Today brought us back to Germany – which means the Autoban – which means I did some fast driving this time. Not that we are keeping track, but faster than Kevin =) Our goal today was to visit the Lichtenstein Castle, hike through the Black Forest and get a sneak peak of Rothenburg. Success on all three!
Lichtenstein Castle is located in the Black Forest and was a quaint little castle to explore. The original castle was destroyed about a decade after the plague wreaked havoc across Europe, and the new castle was constructed in the 1800s. It was used as a summer home up until the 1990s by the current owner… I mean, why wouldn’t you use a castle in the mountains as a summer home? The original castle was in ruins about 1/2 km away from the new castle, and we were able to climb all over and explore which is always what we want to do.
Since the castle is in the Black Forest, naturally we had to hike it. However Kevin likes to con me into these hikes rather than just saying ‘oh hey, let’s go on a 3.2km hike up the side of a mountain’. No instead, he’s like ‘oh hey, there are some cool ruins just down this path’. Look at said ruins… ‘oh hey, there is a cave down this path’. Look at said cave… ‘so it looks like it’s the same distance to go down this path instead of going back the way we came’. I think you get the picture. My reward at the end? Bratwurst and french fries at the Biergarten = happy girl.
Last stop today was Rothenburg which is a walled city with cobblestone streets built just big enough for two horse carriages which is pretty darn cool…. if you don’t have to drive through it with a full size car. Since I was the driver today, I was the lucky winner to drive through the town. Illegally as it turns out. When we arrived, the Imperial City Festival was in full swing and apparently only vendors were allowed to drive in the walls. Well, and me…
Regardless, we seem to be pretty lucky when it comes to stumbling upon festivals. This festival was very Stars Hollow-esque with period costumes, music, food and more. (Mom – Stars Hollow is the town in Gilmore Girls. Their festivals were always known to be very over the top, always historically based – although usually very stretched truth – and tons of music and food.) Of course, we found an ice cream cafe and scoped out the town while eating our ice cream to determine our plan tomorrow (Kevin’s favorite ice cream flavor of the day = Green Apple). It was a very cool way to end the evening.
P.S. it was the not the same distance to go down the new path compared to going back the way we started.
P.P.S. I did not fall today. I should have my own record sign… Days since last fall: 1
Caption: The view from the Lichtenstein Castle. You can definitely see why this spot was chosen for the castle. Such a view!
Caption: Lichteinstein Castle
Caption: Original Lichtenstein Castle — All ruins now
Caption: Hiking through the Black Forest. The path was intense even though it doesn’t look like it. Most of the time we could barely walk single line between the side of the mountain and the deep ledge. Even Kevin aka “Mr Hiker” said it was intense, so for a baby like me, it was a tad uncomfortable.
Caption: German Bratwurst and pommes frites at the Biergartenn
Caption: Band performing at the Rothenburg Festival. Fun =)
