Castles and Campfires

Chris had 4 days off this past weekend, so we decided to travel to Schwangau and tour Neuschwanstein Castle as well as travel to Garmisch for a few nights of camping with friends.

So we drove for the first time on the Autobahn. And by drive, I mean I was clutching the handlebar in the car so hard my knuckles were turning white! Driving at 150 kph on winding roads made me a little anxious. I felt like we were playing Mario Kart....I was just waiting for the bananas to appear in the road!

Eventually we made it to our hotel, the Villa Ludwig Suite Hotel. The hotel was phenomenal. Our balcony looked out to Neuschwanstein Castle. Now that's a view to wake up to!

We had a very romantic room, that not only had a view of the castle but of the stars too!

Thursday night we had dinner in the nearby town of Fussen. We ate at Gastof Krone, which was a medieval restaurant. They even gave us fancy "napkins" to wear around our necks.

Friday, we visited Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles. It rained all day and the fog was covering all of the spectacular views, but that didn't stop the thousands of tourists from around the world. Both castles were owned by Ludwig II's family. The castles were just used as summer homes for the family. Despite the rain, we really enjoyed exploring such an iconic castle.

The next day we woke up to gorgeous weather. So we quickly retraced all of our steps before we had to leave. We went back to both castles to see the sights.

We hiked down a path to see the Pollatschlucht (the Pollat Gorge).

Then we hiked up to see the view of Neuschwanstein Castle from Marienbrucke (Mary's Bridge). This was the most amazing view of the castle!

We then drove to Garmisch (which is about an hour away) to camp with some friends of ours. Garmisch is at the base of the Bavarian Alps and only a few miles from the Austrian border. We camped on the grounds of the Edelweiss Lodge and Resort. Edelweiss is a resort available exclusively for military families.

We traveled to the site of the 1936 Winter Olympics. We then hiked to the nearby Partnach Gorge. We had some amazing views!

On Sunday, we started the day with a champagne brunch at the resort. We may have been "camping", but you wouldn't know it from our meal. We had bananas foster french toast, prime rib, strawberry shortcake parfait, unlimited mimosas and much more! After brunch, we visited the Eibsee, which is a beautiful lake located at the base of the Zugspitze (the highest mountain in Germany). We rented a paddleboat with a slide on top and paddled around the lake. The water was really cold, but we had to go swimming!

Regensburg Adventure

Last Saturday, we traveled to Regensburg. We heard that this town has the "best" bratwurst, according to locals. The restaurant served just bratwurst. The waitress literally asked us when she walked up "6, 8, 10 or 12?" The restaurant is located right next to the Steinerne Brucke (Stone Bridge). The restaurant was originally used for bookkeeping when the bridge was being built and all the day laborers had to be paid. The stone bridge was built in the 12th century and amazed citizens because they didn't believe a bridge could be made of stone.

It was so hot outside (which is unusual for Germany), so we did a little shopping in the air-conditioned store....which is rare for a German store to have. We can be half-way around the world, but look what we found!

We took a guided tour of the Old Town Hall. The most interesting part of the tour was when they took us down to the dungeon where the torture chambers are held. When citizens were accused of crimes in those days, they must admit their guilt. So to do so, they would torture the criminal until they admitted that they committed the crime. They told us that the pain was so great, even an innocent man would eventually admit his "guilt."

Bamberg Beer Tour

Last weekend Chris and I traveled to Bamberg, which is a 2 hour train ride from our town. We heard that Bamberg was famous for their smoked beer, and we had to try it out! Rauchbier, or smoked beer, has a distinctive smoke flavor because the malted barley is dried over an open flame.

We signed up for the BierShmeckerTour at the Tourist Center. Inside our nifty backpacks, we received 5 vouchers for beers at local pubs, a beer stein, a description of the local beers and "beer mats" from all the local pubs.

Our first stop on our beer tour was to Schlenkerla, which is a pub known for the smoked beer. Chris and I really enjoyed the unique flavor of the smoked beer. Along with our beer, we had a great lunch. I had the ham leg with a knodel and sauerkraut. It was big enough to feed a family of 4! Chris had sausage with cheese inside, with horseradish sauce for a little kick.

After lunch we ventured out into the city. There was a Zaubert festival going on, which, from what we gather, was a festival of street performers and musicians.

We also toured the Brewery Museum, which is conveniently located right next to a monastery. We have learned that there are 2 kinds of monks in Germany....the skinny monk who holds a Bible and a "chubby" monk who is holding a beer. Fun Germany Fact: The Reinheitsgebot (known as the German Beer Purity Law) stated that beer could only be made of malt, water and hops. Yeast was not known to be an ingredient in beer. Germans are very proud to brew and drink "pure" beer.

Below are a few more pictures of the great views we had in Bamberg!

Castles and Bratwurst and Duckies Oh My!

Today we ventured out to Nuremberg. We took a 45 minute train ride and arrived in downtown Nuremberg. We are loving the train system here! For 14 Euro we were able to travel to such an awesome city!

We ate lunch at Bratwursthausle. We both had bratwurst with sauerkraut. Yum! We practiced ordering in German again. Chris is picking up the language much faster than I am!

Our first stop was Kaiserburg (the Imperial Castle). We were able to get a great view of the entire city from the castle wall. Unfortunately the inside of the castle was closed; it will open next week (go figure!) But we were able to walk around all of the gardens. There was even a bride and groom taking their wedding photos there. How lucky for Germans to be able to take wedding photos in real castles!

One of the most unusual sights we saw all day was the Entencup 2013. We were crossing a bridge when I noticed a little yellow rubber ducky floating down the river. I found it very amusing and decided to take a picture. Next thing I know, dozens and dozens of little duckies are floating right on down the river. It turns out, today was the day for this charity event. Donors pay for ducks with numbers on the bottom, and the first duckies to reach the "finish line" are the winners.