Germany shaped hole in my itinerary

BACHARACH! It's on the Rhine not too far from Frankfurt and very accessible by train. There is a castle every couple of Kilometers along this portion of the Rhine.

You didn't mention how many days you have for Germany. Just a couple? Neuschwanstein in Bavaria is stellar. Take the train to Fussen, then bus to Hohenschwangau. Neuschwanstein is in this little town (there are a few pension options in this small town. Stay the night) Return to Fussen then train to Munich. Tell your husband that Munich isn't the only place to get great beer, it is available throughout Germany.

Munich to Rothenberg o d Tauber (no castles but a great German town) see the cathedral, and crime and punishment museaum during the day. Take the nightwatchman's tour in the evening.

Rothenberg to Bacharach on the Rhein. Tiny town, stay at Pension Lettie (she is wonderful!!) climb to the castle that is now a hostle above the town.

Train to Frankfurt and home.

If you are looking to plan train connections in Germany, look to www.db.de this is the site for DeutscheBahn (German National Railroad)English version allows you to plan all train travel

A better page for German Rail information is www.bahn.de, but the best page for schedule information is http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en (note: no www).

Much as I like the middle Rhine (Bacharach, St. Goar, etc) it is not on your route from Munich to Frankfurt. There are many more things to see around Munich and on the way to Frankfurt.

In adddition to Neuschwanstein, which I would highly recommend, there are several other less known and more authentic castles in the area. You might try the castle at Burghausen (www.burghausen.de). It is only a couple of hours from Munich by train. There is a city bus every half hour from the station to the Altstadt at the castle base.

A little south of Rothenburg is the castle at the town of Harburg(Schwaben), www.stadt-harburg-schwaben.de. You can get to it in about 2 hours from Munich by train via Augsburg and Donauwörth.

For all these places, Neuschwanstein, Burghausen, and Harburg, you can use a €27 Bayern-Ticket

If you take a more southern route from Munich to Frankfurt, via Stuttgart and Mannheim, you can visit another castle, Burg Hohenzollern (www.preussen.de/de/heute/burg_hohenzollern.html) outside of Hechingen, south of Stuttgart.

The castle was built by the Hohenzollern family in the middle 1800s as an apartment for family member Kaiser Wilhelm, just a few years earlier than Neuschwanstein. There is one RT bus per day - it takes about 15-20 minute each way, leaves the Hechingen Bahnhof at 11:20 and the castle at 16:10. When I was there, I walked a short distance to the town square and took a taxi, rather than wait for the bus.

And, of course, with that route you can also stop in Heidelberg and see that castle.

Yes, hard to advise without knowing how much time.

True, the Rhine castles are not between Venice and Frankfurt, but they aren't that much further either. There's an excellent concentration of real medieval castles there, and a train from Frankfurt Koblenz, at the north end of Castle Gulch, requires only 1.5 hours; you'll actually start seeing castles just north of Mainz in Bingen, about 30 minutes or so after leaving Frankfurt. Marksburg Castle in Braubach - www.marksburg.de - is the best castle tour option on the Rhine; take the train south along the east bank from Koblenz. Walk a couple of blocks to the center of Braubach and take the little shuttle up to the castle from there.

And yes, you can get great beer all over Germany.

Rothenburg is an excellent overnight or 2-night stop on the way to FRA or the Rhine.

I agree Bacharach on the Rhine for your last night or even two.Letties place is great.Also enroute Id suggest staying a night in Rothenburg ober the Tauber.Its a great walled city and the nightwatchmans tour is outstanding.By the way Bacharach to Frankfurt airport is one and one half hours.

I think our general plan is about 6 days for Germany, but neither one of us really cares about Frankfurt, so we might just spend the night there and tool around a little the next day before our flight. Although, we might know someone who lives there, so that might change our plans. For leaving in October, my scheduling is still all together too fuzzy.

Thanks for all the help and advice. Obviously I need it. :)

Another interesting route would be to leave from Füssen and go from there to Sigmaringen (www.sigmaringen.de), in Baden-Württemberg, where there is another Hohehzollern castle (www.hohenzollern.de). From Sigmaringen, take the train up the newborn Danube to it's headwaters in Donaueschingen. From Donaueschingen take the train over what is called the Schwarzwaldbahn, through the cockoo clock town of Triberg and down a very scenic valley to Hausach and Offenburg. From Offenburg you can go down the Rhein to Frankfurt. Or, go north from Hausach up the Kinzig via Alpirsbach (www.alpirsbach.de) to Fruedenstadt (www.freudenstadt.de), sometimes called the capital of the northern Black Forest.

Between Munich and Frankfurt there are a string of medieval cities that we enjoyed: Regensburg, Nürnberg, Rothenburg and Würzburg. I do not know Bamberg but others rave its virtues as well.

All of these cities are in Bavaria (Bayern) and a day ticket (Bayern-ticket)can used traveling among them and Munich. You must use only regional trains and only after 9 A.M. The cost is 27 euros per day making it quite a travel bargain.

Regards, Gary

There is so much history and "good old Germany" in and around Frankfurt, too bad you two don't care about it. If you did you could have great lunch or dinner on an more than 800 years old market square in Frankfurt Hächst just outside an even older castle. Or you could visit Bad Homburg castle where there are the private rooms of the last German emperor's wife that look like she'd just stepped outside. Or you could have visited a real Roman border protection castle (Saalburg, just outside Bad Homburg) or you could have visited www.hessenpark.de...