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.... 

Germany- Part Eins

Seth and I celebrated 10 years of marriage July 9th, 2015. We took the trip of a lifetime October 7th-17th to mark the occasion. We flew from Atlanta to Stuttgart, Germany to begin our 10 day journey.

Thursday, October 7th

By the time we landed, got a cab, and got to our hotel, it was about 10:30 a.m (we flew all night). We couldn't check in, so we left our suitcases in the hotel lobby and ventured out into the city. 

This is Palace Square (Schlonplatz). Today, it's government offices. The lady at the front desk recommended the Kunstmuseum, a modern art museum. It was just ok....a little TOO modern for our taste. Most paintings I felt like I could replicate! There would be just stripes on a blank canvas. We wondered to Stiftskirche, a beautiful old church. 

We stumbled upon a farmers market- this is one of my favorite things to do! They had gorgeous produce and flowers. Our room was ready around 12 and we headed back to take a power nap. I couldn't make it another step! The time change and airplane sleep was getting to me. Afterwards, we grabbed a sandwich from a cafe and hopped on one of those red bus tours to get an overview of the city. 

We mainly just rode around and listened to the English speaking headset. We did get off at 2 stops. 

This view is from the Weinwadnering, a vineyard walk. It was up on a hill that gave pretty views of the city below. There were rows and rows of grapes!

This is the other stop we made. It was a huge park called Killesberg Hill Park. This spriral tower is 42 meters tall and gives panaramic views of the city. We had fun climbing it and enjoyed the scenery. 

Up on top!

We headed back to the hotel and took a SECOND power nap. Then we took the U Bahn (subway/train) to their Oktoberfest, called Volksfest. This was the last night. It was basically a fair with beer drinking and huge "tents" (more like houses) with different beer and bands inside. It was INSANE. Most people wore the typical German outfits (Lederhosen)....no matter what age. It was some good people watching! We split a bacon and veggie pizza and got some beers and just sat, taking it all in. 

 We did venture into one of the houses. There were hundreds of people standing on picnic tables singing at the top of their lungs to the band's songs. Everyone had pints of beer in their hands. It was smoky and loud. We ordered a beer and again, just took it all in. I have never seen anything like it!

Friday, October 8th

The next morning, we headed to Porsche first thing. Seth was SO excited to "meet" his Porsche GT3 RS. The color is Lava Orange, and I love it!

       This is what you see in front of the museum. Pretty cool!

Who knew Porsche made a tractor? (and a firetruck?)

 Here are a bunch of Porsche trophies, suspended in the air by clear wires

After the museum, we ate at the restaurant. It was a wonderful lunch! We had a risotto salmon appetizer, chess cream soup with pistachio pasta shells, and pike perch with spinach and sweet potatoes. The dessert was a cheese plate and plum ice cream with chocolate cake. Talk about stuffed!! Whew. 

From here, we drove to Esslingen, a small town about 20 minutes away.  We spoke to a girl on the subway the night before who is from Stuttgart, and she recommended this quaint town. This is Esslingen Burg, a "castle" but it's really more like a city wall with towers. 

That sloping wall in the far right is actually a covered walkway with steps that lead down to the city. It was quite the hike back up! This town was adorable!

That night, we ate at Paulaner and had a traditional German meal. I had minced meat and spinach stuffed in pasta shells. What is minced meat anyway? It was chilly out, but they had heat lamps so we were able to eat outside. Stuttgart is a lively city. There was some kind of Middle Eastern protest going on in the middle of the city (near the palace) that freaked me out. No one else seemed alarmed, but there were armed police surrounding the group of people chanting. We could never figure out what it was all about. 

Saturday, October 10

After a great night's rest, I woke up and went on a quick run and then we headed out to The Black Forest region. 

We drove to Merkur Mountain and took a funicular to the top of the mountain. This is a train pulled by cables. The picture won't flip. Boo! It was pretty at the top- there was an observation tower that you could climb and see beautiful mountains and a couple small towns. 

Next, we drove to Baden Baden. We just walked around and had lunch (pizza at an Italian restaurant). We sat outside. It was pleasant out!

Two men played the accordion and drums while these two guys danced and passed out flyers for an Oktoberfest. They were hysterical! they would grab people and make them dance or stick flyers in purses when ladies weren't looking. It was quite entertaining. 

From here, we drove to Freiberg. This was possibly my favorite city! We stayed at the Mercure Panorama and boy was it panoramic! 

The hotel was perched WAY up on small mountain that overlooked the city. It was a switchback road all the way up. Our room had this little deck that looked down. LOVED it!

We drove back down after checking in and walked and walked around Frieburg. Seth is walking over the Bachle. They have this water system all through the city and you simply cross the small bridge to get into a store. A vendor sold little boats on ropes that kids can pull through the water. Of course, we bought one for each kid. 

This is Frieburg Cathedral. It was built between the 11th and 15th century. Gorgeous! We loved exploring Munsterplatz, the square surrounded by old buildings. The city had some shopping holiday, so almost all the stores were open until midnight. Needless to say, everyone was out! There were street performers and we had a great time walking around!

After a quick dinner in the hotel restaurant, we grabbed a beer from the bar and took it to our balcony. What a great day!

The next morning, we enjoyed some awesome coffee on our deck and headed out for our next adventure.

To be continued....