Page 514 - Lonely Planet Europe’s Best Trips (Travel Guide)

The Drive » Take the L561 minder of his grand plans how many were eaten by
22km west to the B80, then is a tiny Hafenbecken big bad wolves in the forest
head northwest for another (harbour basin) trafficked during the journey.
27km to Bad Karlshafen. You’ll by white swans.
enjoy the curving panoramas Take a stroll around the The Drive » Just stay on
as you follow the Weser River, town centre, on the sinu- B83 for the 58km right to
which links several of the Fairy Bodenwerder. You’ll enjoy Weser
Tale Road towns and cities. ous Weser River’s south vistas for much of the journey –
bank, with the Hafen- which might lure you to stop for
becken and surrounding a picnic.
8 Bad Karlshafen square, Hafenplatz, at its
western end.
Bad Karlshafen’s orderly The interesting 9 Bodenwerder
streets and whitewashed Deutsches Huguenotten If Bodenwerder’s most
baroque buildings were Museum (German Huguenot
built in the 18th century Museum; %05672-1410; www. famous son were to
have described his little
for the local earl Karl huguenot-museum-germany. hometown, he’d probably
by French Huguenot com; Hafenplatz 9a; adult/
refugees. The town was concession €4/2; h10am-5pm have painted it as a huge,
thriving metropolis on
planned with an impres- Tue-Fri, 11am-6pm Sat & Sun
sive harbour and a canal mid-Mar–Oct, 10am-noon Mon-Fri the Weser River. But then
Baron Hieronymous von
connecting the Weser Nov–mid-Mar) traces the his- Münchhausen (1720–97)
with the Rhine to attract tory of the French Hugeu-
trade, but the earl died not refugees in Germany, was one of history’s
most shameless liars (his
before his designs were although it fails to mention whoppers were no mere
GERMANY 36 GERMAN FAIRY TALE ROAD
completed. The only re-
GRIMM FAIRY TALES
In the early 19th century the Brothers Grimm travelled extensively through central
Germany documenting folklore. Their collection of tales, Kinder- und Hausmärchen,
was first published in 1812 and quickly gained international recognition. It has 209
tales and includes such fairy-tale staples as:
» Hansel and Gretel – A mother tries to ditch her son and daughter, a witch tries to
eat them and Gretal outsmarts her. Kids and father reunite and all are happy (the
evil mum has died).
» Cinderella – The story that gave step-sisters a bad name. Still, when the prince
fits the shoe onto our heroine, all is good with the world, although in the Grimm
version, the step-sisters are blinded by vengeful doves.
» Rapunzel – An adopted girl with very long hair, a prince that goes blind and some
evil older women are combined in this morality play that ends on a love note when
the prince stumbles upon an outcast Rapunzel and his sight is restored. In the first
edition of the Grimm’s book, Rapunzel bore children out of wedlock.
For entertaining synopses of all the Grimm fairy tales, see www.shmoop.com/
grimms-fairy-tales. One thing you’ll note is that the Grimm original versions are
much bloodier, more violent and earthier than the ultra-sanitised, Disneyfied
versions today.
Although best known for their fairy tales, it should be be noted that the Brothers
Grimm were serious academics who also wrote German Grammar and History of
the German Language, enduring works that populate reference shelves to this day.

512