On the Road Again

Day 51
Sunday, February 20, 2011

Shari and I slept in until after 1000 and ate another delicious German breakfast before hitting the road back to the Stuttgart area. Lotty loaded us up with German cookies and some of her homemade marmalade and Onkel Helmut gave each of us a bottle of his favorite red wine from France. 

Erdbeere Marmelade

We left their house at 1215 and just before we left the little town of Sayn, we passed a castle. Sayn is just down the hill from Stromberg on the way to the Autobahn and the castle ruins are from the 12th century. I turned around and parked in a parking lot across the street from the entrance and we began our journey up the hill to the castle.

Once we reached the top, we saw the 800-year-old castle (Burg) of the Princes of Sayn-Wittgenstein. From here you can enjoy a beautiful panoramic view from the heights of the "Westerwald" across the Rhine valley to the volcanic mountains of the Eifel. The inner courtyard hosts the castle tavern "DIESAYN BURG", where weary visitors may pause for a rest. Since it was Sunday...everything was closed.

 After some exploring and some pretty good exercise, we drove home. Lotti packed us some sandwiches and bundt cake for the road so we didn't have to stop to eat but we had to stop once for gas, and once more so I could use the restroom. The weather was nasty, it started snowing, and the temp dropped to 31 degrees for the rest of the day. I was so excited to get home and see Matt after this long and super fun weekend.


If I could only remember that the days were, not bricks to be laid row on row, to be built into a solid house, where one might dwell in safety and peace, but only food for the fires of the heart.  ~Edmund Wilson