Exploring the German Countryside
Schloss Waldeck, formerly the ancestral seat and residence of the Counts of Waldeck, now a 4-star hotel in Waldeck, Germany overlooking Lake Edersee.
It's Sunday in Germany. The shops and restaurants are largely closed, unless it is a hotel. I like this concept. Stores close Saturday around 2:00pm and don't re-open until Monday. Unless you're in the big city. And we are not. Our plan today is to tour the German countryside. Bob gets a run in while I write and post. We then get ready to head out. The bells ring right on time at 11:45am. It feels like Sunday should feel. Relaxed.
I have no real itinerary for this day, my plan is to ask the woman at the front desk where we should go. I head to the lobby and see a magazine called "On the Road". Published by the hotel, it caters to antique car clubs that convene a few times a year at this hotel, complete with (3) different sight-seeing routes. Perfect! I speak to the woman at the front desk and she recommends a specific route that is supposed to be especially scenic. We now have a plan.
Bob gets the car from the parking garage and bitches for a full five minutes about the seat controls. He can't find the button to move the seat forward and back. Finally he finds the MANUAL LEVER that moves the seat and we can hit the road. First world problems at every turn.
The route has us traveling north and east of Frankenberg on a scenic loop. The sun is out in full force and it is a good day for a drive. We travel for about 20 minutes and make our first stop near Herzhausen. There is a little church, bridge and field with a train track. I would like to take a few photos and Bob wants to operate his drone, which takes video. So we get out. I take photos and he operates his drone. Pictures below. Apparently, according to the signs, your dog can't shit in Herzhausen and your tank has to be under 20 tons to take over the bridge. Or you can only take 20 tanks and 16 trucks. Damn it.
It's cold out. We spend 20 minutes or so then back in the car. We drive through a few bergs in hilly towns until we come across Waldeck, which borders the Edersee River? Lake? Still not sure. I believe it is a river that was dammed to make a lake. So it's both. We are hungry, so it is time for a snack. There are also photo opps abound here. We snap some pictures and then head to the Strandhaus Hotel restaurant for a light bite. I have a salad with duck terrine and a lingonberry jam. Bob has a flammkuchen, this one being a super-thin pizza, with tomato, spinach, salami, mozzarella and parmesan. The crust is almost like a cracker and he loves it! There, of course, is red wine. We finish up and continue on our route. The hotel looks cute, I bet it is nice in summer. PS, there is a big-ass castle on the hill here. I've included pictures, please note Bob's crappy parking job.
We drive through Rehbach and head to Oberuff-Schifferlborn, but not before stopping at the upside down house. It caught our eye, but we spent less than 5 minutes here. It is cold.
Our next stop is in Haina, home to what I think is a small school/university with a beautiful and photo-worthy church. We both get out to walk around and take some shots, then back to the car. The details here are pretty cool!
Kloster Haina, a former Cistercian monastery, built between 1215 and 1330, is the earliest Gothic building in Germany.
We drive through Mohnhausen straight through to Frankenberg. We are chilled to the bone and have dinner plans in 1.5 hours. 4.5 hours exploring the German countryside. Time to regroup and do dinner at the hotel. Again. It is Sunday, everything is closed, remember?
We relax in the room and then head to dinner at 7:30pm. We are still cold, so we sit by the fire with a glass of wine until it is time to order. They have a dish here I must try! Homemade tagliatelli tossed with fresh parmesan scraped from inside the parmesan wheel. It is tossed in the hollowed-out parmesan wheel with copious amounts of said cheese and a little of the cooking water until perfect in consistency and then plated and topped with fresh shaved black truffle. You heard me. We order an appetizer portion along with a salad and split. It is amazing!
Our plan now is to back to the room, watch another movie and hit the sack. Tomorrow we spend the day in Frankfurt and then head to the airport for an 8:30pm flight to Tokyo. Airtime 11 hours.