Vacation 2011 (Part 1)

Once Upon A Fairy Tale - Germany

Day 1: Willkommen!

As with all of our Disney Adventures, the first day of the adventure is just the welcome dinner, where you get to meet your fellow adventurers.  But since we arrived early, this set includes photos from the days before as well.  We spent the day before the adventure wandering around Heidelberg, particularly the “old town” (or Altstadt) section, which has lots of shopping.  Amber went earlier and visited her ancestral villages of Neiderlinxweiler and Oberlinxweiler.

Day 2: Heidelberg Haunts

We visit our first castle of the trip, Heidelberg Castle (or Heidelberg Schloshof).  Here we saw the worlds largest Wine Barrel holding 55,345 gallons.  After this we were on our own for the afternoon, and we spent it once again in the old town (Alstadt) section.  Then we rejoined our Adventure for dinner at Molkenkur Restaurant which overlooks the city of Heidelberg.

Word Of The Day: Sprechen Sie Englisch (SHPREKEN ZEE ENG-LISH) meaning, “Do you speak English?”  (Yup, used this one a lot…)

Day 3: Fairytale Fantasy

This day we visited Alsfeld, made famous by the Brothers Grimm (Jacob and Wilhelm).  Alsfeld is filled with building that look like they still belong in bygone centuries.  We had watched a classic style presentation of Little Red Riding Hood, and then had lunch.  Here I discovered the joy of “Spaghetti Ice Cream”, which is vanilla ice cream put through a spaghetti press, then slathered with strawberry topping that gets into all the little nooks and crannies left by the press, and then topped with shredded white chocolate.  It’s fantastic!  After that we were off to Hotel Schloss Waldeck, which was a castle build in 1150, but has since been turned into a hotel.  It overlooks Lake Edersee.

Word Of The Day: Schloss (SHLAS) meaning “castle” or “palace”.

Day 4: Wunderbar Waldeck

We start the morning with Biking around Lake Edersee.  Which is a man made lake made by creating a dam.  This caused three towns to be submersed under the lake (they say everyone moved first, but you know how governments are…)  They actually offer SCUBA diving  down to said villages, and we were sorely tempted, except for lack of time.  After the bike ride we had a BBQ lunch, and then went and did some Archery.  Afterwards we explored the castle and the town down the hill (Wiki says it’s called Dorweiler.)

Word Of The Day: Märchen (MAR-HEN) which means “Fairytale”.

Day 5: Romantic Road

Off to visit our third castle of the trip, this one is Lowenburg Castle in the city of Kassel, but first a stop by the Hercules monument so we can get an overlook view of Kassel and Lowenburg.  Lowenburg Castle was actually built in the 1800’s, but designed to look medieval.  After our tour we had lunch at the Gutshof Kassel Restaurant, and then off to Eisenhut Hotel in Rothenburg.  Where we ended our evening with a tour given by one of the Night Watchmen.

Word Of The Day: Romantische Straße (ROH-MAN-TISCH STRAZ) meaning “The Romantic Road”, which is the tourist route created following the Brother Grim trail.

Day 6: Pretzel Twist

What better way to start the day than in a bakery, we were taught how to create pretzels, which we then had for lunch along with some sausage from the butcher next door.  Then we were off on our own to explore Rothenburg.  We visited the museum of crime and punishment (they were serious about punishment), and visited the Kaethe Wohlfahrt Christmas store (very impressive collection of Christmas decorations).

Word Of The Day: Brezel (BRE-ZEL) meaning “Pretzel”.

Day 7: Grin and BEAR It!

On the road again, starting with the Steiff Bear Factory (and Museum).  Margaret Steiff is credited with popularizing the stuffed animals that are common today.  She originally made an elephant as a pin cushion from a pattern in a magazine, but children liked playing with them.  Now their motto is “Only the best is good enough for children.”  Afterwards we were off to our final destination Munich (or Munchen as the Germans call it), where we had a walking tour of the town.

Word Of The Day: Alles Klar “Ä-LES KLAR” means “okay”.

Day 8: Bavarian Beauty

Our final castle of the trip, and what a castle it is, Neuschwanstein Castle.  This is the castle that inspired the Walt Disney’s Sleeping Beauty Castle.  It was created by King Ludwig II, and it overlooks his parents Hohenschwangau Castle (known as the yellow castle), and the town of Schwangau.  After returning to Munich (or Munchen), we had our farewell dinner at Hofbrauhaus, which is one of Munich’s oldest beer halls.

Word Of The Day: Neuschwanstein (NEW-SCHAWN-STEEN) meaning “New Swan Stone”, highlighting the castles white stone.

Day 9: Auf Wiedersehen

Ah, the trip home...  We say farewell to our Adventure Guides, and head on back home.

Word Of The Day: Freundschaft (FRUHND-SCHAFT) meaning “Friendship”.