Neuschwanstein Castle (11 October 2010)

This is by far the most famous and visited castle in the world. You may know Neuschwanstein Castle as the "Disney Castle," as Walt Disney took its design when creating the one in Disney World. And I honestly think he chose well, as it truly is a dream come true.

The palace was commissioned by Ludwig II of Bavaria as a refuge for the reclusive king. he was obsessed with "fantasy" and built this to be a true fantasy castle. We must admit that upon arriving at the base of the mountain on witch the castle sits we were underwhelmed. there appeared to us that there was noting to be seen as the fog was so thick we could scarcely see from one end of the tour bus to the other. After a short (but terrifying) bus ride up to a bridge that typically provides the best view of the castle we realized that the fog only got worse with altitude as we now could not only not see the castle we could not see across the bridge.

We toured the 16 completed rooms of the castle, the remaining 40 or so rooms were never completed as the king died, and while the rooms were ridiculously extravagant the most astounding room was a hallway that had been made to look like the inside of a cave. In essence the man had built a bat cave inside his mansion just like Bruce Wayne. The rooms were truly amazing, photos were not allowed inside so if you want to see the inside google it, or go see for yourself.

After hiking back down to the tour bus in the valley below the castle we had a nice lunch and met up with our tour group to re-board the bus just as the fog cleared and the truly awesome castle finally came into view. while we would have loved to go back up and see the views from up close in the clear afternoon sky there was not enough time, but we did get some great pictures from in the valley, and hell we got some nice postcards too.

Meersburg Castle (10 October 2010)

The Castle of Meersburg is germany's oldest castle, built in the 7th century and I do mean 7th century, there is no typo there! It sits directly in the town as just another building. It has a guard at the gate in his medieval armor, so of course we had to get a picture with him. We then crossed the drawbridge into the ancient castle, which brought us back to times where there were no glass in the windows and no doors tall enough for Nick. What is really interesting here is that the family still lived in the upper parts of the castle! Imagine that, how many people get to say that they live in an actual castle and a real one that is extremely old at that!

Monkey Mountain (10 October 2010)

If you want monkeys I know you most likely don't think about going to southern Germany but you'd be wrong, as there is an entire mountain filled with them; we call it Monkey Mountain (creative I know.) We went to Monkey mountain with Family on a gloomy Saturday morning not knowing what to expect. I expected 2 or 3 monkeys in cages, but I was wrong here we were Germany in a monkey filled zoo/park/place thingy. The monkeys that are there are all endangered species and the park is a wildlife reserve for them.

The coolest thing about monkey Mountain is that you can hand feed the monkeys popcorn. Thats right every visitor gets a handful of popcorn and you hold out your hand with 1 or 2 pieces of popcorn on it and a monkey will reach out and take the popcorn one piece at a time. It is awesome. There were 14 young monkeys (under 4) and 8 babies (under 1(and so cute)) and the oldest monkey was almost 30 (Nick's age). This place is best described in pictures so check them out there is also a video of the monkeys taking food out of our hands.

Cannstatter Volksfest (2 October 2010)

This is one of the biggest beer festivals in the world, well second largest anyway, and it is held right here in Stuttgart. The 165th festival opened their gates offering rides, entertainment, food, and most importantly, beer. As soon as you board the S-Bhan toward Bad Constatt many people are seen wearing dirndl's and lederhosen. And the closer we get to the festival the more the people pack on the train and the more they are dressed. Once we got there we could see the ferris wheel. Finally at our stop, we couldn't even move once out of the train; we were all packed like sardines making our way toward the festival. Empty wine and beer bottles lined the streets along with other sorts of trash, showing that it really must be one crazy party! Upon walking through the entrance I was taken aback. Droves of people were everywhere and music was blasting and there were an array of rides to please any carnival goer. And the games, they were around every corner. The best part however were the tents. It was like stepping into the jungle or a sauna it was so hot. Celebrators stood on the tables dancing, drinking and singing. It was a party unlike any other. I swear if they ever had anything this wild and crazy in the states, it would be one massive mob and fights would break out everywhere. Anyway, we had our liters of beer and half chicken while sweating and singing to songs like "Time Warp" and "I've Had The Time of My Life." We even spotted jesus there, dancing and drinking in his lederhosen; not to mention the fact that he was taller than I thought he would be, I mean he was about a 7 inches taller than Nick!

I believe this is what nick captured along the way:

Oktoberfest blog...
515 1 beer and jenny is tipsy...
525 so much cleavage
600 chicken yummy
645 even the cops are drinking
810 4th beer is yummy but I'm a little drunk....
Durndels are awesome
900 Jenny 2 beers nick 5 both drunk
955 leaving Jenny drunk quote after babbling incoherently " yes I can I can do what I want... I'm cute so I can do. What I want"
1045 home Jenny still drunk.... " phone what are you doing I didn't touch you there..."
1100 Jenny " you know what I want? I so wish we were in Philly and things were open cauz I want spaghetti"...nick: "and where would we get spaghetti?". Jenny: " tonnelies stupid, and cheese steaks.... Ummmm"
Oktoberfest rocks

Charlottenhohle (18 September 2010)

In order to make up for Nick having to go the the Steiff Museum I found that in the same area they had a cave named, in English, Charlotte's Cave. It is one of the most famous show caves due to it being one of the longest accessible caves in Southern Germany. It is 587 metres and was formed around two and a half to three million years ago by a great underground river. They even found bones from the Ice-Age.

It was a cold, dark, and dank place that was absolutely beautiful. I had never been in a cave myself so I made sure to really take it all in. There were winding paths and narrow corridors to walk through, and as our German speaking tour guide made a note, "don't be like fat Americans." If you are of any large size, this may not be a place to go, that and if you are chlosterphobic! Of course I did not understand anything the tour guide was saying because it was all in German but I didn't care; I mean I was in a cave, that is awesome! Much of the things in the cave looked like poop, thanks to Nick's translation of the tour guide; you can see that in our pictures.

Nick even managed to scare a little boy by making that whistling sound of a cold and breezy night. Considering I do not know German, I knew the boy was referring to Nick when he turned around to his mother freaking out and her turning back to us. Poor kid. It was not intentional, but very funny.

Steiff Museum (18 September 2010)

Yes, I had to go to the Steiff Museum to see where all those cute Teddy Bears were made and of course to buy some. I knew Nick really did not want to go but he did anyway and to tell you the truth, he didn't think it was bad at all. We had a blast, even though we probably looked ridiculous being as we had not children with us or have any ourselves, but what the heck, you have to have fun in life even if it means going back to childhood.

We had quite an interesting tour. It started out with us watching a replica of Margarete Steiff's room where she sewed. We learned that she began designing elephants that were sold as pincushions to her friends. Her brother took them to market and sold them to other children as toys and following its popularity, Maragrete made dogs, cats and pigs.

After that, we were guided into the old workshop where we met teddy. Her nephew Richard joined her and gave an enormous boost in popularity by creating teddy. During a Leipzig Toy Fair in 1903, 3,000 bears were exported to the United States, creating the Roosevelt Bear craze. All due to Theodore Roosevelt's nick name of "Teddy" and the incident on a bear-hunting trip in Mississippi of 1902. This is where he refused to shoot a cub, as it did not have a chance to defend itself.

Our tour then took us up, in the skies where dreams come true, to the world of Steiff. We got to see their big stuffed animals, ones that we could sit on and almost look as if we were riding or that they were real. It was truly amazing.

"Only the best is good enough for children," is the Steiff motto, as the products are subject to meticulous testing and inspection. For example they are required to be highly flame resistant and among other things, smaller pieces such as eyes must be able to resist considerable tension, wear and tear. Not to mention the steep prices. I still love them despite that fact and despite the fact that Nick thinks the old classic style is creepy with its moveable appendages and rotating head. I say a doll is much worse!

Triberg (11 September 2010)

Triberg, Germany is located in the Black Forest. Foaming and thundering; the water masses of the Gutach river take a headlong plunge into a depth of 163 meters at Germany's highest waterfall in the country. Following the river there is a lovely display of nature. You can even smell how green and earthy it truly is. It truly reminded me of Washington State.

This tiny village is nestled in the middle of the mountains so on our cruise there we were descending down a long and steady hill. I can only imagine what it would be like in the winter. What is truly interesting about this place is that it has a vast amount of cuckoo clocks, as it has the two largest cuckoo clocks in the world. You can imagine that every store you walk into has cuckoos. And on the outside of one particular store there is a cuckoo clock that goes off on the hour. It is very entertaining!

A very traditional village in the impenetrable forest of wild beasts and barbarians as the Romans put it, is one of the greatest attractions. I told Nick that maybe when we are much older we could retire at the top of the mountain there because I did notice that Triberg was full of elderly people.

Lichtenstein Castle (19 August 2010)

Lichtenstein Castle sits a-top a cliff located in the Swabian Alb, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany. Its name in English means "light stone." Unfortunately this was not the original castle that had historically stood on the site in 1200 as it was destroyed twice; once in the Reichskriegs war of 1311 and again by the city-state of Reutlingen in 1381. However, in 1802 King Frederick I of Wurttemberg built a hunting lodge at the site. When he passed his nephew Duke Wilheim of Urach obtained this romantic Neo-Gothic design of the castle, as inspired by Wihelm Hauff's novel "Lichtenstein."

It may not be the most extravagant castle let alone the grandest but it was rather quaint in its small size. Nick, unfortunately did not get to do with me as he had work, but I went with our neighbor. I have to say that my favorite part were the keys to get into the castle! They were huge and traditional. I was so excited about the key that I had our tour guide take a picture of me holding it! It was heavy, huge, and new looking but I could imagine that it most likely was rusted looking back in the day.

In the area of the castle were trails and a nice park for the family, and to my excitement an Adventure Park with zip lines and an entire world where you can climb trees like monkeys. I am certainly going back to that!

Ruins of Hohenurach Castle (25 July 2010)

Sunday morning we got an early start and went to visit the Ruins of Hohenurach Castle which was erected in the 11th century by the Count of Urach. It was expanded in the 16th century by the Dukes of Wurttemberg. This castle has towered as a picturesque ruin over the old town since 1765.

As breathtaking as the ruins are, our travels up to it were not so easy. We decided to take the road less traveled so to speak. Instead of taking the winding and flat path, we took a steep and ever inclining one. Perhaps not the best choice. Iggy, an 18 pound Boston Terrier, practically pulled us up the incline.

When the ruins were in sight we stopped to get out our cameras. Our Camera refused to turn on because our battery was dead, but no big deal our friend Nick had brought his entire bag of camera equipment. So he took out his big and heavy camera and lense and started to get ready to shoot, but his memory card was in his computer... at home. Our memory card did not fit in his camera and his battery did not fit in ours... so now we will do our entire photo shoot with our iPhones. you be the judge but I think they came out well. It was entertaining how every other person had their nice Canon's or Nikon's to take pictures with. Go figure, it would happen to us.

At the ruins we were like little kids. Excited about every little thing. There were real dungeons and underground holding cells and absolutely the most amazing views.

On the hike down we took a short 3 km detour to see a nearby waterfall. The waterfall was impressive but we all agreed that the ruins were far more impressive but to the locals the waterfall must have been a thing of wonder because there were only a handful of people at the ruins but there were over 100 at the waterfall.

All in all a nice day.

Ritter Sport

Following the Visit to the Porsche Museum Jenny decided to try to make our Saturday even more German by visiting the Ritter Sport Factory. The place is every kid's fantasy, especially big kids like us.

We were taken back in time to when cocoa had been harvested and used by the Olmacs. After a brief history, we then viewed the process of making chocolate. It was quite an interactive walk through, however the highlight was pressing a little button on a machine that would have a Ritter Sport truck deliver a chocolate to you by way of vending machine style.

At the end we entered the shop; it honestly felt like we were in Willy Wanka's chocolate world! There were candy bars everywhere, in any flavor you could possibly imagine. To name just a few:

1. Vollmilch – Plain milk Chocolate (Royal Blue Wrapper)
2. Schoko-Duo – Plain milk Chocolate and white chocolate (Royal Blue Wrapper with chocolate bar on outside)
3. Dunkle Vollmilch – Plain medium dark chocolate, 40% cacao (Azure Blue Wrapper)
4. Halbbitter – Plain dark Chocolate, 50% cacao (Burgundy Wrapper)
5. Edelbitter – Plain dark chocolate, 71% cacao (Pink Wrapper)
6. Knusperkeks – Milk chocolate with a butter biscuit (Brown Wrapper)
7. Pfefferminz – Chocolate with peppermint filling (Caribbean Green Wrapper)
8. Joghurt – Yogurt (White Wrapper)
9. Erdbeer Joghurt – Milk chocolate strawberry and yogurt filling (Light Pink Wrapper)
10. Voll-Nuss – Milk chocolate with whole hazelnuts(Brown Wrapper with Hazelnut-Pattern)
11. Dunkle Voll-Nuss – Dark chocolate with whole hazelnuts (Dark Brown Wrapper with Hazelnut-Pattern)
12. Weiße Voll-Nuss – White chocolate with whole hazelnuts (White/Cream Wrapper with Hazelnut-Pattern)
13. Knusperflakes – Milk chocolate with corn flakes (Golden Yellow Wrapper)
14. Voll Erdnuss – Milk chocolate with whole peanuts (Orange Wrapper)
15. Ganze Mandel – Milk chocolate with whole almonds (Dark Green Wrapper)
16. Marzipan – Dark chocolate with marzipan center (Red Wrapper)
17. Cocos – Milk chocolate with flakes of coconut in the center (Silver Wrapper)
18. Trauben-Nuss – Milk chocolate with raisins and hazelnut pieces (Carmine Red Wrapper)
19. Rum Trauben Nuss – Milk chocolate with rum-soaked raisins and hazelnut pieces (Crimson Red Wrapper)
20. Cappuccino – Milk chocolate and cappuccino cream (Amber Wrapper)
21. Alpenmilch – Special milk chocolate with high alpine milk proportion (Sky Blue Wrapper)
22. Nugat – Milk chocolate with hazelnut-nougat center (Midnight Blue Wrapper)
23. Feinherb à la Mousse au Chocolat – dark chocolate filled with chocolate mousse (Bistre Wrapper)
24. Karamel Nuss - Milk Chocolate with butter caramel cream dropped hazelnuts and crispy rice (Golden yellow wrapper)
25. Haselnuss – Milk chocolate with hazelnuts
26. Praline – Milk chocolate with hazelnut praline filling. (Navy Wrapper)

It certainly was a sweet part of our day! We stocked up on our chocolate bars and hit the road. AlI I know (Jenny) is that I would not have a problem going back there again and restocking of course!

Porsche Museum ( 24 July 2010)

The Porsche Museum is a place that does not shy away from the big, the bold, and the brash. This OZ-like building withholds 80 of the company's jewels, not to mention a steak house, a visible restoration workshop, the company's archives, and a dealership across the street for those (like us) who decide that they must have their own after seeing the wonderful collection.

Stepping off the escalator at the start of the exhibit is like walking into heaven (for Nick). The very first thing we saw was the silvery aluminum reconstruction of the space age 1938/1939 type 64 Porsche that was the beginning of what is known as the Porsche car company today. It is a brand that is inspired by its client-racer heart and soul; the sports car specialist. It is important to point out that the Museum is far less impressive than the Mercedes Museum across town, but where the Porsche museum lacks the historical importance of the Mercedes Museum it has a dazzling array of automotive pornography. Where the Mercedes Museum is a must for all visitors to Stuttgart the Porsche Museum is a must for any true car enthusiast.

The Photos have been added to the gallery.

Mercedes-Benz Museum (17 July 2010)

On Saturday morning we headed into Downtown Stuttgart to Bad Cannstatt to see the Mercedes-Benz Museum. The first thing that hits you is the striking architecture of the building. It is just marvelous to look at. Once inside the buildings size really hits you, the center hall has a open view to the roof over 120 feet above.

The museum has over 200 cars on display which in itself would be enough but at Mercedes there is more much more. The history of both the automobile and the company is thoroughly covered while also showing the impact the car and the company had on Germany history. While walking through the museum the architecture of the building becomes more amazing as the continual spiral downward creates incredibly diverse viewing rooms holding cars spanning over 100 years of Mercedes-Benz history.

An amazing Museum that we will definitely be returning to.

Burg Hohenzollern (18, July, 2010)

Hohenzollern Castle is home to Hohenzollern family that came to power during the Middle Ages and ruled Prussia and Brandenburg until the end of World War I.

It sits on a craggy peak that rises above the surrounding plateau; looking stunning in its mightiness. We had to walk up a steep and relentless hill from the car-park to the castle itself. But honestly in reality, we took the bus as we were not aware of its strenuous surroundings. Once we reached the top there were excellent views that seemed to go on forever in the distance. Inside the castle walls we saw the innate beauty it withheld, unfortunately pictures were not allowed; we were not even allowed to wear our regular shoes either. So, in a rather bizarre twist as to preserve the marble and timber floors, we had to wear slippers. It was quite fun sliding around in them throughout the entire tour. Nick even got to wear a kings cape (not a real one of course, rather one meant for children).

While the castle's beauty was undeniable, the most breathtaking part were the majestic views taken from the top.