Liechtenstein

Day 5: I was most excited about this DayTrip adventure (Füssen to Lucerne) because we would be stopping in Liechtenstein!! (Country #35 for me!!) 

Fun facts about Liechtenstein:

-Around 37,000 people live there

-It’s a semi-constitutional monarchy headed by the Prince of Liechtenstein 

-It’s the 6th smallest country in the world (62 sq miles)

-It has one of the lowest crime rates in the world 

-It’s the worlds leading manufacturer of false teeth

We stopped in Vaduz which is the capital. We drove up to see the castle, but it is not open to the public as the Prince actively lives there!  

We then ate lunch, I bought my country magnet, got an official Liechtenstein stamp in my passport, and walked around the town! 

They have a postal museum (which we did not go in), but it was fun to see all the stamps like this one on the streets! 

We only spent a couple hours here, just walking around the town and having lunch… Lichtenstein

is a very small country so I imagine most people don’t spend a whole lot of time here. 

After our stop, we drove the rest of the way and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon/evening in Lucerne!

Next post will talk about our afternoon exploring and the next day visiting Mt Pilatus from Lucerne! 

Neuschwanstein

Day 4:  We left Rothenburg and we used DayTrip again for our private transfer to Fussen. We stopped in Ulm along the way. Ulm is famous for having the tallest steeple in the world. Ulm Minster stands at 530 feet tall. 

Ulm was mainly just a lunch stop, time to stretch our legs, and restroom break, but I did go inside the church and snap a few pictures. I probably could’ve spent more time in Ulm, but we had a tight schedule to get to our next stop.

When I went to Europe roughly 20 years ago (yikes!! I swear I’m not that old!) we went to Neuschwanstein and took a tour inside the castle.

I don’t remember a whole lot about it because it wasn’t really of interest to me. 
We had people in our group this time around though that wanted to stop there so we added it to our itinerary. Unpopular opinion: I think it’s slightly overrated. 

Do to unforeseen cirumstances I did not go inside the castle this time around, but some of the others did.  The key takeaway I got from them was that it was hot inside the castle and the tour was rushed. (so I’m not really sad that I missed it)

My husband also added that they were not many rooms to see, and that only a small fraction of the castle was ever finished. Going into it, he thought he would be able to see more of the castle than he did.  

Seeing it from the outside was good enough for me! (And technically I did tour inside 20 years ago even though I don’t remember much about it.)

A little bit of history: Neuschwanstein castle was built for King Ludwig II. The construction started in 1867 and it was nearly completed in 1886.  (almost 20 years later!) The castle was intended to be a personal retreat for the king. It has over 200 rooms. Neuschwanstein has also significantly impacted pop culture -the sleeping beauty castle, which is located in Disneyland was inspired by it.

Our hotel in Fussen was called Hotel Hirsch. It was a lovely hotel and they had a fantastic restaurant! The waiter helped rate our Deutsch speaking abilities. Sadly, he only gave me a 6.5 :(

I did, however, have my favorite meal of the trip here! It was a Swiss wurstsalat! So yummy!! Not what I expected at all, but delicious!! 

Rothenburg pt 2

Our itinerary:

We flew into Frankfurt and we arranged a private transfer through DayTrip. I’ve never used this company before, but they basically offer private transfers between cities with the option to add sight seeing stops along the way. This is offered in many countries around the world and when you have a big group that wants to travel together it just makes sense! (Coming from suburban America we aren’t too savvy when it comes to trains, buses, and subways! We also didn’t want to rent a car and drive ourselves.)

Our driver was great, very friendly, and we had a pit stop in Creglingen. This was mainly just to stretch our legs and give us a little something to do before we were able to check into our hotel. 

Once we got to Rothenburg we dropped our bags off at the Hotel Gerberhaus. We found a restaurant to have lunch at and (!!!) this is where I reunited with Carla!! It was so good to see her after 7 years. 

Our hotel was in a great location- within walking distance of everything! We stayed within the town walls the whole time. PSA: If you visit in the summer, it is HOT and a lot of hotels don't have air conditioning. 

After lunch we did the Kathe Wohlfahrt- Christmas Market and climbed the Town Hall tower (220 steps to the top!) 

Outside the Christmas market

Inside the Christmas market

 

Top of the tower!

We also explored the Castle Gate and Burggarten

Next day we walked the wall and discovered some really cool things! We walked to the Spital Bastion from the wall which is the most fortified section. What's cool is you can freely explore on your own- we wondered into the courtyard area and we even found some old cannons.

Walking on the wall

Viewing the courtyard from a window

Exploring

Found the cannon!

View from the window

Bridge by Spital Bastion

We also did the Night Watchman Tour tour which is a must do while in town! It provides a fascinating and entertaining account of Rothenburg's history and it is really interesting and well done!! 

ALSO... DON'T MISS THE GELATO!!!!!!

More from our trip coming soon.....

Rothenburg pt 1

WE ARE BACK! BACK AGAIN! 

We (okay, I) floated an idea of a family trip a couple years ago and last week we finally made it! (Mike and I, my parents, and Mike's mom and sister)

I planned and organized the whole trip based on my favorite places and places I knew our family would like. 

Stop #1 Background:

Back in 2007, I visited Rothenburg, Germany and fell in love. Rothenburg ob der Tauber is famous for its well-preserved medieval architecture and fairytale atmosphere. It's known for its intact city walls, cobblestone streets, and it has a number of original buildings dating back to the Middle Ages. I knew our moms would love it! I was also very eager to go back as it's officially one of my favorite cities in the entire WORLD. 

Iconic photo op

So many good photo ops

Walking the wall

Almost group photo-just missing my dad!

Not only that, but it has been SIX years since I've seen my German sister so a reunion was LONG OVERDUE!!! 

Reunited with my German Sister! 

I first met Carla online back in 2012. We didn't know each other, but we decided to spend 2 months traveling New Zealand together. The rest is history! (This is seriously such a cool story- maybe I'll make a seperate post about it)

Anyway, Carla is one of my very best friends! Even though we don't get to see each other as often as we'd like, the memories we've shared together are PRICELESS. We spent two months in New Zealand together, met up a few years later in Spain to do some traveling, met up a few years after that in Amsterdam and Hamburg where she got to meet my dad and my husband who were traveling with me, and now reunited in Rothenburg!! 


Up next, I'll tell you all the things to do and see in Rothenburg and why you need to spend more than one day there!