Neuschwanstein castle, Autobahn and Rothenburg.

In Fall of 2009 we took a short trip over Thanksgiving to France, Germany, Austria and the Netherlands. In Germany we decided to stay in Bavaria making Munich our home base. Early one morning we caught the U-Bahn out to the suburbs of Munich to rent a car for a day trip around Bavaria. Everything about the car rental went smooth until I tried to pull out of the parking garage. Just imagine a steep incline, narrow ramp and nervous driver in a gutless Peugeot (that experience could be an entire blog post). After narrowly wrecking the car getting out the garage we finally made it out of Munich and before we knew it we were heading southwest through the countryside of Bavaria. It was November but the valleys were still very green and beautiful and the Alps in the distance had snow on them. About 2 hours outside of Munich we eventually made our way to Neuschwanstein castle (the white castle built by king Ludwig which was the inspiration for Walt Disney's castle). It was the low season so we were able to walk up and tour the castle with very little crowds. After marveling at one of the most incredible castles in the world we made our way down to the charming (and touristy) town of Fussen. With only a few hours of daylight but a full day of rental car time we decided to drive all the way up to a village called Rothenburg. After winding our way throughout the countryside we finally made it to Rothenburg and were blown away by the charm. The village literally looks like it has not been touched since the middle ages. Perfect German houses with amazing churches, cobblestone streets, fountains, etc, etc. To make things even that much more amazing the town was getting ready for the annual "Christmas market" which gave the whole area a "magical feel." Shops were full of Christmas decor, trees were on every corner and bakeries were turning out pastry after pastry. After walking through Rothenburg we made our way back to Munich taking advantage of the incredible Autobahn. We really pushed the limits of our little Peugeot by cruising at around 105 mpg....you gotta love Germany!