Germany

Southern Germany was our next stop.  We flew into Frankfurt late in the evening and then caught a shuttle to Heidelberg where we spent the next three days.  Heidelberg is a college town with about 150,000 people - 25% are college students.  The river Neckar flows through the center of town, the old town features a pedestrian mall about one mile long, and the Heidelberg Castle overlooks the town from the hillside.  Many consider Heidelberg to be the most beautiful city in Germany.

Our first day in Heidelberg we walked the mall through old town and then rode a funicular up to the Heidelberg Castle. The original portion of this castle was built prior to 1214. Over a few hundred years the castle was damaged by lightning, fire and war, and was repaired and added to over the years, up until about the 1760s.

View from the castle terrace.

One of the many sites to see in the castle is the "Big Wine Barrel of Heidelberg Castle".  The barrel has a capacity of 58,000 gallons and is the largest wooden barrel ever to be filled with wine on the planet.  The barrel was built in 1751 and is evidence of the historical wine culture of the region. 

 Cameron climbing up the stairs next to the wine barrel.

Waiting to board the funicular  - there are three funiculars that take you to the top of the hills above the city of Heidelberg.

On another day, we hiked the "Philosphers Walk" on the other side of the river.  This was a beautiful hike starting from the river bank, up the hillside and then into very dense forest.  Beautiful weather, fresh air, and we practically had the trails all to ourselves.  A perfect afternoon.

Crossing the river back in to town after our hike.

After our hike we enjoyed some time at an outdoor cafe and did a bit of Mother's Day shopping.

Dinner that evening in a very traditional German restaurant with crowded communal tables, smoke and hearty food.

We rented a car our last day in Heidelberg and drove through the Bavarian Alps to our next stop Füssen, Germany.  We spent four days in this small mountain town just three miles from the Austrian border.

Our hotel in Füssen.

The local bakery.  Turns out Hoeffler is a Bavarian name and one of the shopkeepers we met said his neighbor was a "Hoeffler".

Just outside of Füssen is the Neuschwanstein Castle.   We have seen quite a few castles on this trip, and this was by far the most impressive.  We read that is was the inspiration for Walt Disney's magic kingdom.  We hiked up about 20 minutes to get to the base of the castle and then took the guided interior tour. We then hiked a trail a bit further up to a bridge that overlooks the castle and valley below. 

Neuschwanstein Castle was built by Ludwig II of Bavaria. Construction began in 1869 and ended in 1886, upon Ludwig's death, uncompleted. It was meant to be an homage to the work of Richard Wagner, and Ludwig borrowed heavily to build it. It is said that because of the financial irresponsibility Ludwig showed, he was declared mentally incompetent to continue his rule of Bavaria and was removed from power. Ludwig's psychiatrist delivered this news and the two were found dead together within days, drowned in Lake Starnberg. Our tour guide called this "mysterious circumstances" but it sounds pretty clear to me. 

It's an engineering marvel. I can't figure out how this thing hasn't just slid down the mountainside.

On another day, we drove into Munich on the autobahn which was a fast ride.  We drove about 150km/hour and were constantly being passed by cars that were easily driving 200+km/hr.   That was quite an experience.

We had reserved tickets for the BMW factory tour a few months ago and were excited.  Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take photos inside. It takes 40 hours to build a car from start to finish and we were able to watch each step in the process - from sheet metal to cars driving off the line. An astounding number of robots are involved in most every step. We all loved this almost three hour tour.  Photos of the exterior of the BMW campus.

Our last day in Füssen we rode the Tegelbergbahn Tram to the top of a local ski area in the Alps. 

View from the tram on the way up.

Still snow at the top. Cameron and Allison practice juggling!

Everyone had fun on the play equipment!

We then did some hiking up the mountainside along a river and falls.

That night we celebrated Mother's Day Eve in our favorite German restaurant in Füssen.

As we left Füssen, we drove through Garmish, another spectacular mountain town in the Bavarian Alps.



Next stop is Passau, Germany on the Danube River.  We will begin our Danube River Cruise in Passau.