We had so many pictures we had to break this up into two parts! 1150 to be exact.

Our first stop is Landsberg am Lech!

We stopped over in a tiny town called Landsberg. It was a small charming town and it was also the first day the sun had come out to say hello. We took advantage of this by having a few teas and some cake with Mr. Moo in the market square. As always we walked the town and this time around checked out the super high river coursing through it due to the current flooding all over Europe from the heaviest rain fall Germany has seen in 500 years.

Next stop was Rottenbuch. This is one of the smallest towns we were going through. The town's main attraction was the huge Gothic Monastery Church. This church was nothing like the others, it was insane! Built in 1700 and completed in the 1750's. When you see it you'll know why. We couldn’t stop looking in every direction. I think the pictures speak for themselves, but they can only say so much without seeing it in person. There is also a very beautiful cemetery where generations of families would be buried together dating back to the 1800's.

Our final stop was Fussen.

You could spend a month here and not run out of things to do, mountains to climb, or hikes to explore. It is also the gateway welcoming you to the Bavarian Alps! We were excited as it was the closest to home we have felt since we left. Fussen is the last stop on the Romantic Road, and that is a great way to end it all. Why is Fussen so well known? Well for the castles of course. This is the home of Neuschwanstein Castle, the castle that Walt Disney modeled Disney World/Castle after. The castle was commissioned by King Ludwig II, he was nicknamed the mad king for his need to commission everything on a grand scale. You can fit an entire village inside the castle and still have room for parking, its that big. The second castle was Hohenschwangau which was built by King Ludwig II father Maximilian II. It wasn’t as grand as the previous castle but just as impressive. The views were to die for.

With our two discount cards that the hotel gave us we tried to see what we could do for free. Oh boy did that work out well! We did a luge run that was awesome minus the kids that were eager to run you off the track. The other fun thing we did was the chair lift to the top of one of the Alps. We were carried 1134 meters where we got an amazing view of the German alps. Anna might have been screaming half of the way up. On the top of the mountain we met some mountain goats. One of these horned and hairy pagan looking creatures was out to get us for simply looking at his goatly women. They all have beards so how were we supposed to know?

Our trip was an amazing discovery that showed us what we already knew, Europeans know how to live. They take the time to live their lives and enjoy themselves. This is something us Canadians can definitely do more of and minimize those work hours.

Cheers!



"Ve are on zee rhote" said the non Germans in a fake German accent.

Our Europe adventure was a last minute decision and in no way planned at all, so we leaned on all our friends for information. The Romantic Road was suggested by my friend Shawna and boy does she need my hugs and kisses!

"Romantic Road? What is that?" said the native Germany couple we met on a taxi ride in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

It is 385 km long road with 28 tiny cities, towns and villages that have been kept up from the 11th century. How did they not know? Seems barbaric!

Picture ref: http://www.guide-to-bavaria.com/en/Romantic-Road-Map.html

Here is our 6 nights, 7 days adventure.

First stop, Wurzburg!

Our first quick stop was a town called Wurzburg. It had a river running through it, dominated by the massive castle of Marienberg. It had majestic little wine hubs all over but it felt a little bit too commercial for us. We only stayed long enough to enjoy a local artist and buy his cds.

Next stop, Rothenburg ob der Tauber.

Can you say love at first sight? Because we fell head over heels with this tiny walled city.  Walled City? Yes, there is a huge medieval wall that surrounds the entire city, this means you have to enter through one of four gates that horses used to use. Driving was tricky as it was only made large enough for carriages and people. The entire city is outfitted in cobble stones and the "newer" buildings were built in the 1500's.

We stayed at an amazing little restaurant, yes restaurant. They just opened 6 rooms above the restaurant and were amazing. They are brand new, and completely charming. The staff was super helpful and the breakfast delightful, not to mention the great dinner.

We explored the city day and night. Oh did we mention that this whole trip it was never above 7 degrees and it rained constantly. I guess we forgot to add that part. This little town is super famous for it's Christmas Market, and they don’t disappoint. They had at least 5 huge Christmas stores that put our one in Banff to shame, TO SHAME I SAY! It was in the beginning of June and we just kept wishing it would snow and Christmas would show itself. Most of the Christmas traditions comes from this town, not to mention all the decorations and cuckoo clocks, which are all hand made of course. They were amazing, the hand made art pieces, hand carved with music, singing animals, amazing beer steins. Anna was in tears half of the day.

One exciting thing we did was the Night Wachman Tour (that again our friend Shawna recommended). It was an authentic, hilarious night tour of the town. Describing everything from its history in the dark ages, to the family that still lives in the same building since 1600's and of course why going to hell is actually a good idea.

Following is our stop in Dinkelsbuhl, yes DINKELS.

A town similar to Rothenburg complete with the wall and towers. We walked the wall of the town which took about 2 hrs and it was incredible. The town was much more colourful and amazingly green. One point we got lost and a 5' old German man helped us out. We tried to explain to him we didn’t speak any German, but he didn’t mind talking to us the whole way.

There were of course a few others little towns we stopped in. Each charming in their own way. We saw so many churches, historic buildings and all the beer gardens on the way. We were driving in a VW Golf which was a very fun car. Driving the winding roads made us reminisce of Australia and New Zealand. Only change was that the drivers in Germany are amazing, and follow the rules except of course when on the Autobahn. Autobahn, what a great invention, go as fast as you want; we thought we were until we had everyone passing us at 180-200km/hr. We've never been so afraid to drive slow in our lives, it was GREAT! 

Next Stops Landsberg am Lech, Rottenbuch, and of course the famous Fussen!