Two Castles

Finally at a nice hotel that offers free breakfast but it was so hard to wake up to catch it.

Views from our room.

Since Neuschwanstein tickets were sold out long time ago, we had to book a tour to get into the castle. Our tour started at 10AM. It just started raining but luckily the hotel provided umbrellas. The meeting place was 10 minutes away from our hotel but we came back to in front of our hotel to catch the bus

The guide took us to Marie’s bridge where we could see nice views of the castle.

Scary! Made sure not to drop the phone!

Too cold!

Later we went on the balcony.

Tour guide Ron didn’t come into the castle with us. He let us go with Neuschwanstein castle’s guide inside and waited at the exit one hour later.

Audio tour started 11:30 AM. Here we go!

Learned about Bavarian kings while working inside looking at paintings mostly directly drawn on the walls with a lot of gold. Ludwig 2 seemed fond of Richard Wagner, the great composer and user of Bechstein pianos!

Well, photographs were prohibited so the photos below were at the balcony.

Marie’s bridge!

After cafe, restrooms and souvenir shops, not much to take pictures of.

Kitchen

Riding a wagon downhill was included in the tour.

Here we arrived at our hotel.

Thank you guys!

We strolled in front of the hotel.

Right top balcony is our room.

Luckily we could enter from our building (otherwise it takes 3 long corridors and 2 elevators to get to our room from the main entrance). Museum is in the same building of our room.

Came back to the room and finished Chinese food from last night at the balcony.

It was still early. We decided to go to Hohenschwangau, the night residence of the king and queen. We were excited to take a wagon again but we found out that wasn’t operating. We had to climb up the long stairs. Website says it takes 20 minutes walk but it was actually about 5 minutes Still it was hard to climb up.

Neuschwanstein view from Hohenschwangau was amazing!

I like this picture even my face was shining with sweat from climbing up the stairs

Inside the souvenir shops.

Here we go our 2:45 PM tour! Luckily we were the only people in the tour! Private tour

Pictures were not allowed inside but the guide said it was ok to take the outwards here. King watched this view of Alpsee.

We walked a lot of stairs today. Too tired. Staying in the room afterwards ordering hamburgers from the room service.

Romantische StraBe

My jet lag is worse! We feel 6pm is like 9pm here. It gets so dark quickly. After early dinner, I fall in sleep and wake up in 3 hours. When I woke up, it was still the same day Might as well start writing a blog.

We had to wake up early to update our parking pass. It was way colder foggy day that I had to adjust the color of pictures (normally I never do it).

The views from our hotel window.

We had one mission to accomplish before leaving Rothenburg, the wall! I wanted to go up the wall at the sunset time but I couldn’t find the staircases near Marcus Tower. We missed the entrance just by a few steps I didn’t want to make the same mistake so we started from Gallows Tower which was on the same street as our hotel since we saw people coming from that direction.

Let’s go!

The next stop was Roderturm. This is where we should’ve been at the sunset time but I bet a lot of people think the same thing and it must be too crowded I imagine.

Top of the tower!

Beautiful!

Steep stairs.

Frozen moss

We kept going.

Blacksmith house! How cute

This is the entrance near Marcus Tower

We still had one more hour until our parking pass expired.

We ate breakfast at this bakery. It was very crowded yesterday. We warmed up very well. Ken was grumpy about having hard time finding his low sodium diet food. His blood pressure is high He blames on carbohydrates.

This guy looked at me like I had to pay. All I had in coins were 10 cents!

Time to leave Rothenburg.

Ever since my childhood, I have heard of Germany’s Romantic Road. It is very famous in Japan and has been on my bucket list. When I was a kid, it sounded really a luxurious trip. We saw a lot of Japanese tourists and many souvenir shops were owned by Japanese in Rothenburg.

We took a longer route to the next destination for this. Finally we went onto the road with no speed limit but our car didn’t let us go faster than 185. Still nice to be able to accelerate

First part of Romantic Road from Rothenburg wasn’t too exciting. I decided to stop by Landsberg am Lech for the water falls. Ken was sleeping when we arrived the town. Finding a parking spot was very difficult but we finally found one. Our rental car is hard to make small turns and I asked Ken to park in the space. Weird thing in this country, people do not pass while we were trying to park. Ken gave up on turning and went away for U turn and I got off the car to keep the spot. Then this brat (the way I call him is perfect for the boy as a Bratwurst sausage ) was backing up and tried to hit me to get the parking spot! What an asshole! I couldn’t believe how he was persistently coming close to me even I was signaling “No” with my both hands. I knocked the back of his car’s window and he came out the car saying I touched his car! I said he tried to hit me and I didn’t break anything. He said it was illegal standing to keep the spot. Ken was only away for a few seconds! I said why don’t you call the police and he finally gave up on the spot. The incident stuck to me for a while how asshole people could be. I paid 4.50 Euro to park to see this waterfalls for a second and we hit the road again.

Next stop was Wieskirche. While I was feeding the parking machine, Ken couldn’t wait to go to the bathroom. I had to leave the parking pass on the windshield but Ken left without me and he had the car key I had to call him loud and had him come back. The reason why I was upset was because I wanted to take pictures before the sunset. Only 15 minutes left until the sunset.

We made it inside! Luckily still some lights coming through the windows.

People from Japanese tour bus were there.

By the time we were leaving, the color was lost without the sun light.

Heading to our third hotel, two castles suddenly showed up on our sight

Cinderella castle! How beautiful!!!

Checked in!

Literally our room is the farthest from the lobby. We had to go all the way to the end of the hall, taking an elevator down then went through the pass to get to the next building and reached to the third floor by another elevator. Our room is the farthest corner! Nice room though.

No bath tub

View from the room.

We decided to go back to the prosperous area to have dinner. When we went though the town, tour buses were there and looked fun. When we went back, everything was already closed It was still 6pm. Only Chinese restaurant was open so we ordered food to go. Then we saw this big restaurant behind, which looked closed but the backside was open. We wanted to eat the same dish we ate the first night. Barbarian knuckle of pork with potato dumplings. Ken was happy and ate it all up. I could only eat 1/8 portion regretting I should’ve shared his dish. I got nauseous and didn’t want to see the pork anymore

Our hotel is right in front of Hohenschwangau! .

Rothenburg ob der Tauber

We left the hotel at 10AM.

We squeezed in the visit to Documentation Center Nazi Party Rally Grounds. Luckily we got a parking space. Because of the construction, it was partially open.

U shape

We made it to the second hotel! Since the first weekend of Christmas Market, all hotels were sold out and this was only one left. We drove into the town to drop off suitcases. It looked so odd to see the big car on these tinny roads. I can’t believe we drove in The hotel/restaurant owner, Vito, helped our luggage and suggested parking at P5 outside the city wall but we found a parking inside the wall. Meter is operating 8:00 to 20:00, two hour max We had to come back to feed the meter twice. That made us stay outside otherwise we would probably have crashed in the hotel room.

These cute towns are full of tourists. Tons!

Market place.

This town is smaller than I thought. Plonlein is just down the street.

The girl I asked to take a picture didn’t do a good job and cut the top of Plonlein

Side streets were not busy at all. Colorful houses.

These sweet balls were everywhere. They must be Rothenburg’s famous sweets.

Big well!

We returned to the car to feed the meter.

Briefly we went up the wall and waited until the parking pass expired.

I tried to find Marcus Tower from where I planned to climb up the wall and see the sunset. There was no staircase entrance.

Oh well we missed the sunset. Might as well get some mulled wine again. Later I realized we got this year’s mug and 2020’s mug.

Did some souvenir shopping until the parking pass expired again.

This is where we ate the snowballs. We just went up and down on the busiest street many times. Window showcases were beautiful at night.

Night view of Plonlein

This time, a better person took our photos whew!

Since the owner was nice to us, we decided to eat at his restaurant. Pretty much the same menus as our brunch yesterday

Opening Ceremony of Christkindlesmarkt

Because of the jet lag and Ken’s world loudest snoring, I woke up almost at noon doh I planned to ride the stagecoach but it didn’t happen because we needed brunch first.

Christmas market has started! Nuremberg old town is all walkable distance.

St. Lorenz church

My work haunts me! C. Bechstein is just behind of St. Lorenz church. I didn’t see anybody I know inside.

After we ate and rested at Italian restaurant, we headed toward the children’s part of the Christmas market.

Moving dolls on the top of shops are all so cute

We got Germany’s famous Gluhwein (mulled wine) and found a spot for viewing the opening ceremony. We waited about 45 minutes but I didn’t feel too long. We enjoyed listening chorus.

Christkindl showed up!

About 5 minutes of music and Christkindl talked, then she spread her wings.

Behind where we stood, there seemed to be TV broadcasting. People were taking pictures of this guy. Who is it?

Those dolls were so expensive!

We ate potato pancakes.

After we rested at our hotel for a few hours, we had to go out to grab dinner.

Upper part of town.

We had to come back to the main area for take out food.

We brought hamburger look like meat probably chicken (tasted like tsukune) to the hotel. It was delicious! Then my favorite Kika is on TV I can’t sleep! It’s 4:30AM. I hope I can get up tomorrow on time.

Arrived at Nuremberg!

Since mid September, after I got flu like symptoms lasting 2 months worrying about something I might had been caught from the dog we rescued, my life had been hard. One week before this trip’s departure, I got a strong food poisoning with a high fever. I believe it was salmonella infection. My stomach and intestines hurt on the 10 out of 10 scale, I almost gave up on this trip. So I am so thankful to be able to safely arrive in Germany.

Our rental car looks new and it doesn’t have a regular USB plug. We panicked and asked to exchange the cars, but ended up with getting a help on setting language to English and GPS took us to our hotel. Ken drove Autobahns but the speed we could reach the max was at our normal speed in US

Since we arrived on Thanksgiving day, I made a reservation at Restaurants Heilig Geist Spital. It was actually a perfect timing! On the way to the restaurant, we were surprised how big and beautiful old buildings were. The scale is different from watching on the internet Enormous!

I believe Christkindl will be on this church to make announcements at the opening ceremony of Christkindl Market tomorrow. We came here all the way from almost an opposite side of the earth!

The restaurant reserved a nice private window table for us just as I requested

Our waiter didn’t speak English. After showing pictures and other’s help, I got the dish I had been wanting to try Pork with potato dumpling was delicious and it wasn’t salty at all. It wasn’t necessary for us to try hard to ask for low sodium to an uncomprehending waiter Nuremberger sausages?!? were not good. We didn’t study enough about German and German food beforehand.

And red wine was so delicious! I usually don’t like alcohol but it tasted more like grapes. I turned red

Apple fritters

So dark lol. Behind is the restaurant we ate at. This is the picturesque place, the reason I choose this restaurant. It used to be served as a hospital during WW2 I believe. I was afraid of spirits wondering there but we felt nothing. It was a great dinner.

I can’t tell which window was our table.

Came back to the hotel! Sweet dreams!

The Narrows and Hwy 89

Beautiful day

We took a shuttle to #9 stop which I was the last stop of the shuttle for Riverside Walk and The Narrows. I was excited to do the narrows because I thought it was closed due to bacteria in the river or overflow. Ken was grumpy because he didn’t want to be in the water. I told him that today was the youngest. We might become too old to do it next time.

Massive walls! Here we started Riverside Walk.

Long leg illusion

After about 1 mile of River Walk, we got to The Narrows!

We changed to our water shoes and found perfect canes. Here we go into the water!

We made it to the first land!

Ken stayed in the first land and I went to the second one. Current was a bit stronger.

Ken was waiting.

Totally useful! Thank you, cane!

Going back.

Ken got tired so I drove to Hwy 89 to take pictures. When we came from Bryce Canton yesterday going through this, I was too sleepy. These layers amazed me. I studied geology at college long time ago

Texture! To me, these geological features on Hwy 89 were more impressive than the inside of Zion scenic route where only shuttles enter.

Some people were checking out this place with beautiful layers. We turned around and got some pics.

Mossy Cave & Canyon Overlook

We did the final activity before we took off Bryce Canton. Mossy Cave is located outside of the park.

Clay river

Water fall

Clean mineral rich water before it gets to the river.

We almost missed Mossy Cave.

Red Canyon

Went into Zion National Park. This 89 freeway is impressive No wonder Zion is so popular. (Later we came back to take more pictures.)

We arrived at Visiter’s Center a little before 3PM.

After checking in the hotel, we took a shuttle to Zion Lodge where we hoped to get to Emerald pool.

Saw a couple of turkeys.

The bridge was closed and we couldn’t get to the other side. The lower emerald pool was just across the river

We gave it up and headed to Canyon Overlook.

The tunnel is 1.1 miles.

Canyon Overlook trail is located right after the exit of the tunnel. Here we started climbing up.

This reminded me of Cliff Walk in Switzerland.

Love the natural steps.

We made it to the top just before the sunset!

Thank you, God for another great day

Laying right next to the edge

We left as soon as the sun was set.

Looking for a place to eat, we saw the deer.

Bryce Canyon

After taking a few hours of nap, we explored Bryce Canyon as many points as we could. We waited the Sun to come out.

Natural Bridge was one of the most important stops so we did it first.

Each stop we spent a few minutes taking pictures until more important stops.

Bryce Point was one of the most important stop.

Glad that we didn’t take Rim trail to Inspiration Point. Instead we could use our energy to go up the hill.

Inspiration Point maybe my favorite.

Almost the top!

Last point of yesterday

Illusion

Looks like a goodness column.

We left before stars coming out. Probably thick clouds covered up the Milky Way.

Sunrise Point

I couldn’t sleep last night because of too much caffeine intake so I gave up on trying to sleep. Instead we decided to see the sunrise at Sunrise Point. Because of the limited parking spaces, we left a little before six and we were one of the first people got there. Sunrise was estimated 7:01AM. We got this spot and waited over half an hour.

Before the sunrise

It was 6:30AM.

Somebody was taking wedding pictures.

Finally the sun!

Red!

We started going down the trail. I decided to go until the certain point and turn around but beautiful sceneries keep coming and we kept going further and further.

Most of the pictures turned out to be good. So hard to choose which one to put. Might as well put most of them

I like our shadows.

Going back up was harder to my heart than Ken’s. Is it because of too much caffeine high altitude, my heart was pumping hard.

Nice shadows again.

My favorite one.

Horse riding. I want to do it someday.

We had breakfast and took a nap. Good move before all the crowds are doing the same thing. Now we heard the thunder but the sky is blue.

Sphere

I planned this trip long time ago but always ended up with cancelling due to bad weather etc. Finally we made it here! Because it was a too long drive to Bryce Canyon, we spent a night in Las Vegas.

Next morning, we checked out Sphere. Night view was much nicer.

I was excited about the interaction with Avatars but it wasn’t that much impressive as I expected. They answer questions. Ken asked when the first mustang was released. It answered the exact date and also the place. Just like a computer. It has all the information. Also a guy asked to describe how he looked like. It answered correctly about his clothing and said the same hair style as her. The guy was bald

3D images

Inside the auditorium, the photographies were prohibited but everybody was taking pictures and filming. I wouldn’t post it because it is against their will. I took this photo below when we were leaving the auditorium. The show was over so it should be ok. We saw “ Postcard from Earth”. It was like the best flight simulator. Very realistic natures and feeling like real experiences. Because of the dome shape, we really felt like being inside of buildings or water or whatever on the screen.

Driving to Bryce Canyon, the sceneries were amazing vast landscapes. This is real! Not in Sphere Definitely different landscapes from California.

Arrived at Ruby’s Inn. Last night was new moon and our purpose was to see Milky Way.

Just like northern lights, I couldn’t see the colors by my naked eyes. It looked white. Longer exposure enabled to capture some colors. Beautiful and quiet