Germany – Part Three! | View from my attic

Last bit of blabbering about my European adventure!

For the main part of our holiday were staying in Langenau, an odd little town on the edge of Bavaria. One day we went for a stroll around and it just seems to make very little sense. There is no coherence to the style of the buildings there, you walk past what looks like an old farm-stead next to a modern totally glass building, both in perfect condition, and then the third building is a dilapidated Gothic house fit for a horror movie set! The train station is a lovely building that looks like a big, red, mansion. All very beautiful, but all rather odd.

Langenau Train Station

After our wander around Langenau we went on an excursion to the Steiff Teddy Bear Museum, which was fab! It was so much fun, and told the history of the company in a really fun and interactive way, perfect for a museum talking about toys! We were lead through the history of the company by talking teddy bears, and went on an adventure around the world to try and discover they mystery of what happened to a boat load of Teddy Bears that sank whilst being shipped across the ocean.

Jake and a Steiff bear

A unicorn!

Then you entered a room full of Steiff teddys of all different animals big enough to ride on! It was amazing! Jake (my little brother) had been joking about wanting to see bears in ‘Bear-varia’, and he certainly wasn’t disappointed! Then after a quick slip down the snake slide there was a really interesting table showing how each Steiff teddy bear is made, and a lady demonstrating too. I thought the way they had presented this information was really interesting and engaging.

The teddy interpretation

My favorite day out was the day we spent in Rothenberg Ob Der Taub, another wonderfully picturesque town know for it’s Christmas shops, Medieval market and pastry snack (sound heavenly I know!). It helped that the weather was wonderful and every step we took there was something else to look at. The buildings are so beautiful you really feel like you might have stepped back in time. Again this was a town badly damaged by Allied bombing, and the restoration after the war is what has lead to it having such an interesting look of being simultaneously old, but also somehow new.

Rothenberg O D T

The city walls

The famous Kathe Wohlfahrt Christmas shop was like walking into Disney land, they had moving wooden windmills and danging Steiff animals, and the most fabulous range of Christmas ornaments! I was very restrained and only bough one for my tree, a lovely glittery golden bow. And while we were in Rotenberg we obviously had to try the local delicacy, these yummy pastry balls. Me and Jake bought some mini ones to share, they come in several different flavors so we got chocolate and a cinnamon one, they were lush!

Outside the Christmas shop

A brill Medieval shop

On our journey home we stopped in Stuttgart for a few hours, and we visited an amazing flea market and the most colourful food market I have ever been to full of stalls selling food from all around the world! The flea market had hundreds of stalls selling a variety of different things, me and mum were in heaven.

Colours!

A very Pr-tea stall

I could have spent so much money there. The thing I ended up thinking most about while wandering round the market was the stories behind all these objects. There were endless sellers with boxes of old keys, some really ornate and lovely and other plain and rusted. There were also lots of people selling small portrait photographs that looked Victorian, and even some in lockets. It actually made me quit sad to wander who these people where and why their pictures were now lost here instead of with their families. If only these objects could talk and tell their tales!

The Flea Market

Our last stop on our last day before landing back on British soil was to an amazing chocolate factory in Belgium. I spent quite a lot of money in there but it was all so tasty, and I picked up souvenirs for friends. A very good end to a very good holiday. I had loads of new experiences and saw so many wonderful things that I definitely recommend anyone to consider holidaying in Beautiful Bavaria! I however am now looking for my next adventure, my next journey to discover a new place, different traditions and histories, and hopefully more tasty foods too!