Greetings Dukefan1, Stumpy, Itdo and Viper.
Dukefan1, I certainly do love their architecture styles. I remember being on the outer edges of Hamburg when Susanne (my German friend) and I stopped at a cafe for a snack. We parked about a block from the cafe and got out to walk. Well, several of the nearby houses had straw roofs......just like the type you see in the Hager the Horrible comic strips. I thought that was cool to see and even took a few photos. Apparently that was one of the styles you see in the Hamburg area.
We went into that cafe and sat next to a river that had very large Goldfish in it. I had my first taste of Schwartzwald cake (Black Forest cake) which was teh best cake I ever ate.
That evening (Saturday) we stayed at a nice place on the outskirts of Hamburg. I forgot its name. This place was along the river and was very beautiful. Swans were even swimming in the water. The next day we were going to try to see the famous Cathedral in Hamburg but did not get the chance to unfortunately. I love the Gothic style buildings as well.
But speaking of Cathedrals, if ever in Bavaria (Garmish-Partenkirchen) you HAVE to go visit the Weiss Kirche (The White Church) From the outside, it looked like just any of many buildings I saw in Germany. The inside decor was so fantastically done and was absolutely beautiful and amazing. The art and woodwork IMO just cannot be bested. I had not known that it was forbidden to take photographs of the inside but, I took several and found out too late about that rule. Nobody got mad or anything but, it was just frowned upon.
Stumpy, thank you for showing Schloss Neuschwanstein. It is beautiful and is also my favorite castle in Germany. Thank goodness for the "Mad King" King Ludwig II. He built I think three magnificent castles which nearly bankrupted his Kingdom. Heidelberg Schloss is my second favorite German castle. I have some photos of it I took on the famous lighted bridge of the castle at nighttime. Unfortunately my camera could not capture much detail. BTW, if you have ever seen the movie: The Odessa File" w/ Jon Voight and Maximilian Schell. You get a great view of the lighted bridge (in the daytime) when his character makes it to Heidelberg. You will see the twin towers that are at the front of the bridge. Well, unseen in the movie is a beautiful and huge Cathedral about 2 blocks away from the bridge. And about a block or so to the left and rear of the cathedral is where Zum Rothen Ochsen is located.