That One Time My Parent's Came to Visit 'Ausfahrt'

Yup, so, I am one lucky girl! After being in Germany for only a little over a month I got to see my parents! Talk about helping with being homesick. My parents celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary [wahoo! how awesome is that?!] earlier this month. So they planned a two week trip of a lifetime to Europe. They stayed mostly in England and visited beautiful placed like Bath, London, and Salisbury. Once RC and I found out we were moving to Germany, my parents altered their plans a little bit and made a pit stop in Deutschland. We had two full days together and had such a good time!

Now onto the title of the post... the lengthy explanation will probably take away from the humor, BUT when you're in a foreign country and especially ones that don't speak English road signs can be a little tricky. 1. they don't look like signs in the States, and 2. the obvious one, they aren't in English. So distinguishing between directional signs (one way, exit, etc.) and city signs (Wipfeld, Niedernhausen, etc.) can be a little challenging. 

Case in point: AUSFAHRT 

Looks like it would be one of those crazy sounding German towns, right? Wrong, it means exit!

And apparently its a mistake a lot of people make. So I was blabbing to my parents about how wonderful ACS is, how helpful SNAPS was, and about another newcomers class they offered titled "Ausfahrt is Not a Town: Living and Driving in Germany". Then I noticed the silence [which is uncommon] and the blank stares. Then the hysterical laughing. Apparently my parents had been making potty jokes [I think you can see what "aus" and "fahrt" would break down to?] about this "stinky town" their entire drive down from Frankfurt. :)

Back to their visit...

The first day I just showed them around the city we are living in and then we went to the Volksfest. 

On the second day we went to two somewhat neighboring cities Rothenburg ob der Tauber and Wurzburg. 

ROTHENBURG OB DER TAUBER

Rottenburg ob der Tauber quickly became one of my favorite cities. Granted we haven't seen THAT much of Germany, but it just has the cutest feel to it. Rottenburg is a walled city that has been able to preserve much of its medieval history which makes it popular for tourists, producers of major movies like Harry Potter, and [back in the day] Nazi ideologists who revered it as a quintessential German home town. 

Fun little story about Rothenburg: (thanks Wikipedia)

During WWII the Assistant Secretary of War ordered American troops to take over the city WITHOUT artillery because he knew the historical importance of the city. [Later he was named the 'Honorable Protectorate of Rothenburg.] On the other end, the German military commander defied Hitler's orders of "fighting to the end" and relinquished the city to the Americans. Essentially saving the city from further destruction. I just found this so interesting that two sides were willing to compromise to save a historical town. Anyway.

So if you're ever in the area, and by area I mean Germany, you should definitely check out Rothenburg. It's a neat tourist town that isn't overly "touristy". I'm already planning on going back to do some Christmas shopping. They have the cutest stores that AREN'T filled with crappy tourist trinkets that are made in China.

 Also, read Rick Steves' review on Rothenburg here.  He describes it perfectly. 

WURZBURG: FESTUNG MARIENBURG

I already blabbed about Wurzburg in this post if you want to read more about the city. Because we only had one day to cram in BOTH Rothenburg and Wurzburg we were only able to see the Marienburg Fortress and ran out of time to see the residence. I really enjoyed seeing the fortress for the second time because our visit was during the week. So it was much less crowded than when RC and I went. 

TSCHUSS! 

Wurzburg, Germany

RC and I were able to travel to a neighboring city to check out some castles this weekend! Wurzburg is home to many historic sites, a university, and multiple museums and art galleries. During our short day trip we were able to see the Wurzburg Residenz and Fortress Marienburg. The Wurzburg Residenz was built and home to two princes. Even though it was built in the 1700s, much of the palace was destroyed during the bombings of WWII. Since then it was been completely rebuilt and is absolutely beautiful inside and out. During the tour inside no photography was allowed. So, unfortunately I only have pictures of the garden and outside of the palace.

Fortress Marienburg is on the other side of the Main River. Located on a hill there is a fantastic view of the Wurzburg Residenz. Parts of the castle were built in 704 AD, but didn't become a residence until the 1200s. Again, we were not allowed to take pictures inside, but the architecture and interior design of the Wurzburg Residenz and the Fortress Marienburg were vastly different. I guess 500+ years will do that! :) The Fortress Marienburg was also damaged by the bombings of WWII and the United States Army actually captured the land on the same side of the river the Marienburg is located on. 

The next two pictures don't really fit in with the rest of the post, but I still wanted to include them. The first is of a graffiti artist in Wurzburg. Just miles from these historic sites there is an incredible display of graffiti under an overpass. Castles and graffiti within miles of each other are a bit contradictory. Maybe a little old school vs. new school, but seriously it was the best graffiti I've ever seen. This guy is definitely a talented artist! Oh, and this picture was taken from our car while driving by. So believe me when I say there was even better stuff! And the last picture is just in the backyard of a potential apartment. Beautiful, right? Bavaria has some absolutely breathtaking views!