FUN IN FUSSEN, GERMANY 9/8/2013

We're on the move today!  After a great four days in Munich, we caught the 10 a.m. train to Fussen, a small town in the Bavarian region of southern Germany, only 3 miles from the Austrian border.

After checking out of our hotel in Munich we walked the short 3 blocks to the train station, and easily found our train.  We settled in for a very scenic 2 hour ride through the beautiful countryside.

 David all settled in for the trip:

A pretty village along the way:

Beautiful farm lands, and we're starting to see some mountains:

The two hours passed quickly, I had my Nook out and was going to read--but the scenery was just too pretty!  Before we knew it, we were pulling into the Fussen Station.

At the station in Fussen:

We lugged our packs and suitcases off the train, made our way to the end of the platform and onto the street.  Our first thought:  What a pretty town!  We consulted our maps, got our bearings and easily found our hotel, only 2 short blocks from the station.

Main street, Old Town Fussen:

We were warmly welcomed to the Hotel Sonne by a nice young man at reception who explained that our room wasn't ready yet, but they would gladly hold our luggage.  He gave us information on Fussen, offered us a glass of apple juice, and suggested a few places for lunch.  We decided to walk down main street, checking out menus along the way.  We chose a small sidewalk cafe and shared a delicious salad and bowl of soup with dumplings.  David didn't read the menu translation too carefully and we were surprised--the dumplings were liver dumplings--good thing we both like liver!  They were actually very good.  Our salad was served with cheese and potato croquettes, and they were delicious.  Beer?  Of course!  A dunkle for David, and a Weisbier for me.

I loved the dinner plate, but couldn't talk David into stealing it for me!

After our quick lunch we walked around the corner back to our hotel, and our room was ready.  The nice gentleman said he had upgraded us to a suite--and sweet it is! Lovely sitting area, a very pretty canopy bed, deluxe spa-like bathroom complete with a soaking tub AND....a T.V.  We love it!

After we unpacked, we set off to explore the old town Fussen area.  Here are a few pictures from around town:

Pretty cobblestone streets:

Pastel painted houses and sidewalk dining:

Beautiful flowers:

Many houses have decorative painting:

Flower boxes everywhere!

We came across a bakery selling these delicious looking treats:

They're called schneeballen, and we were intrigued!  We marched right into that shop, practically drooling while deciding on a flavor.  We agreed that I would choose today, and David could choose tomorrow.  I chose a schneeballen mit caramel.  Oh, it looked sooooo good!

Here I am, getting my first taste of schneeballen:

Well.......I'm sad to report it will be my last taste of schneeballen!  Not so good, actually kind of gross.  It's like stale, really bad pie crust, rolled into a ball and fried!  Ick!  We each had a taste and then threw the rest right into the garbage.  No more schneeballen for us! Darn--I really like saying that word: SCHNEEBALLEN!

We walked up the hill a ways, and saw this nice looking church and bell tower.

 The Church of St. Mang, the patron saint of Fussen:

Very ornate on the inside:

I liked this dragon candle holder.  It's about 6-7 feet high.  Thought of you, Matt!

After we left the church, we walked up to the old city wall and castle complex, called the High Palace at Fussen:

The earliest structures of the palace complex was the original town wall, dating from the mid 12th century.  In the late 12th century Duke Ludwig began the construction of the castle complex.  Construction continued for 3 centuries, and it is believed it was completed in it's current form in 1503.  It fell into disrepair in the 16th-17th centuries, and was refurbished in the mid 1800's.  

David walking  into the courtyard area of the complex:

Inner courtyard of the palace.  We initially thought the illusion painting on the facade was a little "Disney-ish", but then found out it is a faithful reproduction of the original.  Interesting!

We were able to tour the inside of the palace.  It is in remarkably good shape, having been refurbished in the mid 1800's.  It is mostly empty, with no furnishings in place.

 All along one of the outer corridors there were several "look outs", and they all had great views:

AND.........we could actually climb the gate tower!  It was a piece of cake after the bell tower at Andechs on Friday--only 4 measly flights of stairs.  The views were stunning!  The color of this lake reminded us the Kenai Lake in Alaska.

After the gate tower, we walked around one of the wings of the palace.  This wing had been remodeled in the Baroque style in the late 1600's--a little of the decoration still remains:

I love the views from the old leaded glass windows--it's kind of wavy and blurry.  Dream-like.

Beautiful interior door--the hardware was wonderful!

After we'd walked all round the open areas of the castle we walked thru the adjacent park back down into the town.

Outside the walls of the palace compound you can still see some of the original wall:

Back in town, we saw this pretty church, dates to about 1748:

Of course, it was beautiful on the inside, too:

We walked all around this charming village, exploring several narrow lanes and peering into window shops.  Today is Sunday, so no shops were open, but it was fun to window shop.  Of course we stopped along the way to rest our feet and have a beer!  It started to rain about 5 p.m., so we wandered back to our hotel where we relaxed in our lovely room for a couple of hours before going downstairs for dinner.  We decided to eat at the small restaurant here in our hotel--and we weren't disappointed!

We shared a bowl of goulash soup--seriously delicious! David says I MUST find a recipe for it.

 I ordered the grostel, a local specialty.  It was kind of like a "skillet" one would order for breakfast in the US.  really good, and I couldn't even begin to finish it!

David had a "German Style" (according to the menu) Pizza.  It was very good, too:

After our yummy dinner we settled in for a relaxing evening, listening to the rain outside.  It's just pouring down, and the forcast for tomorrow in Fussen is:  100% chance of rain.  DARN!  On our schedule for tomorrow is a tour of two big castles very near here, and we already have our tickets, so we'll go rain or shine.

This is one of the castles we'll be visiting, but somehow I think our view will be a little "drizzly"!