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Germany from the Passenger Seat

My Ever Loving Patient Husband took me to Germany the first week in May.  And because it was close enough to our 25th Wedding Anniversary he used his air miles to get us First Class tickets.  I was very grateful for those fully reclining seats during the 9 hour flight.

We flew into Stuttgart, the capital of southwest Germany's Baden-Wurttemberg state.  It is known as a manufacturing hub.  Both Mercedes-Benz and Porsche have headquarters and museums there.  There are a number of large green spaces (parks) that are popular with the locals.  They are making significant changes to the main train station across the street from the Graf Zeppelin hotel and surrounding area but it was surprisingly easy to get around.  It was cool but sunny when we arrived and we walked down to Schlossgarten Park. 


At Schlossgarten (Castle Garden), Lusthaus Ruins in background



The more than 400 years old remains of the New Lusthaus in the middle castle garden.  The Lusthaus was built between 1575 and 1593 by court architect Georg Beer on behalf of Duke Ludwig of Württemberg. It was considered one of the most magnificent works of the German High Renaissance. The pleasure house was a place of court games and amusements and became famous for its facilities and equipment. It had a fountain hall with water features and upstairs one of the largest ballrooms in Europe, spanned by a cantilevered, painted barrel vault. After a fire in 1902, the former splendor could no longer be guessed. All that remained was the western arcade with two flights of stairs. From the original location of the Lusthaus on Schlossplatz, his remains were transferred to the palace garden. The ruin fell into decay, was overgrown with weeds and prevented from collapsing by steel and wooden scaffolding.


Day 2.
We had the morning (slept off some jet lag) free and visited the Mercedes-Benz museum in the afternoon.



You start at the top of the building and spiral down like a big parking garage.
  

It's a great museum that not only covers Mercedes-Benz history but puts it all in a world timeline to make it relatable to every culture.  

Day 3.
We toured both the Porsche manufacturing facility and the Porsche museum.  That was a lot of waking!  Porsche has very strict rules about no photographs in the factory.  So much so that they don't take any chances.  They take your phones and cameras before allowing you in!  It was pretty cool though to see some of the cars in various stages.  We were not able to tour the engine or paint areas but among other things we saw how they hand stitched and stretched the leather interiors and installed windscreens.


Fast Lane Travel, Inc tour group
There was a tour group before us that completed their vacations the day after we arrived for our tour.



Day 4.
We got our cars!



Through Fast Lane and Avis we rented a 2018 Porsche 911 Carrera 4S.  Pretty nice ride let me tell you.  Jeff did most of the driving.  He has a Cayman and is used to driving a sporty little car that handles like it's on rails and I am very happy to sit in the passenger seat, watch the scenery go by and take photos.  We left at 9am sharp on this morning for Bavaria via the (partly) no speed limit Autobahn!


196 km = 121 mph
Jeff managed to reach 258km (160mph) but I was too busy holding on and watching the traffic to get a photo.


Alps, southern Germany

We arrived at Hotel am Hopfensee on Lake Hopfensee in Fussen by 12:30.
View from our room
We lunched at the Restaurant Riviera next door to the hotel.





and had the rest of the day to explore Fussen before dinner.





Image may contain: sky, tree, outdoor and nature
Neuschwanstein Castle
Cinderella’s Castle at Disney World and Sleeping Beauty’s Castle in Disney Land are modeled after Bavaria’s Neuschwanstein Castle.




Alas, as most stores close by 2pm on Saturday and are not open at all on Sunday I found the textile store (fabric and yarn) closed.  Oh well, it's not like I NEEDED any more yarn.


Fussen, Germany


Franciscan Monastery of Stephen dates back to 1600's  along Lech River, Fussen, Germany
     

Jeff at Lech River, Fussen, Germany

Lech River runs through limestone which causes it to be this color

Day 5. 
From Fussen we drove through Bavaria and the Austrian Alps.  I could not get enough photos of the scenery.


Between Telfs and Holzleiten, Austria



Fern Pass, Austria












Magic Castle Event Center
The "Magic Castle" is one of the largest and most impressive event centers in Central Europe.



Day 6.
And yes, Jeff did let me drive.



It was alright up until about 200km (124mph).  Then it was effing scary!!  I did join the 150mph Club and then I let Jeff resume driving. Whew!


246km = 152mph


For you car buffs I'll mention that we stopped at RUF (pronounced 'roof').  Again a no photo rule. They do conversions, maintenance, modifications and restorations on Porsches.  This is where you can take your brand new $100,000 Porsche and make it into a $300,000 Porsche.  Or you can buy a brand new RUF vehicle for 640,000 euro ($750,000) that looks just like a Porsche 911.

Hopfensee Lake, Fussen, Germany

We had great weather the entire week.  We met people from New Jersey, California, Dallas, Singapore and Australia. We ate amazing food and had alcohol with every meal.  Jeff wants to go back and stay longer.  We were kept on a pretty tight schedule by the tour and we wished we had more time to explore.










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