Nuremberg, Munich, and Neuschwanstein

After New Year's we took off for a (three day) trip across southern Germany. If you are thinking that it was warmer in the southern part of the country, think again. Southern Germany is where the Alps are, and so it was mountains, snow and cold.--Dad

Day 1

NUREMBERG

Nuremberg is a city in Bavaria that is famous for both its Bratwurst, which we had twice, and its Lebkuchen (the German word for Gingerbread). This was the first stop on our three day tour, and from the very beginning it was snowing. The first thing we did was to stop by the castle.

Nurnberger Schloss

Us at the Schloss

The castle has two main attractions. The Sinwell Tower, which is featured in the picture below, and the Deep Well, which is a good 50 meters deep. This picture shows us going down the stairs of the Sinwell Tower, which will give you a good idea of how tall it was. Featured in this picture is (from top to bottom) Noel, Mom, and Sydney(?).

On the stairs at the tower of Nuremberg castle. That's a looooong way down!--Noel

The well was the next stop on our tour, since it was only a few feet away from the tower. The guide for the well lowered some lit candles into the well to show how deep it was.

Thirty meters is a long way down.

They also have a display case showing things that they pulled out of the well in 2012. There are a couple pencils, a wallet, a toy Manny from Ice Age,  and a lot of rusted coins stuck to rocks and other objects.

The most beautiful woman in the world and two of her sons.

Just hope that no one says: I live in the Fachwerk house.

No, it was the Fachwerk house on this street.

This either means that we are being invaded by giant bronze bunnies or Albrecht Durer was here.

The Kettensteg over the Pegnitz

We walked across the bridge after that and soon came to the river, where we took a picture with this Santa hat umbrella cover. Featured in this picture is (from left to right) Sydney, Rebecca, Mom, Noel, Adam, and Jacob.

Nuremberg by the river.

 Day 2

MUNICH

We rode a train into Munich and got off around the Glockenspiel. The Glockenspiel is the most famous attraction in Munich. It is basically a giant mechanical grandfather clock that rings twice a day (11:00 and 12:00). These metal people go around in a circle and spin and pretty much create a story. First there is a jousting tournament, the first time around both knights miss, the second time one of the knights is knocked over. Second comes spinning men going in a circle, kind of like dancing. The last part has a bird squawking  We waited for it to start, and watched it.

Let the merriment begin!

The jousting match

There's nothing I enjoy more than a country dance . . .

Then we went inside a nearby store to get warm, and to find a stroller for Jacob, who did not want to walk. Turns out you have to go out of the city to get a stroller but we did get an awesome picture of Spencer with Lego Santa. We also went to a cool toy museum, but I don't have any pictures of that.

It's a bit after Christmas, but Lego Santa is still in Munchen.

After the store we walked around the Victualienmarkt (food market) for a few minutes, and found a place to eat. We had some of Munich's signature Weisswurst, or white sausage, pretzels, a few people had spicy Chili (not super spicy), and some got Nuremberg sausages with Sauerkraut. Featured in the picture are Samuel, Rebecca, and some random people in the background.

A cozy tent lunch in Munchen.

As the sun sets we bid a fond farewell to Munchen.

Day 3

 NEUSCHWANNSTEIN

(otherwise known as the Fairy Tale Castle)

It was snowing the entire time we were in Fussen, and it wasn't just light snow all the time. It was really thick and hard to drive on the roads. Hiking up and down the trails to the castles was like hiking in the middle of a Utah winter. Samuel is demonstrating how deep the snow is, and you can see Jacob and a few other members of the family in the background. (It's hard to tell who they are)

Look at how thick the snow is! We don't have anything like this in Heidelberg.

The first castle we went to was Hohenschwangau, which literally translates to High Swan District. It is this blocky yellow castle that was remade from the ruins of a fort by the Bavarian royal family.

Sameul, Noel and Rebecca by the little summer cottage of the Wittelsbach family.

 

A member of the Wittelsbach family graciously gave us a little tour. He said he was sorry but we could not tour the top floor because that was the children's area and little Louis had not cleaned up the play room.

Jacob when he wasn't throwing snowballs or trying to stomp on clods of snow.

If you look closely you can see Hohenschwangau and the little tourist village around it. This was where Mad King Ludwig II grew up.

Castle Hohenschwanngau on the long way up to Neuschwanstein.

There are two ways to go up to castle Neuschwanstein, the short way and the long way, which is over twice as long as the short way. Two paths diverged in a snowy wood, one well traveled, and one that was not traveled, at all. We took the road less traveled by, and ended up taking the long path, which was basically hiking for 45 or so minutes in a freezing snowy wonderland. We got some awesome views of both Castle Hohenschwangau and Castle Neuschwanstein, which translates to New Swan Stone. Featured in the picture below is Mom, Samuel's glasses, hoodie, and hat, a lamp post, and Neuschwanstein itself. Fun Fact: The Cinderella castle in Cinderella is based on Neuschwanstein.

We took the long way up! But we got a great view of the castle!

More pictures of the path up.

Spencer is trying to catch snowflakes.

The road goes ever, ever on . . .

They didn't allow pictures inside the castle, but it was breathtaking.

Neuschwanstein gleaming in the sun. We decided to take the short way down.

The family photo at Neuschwanstein. We are the huddled mass at the base of the tower in the middle of the photo. I had envisioned this from the Marienbrucke but that was closed.

Neuschwanstein from the courtyard.

This is the little tourist village at the bottom of the mountain. We are all warmed up and refreshed from the warm lunch we had and are ready to hike back down the mountain. You can see Sydney, Adam, Samuel, Noel, Spencer, and the mom's back in this picture.

Family photo. Can you see Neuschwanstein in the distance through the falling snow?

The Wittelsbachs seem to have outgrown their little summer cottage and started a new one. It should be great to see it when it is done. This is the view from the old one.

This is how much snow fell while we were seeing the castles. It was snowing the entire time. It was really cold in the car as well.

But we were only gone a couple of minutes! Just kidding, actually six hours.

Ladenburg

Yesterday we went to Ladenburg. Ladenburg was an important administrative center under Heidelberg during the Palatinate, and is only about fifteen minutes away from where we live. Ladenburg is now perhaps most famous as being the hometown of Carl Benz, the maker of the first automobile.

The original patent for the automobile.

The Marktplatz in Ladenburg

It was a city that was founded by the Romans. The Roman city is mostly buried and Ladenburg is built on top of it. We were told that when they build a house they hope they do not dig up any pottery or anything or else they have to do an archaeological expedition.--Noel

A nicely maintained and displayed archaeological dig.

These are the remains of the Roman period (2nd century AD) basilicum. The current Roman Catholic Church was built on the remains.--Dad

The Lobdengau-Museum

We visited the Lobdengau-Museum in Ladenburg, which is dedicated to the local history and only open on Wednesdays and Saturdays. The museum is excellent, as were the guides.--Dad

Almost all of the fancy designs on it are just painted on.--Noel

The bottom floor is dedicated to the Roman period settlement. The displays of archaeological artifacts is excellent; one of the best I have ever seen. The display of the coins is really good. The first floor is dedicated to prehistory. The upper floors are dedicated to the middle ages through about World War II.

Ladenburg

Our guide at the museum was extremely well informed and nice. One of the exhibits was a dollhouse donated by her aunt that she had played with as a little child.

A fully stocked kitchen is an essential element in any household.

The dishes are about 3 centimeters across. The intricate detail was amazing. The museum has some local folk art that is as good as the material in Sachsen.

The saying translates: "A good neighbor near at hand is worth more than friends across the land."

The central part of Ladenburg is still surrounded by a medieval wall. Many of the Fachwerkhäuser have dates on them (unfortunately most of them were a little after the death of Johann Sylvanus, the superintendent of Ladenburg who was martyred in 1572).

The Ladenburg town square

As you can tell by the architecture, the building straight ahead obviously houses a Chinese restaurant.

The citizens obviously take pride in their town and its history. Everything was clean and well-kept.--Dad

The Ladenburg Stadtmauer

Along the city wall makes a great spot for running a race.

We had delicious Döner and actual salty fries. You don't get those in America.--Noel

We had the best Dönerkebab we have found in this area at a place called the Amed Döner Kebabhaus. It was so much better than what is available by where we live, that it might be worth the trip.--Dad

I think that it was a lot like other cities that we have been to but different in its own way. It was different because it was smaller and calmer than the other cites we have been to and it wasn't as crowded which made it a lot calmer.--Noel

I loved it when I saw the lake.--Jacob [It was actually a park by the Neckar river.]

This little town is definitely worth another visit.