The Romantic Road

The other overnight trip that we took with my parents was down the Romantic Road. We started in Wurzburg and toured the Residence and its gardens, built between 1720 and 1744 for the Prince Bishop  of Wurzburg Johan Philipp Franz von Schonbron, and had lunch in a wine garden- a treat for my mom after all the time we spent in beer gardens!

Next we went to Rothenburg ob der Tauber to tour the historic city and visit the Christmas shops. Like most medieval German cities, it is surrounded by a wall, a portion of which is enclosed and Mum is walking through below.

After spending the night in Rothenburg, we drove to Nordlingen, the site of a crater formed by a meteorite thousands of years ago. In hopes of seeing a huge crater, Cameron and I climbed to the top of a 90 meter steeple- great views but no crater. Turns out, the town in set into the crater, with the surrounding hills actually being the lip of the crater. Intrigued by stories of NASA training in the crater, I was disappointed to find I wouldn't have noticed it was there if I didn't read about it. Wikipedia brought to my attention that the town the glass elevator floats over in the end of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is actually Nordlingen. Being able to tell my kids I've been there will be pretty cool someday (although, they will probably be watching the Johnny Depp version and I don't know if its the same in the end...).

From Nordlingen we took the scenic route to Fussen, our jumping off point for the famous castles, Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau. They are so cool, you have to read the Wikipedia article for all the info. The gist of it is, crazy Prince Ludwig II of Bavaria built this lavish castle as a retreat, and used influences of Richard Wagner's music to design rooms. The whole place has a swan theme, and there is even a fake cave built into his sitting room. Only a few rooms are completed and open to the public because soon after he moved into the castle he was deemed insane and taken out of power (and shortly after that mysteriously drowned).

We took a bus up to the castle, but took a horse drawn carriage down. Mum had to sit in the back with some chatty Americans while the rest of us rode with the driver.

This shot overlooks the Alps, while the one below is of Fussen and the surrounding area, including an alpine lake that looked pretty dry.

Inside (and out) it is easy to see how Ludwig nearly bankrupt Bavaria with his lavish spending- and the castle hadn't yet been completed! Ludwig did not allow visitors to his castle, but shortly after his death it was opened to the public by the German government (probably to pay off some of Ludwig's debts!), and 1.3 million people visit it annually.

The entire trip was fantastic, and I had a great time with my parents.  I would never be able to fit everything we saw and did into my blog, but I hope this gives everyone an idea, and makes you want to come visit us too!!