With classes at the Lutherische Theologische Hochschule beginning soon, we decided to rent a car and take a trip during the last week of September. We left Oberursel on Monday and drove to Nuremberg, where we toured the Palace of Justice—the location of the Nuremberg Trials after World War II. It was both a fascinating and somber experience to sit in the courtroom where those trials took place. We had a lovely time walking around the city and exploring different statues and finding a super fun playground. After Nuremberg, we arrived at Hohenstein, which is a small village close to Kirchensittenbach in Bavaria. The AirBnB was an old barn that the owners renovated, and it was amazing! We arrived at night, so when we woke up on Tuesday, we were pleasantly surprised to be greeted by a beautiful view of the countryside. And right across the street was a castle perched high on a hill! We climbed the hill (which basically became a cliff with some stairs) and stood next to the castle and observed the spectacular view of the Bavarian hills and farmlands!
After our castle adventure, we left Hohenstein for Munich, where (by the grace of God) we found a parking spot right next to Oktoberfest! We enjoyed our first real German Oktoberfest, watching the boys have fun on rides, getting the traditional Lebkuchenherzen and some Zuckerwatte, and taking in all the attractions and seeing the fun times happening in the beer tents. We definitely were not expecting how big the festival is, there is a lot to do!
After getting dinner at the Oide Wiesn section of the festival, we headed to our next destination. We stayed in another small town called Wiedergeltingen. It was a quant town! We woke up early Wednesday morning and headed to Füssen—the city at the foot of the mountain where Schloss Neuschwanstein is located. We looked at the beautiful Alpsee next to the Museum of the Bavarian Kings before starting the 1.4km hike up the mountain to Schloss Neuschwanstein. At the top, we could see for miles across Bavaria, and it makes sense why King Ludwig II chose such a majestic location for his palace. We then toured the inside of the castle (unfortunately, pictures are not allowed), but the rooms we got to see were stunning and magnificent! The boys had an amazing time and are not afraid of heights. After the tour, we headed back down the mountain and began the second half of our day…which became much longer than we originally thought.
We left Füssen and crossed the border into Austria, driving through the Alps. The mountains were gorgeous, and driving through the valley and small villages was wonderful. It’s amazing how crystal blue the river beside us was! However, if you’re in a valley, that means you have to get out of it eventually. And that means getting over a mountain. Going from Germany into Austria, there was a tunnel through a mountain, and it was a downhill drive, so getting into the valley wasn’t bad. Getting out was the problem. The second mountain range to the south had no tunnel shortcuts—we had to drive up the entire mountains along narrow roads along the sides of the mountains. It got pretty dizzying after a while. We stopped at Warth, and the Sporthotel Staffisalp was kind enough to let us park in their garage and charge the car while we stretched our legs and found a playground overlooking the mountains. It was wild, before our time on the Alps we thought The Road to Hana was the most narrow and windy road but that has been changed. After our little break, we mounted back up and began the descent along the southern side of the Alps, eventually making our way through Austria and into Liechtenstein. Liechtenstein is a very small country, so we drove from the eastern border to the capital of Vaduz on the western border before we knew it. By the time we reached Vaduz, it was dinner time. So with three small kids, the best option was eating at the only (and I mean *only*) McDonald’s in Liechtenstein. And it was pretty good, especially its chicken wings and fried shrimp! After filling our tummies, we drove over the Rhine River into Switzerland. After going up another part of the Alps, we finally made it to Ebnat-Kappel, where we stayed for the night.
On Thursday morning, we took it pretty slow to recover from the long Wednesday. We walked across the steeet to a church that had a playground, and after letting the boys play, we hit the road and drove through the countryside of Switzerland. Switzerland country side is so beautiful! We eventually made our way back into Germany and drove through the state of Baden-Württenberg and arrived at the town of Wilhelmsdorf, where we spent our final night of the journey.
On Friday, we left Wilhemsdorf for Stuttgart. At first, Stuttgart was going to be a quick stop for lunch, but we decided to check out the Cannstatter Volksfest (basically Oktoberfest for Baden-Württenberg). We were so glad we stopped there! The festival was a lot of fun, and since it was earlier in the day, there were not that many people, so we got to enjoy the rides and tents without all the crowds! The boys had an amazing time with the rides and dancing in the chairs during lunch at one of the beer tents. Sadly, our time in Stuttgart had to end, so we got back in the car and made the VERY LONG drove back to Oberursel (just so everyone knows, the Autobahn is not as fun when there is construction and bumper to-bumper traffic, just get on I-95 from Richmond to D.C. and you’ll get the same experience).
While the trip was a lot of fun, it felt great to come back to Oberursel. We took Saturday to rest and recover and since we had the car until Monday, we drove to Kaiserslautern on Sunday to attend Divine Service at Kaiserslautern Evangelical Lutheran Church, where Reverend Nathaniel Jensen is the pastor. The congregation was very welcoming, and we enjoyed getting to meet them!
Overall, the past week was a great (albeit exhausting) adventure. At one point, we went through 4 countries in one day! We are so thankful for the memories we made this past week and truly feel blessed for this opportunity!
Add comment
Comments