Last night, I returned from a great 6-day trip to Germany with Julianna. We had such a great time traveling to small villages, shopping, eating struedel, touring castles, shopping, eating struedel, visiting cathedrals, shopping, eating struedel....you get the idea!
We were both a little nervous about the beginning of the trip because she was flying over from Saudi Arabia and I was traveling from D.C. and she didn't have a cell phone to connect with me once we both arrived in Germany. However, it could not have been easier, thank goodness! We both arrived right on time and I was able to meet her outside of her arrival terminal with no problem! Phew!
Since we both came off of red-eye flights (during which I slept not even one minute...ergh), we decided to keep Day 1 very easy. We drove a couple of hours from Frankfurt to the town of Wurzburg, where we toured the Wurzburg Residence.
Unfortunately - and not surprisingly - they don't allow photos inside the palace, so this is all I have, but we both enjoyed the tour, in part because we almost had the place to ourselves! I love traveling in the off-season!
After our tour of the palace, we went to lunch in the downtown area at a place that Jill Jackson recommended. As luck would have it, Jill was in Germany six days before us, so she paved the way with some recommendations. We were seated at the back of a restaurant and shared a booth / table with another American couple (gotta love European dining!), who happened to be from Texas, so Julianna got her twang going and she was off and running!
Our next stop was, in hindsight, our best. We went to Rothenburg ob der tauber, which is an absolutely darling village. It looks exactly how I envisioned a German village would look.
Based on a recommendation in the 1,000 Places to See Before You Die book, we stayed at a great hotel right in the heart of the town square and directly next to a store that we came to regard as mecca, Kathe Wolfhart.
Holy cow!! I didn't know about this store, but I do now! It's Christmas on crack cocaine!
In addition to thousands and thousands of different ornaments, they also have an enormous selection of nutcrackers and Christmas pyramids. Shockingly, I went ahead and helped myself to one of each! My spending was off and running in this place!
They also have a great collection of cuckcoo clocks and I thought about buying one, but then I checked out the price tags. Whoa! These things are pricey!
When all was said and done, Juju and I together dropped nearly (or maybe more than) $1,000 at this store. What?!??! Over the course of our entire trip, we visited five of these stores and I collected at least 8 Christmas ornaments, a nutcracker and a pyramid. As if I need more Christmas decorations! Oy. But, I just couldn't help myself! And neither could Juju!
That night, we took the famous Night Watchman tour of Rothenburg. It was led by a very funny man, who guided us through the walled part of the city and shared the city's history.
I went back the next morning to take a few shots of the city's walls and entrance gate.
The guide told us that the city gates closed at midnight and if villagers weren't inside the gates, they basically had to beg to get through the doors. The little door in the middle of the large door is what would be opened to allow villagers to crawl through. A lesson in being on time!
We absolutely loved our stay in Rothenburg - what's not to love about a walled German village that has horse-drawn carriages and four Christmas stores?!?
Once we dragged ourselves away from Rothenburg, we drove a couple of hours south and visited a beautiful castle called Ludwigsburg Palace. Unfortunately, it was rainy so we have no photos of this place other than the stock picture below, but it was fantastic!
Because of the rain - and our shopping in Rothenburg! - we arrived at Ludwigsburg at little later than planned so we missed the English language tour, but we opted to go ahead with the German-language tour. As luck would have it, the tour was AWESOME and it was an hour long, so it would have been great in English, but c'est la vie!
The tour was honestly unbelieveable - the guide took us through the entire circumference of the castle, where we saw the state rooms, ballrooms, theater, cathedral and more. It was really beatiful and a tour that Juju and I both really enjoyed. Now, I feel like I need to go back to do the tour in English and take some real pictures!
Our next stop was Stuttgart, where my delightful friend, Jen Johnston, lives. She's been in Germany for a year for an assignment with the Army and she's loving it. I stupidly didn't take any pictures of her awesome apartment, so I'm swiping two pictures from her blog...
She has an enormous apartment with a huge living room...
...and a darling guest bedroom upstairs that Juju and I commandeered. It is so cheery and full of Jen's handmade quilts. The woman is a genius with a pair of scissors and a sewing machine! She also gave us a little welcome gift of Ritter Chocolates (my fav!), gummie bears and a glass German pickle Christmas ornamant. Could she be any better??
She took us to downtown Stuttgart for a yummy dinner, and afterward we wandered through the main market. She's THE MOST delightful person!
Our Day Three in Germany was VERY low-key. It was a little cold and rainy so our motivation to go hog-wild was a little muted. Based on Jen's rave reviews, we headed off to Hohenzollern Palace. It's located about 30 minutes from Stuttgart.
On a clear day, you can see the palace up on the hill, but Juju and I had a view of fog. Not good. However, we loved the castle!
Once you buy your ticket, you go across a drawbridge and then walk up a long and winding driveway and through tunnels, which we thought was fantastic.
Once we reached the top of the hill, we walked into the palace courtyard, which is really cool. I was a little bummed the weather was so lousy, but I still really enjoyed the property.
I resorted to taking a picture of a poster of the castle so I could remember what it looks like on a clear day!
Once again, Juju and I arrived too late for the English tour. What is our problem! However, instead of doing the German-language tour, we opted to have lunch in the castle's restaurant, which was delicious! We had beef goulash and we cleaned our bowls!
When our tour time finally rolled around, we were invited through the enormous front doors of the castle.
And then, in a surprise I've never experience, we were asked to wear slippers through the castle. Given that the castle isn't heated, it was no problem, but it did lead to some giggles from Juju and I!
We both thought the tour was terrific. We didn't see a whole lot inside the castle walls - nothing like Ludwigsburg Palace - but we loved it all the same.
Once we got back to Jen's house, we went on two little adventures - the first to the Ritter Chocolate Outlet (an outlet store for chocolate? Done!) and then to the military base BX, where Juju stocked up on American baby food for Blake.
For me, the trip to the Ritter store was far more interesting...and expensive!
So much chocolate, so little time!
I love Ritter chocolate so much! I don't know why, but whenever I see it in a store, which in the States isn't too often, I can't help myself! So, when you put me in a Ritter outlet store...bad things happen.
Bad things that end up costing 43 Euro. WHAT!?!?! Oh, who cares! It's perfectly normal to spend $75 on chocolate!
The next morning we said a sad goodbye to Jen and set off on a day-long drive that took us through the Black Forest, along Lake Constance and toward the cities of Lindau and Fussen. Unfortunately, our spectacular drive through European lake districts and the German/Austrian Alps was in reality a four-hour drive through heavy fog. However, we still had a great time shopping in a charming little village called Lindau, where Juju and I both scored some fun Christmas finds (shocking that we would be spending more money!).
That evening, we stayed overnight in the town of Fussen, which is minutes away from a real show-stopper: Neuschwanstein Castle.
This is the castle that I REALLY wanted to visit. It's the castle on which Walt Disney modeled the Disneyland castle and it's location high atop a mountain peak is spectacular. This is what we saw:
Agh! More rain and fog!! What was it that I said about off-season travel??
We took the shuttle to the top of the mountain and had a view of...NOTHING.
Check out the fog and low visibility! Juju had on her game face at first, but then she just gave up and hunkered down to wait for our tour time!
Honestly, the fog was so thick ("
How thick was it?") that I was basically at the castle's door before I realized I had been walking along its wall for 2 minutes. However, we're troopers and we still had a delightful time at the castle!
Gotta love taking stairs in a castle turret!
You're absolutely not supposed to take photos inside the castle, but I couldn't resist, especially since the rain prevented any photos outside!
Love these copper pots!
The cook's office and sleeping quarters - right outside of the kitchen. Now, there's a commute!
When we finished our tour and emerged from the castle, we found that it was still very foggy, but we could see a bit more. Not a lot, but a bit more!
We decided to walk down the mountain from the castle and enjoyed even the limited views.
So, a fun morning with an enjoyable tour, but not an ideal environment to enjoy Neuschwanstein. And yet, I somehow managed to spend $50 on Christmas ornaments. Good for me!
Our next stop was the one big successful palace visit of the entire trip. We left Fussen and drove for about 90 minutes toward Linderholf Castle. The drive was stunning! The drive took us through peaks and valleys that were out of the fog cloud, so we saw beautiful mountains and lakes. Hooray!
When we arrived at Linderholf Castle, we discovered that an English-language tour was beginning in five minutes. Another hooray!
Linderholf is a very small castle (as far as castles go!) and is the only one that King Lugwigsburg completed. We thought it was absolutely charming!
You enter through the center door above and walk up a grand marble staircase that leads to the back half of the house (the front half was for castle staff...in other words, the Sheldens). Once at the top of the stairs, the state rooms are laid out in a circular pattern and are fairly small, but very charming.
We really enjoyed the tour - and the fact that we understood the tour guide! - and thought the stop was well worth the effort.
Out on the palace grounds, Juju drew the attention of two feeding swans. She threw them bits of a pretzel roll, but they failed to catch or eat any of it. Beautiful on the outside, but not much going on inside!
Bless her heart, Juju spent the better part of three minutes saying, "No more" as the swans kept looking for more food.
Our final stop on our trip were the cities of Ettal, Oberammergau and Garmish. In Ettal, the main attraction is the Abbey, which is spectacular.
The exterior of the abbey is as impressive as the interior.
After our stop at the abbey, we were starving! Jen had recommeded the cheese shop. I don't know how we found it, but we did!
While we didn't buy any cheese, we did buy their yogurt. Holy cow, it was delicious! We could have made every meal out of a collection of their yogurt flavors! Europeans just know how to do yogurt well!
After a quick bite in the car, we were off for a 15 minute drive to Oberammergau. Here's what I'll say about Oberammergau: everyone raves about it and says its so charming. My consensus: ehh. I thought the painted buildings were lovely, but this is not a place I needed to be for more than two hours. Does this make me a brat?
Oberammergau is world-famous not only for its painted buildings, but also for the Passion Play that the village recreates every 10 years. Many of the painted scenes are of the crucifixion or Jesus' life.
The town is also renowned for its wood carvings, most of which depict Christ, the crucifixion and his disciples. While I appreciate the artistry involved, they didn't really appeal to me. However, this little number caught my eye. Juju and I couldn't decide - is it more appropriate for Cody or Amber? It's a toss-up!
The next morning we woke up to more grey skies, which dampened our plans to go to the top of the Zugspitz. But, we gamely set off for Garmisch and along the way the sun came out. Hooray!
Jen RAVED about the Zugspitz! She claims it's her absolutely favorite place on earth and where she goes to clear her head, reassess and relax. I can see why! We rode a cable car to the summit, where you can see the mountains of Italy, Germany and Austria.
While we were at the summit, we decided to stay for lunch in this darling little alpine restaurant.
We ordered beef stew and it arrived in a cute canning jar. How great is this idea? I see it happening at my next dinner party!
After about 90 minutes, we finally came down the mountain, having thoroughly enjoyed being at the top. We drove into Garmisch, which was only about 5 minutes away and we discovered two danger zones: our final Kathe Wolfhart store, where I only walked away with two more ornaments and Juju walked away having purchased a Villeroy & Boch Christmas mug set (this store was BAD for us!), and a really cute store that was decked out in all things red gingham and stag. Loved it!
I think we went a little hog-wild because we knew this was our last shopping adventure before heading to Munich for our flight. So, in an effort to support the Germany economy, I bought a throw blanket, pillow cover, multiple ornamnets and other home decor items. Agh. More money flowing out of my wallet!
After our trip to this store, we called "Uncle!" We were all shopped out - ok, we were all spent out! - so we bundled ourselves and our bags into the car (thank goodness our rental was an SUV!) and headed off to the Marriott in Munich for our morning flights.
It came as no surprise that after we checked into our room and had a quick bite to eat, we each needed the better part of 90 minutes to strategize how we were getting all of our purchases into our limited luggage options! Ah, but this wasn't our first rodeo. If anyone knows how to cram six days worth of European purchases into one carry-on duffle, it's Juju and I! No problem! I'll admit that there was some sweating, heavy pushing, wrinkled brows and the occassional naughty word, but we both succeeded in getting it all packed away! Of course, I shipped home most of my Kathe Wolfhart purchases and Juju shipped home three boxes....but still, we were able to get it all packed! Yowsers...I can't wait for the Visa bill from this trip!
