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Published: July 11th 2010
Town of Oberwesel
As seen from the castle, it had a wall in mid-evil times, and some of it still stands.We woke up early... the sun comes up way to early in this country (4am). While waiting for breakfast, we explored the castle some more, and snapped some photos.
After a nice breakfast on the patio of the castle, we did a little more exploring, and found a door that led out onto the original castle ramparts. Anne was scared by a small german child who thought we were her friends. The Castle had a summer language camp with a dozen or so children. They were very energetic.. how fun!!
We left the castle late morning, and stopped by a grocery store in Oberwesel. It was an interesting mix of familiar products (coke, evian and harblo), and lots of unfamiliar products. We were able to check out of the store without having to ask anyone if they could speak English to us!!
Following that, we drove up the Rhine. I liked the area of the rhine we were in (Mainz) much better than areas up north. The northern areas had a lot more modern influence, and there were more people.
We stopped in an awesome college town (and historical regional center) named Marburg. It was interesting because
Crazy Castle
Some crazy people build a castle in the middle of the Rhine, no land access. the town seemed to built up around a castle at the top of a hill. Unlike other towns, where the town is on the valley floor below the castle... this town seemed to decide to grow right at the base of the castle at the TOP of the hill. The college was IN the old castle, and there was a lively historical town square with live music, etc. The town provided a nice (tall) elevator to take you up the hill.
We decided to travel the Fairy Tale road. Given that it is a very well advertised driving route (a map was prominently displayed at the tourist information office in Marburg), I expected There to be historical points of interest, vendors, or at least road signs. There were none of the above. Some of the towns were completely bereft of any noticeable tourist business (I know, we had to urgently find a business with a loo at one point).
In fact, the only solid destination we had was the brother's Grimm museum in Kassal. However, when we got there, we found Kassal to be a thriving metropolis (good thing we had a Garmen).. and the museum was closed
for renovation... bummer.
The Fairy tale driving route was a very nice drive, though. quaint towns, open fields, foreboding old forests.. we did not go through all 350 miles of it, though 😊
We arrived in Wolfsburg before dinnertime, and were surprised (and excited) to find that the Ritz-Carlton was actually ON the AutoStadt campus (Volkswagon factory), and that our room keys got us into almost every exibit for free. We alraedy knew, so were not bummed too much, that there were no factory tours on Sunday. We might go back on Wednesday.
Anne was fascinated by the movie playing on a big wall showing morphing shapes vaguely resembling car parts. Tony was blown away by the 50 foot tall rotating doors in one of the museums.
We were both blown away by our room. You see, we got the Ritz coupons during a silent auction for charity. We were expecting (as happened with American Airlines), to get the bare minimum ammenities.. perhaps their cheapest room. What we got surprised us... we were put into one of the 15 or so suites at the top of the hotel, each with it's own balcony and marble bathrooms,
Fiary Tale Road -1
skinny roads, in and out of forests.. beautiful meadows and landscapes fancy everything... it was amazing.
After dinner, we strolled around a bit, and discovered these really cool critter deterrents around the plantings... they were round cages that collapse into themselves and fold up into the ground during the day, but open up at dusk... very cool.
Things we learned today...
- The Best sign ever... grey background, circle with 3 hash marks... on the Autobahn, this means No Speed limit (well, the 200kph limit still applies, but our car only can go 185.. I tried... and yes.. that is somewhere in the vicinity of 115mph!!!).
- small towns don't have public bathrooms.. don't count on it
- Water Closets (i.e. public bathrooms on the autobahns) have a guy that collects money for using them. 50 cents.. no biggie.. but you get a swell paper hand towel.
- you don't have to speak to anyone to check out of a grocery store.
- in Germany, you pump first, pay later.. ahh the good old days.
- Small children whine the same way everywhere.
Anne had a lovely bath and went to sleep.
Tony Watched Germany take third in the World Cup
Fairy tale Road - 2
Forests.. this one not so foreboding... but some were. then... THUD....
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