Germany

 Germany

Neuschwanstein castle

Rothenburg Ob der Tauber

Burg Eltz Castle

Cologne Cathedral

Aachen Cathedral

Brussels, Belgium 

We woke up very early to drive to Germany in time to get in line before 8:00 am to get same-day tickets for Neuschwanstein Castle.

We were so happy to get tickets to the Castle! 

Surprising to us, was the fact that this a modern (1800's) castle.

We didn't tour the other castle (Hohenschwangau Castle) but the view of it from the outside was still beautiful.

After some lunch we started the drive along the "Romantic Road". It wasn't quite what we thought it was going to be. We saw a lot of the countryside and drove on lots of autobahns though.

We arrived in the early evening to our destination, Rothenburg Ob der Tauber. It was such an adorable, quaint town!

We strolled around the town, ate some Schneeballens, dinner, and ice cream. We sat in the town square and listened to the musicians playing, the bell tower ringing, and then listened for a minute to the Night Guard tour guy.

The next morning was another super early departure time. 

Our first stop was at Burg Eltz Castle. This one was a medieval castle. Construction began in the 1100's.

After the tour we ate goulash made from the 'wild game' of the area.

Then we drove to Cologne. We had to stop and get a low emissions sticker before we could enter the bigger city restricted areas.

We paid to walk up to the top of the cathedral. It was 500+ steps!

Aachen Cathedral

construction started around 790-800 A.D. under Emperor Charlemagne

Charlemagne's remains were dug up and relocated to this cathedral.

At the end of the day we drove over to Brussels, Belgium to sleep.