Germany- Part Zwei

These next two days were my favorite days, so there are a lot of pictures!

Sunday, October 11th

I woke up in Freiburg too early (5:45 am), got some coffee, and headed out for a solo walk. It was so fun seeing the homes! Everything in Germany is so clean and orderly. Yards are not junky and they do not have all the extra "stuff" we Americans tend to acquire. In one word, the streets and homes are charming. Seth was awake when I got back so we showered, packed, and headed out to see a little more of the Black Forest. We drove to Lake Mummelsee. The drive was gorgeous! We saw cute little German towns (lots of Tudor style)

 I thought these hay stacks were too cute not to get a picture!

 This is Lake Mummelsee Lodge. There was a path that went all they way around the lake. I'm sure this is a popular spot in the summer, but on this particular day it was quite cold!

From here, we made the drive to Heidelberg to see the castle.

 Seth got a brat while we waited for our English speaking tour to begin.

 Here's part of the castle! It was burned down or destroyed several times throughout history and we enjoyed the tour.

 This is the interior part of the castle

Talk about some wine consumption!

I need to come back and explore the city! We only had time to do the castle because we were driving to Oberwesel to spend the night in a castle! It was mainly a highway drive, but we did get about a 30 minute scenic drive along the Rhine River. It was castle after castle!

Auf Schonburg, our home for the night!

 Our bed was so pretty! This room had a sitting area and very nice bathroom too. See where the picture is hanging on the wall? That was a secret door! When you opened it, it led to this...

It's our own private verandah! There was a table and chairs that overlooked the Rhine River. You could walk along the wall to another tower. It was SO cool! (sure wish these pictures would flip!!)

View from our room

 This is where the kids would have slept!

We had a DELICIOUS 4 course dinner (wild mushroom salad, cream of  sugar pea soup with grilled prawn, and veal. Dessert was a prune-marzipan target with ginger ice cream. We also got wine pairings with each course. This was definitely our splurge night!

Happy 10th anniversary!

Monday, October 12th


The castle had gardens that you could peruse. It was beautifully landscaped and had a lot of private areas guests could use for reading, relaxing, etc. 

Life size chess board

This was a miniature castle tree house! Inside were tons of books and comfy chairs. There was a secret door inside that led to the deck on the right side. 

I'm thinking we need this at our house!

Sadly, we had to leave that morning. This tiny bridge had signs posting that it could hold 2 tons. I kind of had to hold my breath as Seth drove over it. :)

We drove to the Nurburgring. Here is Seth about to check a major item off of his bucket list- he purchased 2 laps 

No joke- this is pretty much my face the entire time we drove around. The track is 13 miles long. The first lap was so scary for me! Seth was loving it. I just kept thinking, "What if.....?". Any moron can purchase a lap and drive any kind of vehicle. What if someone had an oil spill and the track is slippery? What if someone wrecks right in front of us and we hit them? There are very few people working on the track (I didn't see anyone, but Seth claims there were a couple corner workers). I totally trust Seth and his driving skills, but I couldn't wait for it to be over. 

The second lap wasn't as bad because of this guy! He and Seth kinda-sorta-not really "know" each other from an online car forum. On the first lap, he was leading Seth around. I didn't know this until the end and didn't really believe it until he approached us after we got out. His name is Dan and he lives in Sweden. He comes here often and knows the track. Seth is an excellent driver, but doesn't know this crazy track. Dan led us around the entire time our second time around and it put me at ease. 

We survived!! After our 2 laps, Dan took us to some neat viewing spots. From here, you could watch other drivers go around. It blew my mind that viewers could go right up to the track! There was a maze-like opening further down in the fence that led you right up to the track. Europe is much more "at your own risk" in their way of thinking. 

Afterwards, we sat at the restaurant that overlooks the track and enjoyed a beer and a burger. This burger was so good, but look how big it is! I ate 1/4 and Seth ate the rest. 

Our plan was to visit Dusseldorf and then drive to Leipzig to stay the night. We realized it was further than we thought, so we literally did a drive by. This is a picture taken from the car of the pink castle. I'm sure it's real pretty. :) After that, we hit a ton of construction that added another hour to our drive, so I'm glad we didn't spend too much time there....although, now it's another city added to my "must see" list. We got to Leipzig around 11 pm. 

To be continued....