An Orangerie, a REALLY old town and into the forest

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Another good breakfast at the hotel then after packing up, we walked to Karlsaue Park which is a huge parkland area along the river in the middle of town. It is actually the landscaped gardens in front of the renowned Orangerie, which is a veryornate hothouse originally used for over-wintering the citrus trees in this cold climate. It looked more like a small palace complete with its own separate 2-storey kitchen building. Em ran around the parkland through the trees and along the canals, picking flowers and singing the songs from Disney’s Frozen while pretending to be Elsa – dad got to be Ana… thanks Aunt Bek!

Then it was on to Fritzlar which has one of the oldest surviving town walls in Germany at around 1300 years old. The cathedral and some of the buildings date from this time and most of the walls and towers are still intact. Mel has been looking out for a shoe shop too because her extremely well-travelled boots have finally given up. This ancient town provided a new pair of good walking shoes for just $30 – bargain! And it had a nice little playground for Em while the shoe shopping was going on too. Re-shod, we wandered along the city wall and through the oldest parts of the town on the tiny cobblestone laneways past the sagging buildings which all seem to lean on each other for support. After more than a thousand years, I can’t blame them for being a bit weary 😊

Then it was on the back roads through Red Riding Hood’s countryside. We have turned off the motorways on the sat-nav so it was a really lovely drive through forests, rolling farmland and tiny villages. We finally made it to our hotel at Kirchheim which is a highway style motel called Tulip Inn. In saying that though, European highway hotels are much nicer than Australian ones (Formula 1 or the like) with much better service and food. The staff are so friendly and helpful but maybe that’s just because we’re a bit different than the tired traveling businessmen they usually see.

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Photos

Fritzlar
1300 year old ton wall