Hopferau Castle<\/a> It was built in 1468 and has repeatedly changed owners, sometimes after only a few years. Shortly after the Second World War, Konrad Zuse sought refuge in the castle and developed the Z4 computer there, the first electromechanical computer.<\/p>\nThese contrasts are immediately striking during a visit to the castle. An old knight's hall, a castle chapel (Marienkapelle), and a historic banquet hall with hand-colored wallpaper, of which only 3 examples remain in Europe. These rooms stand in stark contrast to the Zuse Room, where the original components of the first computer are exhibited, as well as several state-of-the-art meeting rooms with the latest LED technology.<\/p>\n
If you happen to be in the area around F\u00fcssen, I definitely recommend visiting this castle. It's hardly inferior to Neuschwanstein =).<\/p>\n
We then visited this with our families on Sundays. The fairy tale castle is, of course, always a highlight. Those who are lucky enough to have a super-fast grandma on board can experience quite a bit at Neuschwanstein. If you take your eyes off Grandma for just a moment, you'll quickly realize that 85-year-olds are by no means just followers. Within minutes, our grandma managed to be driven to Neuschwanstein by bus outside of the schedule, cross the entrance barriers without a ticket, join a Japanese tour, switch to a German tour inside the castle, and then wait for all of us at the exit in the end.<\/p>\n
No trace of tiredness, she even insisted on walking down the mountain to the parking lot. That's how grandmas have to be =)<\/p>\n
In the evening, we were invited to a BBQ with friends in Landsberg am Lech, which provided a nice and cozy end to the first stop of our trip.<\/p>\n
April 18-22. Hopferau \u2013 Saxony \u2013 Poland \u2013 Czech Republic<\/h4>\n
After a delicious and hearty breakfast, we made our way via Munich and Nuremberg towards Dresden, where we would only check into the hotel that day and enjoy ourselves at the restaurant. The view from our room is great. We look directly at the city from the other side of the Elbe River. The hotel is a bit hidden in the woods, so you can enjoy the peace and quiet and relax wonderfully.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, we continued east. Bautzen was our first destination. A now cozy little city that not only houses countless mustard museums but was also home to two former GDR prisons. One is still in operation today and is used as a correctional facility; Bautzen II now only serves as a museum. We visited this after buying several kilos of mustard and loading it into the car. The latter only becomes strange when you know that I don't like mustard at all. But who knows, maybe that will change.<\/p>\n
Back to prison: Apart from Berlin, I'd never been to the East of Germany before. The region's history is incredible. Unfortunately, it's connected to great suffering, but you get a very good insight into the former lives of the people there everywhere. When you consider that carefully, the war here only really ended around 1989 or 1990. The buildings are correspondingly well-preserved, and you can still imagine everything relatively well.<\/p>\n
Here's something \u201efunny for us\u201c that just occurred to me. You could visit the inner courtyard in the prison wing. To do that, you had to push aside a heavy metal bar and open a double door. A sign asked us to close the door again when we returned. Just at that moment, a woman around 70 with her daughter approached us. When I said I'd happily leave the door open so they could go out too, the younger one immediately turned to her mother and said, \u201eNo, Mom, I'm not going out there. He might close the door behind us.\u201c She actually ran off in the other direction immediately. WHAT???? Do I look that criminal? *lol*<\/p>\n
Laughing, but also understanding, we left the prison again and headed for G\u00f6rlitz. Here too, we found amazing old buildings with beautiful architecture. We strolled leisurely through the city, looking for a hairdresser who could give us both a nice bangs cut =) Why does every second woman here have such a hairstyle??? Unfortunately, we couldn't find the answer to that.<\/p>\n
In the afternoon, we drove to Poland where we saw a cemetery and a monument. However, we generally didn't like the area there and therefore returned to the hotel. It was already almost 10 PM anyway.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, we headed into the city center. To get a general overview, we took a city tour, and then later drove to a few spots that we found interesting. It was funny that our hotel was part of the city tour =) The bus took us practically out of the city, directly back to our hotel, really great *lol*<\/p>\n
Afterwards, we went shopping at Altmarkt Galerie and promptly found a few good restaurants there that offered juices and salads. The city center is really worth seeing. Apart from the tourist highlights like Semperoper and Frauenkirche, the variety of buildings is pretty to look at, and the people there are all super nice and accommodating. Oh, and they're also cautious in Dresden. In the Frauenkirche, the supervisor next to us was snapped at because he closed the large door behind a woman.<\/p>\n
Then we went to the Botanical Garden of the Technical University of Dresden and watched ducks there. Or rather, I did that =) There is indeed one there Sausage tree<\/a>. Also, to all vegan vegetarians: Liverwurst... there's no animal in it!!!<\/p>\nAfter the many cultural and botanical impressions, it was time for a bit of technology. VW's Transparent Factory is in Dresden, meaning, the location where the VW Phaeton is built, and by hand! Although production has since been stopped there, there is an interesting area where VW's electric division is exhibited. Above all, there is innovative stuff to see there. However, Helene and I had the most fun with the \u201eCarrera track\u201c that could be powered by 2 bicycles. I won, of course =)<\/p>\n
On Thursday, we went to Saxon Switzerland, specifically to the Bastei. The large rock spires look very impressive and are therefore the most famous rock formations in Saxon Switzerland for a good reason. There are several bridges there that were carved into the Elbe Sandstone Mountains, leading to Neurathen Castle. We visited that as well. After a quick snack, we continued on to the Czech Republic, which was just around the corner.<\/p>\n
In \u00dast\u00ed nad Labem (the name is usually written with a couple of apostrophes), we found a small castle that towers over the city. We had lunch there and enjoyed the view. This city is also located directly on the Elbe River. I found the view great, but Helene was bothered by the prefabricated panel buildings. Unfortunately, these also make up a large part of the cityscape. But that's just how it is.<\/p>\n
On the way back to Dresden, Helene found a nice outlet center. Full of anticipation, we drove to a suburb of Dresden and realized that Helene doesn't know the Real supermarket chain *g* Since Real does good internet marketing, you can also find this supermarket under the keyword \u201eOutlet Center Dresden.\u201c Good Job. So we bought some fruit and drove back to the city.<\/p>\n
On Friday morning, we went to Leipzig, where we only stayed for a few hours. \u201eA quick look at the city\u201c and then on to FFM, where we are invited to a wedding on Saturday.<\/p>\n
April 22-24. Frankfurt (Germany) \u2013 Chur (Switzerland)<\/h4>\n
We really liked Leipzig, but now we're looking forward to seeing our friends in Frankfurt and the upcoming wedding there. After arriving at the hotel in Bad Vilbel, we'll meet up in the evening for a delicious dinner.<\/p>\n
The wedding is Saturday morning at 10 AM, and I'm the best man. Good thing we already had breakfast at 6:30 AM because Helene's alarm clock went off two hours too early. Modern technology. At least that gave me enough time to get ready.<\/p>\n
Big compliments to Caro and Chris, because we had a great day and they did too, for sure *g*<\/p>\n
In the evening, we all went into the city together for the \u201eNight of the Museums.\u201c It was incredibly crowded, but a lot of fun. It's hard to believe that a \u201eNight of the Museums\u201c event is replacing our club nights from back then, but you do get calmer with age. After a delicious dinner at Skyline Plaza Frankfurt, we drove home on Sunday afternoon, nice and relaxed.<\/p>\n
Conclusion<\/h4>\n
Not only the Saarland, but also the east of Germany is worth a trip. We visited many great places, not all of them described here, because no one feels like reading that long, and we'll be checking out the north of Germany soon. So, for those of you who haven't travelled much in Germany yet, you should definitely check out the Saarland... uhm... the east. It's very, very beautiful there.<\/p>\n