Willkommen to Frankenmuth, a bit of Germany in Michigan. Mom lived in Germany for ten years before we were born and she speaks, reads, and writes German. She also lived in Michigan for almost a year back in the 80’s. Frankenmuth has always been on her places to visit list but she has never made it there until last weekend. Behind us is the Cass River that runs through town, and up on the hill behind us is the Willkommen sign.
There were big rainstorms the day we drove up to the town but they were on the way out as we arrived. Unfortunately, most of the three days we spent in Michigan had showers or non-stop rain. No worries, we still manage to get out and about and have fun.
Most of the town is decked out for the upcoming Easter holiday in the German style of decorating. It makes for a very festive town.
This is the front, street view of the Bavarian Inn. Mom says it looks like it came right out of Bavaria.
The German Glockenspiel is also right next to the Bavarian Inn.
Naturally, we found a mural, the Almtrieb is what it is called. Almtrieb is the process of bringing down the cows from the alps to town. It is a huge celebratory time.
The Frankenmuth tourist office is dog friendly, in case you ever visit this town. We went in with Mom and the woman was very friendly and helpful. She even has a canister of tasty dog treats which she gives out in generous portions! Outside the office is this certificate from a partner city in Germany. We saw many of these certificates for different sister cities throughout town.
Klaus the Maus from the Cheese Haus is happy to take a photo with anyone, even a couple of hounds. Isn’t he adorable?
Mom loves this sign but we think it is kind of cheesy!
We found the Holzbruecke over the town river. It means covered wooden bridge. Although the bridge was completed in 1980, its look has more in common with 19th century design. The Covered Bridge stretches 239 feet across the Cass River. 163,288 feet of wood and nearly 1,000 pounds of non-wood material went into the making of the almost entirely wood structure, covered with around 25,000 cedar shingles. In January 1980, a team of oxen was used to pull the completed bridge into place over a span of 12 days at a rate of only three inches per minute. It is a single lane, so cars need to wait for their turn to go over it.
Nutcrackers are very German and we found several sets of them around town, mainly at entrances to places. These two are at the entrance to a German bakery. It does smell good here!
Hope you enjoyed this quick tour of Frankenmuth. If you are in Michigan, it is definitely a town worth visiting. We did a rapid visit, only about ninety minutes but you may want to spend more time. There are plenty of places to stay if you want to make a short trip of it. Auf Wiedersehen!
My GBGV Life is happy, so we’re joining Comedy Plus for Happy Tuesday!
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