Fussen, Wieskirche, Castles, Alps


Rothenburg o.d.T to Fussen

OK. This day is going to go swimmingly. We’re traveling A7 (autobahn) down to Fussen and it’s a straight shot to exit 138 to Wieskirche the beautifully restored Rococo style church…or so we thought.  Another adventure awaits.

We had driven about 2.5 hours, took our designated exit and then got lost. We saw great countryside and were in awe of the Alps in the distance. Hard to get any photos being the driver but I will be pulling over tomorrow to get some shots.

Using our limited German and this wonderful couple’s limited English we decided to just go straight to Fussen and find our way to Wieskirche from there.

BUT WAIT! A polizei is standing in my lane and motioning for me to pull over! Was I speeding? OMG! He asks for identification in German and I repeat in English which gets his retort, “Only English?” and I answer affirmative. So now I’m digging for my International Driver’s License as he asks for the original. That IS my original but he probably means my Florida DL so I dig for that along with my passport. The nice young cop takes his time studying all of my credentials and seems satisfied as he reaches into the car to tell me that my high beams are on and he turns them down. Times like these I wish I could just take a photo of the proceedings but I don’t want to push the issue in case they don’t approve of photographs during their traffic stop.

Even though we had left Rothenburg at 11 after gassing up for our 2.5 hour drive, we didn’t get to the church (kirche) in the town of Wies until 3:38!! Entering the church, we found that they were having a Mass in Korean with 40 from a tour group in attendance. It was interesting to know the parts of the Mass and watch and listen how it is done in yet another language. There were lots of bowing during the Sign of Peace. Once the Mass ended, we were able to walk around the church and take photos.









I especially liked the ceiling photo in the center of the church where Christ isn’t in Heaven on a throne but sitting atop a rainbow which is the symbol of forgiveness and His way of letting us know it is never too late to repent.  The Scourge of Jesus as depicted in the Middle Ages was too intense for the people to put it in the church. So they built a little “chapel” in which to house this gory painting.


There were many people in traditional garb and an oompah band playing outdoors.


We tempted our taste buds with a traditional sausage sandwich on a Kaiser roll with mustard. Deelish! 

That will hold us over as we leave at 4:38 and head for Marienbrucke to see Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles. We were too late to reserve a ticket to go into the castle so this will have to do.  And, since buses go up to the bridge, we should be able to drive our car. NOT! The Marienbrucke is a pedestrian bridge and ONLY independent bus transport is available.  Ugh!

We got directions from a vendor at the church site and were positive we would find it easily.  NOT YET AGAIN! We couldn’t find signs to Neuschwanstein so we headed for our Ludwigs Hotel on Reichenstrasse in Fussen.  You won’t believe the narrow streets we had to maneuver to get to this place! Pictures will follow on FB since we can’t take them until tomorrow.

The room is 84.50 euro PLUS 8.50 euro PLUS 3.90 euro to park!!! This will teach us to find a place NOT in the center of the city but some little town just outside but nearby in the future for a better bargain. This trip has also taught us that we will have GPS next time instead of thinking we can maneuver with paper maps and Google map screen shots!!!

Tonight was a NO pork sausage night. We each had a salad and I ordered a soup.
Remember Sunday's pews? Here's an example.
On our drive back we past the turn for the castles and caught them in the distance from B17 highway.
Hohenschwangau

 Neuschwanstein. The inspiration for Cinderella's castle.

The plan is to get up, breakfast and get to Marienbrucke in the morning before our 2.5 hour drive to the Iron Age Pile Dwellings on Lake Constance...our next stop for this road trip.



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