Last Samstag, went to a nearby town called Aschaffenburg, a small city in the northern part of Bavaria. We were a little slow to get around in the morning and found ourselves in a flat out run to the train station. The zug (train) waits for no one. But thank goodness, I can be fast if I have to be (unless it’s 5.2 km but we’ve already established that in an earlier post) and we caught the train on time.
The main attraction in Aschaffenburg is it’s castle, called the Schloss Johannisburg. The original castle was built in the 13th or 14th Century but today only the center keep (tall column on the left in the picture) of the castle is of the original. Most of the castle was destroyed in WWII.
inside the Schloss Johannisburg
Schloss Johannisburg
A friend of ours lives in Aschaffenburg, so we had our very own local tour guide for the day. King Ludwig reigned in Bavaria in the 1800’s and apparently is remembered for having keen appreciation of architecture. King Ludwig had a ‘breakfast cottage’ built up the river from the castle so he could appreciate the splendor of his castle while dining. He also commissioned what is called the Pompejanum built as a replica of a Roman town house discovered in Pompeii.
Pompejanum
The path from the Schloss Johanissburg and Pompejanum takes you along the River Main and the slope is covered by rows of a vineyard.
The sign here, roughly translated, says taking grapes off the trees is forbidden.
A tranquillo walk by the Main and back to the city.
The design of the white and brown house here in the middle is considered a typical old Deutsch house style.
The Stiftskirche in Aschaffenburg. We just admired from outside.
Along the way we ‘stumbled’ upon these:
Stolperstein
These Stolperstein’s (stumbling stones) are memorials to Holocaust victims. The stones say “here lived (Name)”. This was the first time I saw them, however since I have noticed them on various streets in our very own Frankfurt.
We bought lunch and went back to the River Main for a picnic, and then to the city schwimmbad (swimming pool) to cool off. Following a very relaxing afternoon at the schwimmbad we took a walk to a Biergarten. Along the way, we spotted this:
The old and the beautiful just a walk away….
Biergarten’s are known more for their ambiance than their food, but we ate anyway and then hopped a zug home. The ride home was my first on an ICE train. The ICE trains are the fast ones, going speeds up to 200km per hour.
Auf Wiedersehen Aschaffenburg!!
**More photos in the photo gallery page**
Everything looks like a fairytale. Happy travels you two. -David