Germany, There and Back Again: Füssen, Ulm, and Rothenburg ob der Tauber with our M5

For other parts of this journey please click below!
Part 1 - Introduction
Part 2 - LAX to FRA
Part 3 - FRA to MUC
Part 4 - BMW Welt and Delivery
Part 5 - First drive and Linderhof Palace
Part 6 - Füssen, Ulm, and Rothenburg ob der Tauber
Part 7 - Speyer Museum and Heidelberg
Part 8 - FRA and the Flight Home

Part 6

After Linderhof Palace we drove a short ways into Austria towards Füssen where we would be staying for the night. By the time we got there the sun had just set. We were staying at Hotel Schlosskrone which has a very charming European exterior.

Linderhof to Füssen Route

Unfortunately the hotel parking garage was full and we would have to park at a public underground garage for the night. It was one block away but it meant having to drag our suitcases over some cobblestone. It wasn't very fun and our suitcases took a beating. The one saving grace was that my Rimowa suitcase has sizeable wheels.

Check in was quick and efficient with helpful staff who did enough. We got a lovely corner room with windows facing the traffic circle. Even though the hotel was in an older building there were a lot of unexpected and modern touches.

View from the room

Corner room living area

Corner room

The bathroom had a tub and rain shower. The door to the bathroom was clear glass. It felt like a boutique door. The quarter bathroom where the toilet is has the cutest little European sink.

Modern bathroom in hotel room

I'm a cute little sink!

Once we got settled in the sun had set and we were hungry. I suggested that we try the restaurant in the hotel since it has some traditional Bavarian food. Europe has a reputation for being expensive but I have found Germany to be quite reasonable. It does help that the Euro to USD exchange isn't horrible right now too. I ordered a pork knuckle while B ordered a pork chop. B was looking for some German beer which he didn't see in the menu

B: "Excuse me do you have beer?"

Waitress: "Yes, of course."

And this is how we learned to never question whether a German restaurant has beer or not. 

On the house starter

Bread

My pork knuckle entree and B's pork chop entree

The food was quite delicious and it was only $14 USD for my entree! I was feeling really hungry since we didn't actually have a proper meal for the day. We were just too excited to get our car. 

On the way to the room I saw a board game that intrigued me. I later found out that it is a game called Mensch ärgere dich nicht . It was created during WWI and is essentially the game of Sorry!. I'll have to buy myself a set one day.

Mensch

We had a fantastic night of sleep since we didn't sleep well for the past few nights. Breakfast was included in our stay and was in the same restaurant as our dinner. Along with the more traditional breakfast offerings there was a chocolate fountain! 

Breakfast chocolate fountain

Breakfast breads

 Hotel Schlosskrone is also quite well known in town for their bakery.  Looking back on these photos I wish that I had taken part in one of these pastries.

After breakfast we gathered up our stuff and checked out. We were anxious to get back into our beastly machine get on the road since we planned to make a quick stop at Neuschwanstein Castle plus any other unscheduled stops. 

Parking was 11 euros for the night which I found really cheap compared to what they would charge you in the US. 

Overall I liked Hotel Schlosskrone. It was clean and comfortable and satisfied all of our needs. It had a great central location in town. You just had to walk across the street to visit some cute streets and shops. I only wish that its own garage was bigger and had room for our car. 

Traveler pro tip: A lot of the parking garage machines accept cash only! Be prepared to have some smaller denomination bills with you. The 100 Euro bill is seemingly "offensive" to people. Some shops would refuse to accept such a large denomination. It was quite an adventure to get the bill broken up and resulted in some lovely souvenir magnets. 

Neuschwanstein Castle

I didn't do much reading about Neuschwanstein and how to explore that area so I was a little bit dismayed to see that cars actually can't get too near to the castle. As Wolfgang had told us, Neuschwanstein is extremely crowded since it is one of the top tourist destinations in Europe. We got to a parking lot where the attendant whistled at our car as he handed us the parking pass. 

The road to Nesuchwanstein

Another car in the parking lot

We walked a bit to investigate the area but decided it was just too crowded and we would rather head off to Rothenburg since we already saw Linderhof yesterday. 

Neuschwanstein Castle

It is certainly apparent why this castle attracts so many visitors. It's not that hard to get to and it is just stunning to see. Most of the interior is not complete as Ludwig II died before its completion. But on the outside and the way this castle is perched on top of a mountain is just stunning. If you are wondering why this castle may look familiar it is because this is the real life inspiration for the famed Cinderella castle of Disney fame! 

The surrounding areas of the castle are flat farmland and just as beautiful. I wanted to find a spot to get a picture of the castle with the car. We literally just followed some roads on the map and ended up in some residential areas. Some morning walk locals stopped to admire our M5 as we snapped a few shots on the side of the road. I got to really practice my "Morgen" greeting with the locals! 

Strike a pose!

We wandered further into the side roads and even saw some cows. Yes we stopped to take pictures.

German cows

Eventually we found a narrow road with a bench to one side and the view was just incredible. I later found out that it was also the spot where a lot of European delivery BMW fans will go to take a photo of their car.

Shot of the trip!

We did have to re-position a few times so that locals could get by on their bikes or cars. Funny thing is we did actually back up all the way back up the road to get to the main road when there was a car that came up. All of the locals were very friendly and patient with us. Of course it helps that we paid attention to not impede on other people's days. 

Panoramic photo. Click for full size!

After that we went onto the autobahn towards Rothenburg. 

B: I'm hungry

Me: Ok. Want to go to Ulm?

B: What's in Ulm?

Me: I don't know. I just know it has the world's tallest church steeple?

Ulm wasn't too far out of the way so we made that as our lunch spot. Turns out that Ulm is also the birthplace of Albert Einstein! 

Yea it's pretty darn tall.

Ulm Minster's steeple was only the world's tallest from 1890 to 1901. Today is is a Lutheran church. It's always amazing to see these incredible buildings that were built hundreds of years ago. 

We ate some Chinese food for lunch which wasn't vey good but acceptable. After lunch we tried to find the birthplace of Albert Einstein. I had limited amounts of data on my phone so it was a little frustrating to be able to find where we were. We also had no idea what to look for. I was expecting a plaque on the side of a building like I had seen in Bern, Switzerland where he lived. Well this was a little bit disappointing but only because his house had been bombed. 

Marker for the birthplace of Albert Einstein

With the gloomy weather and the disappointing find we were ready to leave Ulm. If we had more time we would have been able to find some really cool sights in Ulm. 

Back on the autobahn...

100 mph is slow in a no limit zone

What is it like to drive on the autobahn? A common misconception is that it is no speed limit everywhere. That's really only the case when you aren't near towns and it is only sections of the autobahn that are no speed limit. This does make for some disappointing driving in that suddenly the speed limit can be from none to 100 km/h and then back to no limit. In the no limit zones which the M5's heads up display clearly shows, it is absolutely glorious. The roads are in great condition with very clear lane markers. German drivers are also very well disciplined which allows for something like this. The left lane is for passing and is truly only used for passing. People actually pay attention to their rearview mirrors and will move aside if they see you speeding up on them. We were restricted to around 100 mph because of the break in oil but we did go to 125 mph a few times. Passing power in this car is a dream and unlike any other thing I have driven before. The M5 handled all of this like a walk in the park. Truly BMW has made a luxurious sports sedan and Wolfgang wasn't kidding about what he said. 

Along the road we also made a stop for gas. To get gas in Europe you pump first and then go in to pay. Something like this would never work in the US. Gas stations were also very clean and very busy. The gas is almost double what you would normally pay in California. 

This came out to about $80 USD for a 3/4 tank on my bill

We made it to Rothenburg in the late afternoon. We were staying in the medieval part of town which was really fun to drive through. We got to drive on a lot of cobblestone streets. Unfortunately I ended up lost in a very narrow alley. B ended up having to back the car out for me while a bunch of tourists watched. Oops.

We finally found Hotel Eisenhut where we were staying for the night. Check in was again quick and efficient where we were notified that we were upgraded! Our stay would also include a "romantic dinner and package and breakfast in the morning." I didn't know what it meant at the time. I was worried about getting the car parked. The hotel had a valet with their own private covered garage. We noticed a lot of people stopping to take photos of our car.

Rothenburg ob der Tauber

It took us a while to find the room. The building had a very apparent medieval feel to it. Plus the hotel was actually a few buildings combined so you would have to go up and down stairs even if you were on the same level. We finally got to the room after turning right at a very creepy looking statue of a woman to find a welcome gift and a lovely view down into the valley and of the famous red roofs of Rothenburg

View out of room

Welcome gift

Rothenburg is an absolutely cute place though to some people it can feel like a movie set. The buildings here are definitely old. Everyone who works here seems to be dressed in traditional costume. Personally I find it kind of fun. One of its most famous attractions if the Nightwatchman's Tour which we didn't have time to partake in. We did use the remaining daylight to explore a bit of the town. 

Since it was included in our stay we had dinner at Hotel Eisenhut. We had a 3 course dinner! 

Our table setting was really pretty and even had our names written on a plate. The dinner came with a glass of Moet and Chandon champagne. We ended up ordering another bottle ourselves. 

Table setting

Starter

Salad course

Rose gelato with pomegranate

Venison main

 This was B's first time eating venison. He thought it was beef at first until he asked me why it seemed a little different.

Me: Oh this is venison!
B: What's that?
Me: Bambi!

The expression on his face was one of shock. I thought he was going to spit out his food. But then he goes, "Oh! This is actually really good. It's nice and tender and juicy."
Whew.

Dessert trio

The food was fantastic and totally above what I would have expected in a hotel. We were thoroughly enjoying ourselves and the surroundings. The service was also very good. I have to say that on this trip this was my favorite hotel. If I ever get to go to Rothenburg again I will stay at Hotel Eisenhut. 

After dinner we returned to our room to find that we were given turndown service and another bottle of champagne! This time it was Hotel Eisenhut's house champagne. I'm a total lightweight when it comes to drinking. After drinking a bottle of champagne I wasn't ready to have more. 

Moar campagne!

I took a shower and ate some chocolates. I tried to be a trooper and started on another glass of champagne. I was only a few sips in before I fell asleep. I slept quite well that night! 

Good night!

I woke up to the sound of steady rainfall. Breakfast was in a different room of the restaurant we were in last night.We had a nice view of the outside. It was simple and the only thing ruining it was a noisy group of tourists. 

Breakfast dining room

I need this Nutella display in my life

After breakfast we grabbed some hotel umbrellas and walked around. The stores weren't open yet so the streets were quiet. 

A bear blowing bubbles

Rothenburg shops

Afterwards we decided to check out. Our car was promptly brought to the front where we loaded up. Of course this wasn't before we sneaked in some morning shots of the car in this beautiful backdrop! 

To Heidelberg!

Hotel Schlosskrone
Prinzregenplatz 4
D-87629 Füssen im Allgäu
Phone: 49-83 62 - 93 01 80
reception@schlosskrone.de
http://www.schlosskrone.de/


Hotel Eisenhut
An Arvena Hotel
Herrngasse 3-5/7
91541 Rothenburg ob der Tauber
Phone: 49 (0) 9861 / 705 - 0
hotel@eisenhut.com
https://www.eisenhut.com/en.html