Nearing the journeys end

So Leah left out that in the evening in Stuttgart we happened find out they had a craft brewery that doesn’t just serve lagers. As we didn’t want to have to figure out the public transit, that would have taken hours in this city, we took an uber to KraftPaule. This place was amazing on the fact that they carried IPAs, NEIPAs, and even double IPAs are well as some craft beers from France. We had a great time and drank many a craft beer as I truly needed my fix.

The following day we left Stuttgart with our final destination of the trip being Frankfurt. Most of this drive was going to involve the German motorways. I have to say for the most part we avoided the motorways and kept to the scenic rural drives. Today was not that case as we mainly stayed on the motorways. For those that know the motorways or AutoBahn have both variable and no speed limit on them in places. Most of our drive from Stuttgart to our first stop I was averaging 150km/h and I think I maxed out at 173km/h but it comes at a cost. You really, really have to be paying attention to what’s going on all around you. You could be doing 150+ and a BMW or Porsche comes flying up behind wanting to pass.

Our first stop today was in Heidelberg to visit you guessed it, another castle. The difference was this one is a partial ruin. It was quite the adventure getting there, Leah acting a navigator set our destination to Heidelberg and not the castle so guess what, that just took us to their down town area and this was not the first time she did not verify the end location before setting the nav. Lucky for us, the castle was not far away from the town core. We followed the nav up a series of narrow twisting roads and maybe around a barricade only to be confronted with road works blocking off the road. I headed back down the way I came and had some locals flashing their lights at me as I was heading down the wrong way so I turned around and followed because I thought that, maybe they know something I don’t know. I guess they had no clue as well as we all headed back down yet again. On our way down I saw this old lady shaking her head at me and about a block down we found a parking spot just as this old lady was walking by. I tried to apologize and she gave us a hard time about the parking spots should be for locals and not tourists. The parking spots was labeled as free so we just shrugged this off as a grumpy local that happens to live close to a tourist attraction.

It was a short walk to the castle and this was truly interesting to see an entire section of a wall laying on an angle. It really gave you an idea how thick the walls were. Apparently this castle had been attacked multiple times including in the thirty year war when the Swedes captured the town of Heidelberg in the 1600s. We both decided to tour the exterior grounds as there were quite the crowds of tourists at this place, which really was not our vibe.

Back onto the AutoBahn we made it into Frankfurt and after driving into the down town core where our hotel was. We were both in the mood for something other than German food. The girl that checked us into the hotel informed us there is an Italian restaurant just on the corner of the block. After dropping off our stuff and chilling for a few minutes we head out to the restaurant. I have to say it was really nice to have some pasta. After supper we headed back to the room for some rest.

The next day Leah really wanted to hit a German winery and taste some of what Germany has to offer for wines. She programmed a winery into the nav that was approximately 1/2 hour drive and we headed out.

I was a little puzzled on our drive as there seemed to be very little traffic on the road and most things seemed closed. We were nearing our destination and I realized that Leah had plugged a wine store into the nav and not a winery. I pulled over into a small town as we attempted to figure out where we were heading and it dawned on me, Oct 3rd is German Unity Day which is a national holiday. We both figured that the winery would not be open so I thought of another plan to visit a castle ruin as they most likely don’t require payment for entry and will be open on the holiday. We both agreed even though Leah was a little bit sad she would not get to see a winery.

With the castle location plugged into the nav we headed off. The location was approximately 45 mins away and took us again through some beautiful little towns and communities on the way. The road going to the ruin suddenly changed to a single lane and we found ourselves at a hiking parking lot. As we didn’t want to chance not finding parking closer we parked as the walk only indicated it was a 700m walk.

It was a nice little walk and we soon found ourselves at a large parking lot, I guess we could have driven here but it was kinda nice to go for a walk. As we were unsure of how far up the trail the ruin was we consulted a map at the parking lot and it did not look too far. Sure enough, it was just up a ways from the parking lot. The Rodenstein castle from what I could tell begun construction some time in 1200s and was occupied until the 1600s when it fell into disrepair and a lot of the masonry was repurposed. While you could clearly see the foot print of the curtain wall and the possible keep, much of the castle had been removed. It was still really cool to wander around the ruins of an old castle that was far older than most structures found in North America.

On our way down from the castle I kept smelling bacon and I turned to Leah and asked her if she was smelling bacon. She said there looked like a restaurant or guest house at the parking lot, we crossed our fingers and as we rounded the corner of the building saw people on the patio. We grabbed the first seat on the patio we could find and a server brought us these swanky menus with what looked like fantastic food. Leah immediately perked up when she noticed that they had some regional wine available so she ordered a wine and I went with, you guessed it a beer (then a wine for the second drink). Now I’ve been on the lookout for sauerbraten as I’ve read that this may as well be Germany’s national dish. I was super happy to see that that was a dish they served so of course I had to order it and Leah went for the fish. OMG the food was amazing its definitely something that I’m going to have to try to recreate at home. After the wonderful meal we jumped back on the motorway and headed back to Frankfurt.

When we got back to the hotel we decided on finding a sushi restaurant as we both had been craving something lighter than all the heavy German food that we have been eating. I found a place that was about three blocks away from our hotel, after chilling for a bit we headed out. Now I have to say the entire time through Germany I never felt unsafe from harm or theft like pick pockets. Walking a block away from our hotel I have to say I felt unsafe. Tons of strip clubs, open drug use, and just the type of people you would not want to meet in a dark alley.

We made it to our restaurant Tokygon which I have to say was very good, On our way back we decided to talk a different route that was kinda better other than watching a person remove a needle from their arm but we made it back to the hotel safely. We then finished up some packing in effort to make the morning quicker and easier.

Normally I would have ended the blog here but I have to talk about our Frankfurt airport experience. The next morning we were packed and ready to go quite quickly. We zipped out of Frankfurt and into the airport and after dropping off our car and bags headed to security. The lines were really small so I figured it would be a breeze, boy was I wrong. No sooner than walking through the scanner the line we were in stopped. Apparently a passenger forgot that they had a knife in their carry on. Now unlike other airports where the police would take this person aside and deal with the knife issue. All five staff just stood there while the police did their thing. After about 20 mins the line started again and wouldn’t you guess it the passenger three ahead of us also was bringing a knife, this time the type you try to sneak in through security. So another 15 min wait and it was finally our turn but wait. They take both our bags and run them through the scanner again. The guy comes over and asks me why I didn’t take my electronics out including my DSLR. He searches through my camera bag and lets me go. Leah on the other hand had forgotten she had water in her bottle. So instead of going through security again I insisted the bottle stays. We picked up a few souvenirs in the airport and hopped on the plane, ending our wonderful tour of Germany and dipping our toes into Austria. I cannot wait to return!