Fluffyland Craft & Sewing Blog

Tagged: germany

day 6: schlosshotel kronberg

even rapunzel
would have difficulty with
a tower this high.

little german house

Schlosshotel kronberg

Schlosshotel Kronberg out the room window

german playground

We left France and drove rapidly down the Autobahn back towards Frankfurt. For our last night in Europe, we stayed at Schlosshotel Kronberg, a castle built in 1889 and transfigured into a hotel in 1954. It was breathtaking. The grounds were beautiful, with tons of trees and a huge, phenomenal golf course. We had a room on the top floor, and I felt like a princess in a tower!

We unloaded the car and then walked the mile or so into town (Wiesbaden) to find some dinner. We ended up eating at a place called Grun Gans, which means Green Goose in German. We did not, however, eat any geese.

We walked back by an alternate route, and found a large park area with a walking path and lots of grass. Then, to my and my brothers’ delight, we found a playground! It had good swings, a treefort-like play area, and a decent zipwire. We were happy.

We walked the rest of the way to our gorgeous hotel and spent the night feeling like royalty.

day 2: cologne cathedral

a bell’s sudden clang
strips the haze from dark gray skies,
shocks the world to day.

ben’s pastry

cologne cathedral

view from the top of the cologne cathedral

huge bell in the cologne cathedral

Hiking up the 509 steps of the Kölner Dom was the highlight of this day. Up a tiny stone winding staircase, all the way to the top of the spire to reveal a glorious view of the cloud-coated city of Cologne. The architecture, the view, the feeling in my legs after climbing so many steps… all quite intense.

The coolest part was the bell tower, where the glocken ring every 15 minutes. We got to witness the three small rings at 1:45, then waited until two, hoping that the huge bell (there were… 9? total i think) would announce the hour. The largest bell did not ring, but the chimes from the smaller bells were surprising enough.

After taking tons of pictures, we climbed down and drove the four hours to our hotel just south of Paris. After dinner, I did my final research on the Paris flea markets, preparing for Sunday.

day 1: cologne

four hours after
landing, fabric is purchased.
that is skill, my friends.

view of germany from a plane window

button display at a german fabric store

little carousel

chocolate museum in cologne

You read that right. Less than four hours and I had fabric in hand. While driving from Frankfurt to Cologne, we stopped in a tiny village for gas, food, and an ATM. My fabric proximity alarm was beeping, and my mom and I were magnetically drawn to the store with large rolls of cloth in a box outside. It was a darling little store, with women who only spoke German and me struggling to think of how I could say “half”. Awhile later we left, me with a shirt and skirt-to-be, and my mom with a shirt. I take great pride in my fabric magnetism.

We later headed to the Chocolate Museum in Cologne, which was quite interesting (and delicious!). History of chocolate, original ways of making it, modern factory pieces, and samples. The samples made it all worthwhile to my sleepy self.

Then it was dinner at a German restaurant and early bed in the cute apartment that we rented for the night.