Frankenstein Castle and Vacation in Germany

In about six weeks I will be on a plane headed for Germany to celebrate my Mom's 80th birthday. I am so excited!

Hunting for a good deal on plane tickets was a real eye opener. The ticket price has tripled from last year. Had I booked last week I might have saved $200, but no more. The same flight that the BF and I had discussed and settled on, the night before, popped up on my screen for $50 more the next morning!!!

The prices are going through the roof and I don't even want to think about the exchange for the Euro. It is ridiculous. I expect that it will cost $1.60 to buy one Euro! Yikes and double yikes!

It will be a special trip for another reason, this is the first time the BF and I are visiting Germany together and I can't wait to show him around.

Guess what is on the hilltop, visible to the naked eye, three miles from my Mom's house?

Burg Frankenstein

The castle was built before 1250 by Konrad Reiz von Breuberg, who made it into a territory subject only to the Emperor and henceforth adopted the family name Frankenstein.

From Wikipedia: The German alchemist and natural philosopher Johann Conrad Dippel (1673-1734) was born and lived at Castle Frankenstein. He is known to have sometimes added 'Frankensteinensis' to his signature, indicating his birth place, not any relation to the Frankenstein family. The folklore of the region accuses him of body snatching, a crime not unknown amongst anatomists.

To tell you the truth I am too scared to go up there for their annual Halloween Party.

It is the best party in the land to be sure, but hey, I am a scaredy cat. Too eerie for me, they get a bit too carried away, my nerves can't handle that.

I've been to the Burg Frankenstein many times, they have done a nice job of making the ruins safe. One of the attractions there is a good restaurant, which offers the occasional dinner theatre performance,  complete with vampires and witches.

An interactive theatre performance for adults (no one under 14 is allowed).

It will be fun to re-visit some of my favorite haunts. I know he will love the weapon collection at a nearby castle called Schloss Erbach.

The lords were a family of  hunters and travellers, they even brought back ivory from Africa and employed a whole cottage industry to create ivory master pieces, both jewelry and decorative items.

Bet you wouldn't have thought about Germany when you think ivory. The ivory museum and of course the gift shop is well worth a visit.

Erbach castle also houses a world famous armory collection - knights armor - anything from kid size to a royal armor to a plain nights armor - chain mail and everything in between.

They make you wear little (actually huge)  felt slippers when you enter, so as to not damage the beautifully inlaid parquet floor. I always loved sliding around in those:)

It's practically down the road, along a scenic country highway. 

The castle is from the late middle ages, but the tower itself was built in the year 1200.

I know a great place to eat along the way, on an organic farm with some of the best homemade wine and apple cider and the biggest Schnitzel you'd ever want.

Oh yes, I plan to indulge!

 Schnitzel - breaded veal or pork.

There are many variations, the most popular include Jaeger (Hunter) Schnitzel, which means it comes buried in a brown gravy and mushrooms, or Zigeuner (Gipsy) Schnitzel  which arrives buried in a green and red pepper sauce gravy, which may have lots of onions and even tomatoes.

Other varieties are Wiener Schnitzel which is always Veal and simply comes with a slice of lemon or Cordon Bleu which means it is filled with cheese and ham.

But, I digress.

I am looking forward to showing him where I grew up, a small town called Dieburg, Germany. 

Below you see what is left of the medieval version, but Dieburg dates back to Roman times, as it used to be a Roman garrison town. (You know that long wall they built in Germany called the Limes to keep out the barbarians.)

In fact the oldest church was found to have been a roman temple, much to the chagrin of the catholic church.

These are pictures taken from the official tourism website for Dieburg.  

Below is the Zuckerstrasse. Sugarstreet - the main drag so to speak. So named because Dieburg was famed for it's sugar bakers:)

It still looks like this today, it is where you do your local shopping. The businesses are located at street level and many owners still live above the shop.  

I'll be sure to stop by at the bakery and later on hang out at the sidewalk cafe to people watch, sipping an espresso or a Martini.

Pedestrians only - no cars allowed.  

A restaurant called "Badhaus", translation Bathhouse.

In the basement, now restaurant, was once a public bath house, in the middle ages around 1569 or so. The bath house also provided massages and medicinal treatments.

It's located on one of those crooked, cobblestone side streets of the town. I went to school with the owners who have turned it into a fine dining experience - nouvelle cuisine.

The Badhaus has become quite the culinary draw.

I hope you've enjoyed a peek at my old neighborhood - pun intended:)

Thank you for coming along for the tour!

All images are from official town and tourism websites and wikipedia all of which allow for posting and sharing their pictures.