Southern Germany Sampler: Rothenberg and Neuschwanstein

Our second day in Rothenberg ob der Tauber started with a delicious breakfast at the Gasthof Goldener Greifen, which was included in the price of our room.  They had a nice high chair for Kellan to sit in and a yummy breakfast buffet.  After checking out, we ventured back out into the town to do Rick Steve's self-guided tour.  We walked through more half-timber houses,

and past St. James Church.

Even though the day was overcast and drizzly, we enjoyed walking past old houses with pretty gardens and greenery.

We visited the Imperial Museum, which has an impressive collection of weaponry and arms dating back to prehistoric times.  There is also information on the history of Rothenberg ob der Tauber.  We thought it was a pretty cool stop.  Below is a picture from/link to their website:

Next stop was the Medieval Crime Museum.  I was a little nervous to take Kellan in here, but it wasn't as gruesome as I thought it would be and much of the equipment they had on display you had to read about to understand how it worked.  Kellan and I just played chase most of the time, with me stopping here and there to read about various horrific things people did to each other many years ago.  Here are Matt and Kellan next to an iron maiden.

I picked up the two post cards below because I thought they outlined a couple of the funnier punishments people had to endure back in "the good old days."  The one on the left was a common punishment for women who argued with one another too much.  They were put on display in the center of town in one of these contraptions until they settled their differences.  So medieval peeps had this "Shrew's Fiddle" as it was called.  Today, we have various talk shows, from Jerry Springer to Dr. Phil where quarreling women voluntarily publicly humiliate themselves.  Interesting.  

Another punishment, pictured right, was for less serious crimes, like public drunkenness.  You were place in this wooden block-type of bondage and people were basically allowed to harass you all day and there was nothing you could do about it.  Also kind of funny.

It was raining pretty hard when we left the Medieval Crime Museum.  We had wanted to do Rick Steve's "Allergic to Tourists Moat Walk," which takes you outside of the town walls and down into what used to be a moat surrounding Rothenberg, but the rain cancelled that plan.  So we headed out and continued down the Romantic Road towards Neuschwanstein.

We drove through Dinkelsbuhl, which is where the picture below was taken.  It is a less touristy town along the R.R. than Rothenberg, and we think if we travel down the Romantic Road again we will overnight here and give it a closer look.

We popped off of the Romantic Road and onto the autobahn after Kellan woke up as we drove through the bumpy, cobblestone streets of Dinkelsbuhl.  As we approached Neuschwastein, the amazing Alps loomed in front of us.

We arrived at our hotel - the Schlosshotel Lisl - close to 4 or 5pm.  While in a very convenient location for the castles, it is definitely a tourist trap.  We were there in the off-season, so very few restaurants were open later than 6pm.  The hotel has a very pretty and has great views of Neuschwanstein, but we weren't hugely impressed with it otherwise.  If you are driving, I would recommend staying in Schwangau instead.  Below is a picture from/link to the hotel's website, which includes information about visiting Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein as well.  You can buy tickets online, which is nice.

We received a dinner recommendation from our hotel receptionist for spot in Schwangau, about five minutes drive away, maybe a 2km walk.  The restaurant/brewery, the Schlossbrauhaus Schwangau, was very, very cool.  Pic from/link to their website:

As we drove to the brewery, we stopped to snap a picture looking back towards the castle.

We saw that there was a nice patio outside at the brewery, but it was pretty chilly out - maybe in the low-fifties - and they weren't serving out there.  This was disappointing, because Kellan needed to let off some steam and we thought this outdoor patio would be the perfect place for that.  Seeing our dismay, the bartender informed us they had an indoor play area downstairs where K could play and we could drink our beers and relax before dinner.  An indoor playground where we can drink beer?  Yes, please.  This place was great and Kellan loved it.  In an adjoining room were foos ball and air hockey tables and even a small rock climbing wall for older kids.  Pretty awesome.

After giving Kellan some play time, we just had to take in the view from the patio.  We put our coats on, grabbed fresh beers and were greeted by this when we walked outside:

Can you believe it?  Well worth enduring the cold weather.  It was absolutely gorgeous and I can't even imagine how amazing it would be in the spring and summer.

Kellan has figured out zippers and kept taking off his coat.  He was running around like a mad man, so I'm sure his internal heater kept him pretty warm.

 Even still, Mommy insisted on putting the coat back on.  It was cold!

Our dinner was delicious.  They had a high chair and a kids menu, so it's a family-friendly restaurant.  Kellan was pretty grumpy at dinner, so Matt and I played the tag team dinner game and took turns taking K back outside to play until we were ready to go.  The ride back to the hotel was a short one and we gave Kellan a bath, read some books and happily snuggled into our beds.  The next day we would be touring some pretty cool castles...