Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Europe Trip - Part 20 - Feuchtwangen (visiting Dinkelsbühl

Tuesday September 9

We decided to visit the other castle of Fürst Oettingen-Wallerstein called Schloß Baldern. Actually it was first recorded in middle of the 11th century as fortress of Baldern. Today we can see the baroque residence rebuilt in the year 1718 to 1737.
James checked the internet and it said it would open at 10 am. There was nobody else on the parking lot. It looked a lot like autumn already.



Well, it actually opens at 11 am. Surprise!


I guess time for a "Milchkaffee". The German "Keks" actually says "cookie" on it.


The gate is still closed but I wanted to take a picture before it was opened. I thought it looked nice.


On the right of it was the door to the chapel.




Part of our guided group were 2 women with 5 little children. They were way too young for this in our opinion. No photography allowed inside but this little one on shoulders was just too cute that I had to sneak the photo.



Photos in this room were allowed, probably because they offer it for rent for weddings.



On our way again. Love the countryside but it is difficult to show in pictures.


Since we still had plenty of time we decided to visit Dinkelsbühl. James' info said: The town is surrounded by a wall with eighteen towers and a huge church is towering over the village. Here you can find some of the finest half-timbered houses in Germany ... Deutsches Haus and Hezelhof.
Parking was very convenient just outside the wall and we walked to find a gate. James is on a wooden bridge looking into a very deep trench.



We got a great surprise. Another super dooper cute place.





We decided it was time for a refreshment. These bratwursts were supposed to be very special for the area.




We had great entertainment, besides looking at all those magnificent buildings across the street, somebody inspecting something at the building with the help of the fire brigade.


And across the street were two horse drawn wagons coming and going.


We did look into the church, Münster of St George. Massive!





We decided that being carted around would be a good idea. It said it would take about 40 minutes.


We had to wait though (the driver changed the time from 13:15 to 13:30) because he needed a minimum of people. He got something to drink from the place across the street.


Finally.


The co- pilot.


It was nice, relaxing and interesting. The driver was a bit un-kempt but he told us a lot of things about the town.





At one point we had to make an unscheduled stop to pick up after one of the horses.


Afterwards ... the evangelical church on the way.


So different inside.


In the picture above you can see the tree behind the altar. Names (and sometimes pictures) of the recently baptized. Great idea.




One more treat. If you wonder ... The yellow drizzle is Eierliquör. My mother used to love that.


From the horse wagon i had seen this shop. Helen, guess what I did?


Back at the hotel we rested a little. James went for a swim and the sauna again.
We were not really hungry so we stayed in the hotel which has a restaurant too (closed Sunday and Monday). We had a soup each. Mine was wild mushroom soup. And then we just asked for a big plate of salad each which was not on the menu.



Last night here. But we have time to pack tomorrow morning.
Another amazing day!

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