Tuesday, September 13, 2011

BROTHER'S GRIMM FAIRY TALE ROAD

Saturday, September 13th, 1997 Goslar, Germany

Went back to sleep immediately after having been awake for several hours during the night and finally woke up about 6 am; rested and ready for our first full day in Germany. We went down to breakfast shortly after 7:30 am and made miniature sandwiches for our pockets to eat for lunch from the breakfast table rather than eating all of the food for breakfast!

Checked out and found the weather a light mist. Jim recommended that we follow the Fairy Tale Road…so named because the Brother’s Grimm were born and raised in the towns along this road. Many of their fairy tales are based on real life places along this road. A castle tower looked perfect for Rapunzel to let her hair down. A very nice town where we spent time walking around the city was Steinan; the Grimm’s birthplace and they’ve named the main street after them. Many very old half timbered homes in this town.

We’ve noticed that the sound walls along the autobahn are very decorative. Some have glass, others are built of various materials. Some resemble homes up against the wall like a medieval wall. Many had vines growing up the walls.


Fulda is the home of the Bishop’s Palace. Very beautiful. There were many more tourists compared to what we’ve seen elsewhere. Large cathedral had a tomb of St. Boniface under the main alter. Shari lit a candle for her new expected granddaughter, Anne. We did three more candles for the trip and our families. Dave learned how to do the parking permit machines. Agreed this morning at breakfast that Jim would drive the car up to lunch and Dave would drive afternoons. Worked well today.

By noon we realized how little we were progressing so decided to get on the major autobahn and put some miles in to get to our evening lodgings: Goslar. What should have been a three to five hour drive had taken from about 9 am to 4 pm; but we did enjoy the stops along the fairy tale road.

Rain threatens all day but seldom more than a few drops here and there. We did see some lightening strikes. But, it is definitely colder than we’d expected. In walking around Goslar this evening we were very cold.... and happy to get back to our warm rooms at the end of the walk. We had dinner at the hotel…very nice and not too expensive. During our after dinner walk we were still cold but everyone except Shari had ice cream for dessert.

Did some planning for tomorrow’s trip to Lübeck with a stop at Hamburg, the Venice of the North. Retired to our rooms by 8:30 pm. There are only German TV shows so it will probably be an early evening.

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