Blogs from Baden-Württemberg, Germany, Europe - page 9

Shelby decided to be a champion today and drive a manual car in order to visit castles today. We visited Lichtenstein Castle and Hohenzollern Castle. The Lichtenstein Castle was built into a rock cliff above the city in the valley. It was never taken over, but was ruined through age until a royal family decided to build a hunting lodge on site using some of the original ruins. It then was expanded on the premise of a poem written by a family member and meant to replicate the old castle style. My favorite thing about this castle was the family who restored the grounds actually still live on the premise throughout the year. We took a tour of the castle which was completely in German but God looked down on us and had a nephew interpreting ... read more

We arrived in Stuttgart as a stopping point on our way to visit Fritz. There didn’t seem to be a ton to do directly in the city of Stuttgart, but it had a lot of parks to walk around the next day in the surrounding area. The one thing we wanted to attempt is going to the highest point of the city (Birkenkopf). This is 511 m and is near city center. It is the highest point in the city is they took the ruins and rubble from the buildings during WWII and piled them to create the top of the hill. We had recently been talking about what cities did with all their destroyed buildings so it seemed ironic to end up in a city who had used its ruins. We had heard of others ... read more

We’ve gotten into a bit of a routine. Everyone kind of wakes up on their own and does their own morning routine and once everyone in’s fully awake we move out and start our day of sight seeing. This morning Cheryl and I wanted a Diet Coke so we walked down to the village center with Connor (Lori’s son). He is 10th grade and goes to a high school on the Army base. It was nice chatting with him to and from the bakery. Makes me miss the boys. I could picture myself chatting with them as we walk the neighborhood. On the agenda (that’s what Mandy calls the itinerary) we are going to eat breakfast at a Chocolate factory, shop at the Birkenstock Outlet, visit a castle and going to eat at fun German Restaurant. ... read more

Today started like our previous days, we woke up around 7:30 or so, did our morning duties, went down for another decent breakfast in the hostel, climbed in our car and away we went. Today we planned on checking out Lauda-Konigshofen, about 40 kilometers away. I had found a map showing a walking tour of the town with about 20 or so sights, but hadn't printed it out, figuring it wouldn't be clear/big enough to read. We also figured we could pick one up at the town's tourist information center. Well, first of all, although I knew Lauda-Konigshofen was two towns more or less joined together, I didn't realize the two parts were that far apart, or that the only Tourist Information Center, in Lauda, we found we be so small with so few pamphlets. We ... read more

We woke up around 7:30 this morning, then headed downstairs for our included breakfast. There was one other guest there, a middle-aged German guy walking about 100 kilometers as part of his annual hiking vacation. Breakfast consisted of cereal, some assorted meats, cheeses, and breads, along with coffee. After a leisurely breakfast I brought our luggage down to the car while Manoli settled the bill. We actually accepted the place and spent the night there, without having any real idea how much it would cost. It turned out to be 60 Euros, about what I'd expected. By this time it was around 9am, so we headed out in the car to find the Herrgottskirche and the Thimble Museum or Fingerhutmuseum. We knew the Thimble Museum didn't open until 10am, and found out when we arrived that ... read more