Vacation Day 2- Cars and Castles

Okay, so Sunday morning arrived with well rested family members, sans my sister and brother-in-law who spent much of the night convincing their 2 year old when he went to bed it was not for a nap! Our original game plan was to drive to Stuttgart to go through the Wilhelma Zoo. We arrived to the zoo which looked quite impressive from the outside. However, due to a large storm that had come through Germany the night before, the zoo's opening had been postponed. So this was as much of the zoo as we saw.

We were not sure how long it would be so we decided to see what else Stuttgart had to offer. Luckily, my dad had a very handy guide book and we were able to locate the Mercedes Museum not far away that was very appealing given the rain that had begun to fall on us! Jack had more fun that I thought he would because he enjoyed listening to his headset tell him about the cars.

My husband enjoyed the Mercedes Museum much more than the potential zoo visit. He was happy to be surrounded by beautiful cars! It was definitely intriguing to see the progression of things and read about the part they played in providing vehicles for the war. This old style double decker bus was one of my favorites!

After walking through the museum, we piled back into the cars and headed to Fussen to see the King's Castles. We took a tour of the Hohenswangau and Neuschwanstein Casltes. Unfortunately, the Neuschwanstein Castle, the castle Snow White's castle was modeled after, was covered in scaffolding all on one side. It was sad but it was still very cool to walk through it. The throne room was the coolest thing to me because it was just as impressive as it seems in the fairy tales...minus the throne. :) Much of the castle remains unfinished but what little was done is very beautiful!

Although we had to walk through the pouring rain much of the way from one castle to the other- we tried to make the best of it. It gave the high altitude a very smoky, yet beautiful view.

After exploring the castles, we set our sights on finding a scrumptious place to dine. We drove towards a town not too far away from the castles. My dad's guide book came in handy again as we selected a seafood restaurant that claimed to provide quite a view! The guide book did not disappoint, the view was spectacular! My parents right outside the restaurant:

We dug into numerous different dishes. I had schnitzel with pommes! My nephew ordered pancakes with looked tasted more like funnel cake!! Yummm. After a long and wet day, we once again got back into the car and drove to Munich where we would lay our heads for the night. Sleepy crew ready for day three...