Road Tripping the French-German Border
My parents visited Europe for a few weeks in September and I decided to join them on the first portion of their French-German road trip!
Tuesday evening we took a flight from London to Frankfurt, Germany where we picked up a rental car in the morning and started our trip.
We had booked a hotel in Strasbourg, France for the next four nights. We had a loose idea of places we wanted to visit but no specific schedule to which we must adhere.
From Frankfurt we drove south, opting for the smaller roads rather than the main highways, which allowed us to catch glimpses of little towns and stop when we saw something of interest.
Heppenheim, Germany
Roughly an hour’s drive from Frankfurt we saw a church steeple some distance from the main road. We visited the inside of St. Peter’s Parish Church and found a very cute “Altstadt”, the German word for old town.
The Altstadt itself was quite small but stunning.
A 10 minute drive will take you up a hill to the old Starkenburg castle ruins which now host a youth hostel.
Heidelberg, Germany
We used to visit a little summer lodge in Texas called Heidelberg, so I figured it was an apt location for us to visit.
We had lunch and visited the Heidelberg Castle, which I highly recommend.
The gardens themselves are worth visiting and the castle itself is impressive and boasts a wonderful view of the city itself.
Baden-Baden, Germany
A Paris based artist that I follow on Instagram has shared photos from Baden-Baden in the past and it looked so idyllic. He was kind enough to provide some recommendations, so we spent our full Thursday here.
We visited: ruins of Altes Schloss, Schloss Favorite, the newly renovated Stiftskirche, Paradies Cascade, the cemetery, and the baths. Baden means bath in German, so when in Rome..
Keysersberg-Vignoble, France
This is another instagram influenced location! In 2015 I met Alison in Chicago while we were both visiting friends who were there for law school. Earlier this summer I had seen her post a few stories of the most enchanting little village.
Once we arrived in Germany I saw that she posted from Keysersberg again and we ended up having breakfast together with my parents and then met again for lunch with her mom who was also in town. Her mom is originally from Texas and got along quite well with my parents who actually saw her again later in their trip.
It’s one of the cutest villages I have ever seen!
On the drive home we saw a full rainbow!
Strasbourg, France
After spending a few nights in Strasbourg we finally spent the day in town.
We saw: the Outside of their Notre Dame replica church, The Museum of Fine Arts, and had the most wonderful walk around the canal that circles around the old town - ideal at sunset!
Karlsruhe, Germany
On Sunday I needed to be back in Frankfurt for an evening flight, so I booked a train from Karlsruhe so that my parents could continue south and head toward Austria. We spent a few hours in Karlsruhe ahead of my train which was very beautiful. We spent our time in the gardens of the castle grounds.
