Wow. What a difference a day makes!
Well, slightly more than a day. We left Austin, Texas on Friday. It was a scorching 100 degrees. Saturday morning, we landed in Frankfurt, Germany, where it was a beautiful and breezy 72 degrees and overcast.
Today we spent the afternoon in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, the oldest fully-preserved midieval city in Germany (circa 1400). Its city wall and towers are all intact and we ate lunch in a lovely little place dating back to 1576.
All the little towns along what’s called “The Romantic Road” are filled with window boxes overflowing with bright flowers and the countryside is dotted with beautiful green gardens and lush farms full of wheat and barley and corn. It’s a patchwork of farms that drape across the hilly countryside.
Tonight (we’re 7 hours ahead of Central time) we’ve just eaten dinner and are getting ready for an early night to bed. (Last night we all went to bed at 5:30 pm and slept until 5:30 am – getting over that jetlag!)
We’re in Fuessen, at the foothills of the Austrian Alps, and tomorrow we will trek up the mountain to see the magnificent Neuschwanstein castle built by King Ludwig II in 1886. Unfortunately, it’s going to be 50 degrees with an 80 percent chance of rain. Not ideal for mountain climbing in my book, but we’ve got jackets and umbrellas. It is the real-life castle after which the Disney princess castle was modeled and our daughter – 5-1/2 – is enthralled with anything to do with castles and royalty. I planned this especially for her.
Then it will be on Salzburg, Austria for 3 days, where I hope to be able to blog again some. There are some gardens on my list for our sightseeing there that I want to share with you.
Tschuss! (That’s “bye” in German)
Oh – P.S. We’re also here visiting all my family on my mother’s side, who is first generation German and moved to the States with my father and I when I was just a baby. This is our daughter’s third trip — we brought her over for the first time when she was 6 months old, so she’s a seasoned world traveler.
Your post brings back a lot of memories of previous trips to Europe. I’ve been to Rothenburg, Fussen, and Salzburg. Be sure to check out the other castle–the older one, can’t remember the name–in Fussen. I think that one shows more of the crazy Ludwig! Drink a liter or two of beer for me. Oh, and you are going on the Sound of Music tour, aren’t you? I grew up on that movie and had to go, even if my husband was a bit embarrassed at how much I knew about the movie!
Have a wonderful trip Diana. Maybe you can bring back some of that wonderfully cool mountain air.
Those flower boxes are just too pretty for words.
Diana,
So delightful a place. Love the houses and the window boxes. Have a wonderful time!
Gail
Sounds like a wonderful trip. Enjoy that cool air and rain for us here in Austin. I just returned from a 3-week trip myself and am still adjusting to the heat again.
FYI, my blog and email are down, thanks to a malicious hacker. Hope to be back up soon.
Vertie – it was SOOOO wet, that I scrapped any hope of going to Hohenschwangau – the other castle. We were quite miserable and not up for it. I’ve been through here before as well, as a child on trips all around when we lived in Europe. As for the sound of music – you’ve just gotta embrace your geekiness about it when you are here!
Lisa – makes me feel guilty for whining about the upkeep on my pots!
Gail – thanks. We’re having a ball. Back to Germany tomorrow.
Pam – sorry about your techno troubles. I know – I was reminded by another friend that we will be back to the inferno soon enough!!!