Travel Diary - Füssen & Neuschwanstein

My godmother invited me to see Ludwig 2 – The Musical in Füssen for my birthday and since we had a doctor’s appointment due in Radolfszell, my mum and I decided to make a whole trip out of it.

Tuesday, August 15:

My Birthday! We left at around 8.30 am, after I opened some of my presents. We drove directly to Möggingen, where our natural health professional is. After that we started our journey to Füssen in Bayern. It took us three long hours. The drove was very nice, especially in the beginning, because we drove along the Lake of Constance (Bodensee), they have many vineyards there and you have a great view oft he lake. The traffic was horrible, but oh well. We had lunch in the car, because we didn’t know how long the drive would take. We arrived in Füssen at around 4pm. First, we checked in at our hotel (Hotel Hirsch), which is located right next tot he old town of Füssen. Then we decided to go for a walk, because in total we sat in the car for five hours. That’s where we found my godmother. We walked around the lovely and pretty old town of Füssen and then went back tot he Hotel to get ready fort he musical. We all put on our dirndl, traditional clothes from Bayern. Then we headed tot he Festspielhaus in Füssen, right be the lake (Forggensee). It’s so pretty there, you can even see Neuschwanstein castle on the other side of the lake. The have a lovely garden there and a restaurant outside. We had dinner there, it was delicious. After taking some pictures, it was time for the musical. Ludwig 2 is the story of King Ludwig of Bavaria. My mum has seen it 11 years ago and loved it, so she really wanted me to see it. It was very different and in some ways disappointing, but the main actor was great. I will write a musical review, where you can find my whole opinion. After the show we took a taxi back to the city and had a little drink in the old town, before going to bed.

Wednesday, August 16:

After a good breakfast, it was time to properly explore the old town of Füssen. We looked at the stores, had a coffee, admired the cute houses and enjoyed the sunshine. There was also a little bit of shopping ;). For lunch we stopped at a little Italian place. Then it was time for our tour, we met up with our guide Amir and our group and took the bus to Hohenschwangau. From there we took a shuttle bus up to the castle. On the way our guide started explaining the history of the castle and King Ludwig 2. Our first stop was “Marienbrücke”, from there you have a breath-taking view of the castle and the area. It’s very crowded, but definitely worth it. Next to an overview map our guide explained more, before we headed to the castle. On the view, we had another great view to enjoy, also the one of the Hohenschwangau castle and the surrounding lakes. Luckily the tickets for the castle were included in the tour, so we had a set time to get into the castle. In the castle we had an audio guide, which took us on a 30 minutes’ tour of part of the castle (only about 16 of the 300 rooms were actually finished). The outside as well as the inside of the castle are very impressive and the story behind it is also very interesting. Back in Füssen we had a delicious dinner at the hotel and then watched some TV in the room.

Thursday, August 17:

With a Latte Macchiato in hands we took on the journey back home. Around lunch we stopped in Bregenz, where I was able to see the stage of the outside opera Carmen. That was really impressive. We walked along the lake and had lunch in the city. Then we explored the city a bit more, went into a few shops and then took on the rest of the home journey.

The area around Füssen has a lot to offer and I enjoyed every minute of this short trip. It’s definitely worth going! 

Travel Vlog

My trip to Germany

THREE DAYS IN GERMANY

After my 5 weeks internship, it was finally time to go to Germany to meet the lovely Isabell from http://dreamingwithopeneyesreviews.blogspot.de

We've been planning it for a while and I was so excited to finally meet her.

Firstly, to clear that up: We didn't know each other in person before, we meet on the fan site The Toonies and started writing messages.

I left early on Saturday morning by train. I took the train to Zurich, from there I went to Stuttgart and then Heilbronn, where she picked me up. I used the train ride to read some book of course: I finished Midsummer Sweetheart by Katy Regnery and then started The Dead Wife’s Handbook by Hannah Beckerman.

Pasta time in Vapiano

We agreed to talk German, since it's our first language, but on the way I was still writing messages in English. In Heilbronn we went to eat something first in a restaurant called Vapiano. It was delicious, I had pasta with a mushroom sauce. Well, my brother told me about this restaurant and we even have two of them in Zurich, but we don't really know it in Switzerland.

After that we walk through the city and went into some of the shops, also a books store of course ;) Unfortunately they didn't have a big collection of English books. I banned myself from banning books anyway, knowing that on my way home I'm going to the English book store in Zurich.

After that we took the train to her house, where I settled in and we exchanged some things, of course we already got talking about our blogs and books in general. 

The same evening we went to the cinema to see Vaterfreuden, a German movie, it was hilarious, trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0oQDPFgnWM (It's in German though, sorry)

Then we have Sunday, Isa and her mum took me to a lovely and local cafe for breakfast, we had Prosecco, omelettes, bread, cheese (I don't like it, but they had some), fruit, coffee etc. It was fabulous, just too much for me, since I'm not a big breakfast eater.

Our next stop was Öhringen city, the town they live in. It has a beautiful castle and park, the weather wasn't too nice though. The rest of the day we spent with watching the Olympics, movies, bloggin... Just chilling and relaxing, which was great as well. In the evening there was a German Cecelia Ahern movie on tv, it was romantic and cute.

Church in Öhringen

Castle in Öhringen

Heidelberg

On Monday we went to Heidelberg, it took us about 2 hours to get there by train and then we went to see the castle first, it's beautiful and you also have a breath-taking view on the city. We couldn't enjoy it that much, because it was so freaking cold with a nasty wind. Back down in the city we went to eat something first and then it was time for shopping. For me the shopping in Germany is great, because it's much cheaper and there were sales everywhere. I bought some lovely presents, a handbag, nail polish and cosmetics.

Of course we also went to the bookstores in Heidelberg and surprise surprise: We didn’t buy any books.

For the evening we met up with one of Isa's friends to go see a concert. Her friend is also studying to be a teacher, so it was interesting to compare and exchange thoughts about the educational systems in both countries.

The concert was great, especially the piano part.

On the way home we were really exhausted, but we had a great time.

Bookstore in Zurich

After breakfast on Tuesday it was time to say goodbye. On the way home I read again and I was able to finish Hannah Beckerman’s brilliant book and I wrote the review right in the train as well. In Zurich I made a little stop to go the the only English book store I know and bought some beauties with my gift card.

I had such a lovely time and it was great to get to know Isabell better and meet her in person. I wish our big blogger family could do that once as well. Well, I'll let you all know for sure when I'm coming to the UK next time.

Hope you all liked this little trip report. Here are some more photos to enjoy for you:

Castle in Heidelberg

Pharmacy Museum

See these lovely books? :) - EN bookstore Zurich

So last but not least, there is little Simona in front of a huge barrel. Can you see me?