooms. Usually, tour guides just point at almost-invisible doors and say 'that's where the servants came in and out'. This tour guide actually opened one of the doors and let us check it out a bit. That was cool!

One of the rules before we could tour was that I had to leave my purse in a locker in a locker room. Well, apparently, they take the whole closing time thing very seriously! The tour guide, near the end of the tour, warned us not to wander after the tour, because they lock everything up ASAP after this last tour of the day and people had been locked in the palace/grounds in the past. As soon as he brought us to the courtyard, he took off right away. I was worried about the locker room, but Paul was confident that they wouldn't lock it up when people were still on a tour....well, I was right this time. The locker room was locked up. The information desk room was locked up. There was no sign of any workers or the tour guide. I started freaking out, but Paul kept a cool head and we walked quickly all over the place until we randomly found a security guard to unlock the locker room for us. Seriously, why would they lock that room before the last tour was done? So weird.

After that little mini-heart-attack, we jumped in the car ASAP to try to get to our airbnb on time. We JUST made it, whew. It had great views of the mountain village and we were ready to crash!

Germany Day 11: Rothenburg ob der Tauber is too awesome (almost)

We started out our day packing up and heading off for a new section of Germany. Along the way, we stopped first at the castle ruins called Weibertreu. These ruins were a bit similar to the Castle Steinsberg from the day before: on a tall hill, surrounded by vineyards. The vineyards extended around the castle and all around the countryside for miles and miles. It was very beautiful! There were also a bunch of beautiful flowers throughout the castle ruins.

Then we went to check out the castle Neuenstein. It was crazy weird: no one was going to this castle. They only give a tour if there are 4 people interested. This castle was beautiful and in the middle of a town, but no one else showed up, so the guide sadly told us that he couldn't give us a tour. That was so sad and confusing. Why are some of these castles overflowing with tourists, and ones like this one are ignored? Probably just tourism advertising....

Anywho, it was off to the medieval city of Rothenburg ob der Tauber. I had wanted to go to this town, but I did not realize until we got there just how incredible it is. I told Paul later when I was calmed down again that Rothenburg is to medieval historians what Disney Land is to kids.

Historically and architecturally, this city is amazingly beautiful! SO many old buildings with tons of character. Since the town is mainly surrounded by medieval walls, most people just walk in the town, which takes the stress out of much of what I hate about cities. Also, it was not that busy, and the town is quite large, so Paul and I could get lost down some quaint, crooked alleys without seeing people.

Much of the town is still surrounded by medieval walls that you can walk, so we walked the walls for a bit....hilariously (and yet painfully for poor Paul), the wall walk is a bit short, and Paul was shuffling and bent over like the hunchback of Notre Dame while we strolled the walk. When he couldn't stand it anymore (ha ha), we found some stairs and then meanadered around some more on the streets where he could stand up again.

There was a section for a park with beautiful gardens that we walked through, a beautiful town square, SO many beautiful buildings, cathedral/churches, and so much more. It was a bit overwhelming for me. Rothenburg ob der Tauber was, if anything, maybe too awesome. I started out going 'ooh' and 'ahh!' over the first 25% of the city, then I was getting sensory/happiness overload and it became more like 'cool!' and 'wow!' and then about halfway through our excursions, it was just sighs of delight, and then I was too tired to even look at the beautiful medieval structures anymore. I told Paul that instead of Paris, if he ever wanted to take me on a romantic getaway, he could just take me to Rothenburg again. There was so much more I wanted to see, but I was too overwhelmed by it all!

At some point, it started pouring rain, which emptied out the streets even more. We wandered a little bit more, until we got soaked and chilled, then it was pizza and time to find our next airbnb.

Paul Edit: I was also totally overwhelmed by the cuteness. I just kept gasping and almost fainting. One time I saw a doorknob from the 13th century and nearly passed out. The local plague doctor donned his bird mask and waved some smelling salts under my nose until I gained my composure. In reality, the coolest part of Rothenburg was the tower above the city (see the two above pics). there was a gate right below the tower where there was a perpetually awkward traffic jam.

Oh, one negative about Rothenburg: do NOT get the local delicacy called Schneeball pastries. Unless you like awkward-to-eat balls of super dry pastry that tastes like cardboard dipped in melts-in-your-hands chocolate. ;)

Germany Day 10: A Bajillion Glorious Castle Ruins

Today's theme was castle ruins. Thankfully, none of them were tourist traps, and, in fact, we hardly saw anyone else at any of the castle ruins. It was SOOOOOOO nice.

We started the day by checking out a string of castle ruins on the other side of the river from yesterday's Dilsberg castle. Back in the day, German nobility liked to brag about their wealth by having a castle right on the river...and kinda feuding/bragging/etc. with other nobility by having the castles smooshed up next to each other. They would also all try to control the river below the castles with tolls and such. Our modern society doesn't do any of these types of things anymore, because we learned valuable lessons from history. Cough. Sorry, still sick....laugh.

Anywho, we parked and went to see 2 of 4 castle ruins (the other two are privately owned still and/or not worth seeing). We hiked through some forest paths and stopped first at Hinterburg Castle. Not only were we there all alone, but you were allowed to climb up the still-functional tower to get an amazing view. I loved looking at the ruins and using my imagination to figure out what it used to be like. It was also beautiful views.

Then we kept hiking on the forest path to the ruins of Schadeck castle. That was also a cool castle ruins with some tower ruins that you could climb. The view from that castle showed all the other castles in the area really well, so it was really pretty. After that, we had lunch at the parking lot while staring at all the castle ruins. It was lovely.

Next up was the Eberach Castle ruins. Actually, it was the ruins of 3 different castles in one location. Sigh...I am in heaven over here. The castles originated from 1200 A.D. and onward. We had to walk up a mountain again, through the forest. It was, of course, delightful, and we didn't see anyone until the very end. We thoroughly explored all of the castle ruins and the beautiful scene of the river valley below us for as long as we wanted. It was very relaxing and super chill.

On our hike back to the car, we realized that we weren't going down but instead we were going up. It was one of those moments in the middle of the woods when you try not to panic about being lost. Anyway, we turned around, went back to the castle ruins and figured out where we turned wrong. Thank goodness we noticed before we ended up even farther away!

We still had a bit of energy, so we went off to see one more castle ruin for the day. This time, it was off to Castle Steinsburg. This lovely castle ruin was on top of a hill, instead of a steep mountain. The whole hill, all the way up to the castle ruins, is covered in grape vine farms. It was super beautiful. In the ruins, you could go up the tower. I thought I was braver than usual, because I went all the way up, and it was WAY up there! Those stairs are steep, too! The views from the top were amazing, so we stayed up there for quite a while, just soaking up the views. Then we headed to the courtyard, where a restaurant has been built, where they serve local wine made from all those grapes on the hill. The wine was delicious. We sat and drank and just relaxed. It was lovely.

Then we were tired of German cuisine and ate at their version of an American restaurant for burgers. They actually served the fries with sauce! I wouldn't say it was ketchup, but any sauce is better than more dry fries! It was a delightful day of forest walks, castle imagining, and hardly any people. While holding my hubby's hand. :)

Cris asked me to edit this post and add the pictures so here's my contribution: I went to a bathroom a couple days ago and the urinal had a little soccer goal with a ball hanging from it. I won. 

Germany Day 9 - Taking the Fun out of Funicular

We spent much of today in the touristy town of Heidelberg. Of course we started the day by asking 'what is your only comfort in life and death?' since that's one of the few things I memorized back in middle school.  The castle in Heidelberg is well worth going to but it was crowded. We got there pretty early and got the last parking spot in the garage closest to the funicular and were greeted with long lines out the door of the station. Things on the first funicular moved pretty quick so we got to the castle in good spirits.

At first I didn't realize that every wall I was looking at was part of the ridiculously huge castle. It was started in 1214 but the various owners just kept adding on more and more despite multiple lightning strikes, fires, and the French. At this point it's technically a ruin but it's still spectacular.

We walked around the gardens and terrace which had spectacular views again. Eventually we found our way to the real star of the show, the dude below and his (probable) orgy chamber. We found a nice bench by him and enjoyed being away from the abundant crowds until it started raining.

We wandered our way toward the funicular to go to the top of the mountain. Do not go on the funicular to the top of the mountain! After a short ride in a modern train car we got off to requeue for an older car for our last leg of the trip. What they don't tell you is that this car has only 1/3 the capacity of the first one and is much slower. We waited in line for about an hour at which point everyone was getting really pushy. A group of guys decided that they could just slowly creep around the side just as the car got to us and cut in line. Luckily, I'm pretty big and didn't understand whatever language the guys cursed at me so it all worked out with me as a roadblock. The Germans are generally a pretty reserved bunch but I assume they were all applauding me in their heads. 

The view at the top was nice, but not worth the two hours it took to ride up.  

Eventually we made our way back down and over to Dilsberg Fortress. The town of Dilsberg is really quaint and pretty much foot-traffic only. The fortress was a nice, quiet respite from the crowds we had battled all day so we just relaxed and smelled the roses. 

We had read online previously that Mark Twain had visited Dilsberg Fortress and wrote the following: "There were some who believed it had never been a well at all, and was never deeper than it is now — eighty feet; that at that depth a subterranean passage branched from it and descended gradually to a remote place in the valley, where it opened into somebody's cellar or other hidden recess, and that the secret of this locality is now lost."

Cris and I were intrigued. Could there really be a hidden entrance deep within the forest that was a secret underground passage to the castle's well? Could two American's on holiday really find such a lost treasure that eluded Mark Twain? With hopeful hearts and adventurers souls we started our search at the most logical location.... 

After a brief conversation with the guy that worked at the front gate we had a map and key in hand. A short walk down into the woods led us to a well-lit cave that wound underground to the bottom of the well. I love caves so this was a perfect way to end the day. 

Read more about Dilsberg in Twain's words here: 

Germany Day 8: Aachoo! It's Aachen time!

Sadly, it was time to leave our people and family in The Netherlands for some more Germany adventures. Time for hills and castles instead of flat land and windmills!

We started out our Germany time again by stopping in Aachen. For those who aren't medieval history nerds like me, Aachen was an important center of the Middle Ages. That was where Charlemagne decided to hang out and such.

Today's Aachen is a fascinating place. It's a college town, so there's lots of college town influence, and there is a mix of modern all the way through OLD medieval architecture blended together. We strolled around for a bit and took in the beauty of the twisted old streets and buildings.

We also stopped at an Apotheke (kinda like a pharmacy) for me (Cris). I was still sick and it was headed into my lungs/chest, which was unpleasant. I also lost my voice, something that hasn't happened since high school! The Apotheke was SO much cooler than any local American doctor visit or pharmacy visit I have ever had. We went in, the the lady at the counter asked me what was wrong, and asked me all sorts of specific questions about my symptoms. After actually listening to me and being interested in my health, she wandered around and came back with a handful of different medicines. She instructed me about what to take at what time and gave me a jar of super strength cough drops for free. It was so amazing. I have never had a conversation with a primary doctor or a pharmacist at home for longer than 5 minutes, but this lady actually cared! What a cool healthcare system.

After that, we stopped for the typical 10am coffee break (at a bakery with tasty treats, of course), and then it was time to check out Aachen's Imperial Cathedral. Charlemagne had the Imperial Cathedral constructed around 800 A.D. He was really the one responsible for bringing culture and civilization back to a very Dark Ages time in history.

We've been to a few cathedrals now, but apparently, each one is very different. This cathedral was friggin amazing! Wow. You walk in, and it's clear that Charlemagne was imitating a Roman look (he was trying to hint that his empire was as awesome as the Roman empire).

The walls and ceilings are covered with tiny colored rocks, some that sparkle, so that the whole room seems like it is covered head to toe with jewels. It was incredibly beautiful. I just kept wondering how people back then made these buildings. It must have taken so long just to find/make all those tiny rocks, and then you had to cover every possible section with beautiful art made with those tiny rocks! Crazy cool and very jaw-droppingly beautiful. Whenever my medieval professors talked about this cathedral, they always said 'just go visit to see what we mean!' and they were right. Everyone reading this: go see the Imperial Cathedral in Aachen. It's incredible.

After that, it was time for a few more hours on the road to go visit Eltz Castle. Paul and I were looking forward to this castle, because it has been preserved really well. It has blessedly avoided being destroyed in every single war, and it has stayed in the same family for 33 generations now!

The reviews all said that it was best to do a 40 minute hike in the forest to get to the castle, so that's what we did. It was a bit too humid, though, so we were pretty sweaty when we got there. Also, there was the whole 'being sick and feeling like a ton of bricks were on my chest' thing, so it was pretty slow going. Fortunately, Paul and his parents were very patient with my many breaks for coughing spasms.

The walk was nice, and the forest was pretty. Then it was time for the castle, which, of course, was amazingly beautiful. I'm having a difficult time coming up with more descriptive words for this pleasurable vacation, so bear with me. It's magnificent and incredible, and etc. The tour was really cool, and the rooms were well preserved with murals, paintings, furniture, etc. They showed us floors that originated in the castle from the 1400s, a medieval bed from the castle from the 1500s, and so much old stuff that my head was spinning. I could have spent a week staring at each room and architectural thing. Sigh....

After another 40 minute forest hike, it was time to bring Paul's parents to the Frankfurt airport hotel. They are now done with their Europe vacation, and we had a lot of fun with them. It would have been nice to spend a few more days with them, but I also don't mind hogging Paul all to myself. Tomorrow, more German adventures!!

Netherlands Day 7 - My Cabbages!

We spent today with another amazing group of relatives. It turns out all my Netherlands relatives are super friendly and welcoming. Today was even more special because we went around to see how my Opa lived in Broek op Langedijk back when he was a farmer in the Netherlands. We found out that the Dutch were crazy and incredibly hard-working.
First, we walked around to see where various relatives used to live and to see how things have changed. Pretty much all the nice cobblestone roads that we walked on all day used to be water. Back in the 70s they started filling in a lot of the channels to make a more modern community. We walked down a road that was original to the city and you could touch houses on both sides.

After we got a feeling for how life was on land we went over to the Broeker Veiling which is an old auction house where Opa would sell his vegetables. To understand how this worked you need a map of the area (the blue is water, red is buildings, orange is the auction): 

Each of the little islands is a farm that was created by the farmers. The whole area was basically a big tidal marsh at one point but by digging trenches and using that dirt to form mounds they made dry (ish) land. That means that the islands could only be as wide as they could throw the dirt. In the pics below you can see how skinny the islands that they farmed were:

Once all the hard work of making the islands was finished they had it made: they could just sit back and farm. On islands. Tiny islands that needed to make enough food to live off of and to sell. With no machinery. It's nuts. They'd also bring cows to islands to graze and then have to row back over a few times a day to milk them. It's basically Venice if Venice was the most difficult to access bunch of farms ever. 

Anyway, back at the Broeker Veiling auction the boats would pull up with their wares and they'd Dutch auction them off. In Dutch auctions the price starts high and a big clock-looking thing spins the price lower until someone presses the button to buy it. (In the pic below a boat was in the water between the two rows of benches that the people could bid on).   

We then took a cruise on an old boat through all the channels. Some of the islands are still being farmed by volunteers from the town but most are either overgrown with trees with hundreds of cormorants nesting in them or connected into housing development. I'm not usually into historical farming stuff but this whole day was super interesting. 

We ended the day at a fully restored windmill that a family is living in. the family lives in the first two floors on the windmill but put up glass walls so that people can still see the inner workings of the mill. The mill was originally used to pump water out of the fields and over the dike, but that's not needed anymore. Below are the gears that connect the outside spinning blades to the inside Archemedes screw:

This was the last day we spent with Dutch relatives. They were all down-to-earth people with great senses of humor that made this trip absolutely amazing. They also grow giant cabbages!