Deutche Marchen Strasse: An Analytic Evaluation

Well. Some think that fairy tales are merely the distraught illusions of a childish imagination, or, in a more sinister light, lofty attempts at teaching morality to young children in the form of parables.

But I beg you to reconsider, and throw your previous notions of the fantastical in literature out the window.

For the past three days, we have been voyagers on the world-famous Fairy Tale Road in Germany.

You'll notice two figures in the photo at right with odd expressions on their faces. They are named Shtuffel and Toffel. They were the anthropomorphized potato-sack mascots of the restaurant we first ate at, enjoying schnitzel and potato pancakes. Shtuffel is the more extroverted of the two, while Toffel, though quieter, is constantly thinking of ingenious schemes to get out of his responsibilities.

These blessed creatures, preyed on in the wild by vicious predators such as leopard seals, are penguins. We saw them at an animal park in Germany filled to the brim and overflowing, even, with the fauna of Europe. Except for penguins, which are from the Antarctic (mostly). Also wallabies, which are from Australia. And some chinchillas, native to South America.

Situated directly above this incredible, breathtaking slice of the animal kingdom was the castle in which, according to legend, Sleeping Beauty was imprisoned in her own dreams (raped and impregnated multiple times, in some accounts).  This is it.

Here is a list of everything else we did:

• get lost
• yell
• playfully mock the German language
• visit the fairy-tale towns of Alsfeld, Homberg/Efze, Trendelburg, Fritzlar, Oberweser, Polle, and Hameln
• get lost
• yell
• eat Germknodel
• get lost
• yell

It should be of note to all who value fairy tale lore and everything that encompasses that the fairy tale

museum of Alsfeld is a major fairy tale destination with its own collection of fairy-tale related antiquities, such as (but not limited to):

• Rapunzel's braid
• themed rooms of Little Red Riding, Snow White, Bremen Town Musicians, Sleeping Beauty, etc.
• several dollhouses

• and many fairy tales we didn't recognize

And finally...