Entries about people

30/05/2019 let the road trip begin!

This holiday was long awaited and to be honest I was counting the months ever since I booked the hotels and looked at the route I was going to drive in the upcoming week. The "Romantische Strasse" is a journey I wanted to do for several years but somehow I never got the time or the free days to travel to, so this year I went to my boss and just asked for a few days off. I must admit, I had to negotiate a little to get it, but half an hour later I got out feeling like a winner, I did it! I was so proud of it and now that the day finally had arrived I was looking forward to a few days on the road.

I left my home very early in the morning, it was about 4 AM coz I was going to do the infamous route in reverse. That meant that I had to drive a whopping 800 kilometers, but that didn't stop me at all. As I left, it was still dark and not much traffic on the road, just as I liked it.

An hour had gone and I crossed the border with the Netherlands and not soon after even the border with Germany. I must admit that it is fun knowing that in just mere hours you can cross several countries from where I live. Living in just a small country has its benefits, at times that is!

I had been driving for about 3 hours when I finally had my first stopover at a small roadside café where I enjoyed a quick tea break with a biscuit, a much needed visit to the toilet and than it was back on the road again for yet another few hours.

Luckily for me I selected a good play list which is much needed on the road coz as soon as daylight arrived, so did more and more traffic popped up and although I was lucky enough to avoid traffic jams, as soon as I passed Frankfurt am Main, I started gazing at all those cars in front of me. Yep it was getting busier and busier and I was so glad that I left on a public holiday coz now no heavy traffic like trucks were allied on the roads.

After my quick lunch break in yet another roadside café, I was back on the road again and looking forward to the last hours when all of a sudden at the neighborhood of Stuttgart my nightmare came through ... I ended up in one traffic jam after another and although they weren't as worse as I had a few years back driving towards Austria for a skiing trip, still it made me arrive in Füssen about 3 hours later than expected.

I was just so glad to be of the highway and driving towards my dwelling of the night, which luckily enough wasn't that far and smack in the middle of the little town. Hotel Fantasia was just ideally located and as soon as I parked my car I was greeted a lovely old lady who happened to be the caretaker of the hotel. She showed me my room and also gave a lot of details on what to do an a free afternoon.

As soon as I dropped of my stuff, I headed to town and the fact that the sun was shining made things more interesting.

Füssen is but a small town, but the shopping street was filled with smiling people and like most of them I sprinted towards the ice cream stall to have myself a cup of something delicious while investigating the shops even a bit more. I just loved the shops with the typical German clothes called "dirndl & Lederhosen". It is nice to see that people still hold on to their traditions.

Although the town hasn't got those typical half-timbered houses, I still fell in love with the vibrant colors they use and once up on the hill, the town even has its own castle called Hohe Schloss which basically means "high castle". Once the summer residence of the prince-bishops, nowadays it is just a gallery with Bavarian state art.

Upon my arrival late in the afternoon it was closed, but I was just happy to linger around and soak it all up. It was after all a nice place to sit on a bench and enjoy the sun rays while knowing that you are on holiday, it made my day, that's for sure!

By the time it was 6 PM, I looked up a typical Bavarian restaurant and ordered some delicious food and once finished I had one last stroll to the hotel, had a quick shower and an early night to go to sleep. I was completely knackered by the time it was 10 PM.

31/05/2019 sometimes dreams do come true!

An early night meant also that I woke up early in the morning, but that didn't bother me at all coz today I was going to visit a long awaited dream and to get there, I needed an early rise and shine!

I quickly had breakfast in the tiny but beautifully decorated breakfast area and I must say, my complements to the caretaker coz it was absolutely delicious. The place could seat only about 10 people but than again, it wasn't such a big hotel, I am sure there was going to be room for all of the guests, not to mention the variety of food displayed on the counter.

As I grabbed my stuff, checked out and dropped everything in the back of my car, I headed for Neuschwanstein which is only a few minutes away from Füssen.

Driving on my first meters of the Romantic Road I soon got a glimpse of the town of Hohenschwangau and it took me only 10 euros to park my car in the vicinity of the castle. I knew this was going to be a "tourist trap" but I wanted to visit the castle for quite a while so I had to go with the flow, even if it meant that it was going to be an expensive one!

Because it was still early, it seemed I was in time before all the tourist busses arrived, but as I entered the ticket office I noticed I still had to wait till 12 AM to go on a slot to visit the castle. WTF ???? It was only 9 AM and I didn't wanted to wait all that long. I knew it was going to be a hassle to get into the castle as the caretaker of the hotel told me yesterday. She also told me that it was going to be an 1 hour visit with about 300 steps and you weren't allowed to take pictures inside the castle.

I must confess that I was in doubt what to do next? Did I go inside and rushed like all tourists do or did I want to enjoy my little time here and skip the inside all together and go for the amazing outside. I must admit the first one sounded so appealing coz I really wanted to see al the splendor of that crazy king Ludwig II (even if it were only 3 rooms), but on the other hand, when I was organizing this trip, I also calculated only a few hours coz I still needed to drive for a bit towards Landsberg am Lech.

Seeing all the tourists arrive about half an hour later, I made up my mind and went for option number 2. I was going to skip the inside and instead of paying 25 euro for visiting both castles, I chose to pay 3 euro for a small bus to take me halfway up the hill to avoid the steep climb up and seeing I was crushed between loads of other friendly Asian tourists, I was glad I avoided option number 1 and I was more glad to get out of the bus about 15 minutes later.

The driver told us to go to the Marienbrücke first and so I did with just a handful of other people. Most of them sprinted for the last meters to the castle coz they needed to be on time to visit the inside. I was so glad not to have chosen that one and instead I walked the few meters up the hill only to find that beautiful castle in front of me. It truly is magnificent, even on a cloudy day and I can see why Disney has chosen this castle for sleeping beauty, coz it just screaming magic all over the place!

I took my time to soak it all in and crossed the tiny bridge several times, helped a few Korean tourists for their much needed picture and soon I was on my way to have a closer look of the castle and it didn't disappointed me at all! The hurdle of tourists on the other hand made me feel claustrophobic and although it was a pity to see the entrance of the castle in scaffolds, I was glad to see the courtyard was not entirely hidden in scaffolds as I read a few months ago.

The courtyard itself isn't that big and it was completely packed with tourists waiting to go inside the castle and although at that moment I felt a bit sad that I didn't went for option number 1, I soon learned that only 2 rooms could be seen, the 3rd room was also under construction, lucky me, for once I made a right decision!

As I walked down the hill in a slow pace I could see the castle in all its splendor and I get it that 1.4 million people want to visit it, but on a yearly base that is just an insane amount of people. Maybe for the town it means big business, but I wouldn't be glad living in it, that's for sure!

Once back in town again I also visited the outside of that other castle of Ludwig II, "castle Hohenschwangau" and even walking up the lower castle it made for a great work out, I must admit that I enjoyed it a lot.

I wondered around the castle for a little while, visited the gardens around it and by the time I was back in Hohenschwangau it was already 12 AM. This meant time for a little snack and although there was nothing else but fancy restaurants to be found, I did manage to find a small food stall that sold some delicious "bratwürst", just what I needed to fill my tummy instantly!

More and more people started to arrive into town and even getting to the parking area was a hassle, so this was my sign to say it was more than enough time to leave the town behind me, which I managed to do about half an hour later.

As I drove for yet another few meters on the Romantic Road I quickly stopped at the small chapel of Schwangau from where you had an amazing view on Neuschwanstein in the distance. It is only from this place you can see how high it is situated in the mountains. Really incredible!

Back on the road again, I drove for about half an hour when I suddenly arrived in Rottenbuch. This was also on my list because of the abbey. On itself you wouldn't say that it is amazing, because the outside it plane white and it is tucked away in the small monastery with even a small cemetery, but the inside of the abbey is so amazing it really took my breath away!

I must admit that even in Belgium we have lovely churches and chapels, but this one was evenly beautiful and I must admit that I love the rococo art period. It is just so dramatic and I guess that is the thing I like most of it. It makes people look so small and art so big, just like it is intended to be, but that's just my opinion.

Back on the road again, it was nice driving alongside those small villages and wide open fields and although Schongau was also on the map as a must see town, I personally didn't like it as much except maybe for that amazing statue of the German eagle, although this reminded me of a person which no-one wants to remember, I guess a legacy all Germans have to deal with and I am so glad that it is just such a beautiful country that it makes people forget about the past even if it is for a little while!

As I left Schongau behind me, it was only about half an hour driving when I arrived in Landsberg am Lech, my homebase for tonight.

It was so sad that I couldn't find one vacant hotel in the center of town, so instead I had to deal with the fact that I had to choose one closer to the highway in an industrial area. For one, it is close to the highway and a quicker getaway in the morning, but as I arrived, it soon got clear to me I had about a 45 minute brisk walk ahead of me in order to even get to the center of town.

The sun was still shining at 4 PM in the afternoon so no worries there and I was glad to have made it to the center coz although once again it was lacking the half-timbered houses, the colors were yet again very vibrant that you instantly loved this town. It is a big one and also build on several hills so it seems and already a bit tired, I just wondered around the small historical market place and its churches in the vicinity.

All that walking made sure I got hungry again, I didn't ate all that much for lunch, so instead of walking, I chose a nice terrace with a view to kill for and digged in on some delicious food.

Sadly enough the sun was slowly disappearing as it was getting later and later, but still craving for something sweet, I went for one final sin and got myself a delicious ice cream again.

As I was walking next to the river Lech, I noticed a lot of commotion going on on the other side of the river and it made me curious as hell.

Looking on my map of the town, it was also listed as a viewing point so that got my attention. Maybe loads of tourists where taking pictures, I don't know what was going on so I went for a closer look only minutes later to arrive at the scene to find hundreds of drunk teens or should I say young adults lying on the ground completely knocked out, drunk and screaming at each other, others making fun with each other, clearly with something in their hands that is not legal at all ... I must admit that they had chosen an ideal place coz the views from there on the town were quite beautiful. Being young once, I knew what they were going through and I admit that I loved to party as well in my days, but I didn't behave in public like this ... if this was the future I was looking at, I didn't liked it one bit. This made me feel quite old and I guess I am behaving like an old lady because I didn't fell nothing else but disgust when looking what was happening in front of me. The so called youth that is so pre occupied with a clean and green environment left nothing else but empty glass bottles, most of them broken, plastic hanging around trees, food and its plastic content that was littering on the ground ... it was just plain awful and I was glad to be out of there in mere minutes, I had seen enough!

The sun was gone and so was my good mood to explore the town even further, so instead I just walked alongside the river Lech for a while ending up at the crossroad towards the hotel again where I ended up about an hour later.

I went for a nice hot shower and a little while after I looked up some more details on what to see and do tomorrow as I drive further up the Romantic Road. I guess it must have been almost midnight when I finally closed my eyes.

01/06/2019 more sightseeing on the Romantic Road

Although I fell asleep quite late, I somehow woke up very early and instead of looking up the breakfast area, I decided to sleep in for a little while longer. However, by the time it was 9 AM it felt right to have a bite to eat.

Breakfast was yet again delicious and with so much food displayed in front of me it was hard to chose what to eat first, but somehow I managed. The sun was shining and I had planned to visit 2 beautiful towns today, but somehow I wanted to take things slowly today. Maybe because to sun was shining so brightly, maybe because it was a Saturday, I don't know what was going on, but I didn't want to rush things today, so it was going to be a slow mode day.

Arriving at Augsburg, the capital of the Government District Zwaben, it was clear to me that I left all the small towns behind. I was now in a big city and as soon as I parked my car I tried to figure out where I was. Soon I noticed I had chosen the perfect place to park my car, in close vicinity of a food market near the center of the city. It took me only mere minutes to be at the center and find the much needed visitors center.

With a city map close to me, I felt ready to tackle this city and the first thing I wanted to visit was the "Függerei". Back in the 16th Century this area was kind of a social housing project to get people out of poverty and into a better shape so that they could find jobs and so on. I must admit that I am still not 100 % sure what the "Fugger" thing is all about, but it made for a good thing for loads of people.

Till this day this is still the main purpose of this place coz although it is mainly intended as a museum to show how people lived in that certain era of time, nowadays some of the houses are renovated and with low costs you can find a nice place to call home. it is not fancy but all you basically need is there, I saw one of the houses and I really fancy the project. It is just sad it is a long way from home otherwise I would be interested.

Augsburg is a major city and once you walk around, you can notice it in all the little visible things : terraces to relax on, restaurants for foodies out there, loads of churches, museums and so on to visit, as well as a few main shopping streets shopaholics with love to see and although it is fun to linger there for a while, I must say that I also was glad to move on to visit another town. I guess visiting cities is fun for a while but that is just it, these are just the talks of a country girl nothing more, nothing less.

Paying my fee for the underground parking, I was out of Augsburg around 1 PM and on my merry way again on the Romantic Road only to stop in the small town of Rain. If I say small, I mean small coz besides a town hall, there is not much else to see. It was a big difference between the big city in the morning and this small seemingly empty town in the afternoon. I tried to search for a place to be open and to enjoy the sun on a terrace, but it seemed that this town was just abandoned and I can say that in all honesty coz I was there for about half an hour and I didn't see a living soul!

Not wanted to stay another minute in a human-free town, I stepped back into my car and just drove of towards Donauwörth, where I was going to spend the night.

I knew this town was small when I booked my room at a local B & B just outside the town, but it was the only one available when planning this trip. It seemed that July is a very popular month when visiting this area so I just had to make due with the things thrown at me. The B & B was very small and so was my room, but it was clean and modern and I didn't ask for anything more.

There was no-one to meet and greet me upon arrival, which I was referred to when I booked the room, but I did however found a map of the town into my room and I made the most of it. The walk towards town was only 15 minutes and although it was a very hot day, I could enjoy the shade of the trees alongside the road, it was just perfect.

Once again it was quite odd arriving in a seemingly abandoned town and I was so curious what this was all about? It was a hot day, I knew that, but come on? The shops were closed and it was only 3 PM? This sounded so strange to me, what's this all about?

Arriving at the center of town I suddenly found myself at an Italian ice cream parlor with only a handful of people and I decided to have a rest now that I finally found humans. The ice cream itself wasn't all that bad either I must tell you and when I asked the waiter why it was so quite on what supposed to be high season, he seemed confused as well and just lifted his shoulders. He thought the hot weather had something to do with it and it was normal for the shops to close for a few hours during noon, it seems that even in Germany they have a siesta like in Spain. It seemed odd, but that was the simple truth.

The area I was in is very popular with bikers, so during the day they are exploring the roads and at the evening they arrive at their hotels, maybe I should have done that as well instead of using my car, but I am just too lazy to go for a cycling trip, at least I am honest!

Using my town map to its fullest I must say that Donauwörth although small, it is really a beautiful town and it did feel a bit magical with all the beautiful roses along the way, the nests of the storks and of course the old buildings help as well.

Although still early in the evening I decided to have dinner in this little town before going back to my room at the B & B. It was already 6 PM so I thought to have an early bite to eat and found something delicious in the near pub of a hotel. With a handful of other people I enjoyed the daily menu and it was once again delicious, but than again, I never have problems eating German food, that's probably the reason why I keep coming back to the country coz I love it so much.

With the sun still shining on my head and back I slowly walked back to my room and was amazed to find that the B & B had opened a beer garden. It seemed that in the summer months loads of bikers pass the B & B and they simply opened up the terrace so that people stop and have a rest and it makes for a bit of profit as well ... so smart of them and with the sun still shining, I just simply found myself a cosy seat and ordered a nice cold white wine, I died and have gone to heaven!

Well, not quite yet luckily, but as the sun was about to set, I turned to my room and after a nice shower it was time to hit the sack. I could have easily stayed till in the wee hours, but I didn't quite feel up to it.

02/06/2019 going back in time

Maybe the wine had something to do with it, but I slept like a baby and luckily I didn't slept through the morning because of the sound of other people leaving the B & B. Having a room next to the entrance can be handy at times, so as soon as I woke up, got dressed and enjoyed my breakfast, I checked out and said goodbye to a lovely couple of the Netherlands I met last night.

They were doing the Romantic Road in the right order and were going in the direction of Füssen while I was going up north, higher and higher. It was cool to see that they were doing it in an oldtimer. I don't understand much about cars, but the old convertible seemed like a fun car to do this road, maybe I should do this as well when I get retired, nice idea anyway!

Packed and ready to go, I drove off towards Nördlingen where I arrived almost an hour later. I passed Harburg on my way which is known for its beautiful medieval castle but as I was driving towards it, it was still closed and rather not wanted to wait for a few hours till it opened, I just drove further towards Nördlingen.

I quickly found a parking space and walking towards the medieval center wasn't that hard. I immediately found the tourist office and was glad to see it was just opening doors. Being the first customer of the day made them smile I suppose coz the lady was super friendly and told me to just follow the signs of the medieval walk and I could see the entire town, who am I to contradict this?

Just as I have been told I followed the signs passing some beautiful half-timbered houses, small churches, remnants of the old wall and there was even a part where you could get up the wall with its fairy tale like towers ... I really liked this town and the festivities going on ... what is not to love at a food festival with some great music.

A little in the afternoon I said goodbye to the town. I could have easily spend an entire day but I had to hit the road again and visit another town on my well organized trip.

Passing by Wallerstein, a small village known for its monumental Bohemian plague column, and a very beautiful I might add, I drove further on the Romantic Road only to stop half an hour later in Dinkelsbühl, another beautiful example of medieval times.

Yet again I have found myself in a town with historic towers and a city wall, and most importantly, a few of the much loved half-timbered houses. Need I say that this was the thing I was searching for all along! What can I say, I get weak to the knees when I see this, I am not into modern buildings, but these houses, incredible! I just love the handicraft.

For several hours I wondered through town getting blown away by the beauty of the houses, half-timbered or not and since it was yet again a very hot day, I decided to end my visit with a quick stop at an Italian ice cream parlor. These last few days I got really addicted to the ice cream. I have an excuse and could tell people it had to do with the hot weather, but to be honest, I just found a new addiction which is called the amarena cherry. Sweet and sour at the same time, it is just heaven in my eyes.

Once back at my car, I drove off to the last stop of the day, Schillingfürst, where I arrived about 6 PM in the evening. I got settled to my room, walked a bit through town all the way up to the castle which unfortunately was closed because of the late hour and instead I just walked back to the hotel and had dinner. The lovely owners of the hotel prepared a delicious meal and the dessert was mind-blowing, their panna cotta with strawberries was to die for. Yep, I know it is not your typical German dish but still, it was awesome and delicious so who cares!?

Not up for another walk in the evening hours I just went to my room, did some reading and decided to make it an early night ...

03/06/2019 another "highlight" on the road

An early bird catches the worm and this was just my idea of the day. It was only 8 AM in the morning when I finished breakfast, checked out and got all of my stuff in the back of my car, onwards towards that town that made me wanna do this road trip in the first place : Rothenburg ob der Tauber!

I have to admit that Neuschwanstein had something to do with it as well, since it was a long last dream to visit it, but this town looked magical as well and whenever I opened social media and saw a picture of it, this was the place I wanted to visit and of course I was not alone. Although it was still early, I already noticed a few groups of Asian tourists who also found their way to this incredible beautiful town and this is not a lie.

With a map once again in my hands I just walked the streets for a couple of hours, just being amazed with all the beautiful buildings and I was impressed to find part of a city wall as well. It is not a lie but the simple truth when I say that walking a day through town is not a punishment ... however doom came over me a little in the afternoon when I didn't notice a few stones at a house and sprained my ankle.

At first I tried walking on it, but the pain just went from normal to worse and instead I gave up and relaxed for a while on a terrace. While enjoying the heat of the sun, I also was in doubt what to do with my foot, was I able to walk again, let alone drive my car?
Need I say that a small panic attack came over me and while I rested my foot after a while I wanted to give it another try.

In the beginning it was still hurting but as I was walking, things progressed a little and I initially thought that driving wouldn't be a problem, so late in the afternoon after relaxing more than a few times to spare my foot, I headed for another part on the Romantic Road.

Driving seemed not to be a problem, but as I arrived in the small town of Creglingen, it started to hurt again as soon as I tried to walk, so instead I drove further on the road passing Röttingen hoping to find myself a pharmacist, but once again the town was dead and besides a beautiful river there was not much to see, literally that is!

Further on the road I crossed Tauberbischofsheim and this time I was in luck. I found what I was looking for in yet another seemingly dead town, but the pharmacist was open for business and that made my day entirely. I was just so thankful that they could help me and with an ointment and a foot bandage, the guy behind the counter ensured me that things would only get better ... fingers crossed.

Walking on it was still a problem, but the bandage sure took away the pain, so that was a relief.

Since there was not so much to see in town besides a few sculptures, I just drove to my hotel for the night, which was located near the highway in the town of Reichenberg. Upon my arrival it seemed that yet again I was situated in an industrial area nowhere near a city center or something interesting to see, but to be honest, I wasn't up for it anyway.

I quickly checked into my room and relaxed for a while on my bed, had dinner around 8 PM in the restaurant of the hotel which was for the first time since my trip not the best I had eaten. It seemed that the pain of my foot was setting the mood as well and I just went back to my room, read a little and went to bed, hoping that tomorrow would bring a brighter day!

04/06/2019 to all things comes an end!

My final day here in Germany and waking up with the sun shining through the window I got a positive vibe again. Yesterday evening I told myself if I still had a lot of pain, I would drive home immediately but by some miracle, the swelling had gone and the pain was less, it was still there but bearable, so after breakfast I decided to go ahead with my initial plan and visited the last city on my program, which was Würzbürg.

Just like Augsburg, this is a major city and you feel it as soon as you arrive. I quickly found a place to park my car and loved the fact that I had to cross the Old Main bridge to enter town. It is truly a beautiful bridge and although Fortress Marienberg looked appealing, I just wasn't up for it to visit it, not in my condition that is!

I had a slow and relaxing walk in the center of town, but because of festivities going on, you simply couldn't get a beautiful view of the center and that was really a pity. I visited the Dom and hoped for a save journey back home and by the time it was 11 PM, I had a quick lunch at a bakery and went back to my car.

The drive home wasn't going to be that long now since it was a bit less than 500 kilometers, my exact plan in the first place. I estimated to drive for about 6 hours and although traffic was crazy at some times, I did manage to get home before 8 PM in the evening which was great in my back. Completely knackered from driving for some reason, I was glad to be home again.

The aftermath

Looking back on the last few days while enjoying a hot cup of tea, I must admit that this trip was a fantasy of mine for a long time and maybe I romanticized it because I never visited it, after all it is named "Romantic Road" for something, but now that I did, I must admit that some towns lived up to their reputation, while others were a bit disappointing, but nevertheless the whole picture is what counts and this trip was one I will never forget, thanks to my sprained ankle!

15/07/17 prelude : this is just me being excited!

Holiday! The best word there is in my book to be honest and after months and months of doing nothing else but work and of course spending some time with the relatives and friends in the weekends, I was more than glad to do something entirely different.

Since I only got a few days off from work, this meant I couldn't go far away, but that's not too bad either coz there are still so many places to discover in my own country as well as in my neigbours. I must admit that I not only love my Dutch neighbours, my German ones are equally fun and since I love their food and their culture, it wasn't too hard to figure out where my next destination was going to be.

A few years back, I decided to follow into the footsteps of the famous brothers Grimm and ever since I am mesmerized by the beauty of the country. It is hard to tell why, but since that trip, my love for the country grew more and more and I can only hope that it continues for decades and decades to come!

16/07/17 road trip towards Germany

Today was finally the day I could leave for my short break and although the weather wasn't at its best, for me the grey clouds in the sky were just fine. I had a 330 km drive ahead of me and if it was too hot in the car, it wouldn't have been much fun to drive.

After a relaxing breakfast and making sure I had all my stuff I needed in the car, I checked if I got enough gas and of course the most important thing, MUSIC with me and as Willie Nelson was singing "on the road again", this was the best sign ever that it was time for me to leave Belgium behind!

Travelling through the Netherlands, about an hour or a little bit later, I even arrived at the German border and as I was passing it and thinking that it is still nice knowing that the borders are open and everything goes so much smoother with this simple fact, it was also time to have a bit of a break.

Halfway into the drive, I found a road restaurant where I bought a cup of tea, had a pastry with it (after all, I am on holiday) and after a quick visit to the restroom, it was back on the road again.

The ride went very smooth, no traffic jams or whatsoever and I don't know if it has something to do with it being a Sunday or because loads of people are on holiday themselves, but it was nice for me that I arrived a little after 12 AM in Paderborn, my homebase for the next couple of days.

As I was checking in at my hotel, it was nice that I could already use my room and as soon as I dropped off all my stuff, I headed of to the centre of the town of Paderborn. 

I once visited this town almost 7 years ago when my brother and dad, who restore old German tractors wanted to visit a certain museum in the region and to be honest, had I known then that I would have been here again today, I would have certainly thought I was crazy and maybe I am coz here I was again!

Thinking of this little fact, I started smiling and thinking of that song I like so much of one of my favourite singers Dolly Parton, I was walking towards the centre of town, where I arrived about 10 minutes later. I stopped at the first restaurant I came across because I just was that hungry and luckily enough they had nothing else but yummy food.

With a full tummy, I decided to walk around town taking pictures of all the important sights of this small town and since the shops sadly enough weren't open, I guess about a few hours later I had seen it all.  

It was just too early to go back to the hotel again and since I wasn't even that hungry after my big lunch, I decided to have an early dessert, after all it was already past 5PM, so this was more than allowed in my holiday book of things to do!

Walking back to the centre of town, I found a rather large ice cream parlor which is run by the Italian family Artusa and I must admit that I loved their ice cream so much that I already decided to come back here again just to close of the days! 

As I was slowly heading back towards the hotel, I past along a beautiful park and while the sun was trying to reach through the clouds but failed, I enjoyed the warmth of it, together with loads of other people.

By the time it was 9 PM, I was back in my room and together with a few folding guides of the region I found at the reception of the hotel, I am sure I am going to have a great time here at Paderborner Land. I ticked off a few things I wanted to see and a hot shower later, I just watched a little bit of TV and went to bed a little after midnight.

17/07/17 a closer look of the Teutoburg forest and its sights!

This day was the day I was looking forward the most and also the main reason why I wanted to come to this region in Germany in the first place, but when I opened the curtains of the room, I just felt like lying in my bed for the rest of the day coz it was raining cats and dogs.

It was actually a bit disappointing to see the rain and although I was thinking of seeing the rocks on another day, while checking the weather forecast on my phone, it seemed that it would stop raining at 10 AM. I was a bit in doubt wether to believe a satellite or not, but for the sake of modern age, I went along with it.

Breakfast was served at the first floor and of course was more than satisfying for my simple needs. Since I had more than enough time, I sure took my time with all the lovely food that was presented in front of me and a little after 9 AM I thought I had seen more than enough food and got all my stuff together and jumped into my car, destination Extersteine.

The drive on itself wasn't that long, about 20 minutes and as I left my car behind on the carpark and slowly walked up to the stones, the weather changed from slightly rain towards dry with grey clouds. Looking at my phone I noticed it was almost 10 AM and I really thought someone was playing a trick with me, can it be that precise????

I am not really a person who believes everyhting she reads and still am a little bit hazardous to the wonderful world of the internet, but slowly I need to rethink some of these things and have to accept the fact that it is the way it is. Does this sounds strange ???

Exactly at 10 AM the counter desk in front of the stones opened and it was a bit strange to see that I was the only person there. It seemed that I was the only one interesting in these stones, which stand strong till this day and date back all the way from the prehistory.

This sandstone rockformation consisting out of several columns have a bit of a mystery surrounding them. The stones are identified as a sacred place where pagan Saxons came to worship there gods, but it also has been one time or another a Christian chapel because people have cut a scene of Jesus life into the stone. It is called the descent from the Cross and you can listen to the story at the edge of the outher column in 4 languages, even in Dutch. This was strange to see, but nice as well.

During WWII the Nazis were also interested in these stones, thinking they had some kind of power, but while ignoring this little fact, I just walked up the stones and admired the view. 

While taking a few pictures, I suddenly heard a few voices and was pleased to see I wasn't the only one anymore. A German couple had found me and while talking a bit about the stones and such, it was nice to hear that they too were surprised to see so little people, maybe everyone got a bit scared of the rain, who knows?

In the surrounding area of the stones, there is also a possibility to do some walks. The stones are surrounded by loads of forests, so ideal for a day of walking in the shade, but since the weather wasn’t all that good, I decided to do one of the smaller walks instead.

There is a choice of 3 small walks which vary in length of 1.4 to 2.5 kilometers and start at the info center of the stones. Since I still wanted to see a bit of the region as well because of the weather, I decided to go for the nature trail which was called the “Schliepstein Walk”.  It was the smallest trail of them all, about 1.4 kilometer and it was a pleasant walk in the woods surrounding the stones.

As soon as I got back at the info center, I first had a quick stop for a nice hot cup of tea and met up with the friendly German couple again who also wanted to go for a walk. They decided to go for the “Knickenhagen Walk” which is about 2.5 kilometers.

Saying our goodbyes to eachother and seeing them go into the woods, I just walked back to my car and looked up the address for that other place of interest in the Teutoburg region, the Hermann Monument.

This statue of the Germanic leader Arminius (Hermann for the people nowadays) is said to be the tallest monument of the entire of Europe and of course, when I read that last night, I wanted to go and have a look.

It was but a 15 minute ride from the stones to Hermann and as I parked my car, I had to walk for a few 100 meters till I finally noticed that gigantic man on a pedestal.

Hermann was some kind of Germanic leader, some say even from royal blood, during the Roman period and was imporant because of the battle of Teutoburg, called after the region it all happened. I know, they were so inspiring when it comes to naming their battles in the prehistoric times. I don’t exactly know what it was all about, something with the Romans fighting with the locals for a piece of land (why would they otherwise fight for in those times) and I am sure you can all find it on the internet with bloody facts and all.

Hermann is indeed quite impressive and while it must have been a challenge to build him, I must say that I was also a bit impressed when I walked up the 75 steps and had a more than beautiful view of the surrounding area. Although most of the region consists out of forests, it was also nice to see all those small villages and towns in the background.

Just like the Externsteine, there is a posibility to go for walks at the monument. After all, the entire Teutoburg region is known for walking and doing hikes in the neirby forests, but as it already was a little after 12 AM, I started to get hungry as well and dediced to head for the nearest town of Detmold where I arrived about half an hour later.

Searching for a car park was a bit difficult since there were major road works at the edge of town, but somehow I managed to find a good spot at the main street of Detmold, only a 10 minute walk away from the old town.

Feeling so blessed with the change of weather going from grey and cloudy to sunny, I had a big smile on my face! Of course, a bit of food could do that to me as well and after a quick lunch, I decided to have a walk around the old town.

After about half a day of wondering through the streets of the town, doing a bit of window shopping, relaxing on a few of the many terraces and just enjoying the break from work, I decided I had enough fun for one day! Of course that’s not true at all, but as it was already a little after 5 PM, I wanted to go back to Paderborn.

Upon arrival at my car, I was completely chocked to see that someone had broken into my car. A small glass at the passenger side was broken and when checking everything, I noticed they stole a small wallet with a bit of money (actually just coins) which I was using to pay the car parks if needed.

Luckily enough not much was stolen and while hoping that the thief or should I say thieves, would choke in their food and have a cruel death, I cleaned up the mess as good as I could and drove off to the nearest gas station where I could vacuum the car and find something to close the window.

When I finally arrived back at the hotel about 2 hours later, I must say that I lost all my appetite and instead of going for a full meal, I just went for dessert. Ice cream really is the best comfort food there is, there is no doubt about it!

Not really in the mood for doing anything else, I decided to have an early night in the hotel and watched a bit of television, hoping that tomorrow would be a better and brighter day.

18/07/17 cruising through Paderborner Land

When I opened my eyes, a brand new day awaited me and although I still was a little bit upset because of that thing that happened to me yesterday, I decided I was not going to let it bother me!

The sun was still shining brightly upon the sky when I came back from breakfast and as soon as I grabbed all my stuff and my map of things to do for today, I was out on the road to discover the Paderborner region.

My first stop wasn’t all that far, about a 10 minutes drive away from the hotel and situated in the green suburbs of Paderborn. Schloss Neuhaus is said to be one of the most important water castles of Westphalia and this has probably something to do with it being a former Bishop’s residence.

The building with 4 wings and round corner towers is very beautiful and according to my leaflet, build in the Weser renaissance. Sadly enough the castle itself can’t be visited, but when I had a quick look at the courtyard of the castle, I noticed that one of the wings is housing a primary school and I guess in a way this is kind of nice coz nowadays most castles are in private hands or museums.

Outside there is a huge Baroque garden which needed a bit of weeding when I was there in the morning, but when I walked a bit around the area, I noticed a few men doing just that, weeding.

Since it was still early in the morning, needless to say that I was almost on my own again. Once in a while a cyclist past my way and I really got the impression that the garden nowadays is used as a public park and why wouldn’t it be!

Back in my car again, I quickly typed in my next destination, which was the small town of Delbrück.

I had set myself an itinerary last night with all the things I wanted to see here in the region. I only had one day left and although the region is very much known for its bicycle trails, I decided to take the easier option and did everything what I wanted to do with my car, talking about a short road trip.

Arriving in Delbrück, I noticed it was a very, very small town and with roadworks going on in the center of town, I almost passed it.

The main reason I stopped at this tiny place was because when I read a bit more about the Paderborner region, I got a bit intrigued when they wrote that the historic square of this place was housing a church with a crooked tower which should be visible from miles away.

I must admit that the square is beautiful with a church surrounded by medieval half-timbered houses, but seeing the tower from miles away … that’s just plain crazy. Had this been the case, I would’nt have passed it!

After a nice cup of tea at the local inn and passing by a bakery shop to buy some yummy pastries, I was on my way again cruising the hilly roads of the region.

Next stop on my itinerary list was Anreppen. This small village on itself is just like thousand other villages in Germany, hadn’t it been for one tiny important thing in the past.

During the Roman period, this was the place where once stood a reinforced army camp of about 6000 soldiers. I don’t know how they know something like that because when I finally arrived after a detour of more than half an hour because of road works on a bridge, I saw nothing else but one gigantic open field filled with grass en pebbles. Luckily it was surrounded with other fields filled with corn, so in a way it is the ideal stopping place when going on one of the many bike trails of the region.

Upon my arrival at this place, I parked my car next to the information center which was just a wooden shack with loads of information about the Roman period.

There was not that much to see on the terrain, except for about a dozen of information boards which give you kind of an idea how life must have been when the Romans ruled the world!

Although I was a bit disappointed that there was nothing to see but a ditch that might have been used as a latrine for those thousands of soldiers, it was in a way the ideal place to have a quiet lunch in the middle of nature.

Except for a dog owner who loved to go on a run with his best friend, I saw no other soul, it was that quiet! Crickets however had to be found with the dozens coz their music was pretty loud at times.

It must have been almost an hour later when I decided I had enough rest for the day and while the sun was still shining brightly, I drove off to my next destination, Salzkotten.

This town is very much know for one of the most important ingredients there is, to be more precise ... SALT!

Although nowadays there is no salt extraction anymore, you still can find a salt museum as well as some kind of installation they used to extract salt. Since I am not really a technician, it is hard to explain how it all works, but the town on itself is really worth a stopover.

Except for the fact that salt is the main attraction of the town with a few small sources which are good for your wellbeing, the center of town is also filled with beautiful half-timbered houses which the country is so known for.

After a relaxing walk through town and a few terraces later, I decided that by the time it was 3 PM, it was time to go back to Paderborn and do some shopping.

Luckily this time nothing did go wrong and by the time it was 7 PM, I lost some money in a more pleasant way. Feeling much better than yesterday, I looked up a local burger joint and after a more than yummy meal, I slowly walked back to my hotel.

It must have been a little after midnight when I finally got to bed after searching all my stuff together, ready for my ride home tomorrow.

19/07/17 homewards it is!

Even on my last day here in Paderborn, the sun was shining quite brightly and if I can believe the weather forecast (which I now know I can!), it was going to be a very hot day, even hotter than yesterday.

Somehow I wasn’t really looking forward to that coz I still had a bit of driving to do later today.

After breakfast, I went upstairs again to my room and made sure I had all of my belongings with me which I packed the day before and after checking out, I went into town for one last time.

On Saturdays and Wednesdays there should be a big farmers market in Paderborn and before I left, I wanted to have a closer look on what was for sale in this region.

Upon my arrival, it was still very early and although some people were already selling there products, to my surprise, the market wasn’t that big. When I asked someone about it, it turned out that loads of people where on holiday themselves and who can blame them!

Still, I must confess, there was a large variety of meats, veggies, fruits, nuts, cheeses and all other things that you normally can find on such markets. Surprisingly most of the products were even grown organic, something that you can’t always find on Belgium markets. If you want organic veggies, you have to go to specialized markets or supermarkets. Sadly enough, in our country their is still a long way to go, to go organic!

Because it was still early in the afternoon, the heath was quite enjoyable, but by the time it was 11 AM it became a bit hotter, so after a drink or two on a terrace and something small to eat, I decided to drive back home. After all, it was still about 4 hours on the road.

When I left Paderborn behind me, the roads were a bit busier than on Sunday and more than once I came across a few traffic jams.

Halfway up the drive, I had a quick stop for using the restroom and all of a sudden the weather changed from sunny to dark clouds and it even looked like it was going to storm. I almost got blown away and we can't have that of course!

By the time I was on the highway again, it began to rain heavily and sadly enough I took the rain home with me where I arrived a little more than an hour later safe and sound. My short break away from everything was over, but on the other hand, another short break awaits me in August, so I am happily counting the days till that time!


25/06/15 how things evolve

Coming back from Budapest, I didn’t had much time to think about anything else except work and it amazed me how quick a month went by.

I needed a break urgently after spending more than a month at the office, almost always alone with lots of moody drivers who needed a break as well and needless to say, I was more than glad that I was smart enough to have asked my boss some days off from work earlier in the year.

Sadly enough, I only got 7 days off and although I had so many plans in the back of my head, one week was simply too short to cross an ocean, so I decided to keep it closer to home.

A few years back I was handed a brochure at a local Travel Fair containing several roadtrips in Germany and one of them particularly cought my attention.

The title alone was more than interesting … let’s face it : German Fairy Tale Route, is there something more “magical”?

For some reason, I never seemed to had time to go and explore this route, but it never got out of my head as well and now that opportunity presented itself, I was more than eager to see what this was all about.

Ever since I was little, I was fascinated by fairy tales and to be honest, growing up, I never got tired of hearing those 4 tiny words “once upon a time”. Even at an age where I started to read, those four little words could bring me to another world, where loads of stuff happened and everyone truly lived happily ever after.

Becoming an adult you basically forget most of your childhood memories, but this one sticked to me and now that I have become a godmother myself, all those fond memories are starting to come back as well.

With only a few weeks of planning ahead of me, I am more than ready to become enchanted!

28/06/15 planning a trip isn’t always easy

Most of the time, I travel abroad with an organised tour, not only because it is easy, but at times, they make such good deals that you just cannot ignore it and if there is always enough free time to do things on your own … it’s a “yes” for me!

This time however, I was going to do a road trip in Germany and although I read on the website of the German Fairy Tale Route that they have packages of 7 to 8 days, I decided to plan this trip all on my own, making it possible to stop at certain places as well as skipping others coz the route itself is more than 600 kilometers in length, too long to travel in just one week anyway.

With a guidebook on one side of the table and a map of the entire route on the other, it was fairly easy to plan things, that is … till my mother came along!

Thinking this trip was going to be all about having some ME-time, my mum tricked me in letting her join me on this trip and not soon after, even my dad started complaining, saying he deserved a break as well and wanted to come along!

Being the family person that I am … the more the merrier I always say! So instead of some ME-time, this was going to be a family outing, how things can turn in just mere hours.

Although it didn’t take too long to plan the trip, finding 2 rooms was a bit more difficult. I had to do alot of searching but in the end I managed and found ourselves some good deals through booking.com and with that last problem solved, our road trip was finished.

09/07/15 road trippin’

5 o’clock in the morning sounds pretty darn early, but if it is the start of a holiday, it can’t be early enough in my book!

After a quick breakfast and making sure that our luggage was safely secured in the trunk of the car, the three of us were ready for our journey towards Germany.

Seeing it was still very early, there was not so much traffic on the road and even with times we’ve got the road almost all to ourselves, that is till we reached the border with the Netherlands. It seemed that more and more people were up and about and ready to go to work.

By the time we reached Germany, it was still doable on the road, but not because of the many, many and I really mean many (???) road works along the way. After an hour or so even traffic jams started to appear as well, not something to look forward to, to be honest!

From time to time, it even seemed that we just drove from one road work to another, but with a bit of patience and one quick break to stretch our legs, we reached the city of Hanau a little after 1 PM, the real start of the Fairy Tale Route.

At first I was a bit disappointed seeing Hanau coz I thought it was going to be a beautiful small town with very old houses, instead of this modern city with loads of new buildings and shopping streets.

It turned out that the three of us were in the new and modern Hanau and after lunch we ended up in the part I was really looking for. Mind you, it took a while getting there because they were not only working on the highway, even Hanau itself looked like one giant construction site.

The old town of Hanau nowadays is very small with just a few half timbered houses and one goldsmith house which serves as a museum for the art of forging gold as well as an old well, but that’s about it.

Because the city was bombed by British during World War II, almost everything of historic value was lost, even the birthplace of the brothers Jakob en Wilhelm Grimm, the once responsible for the fact that I am doing this route in the first place.

Luckily the people of Hanau are so proud of their 2 most famous residents coz till this day, they commemorate this infamous duo with a national monument at their central market place. Ever since the late 1800’s Jakob stands tall next to his brother Wilhelm who sits on a comfortable chair. Legend says that during the witching hour, the brothers change places in order to give Jakob a rest. A nice thought no!?

Now that we were at the starting point of our road trip, I must admit that I got all excited again and after a quick visit at Schloss Philippsruhe just outside the city centre, we were eager to discover our next stop on our agenda, Steinau an der Strasse, where we arrived about an hour later whilst driving through beautiful hilly landscapes.

It is just a complete different feel driving on the highway with nothing interesting to see or driving on small roads with beautiful sceneries hiding behind every corner. Sadly enough most of the time we need highways to get somewhere faster, otherwise I would never leave these small roads I suppose!

Steinau An Der Strasse is a very small picturesque village and mind boggling at the same time coz this was the thing I wanted to see! Beautiful medieval half timbered houses, a renaissance castle which seemed to come straight out of a fairy tale, cobblestoned roads, in short … the whole package!

It is not allowed to drive through the streets of the village, only inhabitants can drive through to go to their houses and this certainly adds to the magical atmosphere surrounding the village.

Since it was already late in the afternoon upon our arrival, we couldn’t visit the House of the Brothers Grimm anymore. This is just a small museum dedicated to Jakob and Wilhem, who grew up in this place after leaving the big city of Hanau behind them.

The museum is said to house a collection of over 200 manuscripts, examples of the brothers’ work, many family portraits and artefacts. It also shows the great contribution they made to language, literature and law. Their work has been translated into 140 languages and is the most widespread literature available after the bible. This alone sounds pretty amazing and this only means that one day I have to come back.

Since the weather was all changing on us from bright and light to cloudy and grey, we just had a stroll through the village and moved on to our destination for tonight, Schlüchtern.

It was just just half an hour’s drive and since our hotel was easy accessible, we were checked-in in no time into our room.

WIth only a few hours of daylight left, we had a nice walk through this town as well and found ourselves a cozy looking place to have something for dinner and together with a few glasses of wine, I did manage to find my room back in the dark, but that’s about it … to be honest, I didn’t even remember going to sleep … I suppose I was completely knackered!

10/07/15 on the road again

A good night’s sleep is without a doubt the best thing there is, but this combined with a delicious full breakfast is truly knowing you are on holiday!

With our bellies full and our luggage stored in the trunk of the car, we were ready for another day of sightseeing on the fairy tale route.

Our first stop of the day was going to be Freiensteinau, which was only about an half hours drive from Schlüchtern. Although it was still very early in the day, the sun was already shining and with a big smile on my face, we drove through some of the most beautiful countryside I had ever seen, especially when you compare it with Belgium, where nature is more and more losing the fight against modern day buildings and huge apartments. I guess nowadays Germany is facing the same problem as well, but in this part of the country it seems that they are still spared from this modern day problem … the question however is … for how long?

Freiensteinau is but a very small town with only about a dozen houses and a parish church high up a hill where you have an incredible view on the local meadows. The parish church, although very beautiful, was sadly enough closed and maybe the early hour had something to do with it, so after a very short walk through the local cemetery, we decided to say “auf Wiedersehen” to the place and went on our way towards Herbstein, a slighty bigger town, but still very small compared to most cities in Germany.

It seemed that most people were sleeping in as well coz just like Freiensteinau the place looked abandonned, except for a few cars which were parked at the local market square.

Herbstein is mainly added to the fairy tale route because of the many sagas and stories of the Vogelsberg region which have been passed on from generation to generation and ended up in one of the books of the local folklorist and teacher Ulrich Benzel. Although the little town has in the first place nothing to do with the brothers, I am sure that one time or another they passed it and therefor it is definitely worth a visit.

Nowaydays, you can still wonder through the town and find not only a beautiful parish church, but 3 defensive towers as well, remnants of the 13th century partly restored town wall. More known for the region are the Herbstein Vulcan Baths, with a thermal pool of 32,6 degrees warm water which is said to have some "healing powers". If this is true I don’t know, but when we visited the place the pool was packed with senior citizens, so they definitely believe it … the three of us on the other hand, just sticked to a walk through the park and a cup of hot chocolate afterwards. Pure enjoyment!

Sadly enough we couldn’t stay here all day coz we still needed to cover a bit of road to end up in Kirchhain this evening, our end destination for today!

Back on the road again, we drove through lots of small roads, only to end up in Alsfeld about half an hour later. This town is said to be the most picturesque town on the fairy tale route, needless to say of course, we had to make a stopover and our guide book wasn’t wrong at all, it really is a beautiful one.

The historic town center of Alsfeld has one beautiful half-timbered house after another. Through the years, people of this region developed different building styles on their houses and here you can see most of them. Some of the houses may look crooked, but after hundreds of years they still stand, so I can only admire their builders, they did a great job!

It was almost noon when we arrived, so after a little snack in one of the many bakeries which you can find throughout the centre of town, we went back again to the main square and paid a visit to the Tourist Center. Here we were handed a guide map with a 60 minute walk covering all the major sights of the town, one of the most important being The Alsfeld Fairy Tale House (Märchenhaus) which was build in 1628. In this house it is said you will be greeted by the fairy tale teller who brings all the sagas and stories of the brothers back to live. Seeing is believing, but sadly enough our story teller wasn’t at home, so the only thing we could do is admire the beautiful old building.

Not that we mourned too much about it … the weather was nice, the sun was shining, so instead of listening to stories all afternoon, we decided to try out what seemed to be a local delicacy out here … spaghetti ice! The only thing I can say about it, it is heaven on a plate, it is simply that delicious and although it basically is just vanilla ice cream with strawberry sauce and a bit of white chocolate, it is more than yummy and I liked it very much, secretly I am ready to taste more of it this week!

Since it was still early in the afternoon, we just had one more walk through the town of Alsfeld and at the same time did some window shopping, admired more half-timbered houses and did what everyone does on a hot afternoon … we went for a few drinks on the main square while enjoying the view on the late Gothic Town Hall, which is really a nice piece of architecture.

It was already after 4 PM when we finally left Alsfeld to drive towards our end destination of the day which was Kirchhain. Our hotel was located in the middle of the old town so it wasn’t that difficult to find. Although it took a while to get our keys to our room, we were still in such a happy mood because of the good weather that we didn’t mind one bit.

As soon as we were unpacked, we went outside again and had a little stroll in town, but unlike Alsfeld, besides part of a town wall and a witch tower without a witch, there wasn’t much to see.

Since we were getting hungry again, after all it has been quite a while since we had eaten something and besides that, we are on our holiday … we went on the lookout for something nice, but sadly enough there wasn’t that much to choose from so in the end, we just turned back to our hotel and decided to have dinner at the terrace of the joint. Eventually this turned out to be a good choice coz dinner was fine and even the red wine my dad ordered was something I could appreciate and that doesn’t happen very often, I am not really a red wine fanatic.

We stayed outside and enjoyed the last rays of sunshine but as soon as it got all dark on us, I decided I had enough fun for one day and to be honest, I was a little tipsy as well!

I did manage to get up the stairs to the third floor but once I got into the shower and crawled into my bed I was so sleepy that I just needed to close my eyes. I guess after walking a whole day in the sun and drinking almost half a bottle of red wine, I felt that tired that I didn’t even see the clock turn 11 PM!

11/06/15 how many stairs can a person do in one day!

Surprisingly enough I didn’t woke up with a headache, unlike what I expected and after a quick hot shower and some food, I was more than ready for another day of sightseeing!

Today we didn’t had too much driving to do coz our main goal of the day was Marburg, the university town of the brothers from 1802 till 1806 and only about a 15 minutes drive away from Kirchhain. Jacob Grimm once described his impressions of Marburg to a school fellow as follows : "I believe there are more steps on the street than in the houses. One even enters one house through the roof.”

Eager to find out if this was true, we quickly parked our car in one of the many parkings and as soon as we got an idea where the old town was situated, we came across our first obstacle … a staircase with about 50 steps or so, I didn’t really count them, but needless to say, once we arrived at the market square, I was beat and needed a rest for a minute or two. This was really a test to see how much I was out of shape and to be honest, I wasn’t liking it, not one bit!

Seeing it was still early in the morning, there were already some people up and about, but luckily no big crowds yet.

During the weekends in July and August, you can find all kinds of activities along the major towns on the Fairy Tale Route and Marburg is no exception. People were already busy setting up some stages for the festivities later this afternoon.

In the meantime, the three of us were ready for some more climbing and after what must have been about half an hour later, we were at the highest point of the old town and reached the Landgrave castle, which is a nice piece of brickwork build in the 13th Century. Although it housed loads of Hessian Landgraves over the centuries, nowadays it is a museum of Cultural History and how fascinating this might be, for me the view from the castle on the old town and half-timbered houses were more interesting, so while sitting in the sun and admiring the view, we relaxed for a short while till it was time to go down again through many of the narrow alleys and cobblestoned roads.

Reaching the market square again, things were getting busier and busier and even the first choir of the day was practicing their songs on stage. Since it really wasn’t my cup of tea, we just walked down the shopping streets all the way towards the church of Saint Elizabeth and the ruins of her hospital … but who was this saint?

Elizabeth of Hungary was born in 1207. Her marriage was arranged when she was just a child, and at age of four, she was sent to Thuringia for education and eventual marriage. When she was 14, she married Louis of Thuringia. They loved each other deeply. According to legend, Elizabeth went out with loaves of bread to feed those who were poor. Her husband saw her and took hold of her cape to see what she was carrying. What he saw was roses rather than bread! Because of this, she is also known as the patroness of bakers. Louis supported her in all she did to relieve the sufferings of those who were poor or sick. But Louis’s mother, Sophia, his brother, and other members of court resented Elizabeth’s generosity. She was taunted and mocked by the royal family, but deeply loved by the common people.

In 1227, after six years of marriage, Louis went to fight in the Crusades. He died on the way. Elizabeth was grief stricken. Her in-laws accused her of mismanaging the finances of the kingdom, forcing her and her children out of the palace. For a while, they found refuge only in barns. Finally, they were taken in by her uncle, the bishop of Bamberg. When her husband’s friends returned from the Crusades, they helped restore her to her rightful place in the palace. Elisabeth increased her service to others and devoted herself to works of charity. She was amongst the first to build a hospital and till the day she died, at the age of 24, she cared for the sick and poor.

Very soon after the death of Elizabeth, miracles were reported that happened at her grave in the church of the hospital, especially those of healing. No wonder this woman was canonized only four years later!

True or false, I don’t care, this woman deserves a medal for what she has done in her short period here on earth and at the same time it made me rethink about all the stupid things I worry about, for a while that is!

But enough with the serious stuff, we are on our holiday after all and because of all that walking up and down loads of stairs and narrow streets, the three of us got thirsty and a bit hungry as well. As soon as we were back at the market square, our prayers for finding something suitable to eat were answered.

We quickly found a nice enough spot near a stage and with a drink in one hand and a “bratwurst” with mustard in the other, we had one hell of a good time listening to some awesome German music … you gotta love that typical Bavarian folk music when you are in the country … but yodeling is a bit too much, even for me!

It was already a few hours in the afternoon when we decided we did enough walking coz after all ... "how many stairs can a person do in one day?”

To be honest, I had seen enough of them and by the time it was 3 PM, we returned back to my car. Since it was still a bit early to head back to Kirchhain, we decided to make a little detour and visited the small village of Gossfelden, which is situated in the beautiful region of the Lahntal and once upon a time the home of Otto Ubbelohde.

I must admit that I had never heard of this painter who lived in the early 1900’s, but reading more about the brothers, their live and also their work and legacy, I soon found out that he got famous internationally because of his illustrations he made for the volumes of the Grimm’s Fairy Tales, a total of more than 450 illustrations to be more precise! His inspiration came from the region he was born into and to be honest, the whole area screams fairy tale, so it’s not so odd that this painter got famous for it, all he needed was to walk outside and take his paintbrush with him!

Nowadays the small village has a walking trail named after his famous inhabitant, which leads from the center of the village all the way towards his house, where he lived and worked and I have to admit after walking up and down hundreds of stairs, this was a welcome change.

The museum itself is held inside the studio of Otto Ubbelohde and is only open in the weekend from 11 AM till 5 PM. At the moment we arrived at the scene, so to speak, it was a quarter to 5. Although it was time to close, the friendly caretaker let us in anyway, so we still had a chance to have a quick look inside, where you can still find some of his most important paintings, etchings as well as illustrations.

Once outside again, the sun was still shining, so needless to say, the walk back to the center of the village was a pleasant one!

As soon as we were back at the car, we drove back to Kirchhain, where we enjoyed the rest of the evening. Although it was already after 7 PM, it was still warm outside, something I can only rejoice and just like the day before, we opted for dinner in our hotel.

This time I was a bit smarter and instead of the usual bottle of red wine, I just sticked to water. I guess this was the smartest thing I did all day coz otherwise I had never been able to walk up the stairs, I was just so freaking tired and when I finally hit the sack, I remembered myself that once I got home again, I really needed to do something about my physical shape, maybe I am getting old, I don’t know what is happening, but I am definitely not liking it!

12/07/15 onwards it is

Maybe I was a bit grumpy when I went to bed last night, but after a good night’s rest, that all changed and with a nice brekkie as a start of the day, things couldn’t be better. The sun is shining, we still have our health … what more do we need!

As soon as we checked out and said our farewells to the friendly family of hotel owners, we went on our way again for another stretch of road on the Fairy Tale Route.

Unlike yesterday, today I had planned a whole day on the road with several stops along the way and the first stop of the day was the small painters village of Willinghausen. Except for the wooden sculpture of the frog prince in the center of the village, there is not much to see but if you happen to have a fondness for paintings, there is always the museum “Malerstübchen” at the Gerhardt-von-Reutern House, where you can find loads of works of old painters like Ludwig Emil Grimm, brother of our famous duo as well as works from painters who are still alive today!

Although we had the intention to have a quick look at the museum, there was an election going on at the same time we arrived and believe it or not, the voting booths were put up in the museum itself. Even for me this was a bit awkward, so instead of browsing through the few rooms, we just returned back to our car and went on for our next destination, the small town of Treysa.

Treysa is located smack in the middle of the Schwalm region and together with its neigboring town Zieghain and 11 other smaller villages, it forms the city of Schwalmstadt, also better known as the capital of Little Red Riding Hood Territory.

From the moment we arrived into town, we immediately discovered the cute bronze sculptures of the wolf and the seven goats near the train station as well as the star of the region, Little Red and her eternal rival, the wolf!

Besides those bronze sculptures, the real attraction of the town or according to some the emblem of Treysa, are the ruins of the Church of St. Martin, build in the 13th century and since 1610 known as the Church of the Death because it was exclusively used for funeral services. Strange fact however, non of the deceased are buried in or near the church.

After walking around for a while and enjoying the views on the Schwalm area from a higher part of the town, we decided to move on and visit another village in the region. Next stop was going to be Knüllwald with its ruins of Wallenstein castle.

Wallenstein castle was originally built in the high Middle Ages and was first mentioned in the early 13th century as castle “Wallinsteyn” which basically means stone in the woods. They weren’t wrong there when they named it coz the walk up to the ruins is a short one but you have to conquer a bit of green to get there. Once you reach it though, you'll get rewarded with magnificent views.

Sadly enough till this day only the stair tower to the former living area as well as a part of the surrounding stone wall are preserved, but than again, it makes for one hell of a good look-out tower so no complaining here!

The ruins of the castle are located just outside the small village of Knüllwald, near a local camping area which in its turn is ideally suited for a small break. Besides drinks, they also have small snacks on offer, but since we still weren’t that hungry yet, we opted for a cold drink on the terrace which had a great view on the remnants of the castle. There are worse things in life when relaxing in the sun … that’s for sure!

I have to admit that I could have easily stayed at that same spot for the remainder of the day, but we still had a bit of driving to do, so onwards it was and once back on the road, the sun started to disappear as well, so maybe in the end we made the right choice.

By the time we arrived in Homberg (Efze), dark clouds appeared above us and as soon as we reached the idyllic market place with its half-timbered houses and impressive St. Mary’s Church it started to rain. Just our luck I guess!

According to my guide book this town is amongst one of the more beautiful ones along the route, but when it rains, even I don’t see the beauty of it all, so after a quick stroll through the town, we decided to find something for a late lunch and at the same time take shelter from the dreadful weather as well … but during our search for some food, I really got thunderstruck.

I know it was a Sunday, but believe it or not, not one restaurant was open, every bakery we passed was closed and after walking around for more than half an hour, we finally found a small pub, which served a few snacks like hot dogs and more of its kind. What a difference when you look at my country, where the main purpose on a Sunday afternoon is going out and have lunch or dinner with friends, relatives and finding one eatery opened after an other!

Since we didn’t had too much of a choice, we went for the hot dog like dishes and although it was’t really fine dining, it kept us alive!

When we left Homberg (Efze), it was still raining and it kept on raining and raining for quite a while that even driving through it, wasn’t all that fun. So instead of going to some smaller villages, we decided to drive straight towards our final destination of today, Bad Wildungen that is, till we passed the small mining village of Bergfreiheit.

Driving through the village, I suddenly saw a sculpture of Snow White and her dwarfs and since we were on the Fairy Tale Route, I couldn’t but take a picture of it, even when it was raining! Getting closer to the dwarfs, I noticed that they were as big as me, but still, it was a beautiful sight!

Across the street of the sculptures, we found refuge at a local pub and ordered something hot to drink when all of a sudden the waiter started telling us some interesting information about the region. It was like having a guide with us and soon he even told us that the village was known for its Snow White House and of course THAT got my complete attention!

It turned out it was but a few blocks away and since it was already way in the afternoon, he arranged for us to get in, if we got there before 5 PM. Thanks to the friendly directions, we did manage and in a way it is strange seeing people standing outside to welcome you, it feels a bit royal!

Although at first I expected to see a tiny house, because dwarfs were living in it, it was just your typical German house but melted into a museum dedicated to this wonderful person.

On the first floor we were welcomed by Snow White herself and even the cute dwarfs where present. The entire floor was adapted to the height of the dwarfs with small beds, a tiny kitchen and so on. After meeting up with the local celebrities, we went upstairs and were put into a video room where we got the complete story behind Snow White and how the legend was turned into a fairy tale. I have to admit that it was quite interesting and at the same time it really gave us a better idea of mining itself.

Going outside again, it was still horrible weather, so we quickly said goodbye and thanked the wonderful owner of the house, who especially kept it open for a few strangers and soon after, we drove towards Bad Wildungen, which was about half an hour away from the small village.

Upon our arrival at the town of Bad Wildungen, we immediately went straight to our Guesthouse which was about a few kilometers away from the centre of town and as soon as we checked in, there was nothing else for us to do than find something to eat for dinner. Since we were located in some sort of residential area, there was not much food in sight, so we decided to drive up to Bad Wildungen itself, which in its turn turned out a major disappointment … again!

I don’t know what it is with villages and towns on a Sunday, maybe it had something to do with the bad weather, I don’t really know, but walking through the centre, we only got wet feet coz not one restaurant or eatery was opened, what was going on here???

Thinking we had to go to bed without food coz even our guesthouse didn’t serve dinner, we just drove back to our hotel till about a kilometer before we reached it, we all of a sudden saw some lights coming from a Italian restaurant and the beauty of it all, there were even cars in front of it … OPENED FOR BUSINESS!!!!

I guess, we were the three happiest persons alive knowing that we finally found something to eat … how easy life can be sometimes!

After a really good dinner and with smiles on our face, or at least on mine, we went back to the guesthouse and decided we had enough fun for one day. A quick call to the home front learned us that everything was still fine and one hot shower later, I turned to my laptop, got up to date with the latest news on the social media till even my eyes couldn’t handle it anymore and at long last, I hit the sack a little before midnight, after all, it had been quite a long and more than weird day.

13/07/15 the wheels of the car keep going round and round

Contrary to earlier nights,, this night, I didn’t sleep a wink. I don’t know exactly what happened, but the whole night I kept on tossing and turning … was it the bed, was it the food … I just have no clue, but I was more than glad to see my alarm clock turn into 8 AM! After a nice hot shower, I slowly got dressed and went to the breakfast area where I met up with my parents.

It seemed that I wasn’t the only person with gigantic bags under my eyes (I hope this is the right translation!) coz looking at my mum, I immediately saw that she had the same problem, only she knew the cause and blamed it on the bed.

Although two out of three persons looked miserable, we did manage to enjoy breakfast and as soon as we were checked out and had put our stuff into the trunk of the car, we were more than ready for another day on the road.

Our goal of today was to reach the city of Kassel by this evening, but since it was still early in the morning, we had more than enough time to explore some more towns and villages along the way and the first one of them was only about half an hour’s drive away, to be more precise, the small town of Waldeck, which is basically known for its beautiful castle build on the remnants of an 11th century fortification.

Nowadays the castle serves as a four star hotel and a beautiful one I might at, but in the past it had all kinds of functions going from being the ancestral seat and residence of the Counts of Waldeck, a state penitentiary, to even a state archive and forestry office. It seems that through the years they always found suitable use for this building from which you have an awesome view on the Edersee.

Even from the town of Waldeck itself, you have an amazing view on the castle and although the town looks pretty modern, going through the main street, you still find some old half-timbered houses of which the oldest date back from the earlier 1700’s.

Our next stop on the route has fairy tale town writing al over itself as it is called Wolfhagen and dates back all the way from 1231. Like all the towns along the route here you also find beautiful half-timbered houses as well as the Gothic town church St. Anna and the most infamous piece of architecture, if I may call it that, the fairy tale fountain which displays the story of the Wolf and the seven goats.

Walking through this small town, we came across more than one statue of the Wolf, so I expect that the inhabitants of this town are a bit proud of this magical being, despite the fearsome character it sometimes has. I must admit that I was glad to see that people here depicted this mammal in a gentile way instead of it being a predator all the time.

From Wolfhagen we decided to drive to Schauenburg, where till today you still find the castle ruins of the town itself high up a hill, but as we were driving, we just drove from one diversion into another … I can’t say enough how I hate those roadworks and it surprised me that even in the countryside they make quite a mess of it, so instead of searching time and time again for a new road, we just crossed this little town from our map and went on to Niedenstein!

Maybe we should have persevered, but than again, I was just tired of hearing my GPS saying “ TURN BACK” after hearing it for 50 or more times, it is not fun anymore!

Niedenstein isn’t too big if a town and to be honest, I would have rather called it a village, but than again, who am I to say anything about it. As we parked our car in front of a local pub, we headed for the church of Niedenstein which is built in the late 1700’s and stands proud in the middle of town, but the main reason why I wanted to visit this little tiny town, was for that one special natural monument, a thousand-year-old dance lime tree. As the name suggests, dances were held under this tree and it has been said that more than one marriage was planned underneath this lime tree, but we kept on searching and searching, we didn’t find it, so is this just one of the many legends???

Getting hungry after all that searching, we tried to find some food, but in small towns, not much is opened, so after a quick visit to the local bakery, we had scored some sandwiches and other delicious items and together with some hot and cold drinks, we just drove to a beautiful spot outside the town and had a picnic near one of the many woods.

Sadly enough we couldn’t stay there for the rest of the day coz dark clouds were once again hovering above our heads and it looked like it was going to rain any minute, but it turned out to be 2!

Driving onwards on the road, our next stop was Gudensberg, which like every town we visited the last couple of days, has quite an interesting history concerning the Hessian landgraves, only this town itself goes way back coz they even talk about a prehistorical settlement that once had been set up here. They called themselves the tribe of the Chatti, which had their meeting place on the Wotan’s Mountain (Wodansberg) in the gray prehistory.

Wotan, the Teutonic storm and war god as well as father of the gods and people, was worshipped at this region and Wodansberg, from which the town of Gudensberg derived its name, was the religious and political center-point of the Chatti … impressive not!!

Nowadays, not much has remained from this period of time, unlike the countless half-timbered structures from the 17th and 18th centuries, but than again, I guess those Thuringian and Hessian landgraves had better luck since their structures aren’t that old, maybe we still have to wait a couple of hundred years to see what remains as well.

Although it drizzled all the time, we still managed to have a fairly nice walk around town and if the weather wasn’t against us, I am sure we even walked up the hill and visited the castle ruins, but I guess this will have to wait till next time.

Once back at the car, it started to rain more heavily and I was more than glad that we were inside my trusty car, so instead of looking at the raindrops falling down, we just drove another stretch of road, till we reached our next destination.

Fritzlar is really a beautiful town if you can look through the many raindrops and once a complete fortified town, nowadays you can still find 14 towers and hundreds of half-timbered houses throughout town, one more beautiful than the other. Even the Town Square with its Roland Fountain and Town Hall is really worth looking at, as well as the Gothic St. Peter’s Cathedral, which once received the privilege of a visit of Pope John Paul II.

Although we took an umbrella with us for our walk through town, we soon got soaking wet and instead of walking from one puddle to another, we were so happy to have found a bakery which was open in order to soak up some warmth, have a hot drink or 2 and something delicious with it.

By the time it got darker and darker, we expected more rain and instead of hoping for a dry walk through the town again, we just went back to our car and drove in a straight way towards the city of Kassel where we arrived about an hour later, trying to avoid major roads and enjoyed riding through some more amazing countryside.

When we almost reached Kassel, the weather cleared up as well and as soon as we checked in at our hotel, we went outside again for a short walk to the city centre trying to find something to eat.

The friendly receptionist of the hotel gave us some pointers where to find something to eat and thanks to his good suggestions, we did find something to our liking. With the evening sun still shining upon our faces, we just had a nice walk through the main street with all of its shops and by the time we got back to our room, it was already quite late. A quick shower later, I just went to bed and hoped that tonight I would have a good night’s rest … not that I was hoping for it, since we were sleeping in a triple room and my dad is someone who snores a lot … fingers crossed!

14/07/15 walking around the capital of the German Fairy Tale route and World Heritage Site

Amazingly enough I slept like a baby and since we didn’t had too much planned today, the three of us just relaxed for a while and slept in. A nice hot shower later, we were ready for some brekkie and although the weather outside didn’t predict too much fun, we still managed to walk up to our car and drove onwards to our main goal of today, the mountain park of Willemshöhe, which was located at the other side of the city, about 8 kilometers away.

My initial goal was to walk up to the park on foot, but I guess this was just a bit too much for my parents and seeing the distance myself with the dark and gloomy weather outside, I guess that in the end, we made the right decision.

As soon as we parked our car, we had a fierce walk through the park uphill, till we reached the beautiful Willemshöhe Palace, a neoclassical piece of architecture, build in the late 18th century for the Hessian Landgrave Wilhelm, who in his turn used this place extensively as a summer residence and a personal retreat.

You can’t blame the guy of course, because from the moment you step into his backyard, you’ll find the mean reason why thousands and thousands of tourists visit this city every year.

Willemshöhe mountainpark is listed as an UNESCO World Heritage Site for a reason of course. The area of the park is 2.4 square kilometers and this number alone makes sure it is the largest European hillside park. The landscape garden is amazing to look at, even in the rain and although we were out of luck because they were renovating the place, you still had an idea how things would look like if you closed your eyes and imagined that big gigantic cascade with the statue of Hercules on top, taking all that water downstairs through loads of smaller cascades, streams and aqueducts … quite an impressive picture and although I was a bit disappoint at first, I soon got over it as we started walking up hill.

I must admit that I had rather seen all the smaller cascades as well as the big one, but the walk up hill in the rain was already rewarding enough for me and when I saw that statue of Hercules I was glad that I made it … maybe I wasn’t too much out of shape like I first expected or otherwise the German air had something to do with that!

On our way back down hill we crossed a few roads and visited the Löwenburg castle, which to me is one of the most beautiful castles I had seen on this trip. I might add, that till this far I saw most of the time nothing else but ruins, but still, Löwenburg castle is also said to be a ruin, although to me it looked quite okay and fits right in the idea of a beautiful fairy tale castle.

It was already way in the afternoon when we arrived back at Willemshöhe Palace and from all that walking, we all got a bit hungry. It was kind of sad that the restaurant of the palace was closed for business, because I would have loved to have had a look inside, but instead we walked a bit down hill again and found a nice place instead, the “Schloss Café” which had some typical German dishes on their menu, how can anyone do wrong with a bit of sausage!

With our bellies full, we walked down the hill again and since the weather cleared up a bit, we drove back to the hotel to park our car and after changing our wet clothes for some drier ones, we were ready again for an afternoon of exploring the city.

The first interesting building we saw was the Orange Palace, which was located in the smaller Karlsaue State Park and although it doesn’t have a big name for itself like the palace does at the Willemshöhe Mountainpark, I found this one with its bright color even more beautiful.

As we were walking through the park, we accidentally arrived at a place which literally means “beautiful view” and I must say that this lane with plants on one sight and modern buildings on the other was just that! In German language it is written “Schöne Aussicht” and this was more than true because you had a nice view on the surrounding area, even the highway!

We also found out that there was a Brothers Grimm museum in the vicinity and since I was out of luck visiting the one in Steinau An Der Strasse, this was as good enough excuse for me to visit this one, but as soon as we entered the building, we found out that everything was under construction. I don’t know what it is with museums and so on here on this Fairy Tale Route, but it seems that I keep on getting out of luck with these things, so instead of moping about it, we just did the next best thing … shopping!!!

I have to admit that we didn’t did too much of a good job, since after spending a couple of hours in the main street, we only had a handful of goodies, but still, it made for one hell of a good afternoon and early evening, that is, for two of us anyway coz my dad spend more time outside on a bench than anything else.

To make up for it, I treated all three of us with a nice dinner at the most beautiful named street “Schöne Aussicht”. I had seen a Mexican restaurant which also served some other more German like dishes, so this suited all three of us and after not too much of a discussion, we went for it and I must admit that I made one very good choice coz the food was yummy, the drinks were great and as soon as the sun started to disappear, it was time for the three of us to head back to our hotel.

Once we got back to our room, I did a bit of reading and updated a bit of my blog and although it was still not much later dan 10 PM, I decided I had enough fun for one day and went to bed. My parents however decided to have one more nightcap downstairs and believe it or not, I didn’t even hear them entering the room again, I must have been completely knackered after all that walking and shopping!

15/07/15 feeling like a princess for a day!

Today once again, we had an early start of the day coz unlike yesterday, we had to face another day on the road.

As soon as we got all geared up again with all of our essentials like GPS, maps and guide book within grabbing distance, we were more than ready to go sightseeing and today was kind of a special day coz along the way I had mapped out a few castles ruins, so in my book it was going to be all about the fairy tale beauties, except for the first one which was basically called a quack, but hey it’s all in the name isn’t it!

Our first goal of the day was Hann. Münden, which is said to be one of the most beautiful towns on the Fairy Tale Route and hence the reason why we we’re going to visit it. It was also my mothers number one choice, so instead of going for nothing else but beauties, we decided to do the first one with a beast … nope, that one is a joke of course!

The thing that is true however, is that Hannoversch Münden besides being a beautiful town with half-timbered houses along the Weser river, is best know for its connection to the infamous Doktor Johann Andreas Eisenbart, who lived in the late 1600’s and early 1700’s. This traveling physician has actually seen his reputation improve over time. During his lifetime, he was regarded as a quack whose cures were always permanent but nowadays he is seen as a gifted physician and surgeon.

As we walked through this town, almost everything pointed to the life and work of this infamous “doktor” and although we tried to lookup his grave in a small graveyard near such a cute little church, I didn’t find his tombstone anywhere, but than again, I am sure his spirit is still amongst all of us.

Next stop on our program of the day was a more exciting one, coz only about half an hours drive away from the town of Hann. Münden, you can find the most inspired castle of all times, Sababurg, the castle of sleeping beauty and one heck of a fine example of a castle ruin.

I must admit that it was a nice sight for the sore eyes and second of all, I had never seen a bunch of Japanese tourists go wild like I did that morning … I think they'd actually thought that she was still living in that castle, whatever the case, it was indeed fun to watch.

Lucky enough, the castle of sleeping beauty isn’t a complete ruin so to speak coz it houses a hotel and even a restaurant, but the three of us were more interested in the beautiful castle garden and they even have a spice garden as well. If you happen to pay the 2 euro for the entrance to the garden, you can also go up one tower of which you have an amazing view of what one time had to be the main entrance hall with great fireplaces. All cleaned up, you still get that fairy tale feeling and that is what I love about this castle.

As we were leaving the place, the sun came out and although early in the morning we had bought some sandwiches in Hann. Münden to eat along the way, as soon as we were back at the entrance of the castle, we decided that the front lawn of this place was an excellent picnic location and as we sat down, a bunch of youngsters thought the same thing and joint us.

With the sun in our back, we drove onwards to Trendelburg, where another beauty awaited us. This time Rapunzel did her best to shampoo her hair, but luckily enough we didn’t had to climb up all the way to her room. It was possible to go upstairs, but since there was a group with small children in front of us, we let them get all the pleasure of hiking up the tower, the three of us however, went to the restaurant part of the building and enjoyed a cup of coffee outside on the terrace with an amazing view on the area.

Back on the road again, we passed along a few scenic towns as well, like Oberweser, which is known for the fairy tale creature that I like so much, Puss in Boots, but also Bad Karlshafen with its castle ruin Krukenburg.

Instead of going for those towns, we decided to drive further up north and parked our car just outside the little town of Polle, known for that other inspiring beauty … Cinderella!

The Everstein castle ruins are located just outside the centre of town, on the high banks of the Weser river. The first mention of the castle refers all the way back to 1226 and although I know that Cinderella can’t be that old, before it became a popular castle ruin because of this lady, it was the home of the Everstein dukes who used the castle not only as their home but also a strategic point in guarding the crossing. This in turn mend that they had the right to take toll from the ships travelling the Weser and of course where there is money, there is war which ended into the ruins we know today.

Since the arrival of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales, Polle is the excellent ruin for our beloved lady and till today there is even a chance to visit Cinderella’s room near the castle ruin, only when we arrived she wasn’t home, so we had to make do with visiting the ruins and enjoying the beautiful views on the Weser river, we can’t have them all, can we!

As we drove further in the direction of Hameln, which was going to be our end destination of today, we also passed Bodenwerder, home of Baron von Münchhausen. I must admit that I had always found this to be a strange character and although I wouldn’t have mind visiting this town as well, in the end there were three of us and instead we drove further along the way towards Hameln, where we arrived less than an hour later.

Finding our hotel for the night wasn’t all that difficult and as soon as we checked in and dropped of our stuff in our room, I was more than eager to visit the town of the Pied Piper!

Since we arrived late in the afternoon, we were just in luck to see the end of the musical “Rats” which they play every Wednesday during the summer months and as the weather outside was still fine enough, the rats which were placed along the cobblestoned centre of the town, did their best to take us all along the most interesting buildings and sculptures throughout the centre.

As soon as it got darker on us, we headed for a nice enough restaurant to have something to eat and even afterwards, we found a nice place for one or two nightcaps.

Luckily enough I didn’t had to follow the rats this time otherwise I guess I would have never find our hotel room again, I must admit as well that the alcohol got to me coz even getting up the stairs seemed to be a difficult task and to tell you the truth, even my parents weren’t that big of a help since my mother did nothing else but laugh, it seems that our family isn’t that great with alcohol, but after all, maybe that is not such a bad thing at all!?

16/07/15 almost at the end

Didn’t I say that our family wasn’t all that great with alcohol … it turned out right coz although my parents showed signs of fatigue in the early morning, I was the one that got out of bed with a splitting headache … OMG, this was not how I wanted to start the day.

Although I tried to wash away my sorrows, it just didn’t work, even having something into my stomach wasn’t the answer, so I turned to drugs and took a few aspirins. I must admit that it wasn’t a quick solution, but once we've got everything in the trunk of the car, I was able to function a little bit better than an hour ago.

Today we were going to drive the last part of our route and our final stop of today was going to be Bremen, the biggest city of them all, but not before we first visited Hessich Oldendorf, which was only about a 15 minutes drive away.

I must admit that I found some interesting information in my guidebook learning us that in this little town, numerous of sagas and legends were passed on between the brothers and other storytellers, but once we arrived at the scene, besides a few half-timbered houses and a church, there was nothing much to see. Maybe my headache had something to do with it as well, but after a short stroll through the center of town, we were on our way again only to stop at the next big town on our way to the north, Nienburg.

This town itself is very modern and although you can find your occasional old building spread around the centre, it is rather known for a small person which is called “Die kleine Nienburgerin” who is also the symbol of the town. In 1975 the sculptress Marianne Bleeke created a statue of the little girl on the occasion of the 950th anniversary of the town. From that period on, the little girl, who is the main character of this popular North German folk song stands proud near the Potshof and the song “I am the little Nienburg girl” rings out several times a day from the carillon of that same building.

I am not really familiar with this song, but I heard it once and it wasn’t too bad, if you ask my opinion, there are worse songs played every day on the local radio station.

Since I still didn’t feel all that well, before we headed out to the big city of Bremen, we first had a hot drink in one of the many bakeries and as soon as my parents were done deciding which pastry was the more delicious one, I went to the bathroom for another splash of water, not that it helped that much though and looking at my image in the mirror, I really can’t remember the last time I felt that miserable!

Back on the road again, I just gave the address of our hotel in Bremen to my dad and as he drove further along the route, I somehow fell asleep, only to wake up about 2 hours later when we entered the city of Bremen.

Unlike the days before, where we had a relax ride from beginning till end, we suddenly were faced again with the hustle and bustle of your every day city life and to be honest, I wasn’t really liking it, but than again … if we wanted to finish this Fairy Tale Route, we couldn’t but end in the city known for its most popular fairy tale of the Brothers Grimm, the Bremer Town Musicians.

As we arrived into the city at 4 PM, loads of people were still up and about and thanks to the city map we’ve got from the friendly receptionist of our hotel, we were able to walk around the city without missing out on one thing.

Our hotel was ideally located smack in the middle of the city center and just across the main shopping street that lead all the way towards the old town with its cathedral square and statue of the musicians as well as the infamous City Hall and the statue of Roland, the main sights of the city, but furthermore we had a nice stroll along the city dikes where we even saw a Dutch windmill. Kind of strange and I don’t exactly had a clue what it was doing there, but it stood there like it belonged there, so who am I to complain about it!

As soon as it got a bit darker, we tried to find something suitable to eat, but now that we were in a big city, this all of a sudden wasn’t too big of a problem anymore, the main problem is what to eat coz there were just too many choices, but after a bit of debating, we just went for your typical German food and it wasn’t all that bad.

In the dark, we walked all the way back to our hotel and although my parents had one last nightcap in the bar of the hotel, I just said goodnight to them and went straight up to my room to have a nice hot shower and a goodnight’s rest.

17/07/15 the long ride home!

An early night really does miracles for the body and soul, my headache was gone and although it was raining outside the minute I opened the curtains, I was more than ready for another day.

Sadly enough today was also our last one and as soon as I finished packing my stuff, I met up with my parents at the breakfast table.

Checking out went smoothly as usual but as we wanted to leave the hotel for another quick visit into the old town, it started to rain even harder. Not really in the mood for walking in the rain, my mother insisted that we drove back home while me and my dad wanted to go further up north and visit the seaport of Bremershaven. Two against one is mostly a success, but when the young lady behind the reception buts in and told us that they expected heavy rains and even a storm at the seacoast, it was clear that my mum had won the battle.

As soon as we had gathered all of our stuff, we drove of and left rainy Bremen behind us and went on our way back home, but not before we had one last stopover in Oldenburg. Not sure what to expect, we just parked our car outside the city center and walked straight into a farmers market, which was actually a welcome change after seeing so many half-timbered houses.

The city of Oldenburg, although fairly modern, houses several museums but since my parents weren’t really in the mood for a visit, we just walked around the city and did some window-shopping instead, enjoyed a hot drink or two on one of the many terraces and although they could have easily sat down on that terrace for the rest of the morning, after a few hours, I was tired of looking at the same spot all the time and wanted to drive back home.

We left the Fairy Tale Route behind us and since there weren’t any exciting cities anymore which I wanted to visit, going back home was just the right choice.

Driving on the highway, I must say that I was glad to notice that it wasn’t all too busy, most of the traffic jams were on the other side of the road, but one hour into the ride, even we drove minutes behind a serious accident involving an expensive BMW and a truck. I guess I don’t need to tell anyone who won that battle! it looked really awful, by the time we arrived at the scene, a few ambulances were already there for the victims … it really gave me goosebumps at that moment and the only thing I could wish for is that we got home safely!

After driving for more than 2 hours, we had a short stop at one of the many roadhouses along to way to have a bite to eat and strangely enough, we started with cold and rainy weather in Bremen, but now being in the surroundings of the Rhine area, it was really hot and driving more south it got even hotter along the way!

By the time we arrived back home, it was still early in the evening, about 6 PM, but still the thermometer said it was 27 degrees outside … what the heck!?!

It seemed that at home they had quite hot weather today and since we still had a few hours of sunshine left, the three of us went to a local chip shop and enjoyed our last dinner of our holiday in the warmth of the sun … the ideal end for an amazing trip of which I am sure I am going to remember for a long time.
During this trip we had some highs but also not so good days, but in the end it was a hell of an adventure and strangely enough it also proved that traveling with your parents isn’t necessary always a bad thing!