While Bailey was at Girl's Camp, Mark and I decided to take McKenna on a little trip to the Fairytale Road. The whole idea of the Fairytale Road is to trace the lives of the The Brother's Grimm. The most interesting fact I learned about the brother's is that they were both extremely intellegent and well educated. They are not the ones that wrote all the fairytale stories, they actually traveled all over Germany with the main goal of documenting German folk tales. They were also the first to put the German language into writing as they were the authors of the first German dictionary.
The original tales are pretty gruesome! I had gone to the library before the trip and checked out a few books about The Brother's Grimm, the fairy-tales and stories about their lives. We read them while we drove through the Road. We got such a kick out of them but also found ourselves cringing at the original versions. Disney put a lot of into their artistic interpretation, which as a mother, I'm thankful for.
Hanau is the start of the Fairytale Road, it is just north of Frankfurt, so we were really close. We just happened to come on the day of their farmer's market. It was actually quite emotional, I have loved these markets to the core and this would be my last in Germany.
We went all out and bought whatever caught our eye and that was our unplanned, but very yummy, lunch.
We also toured the Palace in Hanau, it is restored and you are not allowed to take pictures. The grounds are beautiful. We carried along our fairytale theme by taking a picture of McKenna with Asland, at least that is what we told ourselves.
Our next stop was Steinau. After the Grimm's father died, the family moved to Steinau with their mother. The Brother's Grimm museum is in their restored childhood home. They have done a fabulous job with this museum, very interactive for the children. Once a week, you can meet in the town square and have a character from the Grimm's tales take you on a walk to learn of their history. Of course it is done in Germany but I still think that is a fabulous idea. The day we were there it was Frau Holle and if you don't know this tale, you should definitely seek it out.
Around the grounds of the house you can find items from their stories. Here is McKenna with some laid back dwarfs.
Mark and McKenna outside the Brother's Grimm Museum.
McKenna with the frog from The Princess and the Frog.
This is a plaque that is at the castle in Steinau.
We got eis anytime we felt like it on our trip, that seemed fitting for a fairytale!
We stayed the night at this great little B&B near Steinau. It is out aways and we thought our GPS was taking us into the forest of Red Riding Hood. It is a chicken farm and their restaurant is very possible with the locals. I had a roasted chicken that was brought out on a long spit. There was also a small play ground for the children. The rooms were cute, quite and clean but the breakfast is what we loved the most. You'll have to go to the next post to see about that.
