We started our adventure in Germany in the city of Cologne. After traveling by train from Amsterdam we arrived in Cologne, a very nice city with lots of historical buildings and beauty. We found our way to the riverside where we found some of the most beautiful buildings. The Rhine River is huge and runs all the way through Europe. I can remember first seeing it in France almost 20 years ago. We decided to stay in one of the historical hotels our first night in Germany and just to let you know, if you’ve never been, that most places have no air conditioners! They say they don’t need them and of course the old buildings don’t have them for their own reasons. Our hotel is over 800 years old. Look at some of these pictures. Our hotel is the orange one!
Beautiful area with hotels and restaurants and outdoor café to sit and have a snack or drink and soak in the atmosphere.
This view was too much. Had nice lunch and then ventured around to the local shops.
Our room was nice but dated of course, after all it is 800 years old!
We walked all over the city. I’ve not walked so much in forever. I’ve gotten 15,000-17000 steps in on most days. We came across some fabulous sites.
We sat for a hour or so at little café laughing and just soaking in the atmosphere. We worked up an appetite and my son wanted to try Ukraine food so we ended up at small restaurant in town. It was different but really good.
After our dinner we walked back to the hotel where my son was staying with his friend Brandon and Eric and I took an Uber to our hotel. Let me tell you what happened to us, we got into the wrong car! We could not speak German and Eli was not with us, so by the time we got to our hotel and the taxi driver asked for money we realized what we had done. Thank goodness a nice guy was getting into our cab gave us few extra dollars to pay for this cab because we had little cash and already paid for our Uber! So be careful when you are using Uber in strange country and can’t speak the language. Finally we got to our hotel and fell into bed. It was a hot night with no air conditioner but we woke up ready to start our day driving through Germany!
We are very excited as you can see to drive for hours to finally reach our first destination of Nuremberg, Germany. A beautiful city with old stone walls surrounding it. Here would be the place my son Eli bought his future wife her engagement ring! Here are a few pictures.
It was a hot day in Germany but we enjoyed exploring this cute town and we would love to return someday to see more. We finally found the special ring my son was searching for and couldn’t wait to see her reaction when he popped the question in Ireland!!
So many pictures but not enough space to share. We only stayed a day here because we had reservations at our 1,000 year old castle I booked for us and that was my most anticipated part of this journey. We took a hundred more great pictures then got in the car and headed towards our castle!
When we finally arrived after driving through the beautiful countryside of Germany we came upon our destination and all I can say is that it was amazing! We took pictures from down in the valley first and then drove up the long road to the top where the castle stood now for 1,000 years! Can you just imagine being back in those times? Well here are a few pictures.
We arrived late in afternoon and there was only one lady there to greet us and she gave us our key and showed us our room then gave the guys a beer each and she left. We were the only people staying the night we thought but found another couple came later. The service could have been better but the experience was worth it. The castle was amazing and we loved walking around and exploring it. We had a large room with windows that opened out and we slept with the fresh cool air coming in. It was a little scary sleeping alone since the guys stayed up late downstairs having good time. I imagined how many ghosts may be here in this castle, lol. But the cool, crisp morning was wonderful to wake up too. Watching from my window as the day started and the staff had already arrived to get breakfast started and set up for the guests.
It felt like I was at a scene from Game of Thrones. I could only imagine what a day back that long ago would have been like. I took a picture of some old pictures of the castle they had hanging in the walls and here they are.
Pretty cool I know!
This castle yard also had its own church and wow was it beautiful. The details were amazing and if I had time I would have stayed in there all day. Hope you enjoy the pictures. The pictures do not do it justice.
just a wonderful experience and one we will never forget. I’ve always loved Castles and never dreamed I’d ever sleep in one!
So after more pictures we got packed up and back in the car and headed for Munich.
Munich is so big. I found it a little too big for my liking but it was beautiful as well. We finally found a parking garage and then started walking and ended up in this huge square where everyone was gathering and it was amazing!
We had great food and big big beers, lol in this world famous German restaurant!
Hofbräuhaus München
This was a very cool place with a lot of history and the biggest pretzels I ever saw!
So after eating and exploring some more we ended up booking a hotel to stay the night and Eric and I had to leave the next morning for our train ride to the airport and off to our next adventure, Ireland!! But before you get excited about my blog on Ireland, let me tell you about this hotel stay. So I booked this hotel and when we got there we realized it was not a hotel, it was a hostel! Eric was so disturbed that we made this mistake and we had never stayed in one before, but at least there was four of us and we roomed together and not with anyone else, lol. The room was clean but small and there was a bathroom and a set of bunk beds along with our double bed. No air conditioning of course, and the windows don’t open up much so it was not comfortable but we made due. The next morning we were up early and arranged for an Uber to take us to the train station. We got on the train and enjoyed the ride through the countryside quietly riding to the airport to catch another flight to Manchester to catch another flight to Ireland!! We were exhausted to say the least but wow the pictures we have and the memories we’ve made!!
The train ride was just over an hour and not expensive. The flights one way are not expensive either but if you can pack light, I would knowing what I know now. But it was a great trip seeing Germany with my youngest son. It was a dream come true for him and our next stop in Ireland is gonna be fabulous so please check out our trip to Ireland blog and I hope you enjoy all our info and pictures!
Safe travels.
Weekend Getaway Travel Company 