For our 10th wedding anniversary we decided to visit Germany… well actually after a visit to Disneys “Soaring” ride over the world’s highlights my husband decided we must see the “sleeping beauty” castle in Bavaria. So a few weeks after the ride, we headed out, without our daughter , on a direct flight from Tampa to Frankfurt. The flight with Lufthansa was great, coach seats reclined and were spacious. The Tampa airport was amazing as always, great processes, shopping and dining, easy and timely security and bag check. After a 9 hour flight we landed in Frankfurt.

For this first trip to Germany, we decided to start in Frankfurt for a few days then head out to Fussen and Munich. We rented a diesel SUV for some fun on the autobahn along the way. Garrett’s top speed was 146 mph, and our ETA between cities was much quicker than google maps expected 🙂

While in Frankfurt we rented scooters to get around the city, checking out local sites and festivities. It happened to be Ascension Day while we were there, so everyone was on holiday enjoying festivals and music and shops in the square. We enjoyed dining on several types of schnitzel and other local favorites. We took a full day tour to the Rhine river from Frankfurt as well. It was a scenic bus ride with a great tour guide, we visited a small village about 45 minutes away and had a delightful lunch in an old Inn.

Next stop was a steamboat ride on the Rhine River to view castles and towns along the way. After that we did a wine tasting, some touring of the village and a ski lift incline ride down the hillside over the river. Back in the city for dinner I had my second schnitzel of the day at Mainnizzi on the river and it was excellent.

Next stop was Fussen, the main attraction of our trip was the Neuschwanstein Castle, and we were more than ready to head to fairy tale land. Our resort was nestled along a lake beneath the castle. We had a spa and rooms with views of the swan filled lake and castles. During our stay here we rented bikes and took rides along the bike paths between the villages. There were so many old castles and sites to see here. Our resort was amazing, the spa was very enjoyable, and the scenery was like a movie set.

Next stop was Munich, we had to do the Hofbrauhaus of course. We made several friends with our table guests from around the world. The music and food were great, we had a pork knuckle and a bavarian pretzel.

After dinner we walked around the town, and watched street performers beneath the shadows of a massive castle.

All in all, Germany was very easy to navigate, the people were nice, and the cities were very clean. We had a great time, and will definitely plan to visit again.