Sunday

Inexpensive Travel

From a bike ride in September
       My husband and I have been living in Germany now for just over 7 months! We are definitely the type that wants to do everything! There are so many places we want to go and things to see. But the longer we're here the move I hear people saying "it's too expensive to travel." We hate to see people "wasting" their time here. How often do you get a chance to live in Europe?! There is so much history to be discovered! You just have to get out there and find it!  
Kallmünzz Castle Ruins
        When people hear the word travel, they usually think of going to Paris, London, or Venice. Of course all those places would be great to visit but traveling doesn't have to be far. From our location (Bavaria, eastern part of Germany) we can travel to Prague in 2 hours (by car), Salzburg, Austria in 3 hours (by train), parts of Italy in 4 hours and Dresden, Germany in 2.5 hours (by car). All of those places can be done in a weekend! No need to pay for flights or lots of gas to get somewhere. All of them are also highly traveled by other tourists, meaning a higher chance of English menus at restaurants and information centers that have pamphlets in English. There is also a great chance that you've already met someone who's been to one of those locations and can give you some tips!
Kallmünzz Castle Ruins
        But I think there is one thing people forget to do while living here. Explore where you live! On down weekends where we don't want to travel far we try to make sure we get out of the house and do something! I might be finding a new walking/hiking trail, exploring some new stores, eating at a new restaurant and of course finding castles or castle ruins.

      There are over 100 castles just in Bavaria!! And that is exactly what we did this weekend. My husband and I get on Google and look within an hour drive to see what new castle or castle ruins we can find. Friday we drove to 2 of them. Yes it was freezing but you just have to get out and go! The weather can get very crappy here and you'll start to feel depressed if you don't get out of the house. Does it make for pretty pictures? eh, not as much as when the sun is shinning but does it really matter? 
Wolfstein Castle Ruins
Wolfstein Castle Ruins

        Before you go running out and looking for castles try to find a website or information on it. Yesterday my husband and I went to find another 2 castles. The first one was great! The Wolfstein Castle Ruins in Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz. After exploring that castle we drove to castle ruins in Niedermurach. It took us around 40 minutes to get there and come to find out they were closed! Unfortunately the map I had that listed this castle said it was all season. So yes, there is wrong information out there but that can be part of the fun. We got to drive through a part of Bavaria we'd probably never see. We also know that when the weather warms up we definitely want to go back to that castle. Even though you may hit a few bumps in the road while trying to find new places you'll be so satisfied that you actually got out and did something! No one wants to leave Europe feeling like they didn't get the full experience. So get out of the house and explore!
Wolfstein Castle Ruins