European Adventures - 8. Park Inn, Weimar

8. Park Inn, Weimar

Stomping Ground For the Brothers Grimm

Everybody knows the Brothers Grimm. They collected stories in Germany and bound them together into a book. Stories like Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, etc. Remember those?  Walt Disney made movies from these stories, built an empire using these stories and every child loves those tales.

Kassel or the area around Kassel was their stomping ground. Here they collected and described the landscape, used certain villages, certain castles, certain venues, roads or trees to tell their stories.  We played detective, Carol and I.

Sleeping Beauty's Castle - Sababurg

What village or area or castle was used for let’s say:   Sleeping Beauty?

Well, believe it or not…we found it.

The castle is still standing, still very sleepy, still covered on the outside with roses and the gate was still closed. 

Seriously, we found Sleeping Beauty’s Castle and it is named:  Sababurg.

Rang the Bell But Couldn't Get In

No, not the castle advertised on the above link, we did much better, we found the ‘true’ castle, not the castle as in the Walt Disney version but ‘ours’ is believed by many to be the TRUE castle. 

Lots of Roses Near the Castle

It took us some time to drive to Sleeping Beauty’s Castle; it sits in the middle of a National Forest and still is hidden today. We were the only car there. In the winter this place is open to the public, but strangely enough not in the summer, well not when we were there. I was told one can sleep in this castle and it serves as a kind of hotel, but I don’t really know, the door was shut closed, a rose bush started to grow over the door again. 

The Dwarf's Village

We also found the village of Schneewitchen (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs), but I think the dwarfs heard us coming and ran. Carol took some photos of the village however.

The whole area around Kassel is like a dreamland of romance. There exists an official “Fairy Tale Road” road in Germany, but it is difficult to find. Click on the link to start your search. If you are a child at heart, it’s a great way to see the area. 

 

We had a ball just exploring this area.

The Park Inn - A Modern Building

Our end for the day was the Hotel Park Inn, in Weimar, Germany.

It is a hotel a bit outside of the town of Weimar and a bit of a business hotel, but it had A/C and we were elated. We slept like babies in the cool room.

We ate dinner at the buffet the Hotel offers, there really is no other place to eat.

   

The food was nothing to write about but the breakfast again was outstanding.

Lobby in the Park Inn