Frankenmuth-Michigans little Bavaria

Ahhhh….Frankenmuth. When I was a kid I remember jumping in my grandparents motor home and driving the hour and half to Frankenmuth, chatting excitedly with my brother about what we will see at the worlds largest Christmas Store-Bronners and what yummy delights we will eat the Bavarian Inn. Those memories I still cherish today and so it was with excitement that I was able to take my husband to this little Bavaria in the heart of Michigan and show him what I enjoyed as a kid.

Frankenmuth History

The city’s name is a combination of two words. “Franken” represents the Province of Franconia in the Kingdom of Bavaria, home of the Franks, where the original settlers were from. The German word “Mut” means courage; thus, the name Frankenmuth means “courage of the Franconians.” The area was settled and named in 1845 by conservative Lutheran immigrants from Roßtal area of Franconia (now part of Bavaria) in Germany. The group of settlers left Germany on April 20, 1845 and arrived at Castle Garden seven weeks later. They traveled via canals and the Great Lakes from New York to Detroit and arrived in August 1845. Sailing on the Nelson Smith, the settlers made their way to Saginaw and travelled over land to the present location the city of Frankenmuth. Originally part of Bridgeport Township and later Frankenmuth Township, Frankenmuth became a village in 1904 and finally a city on October 1, 1959 (Wikipedia).

Our Trip

No trip to Frankenmuth is complete without stopping in at the “World’s largest Christmas Store-Bronners” on your way into the city. This place is so HUGE and is wall to wall Christmas every day of the year, complete with Christmas music and giants Santas. I even ended up spending my yearly “new ornaments” Christmas budget in a matter of 20 mins here…opps lol!

My husband makes me laugh all the time 🙂

My best pin-up pose with a polar bear lol 😛

This is what you see EVERYWHERE in this store! Christmas explosion!

My husband’s fav tree….The BEER TREE!

Me in a sea of pretty Christmas Trees.

Frog tree anyone?

After Bronners we drove into the city and decided to hit up the oldest brewery In Frankenmuth that has been around since 1862.

Funny story, my husband sat down at the bar and asked the bartender “if the brewery had been around a long time?” and she responds with “you could say that” lol! That was before we read our menu that said the history of the brewery.

We wanted to try all the beers and the best way to do that is with a sampler, but look how they are served?? In the cutest littlest steins EVER! love love love 🙂

After sitting at the bar for a bit we were able to get out onto the patio for a pint and small bite to eat (don’t want to ruin our german meal later on).

Just look at how pretty the view was and check out the cool boat coming down the river! It was a really good place to just hang out and enjoy the warm summer weather.

After our beer and snack we wandered the city for the next while, taking in all the European style buildings and fun stores.

Along with Beer, my husband and I also love Cheese! So it was with great excitement that we found this cute guy outside of the Frankenmuth Cheese Haus. Many pictures were taken and lots of cheese was eaten (not from this block though lol).

Such a pretty town.

We wanted to learn more about Frankenmuth so we took a stop into the museum and of course I managed to find the coolest pic from the 1950’s of a German party complete with cute dirndls and Lederhosen. This pic reminded so much of the images I have seen of my Grandparents partying it up in the German club in the 60’s that I just had to take this picture.

The one below is of a girls sports team in the 1950’s I believe and I just thought they looked so adorable in their matching uniforms.

In our travels we found a “Swing dancing beer!”. The Lindy Hopper I am squeals in delight 🙂

The beautiful Bavarian Inn where we had a traditional German meal. I will admit though that while the food was good my Omi’s & my mom’s German dishes are better…sorry Bavarian Inn!

Beer Garden complete with the CUTEST couple singing German Oktoberfest tunes all afternoon.

Ohhh a pretty 1920s car!

Covered bridges are the best!

Adorable shopping area they created to fit the look of the other businesses already established in the town.

Maggi…Growing up my mother always had Maggi in the cupboard and when she cooked she would always say “Add Maggi it makes everything taste so much better”. My Omi (grandmother) has Maggi on hand as well and so does her boyfriend but I thought it was just my strange German family who liked it. UNTIL…we went in this store and everything in this store was “Bavarian Specialities” direct from Germany, nothing cheap and cheesy here and there was THIS display of Maggi on the shelf, right above the red cabbage. So the mystery is solved, it is a German thing! lol

What a cute Moose! The Frankenmoose!

Look I found myself on a wine bottle! hahaha I WISH!

Bye Bye Frankenmuth, thanks for the fun!

There you have it, our little day getaway to Frankenmuth. Have you been on any fun summer trips this year?

Liz