Germany's romantic register is Christmas market, castle, and forest in three versions that the country manages with considerable competence. The Nuremberg Christkindlesmarkt in December — the oldest Christmas market in Germany, with the specific smell of Lebkuchen and Glühwein, the handcraft stalls under pine boughs, and the golden light on the medieval castle above — is the German romantic winter experience that other European markets have been attempting to replicate since the 19th century. The Rhine Valley autumn, when the vineyards turn and the castle ruins above the river catch the afternoon light and the boat moves slowly between wine villages, provides the landscape version. The Black Forest hotel spa circuit, with its thermal baths and cherry schnapps and cuckoo clock workshops in the fir trees, adds the Romantic Road register. A Bavarian lake (Chiemsee or Königssee) boat trip on a June morning completes the circuit. Take it all in.