Tuesday, October 18, 2011

My Friend Munich.

I've been so busy lately that this will be the second-to-last "travel-journal" post. Tomorrow, I'll cover Austria and then it's back to normal blogging topics. :) Until then, next stop is Munich!
The new town hall in Marienplatz (city center)
We got to Munich around 5pm so we just walked around for a bit. It was a little overwhelming to be in a city this size after being in such tiny towns. We eventually headed to Hofbrauhaus downtown for a little pre-Oktoberfest preparation. We drank a few liters of beer while chatting up our table-neighbors. Sidenote: That is the one thing I highly enjoyed about Germany, they are very into the shared seating thing... it's a great way to meet new people and spark conversation. Hofbrauhaus was definitely good times but who cares about all that, let's get to the real thing!

Two are ours; two were the couples next to us. I swear. No really... 
The next morning, Jerry and I got up early and headed to Oktoberfest. We decided upon the Lowenbrau tent since Gwen and Mary had gone there 2 years ago. We ended up sitting at a table with two guys from Australia, Tim and Dominic, who really ended up make the day so much fun. I hope we'll get to see them again. Overall the day was insanity and such a blast. We had a lot (A LOT) of beer and had a terrific time meeting all sorts of folks (Spaniards, Italian Swiss guys, more Aussies...) and singing and dancing on the tables. For some reason, I also thought it'd be a good idea to purchase a Boar Hat or as I like to call him "Boarat." We seriously cannot wait to head back. It's impossible to capture the full day here - it's best to check out the pictures and videos on my flickr.

Me with new friend #1 Dominic
My fellow "Boarhat" friend, Ben. 
Me with new friend #2, Tim

Double fisting is where it all started going downhill :)
The end to a great day. 
Talk about opposites...the next day Jer and I headed to Dachau Concentration Camp. There was really nothing else that I wanted to do more. I think Jer was a little skeptical but I talked him into it and he told me later that he was glad I insisted. It was such an incredibly haunting but moving experience. Dachau was pretty much leveled after the war so there isn't many original structures there. Regardless, you definitely can feel the horror that took place...especially when you walk through the gas chambers and crematorium at "Barrack X". That was probably the most horrific part of the experience since you are literally standing in rooms where people were murdered. As emotional as it can be, if anyone gets a chance to go to a concentration camp, I highly recommend it because I feel its important to let yourself experience how horrible it was so that we as a society never let this happen again.

"Work will set you free"

After that experience, we needed to lift our spirits. Once we got back to downtown Munich, we had a really great dinner with new friends, Tim and Dominic, and then spent the evening just walking around Marienplatz. Munich was a great time and I think we'll be seeing her next year for Oktoberfest 2k12 - hopefully.

Next blog stop: Salzburg and Austria!
Boarat is strapped to my bag, ready to board the train to Salzburg. 

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Rothenburg ob der..huh???

I took a break for a few days to attend our friend Katie's wedding (it was awesome) but now back to blogging about our trip (only 3 more cities to go after this one).

After we left Fussen and the King's castles, we drove 2.5 hours north to Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Apparently there are several towns in Germany called Rothenburg so whence referring to this town, you must add the "ob der Tauber". Regardless, this Rothenburg was definitely one of my favorite stops in our trip.

It's such an incredibly cool well-preserved medieval town. As we learned from our Night Watchman tour (more on him later), poverty is actually what helped preserve Rothenburg - and naturally it's a rich city as it once was before it got sacked a few times. After checking into our hotel, Altfrankische-Weinstube, we decided to go "walk the wall."


The wall is the original city wall from wayyyyy back in the day...Only a portion had to be reconstructed after WWII. It was pretty cool to walk on such a piece of history. Plus the views of the town were pretty great.


That evening, we wanted to eat at the restaurant in our hotel since it came highly recommended. We were actually very fortunate that there were no tables available except for the one reserved for the "English Conversation Club." This "club" is run by a gentleman who calls himself Hermann the German and every Wednesday night, he and several local Germans meet at this restaurant to converse with English-speaking travelers. It was by far one of the best nights we had on the trip. We met a lovely couple from Houston named Darlene and Phil. We very much enjoyed getting to know them in addition to some of the locals. It was terrific company. 

We were having such a good time that we didn't want to leave to go to the Night Watchman's tour but we're glad we did. His comic delivery was great and we learned a lot about the city. It was incredibly entertaining.  Since it was only an hour, we headed right back to the English Conversation Club for a few more beers and a lil more conversation. Fantastic evening and one that we'll never forget. 


The next day, we didn't really want to leave Rothenburg so we walked around some more and went to the Museum of Crime and Punishment. It was interesting to learn about all of the crazy torture and punishment devices they would use back in the medieval days as well as how little it took to send someone to prison or the noose. Naturally had to put Jerry in his place...


Thank you, Rothenburg ob der Tauber, for such a wonderful time. We'll be seeing you soon! 



Tuesday, October 4, 2011

King of the Castle

After Switzerland, we headed to Fussen for a night. It was a very cute little town but we stayed there primarily as a jumping off pad for seeing the King Ludwig castles in the morning. We stayed at Hotel Fantasia, which was a cute little hotel, and had dinner where we discovered König Ludwig Weissbier Hell, which was delicious. Naturally I stole a few of their coasters and I'm hoping we can find it in the states.


The next morning, we woke up bright and early and headed off to the castles as we had to pick up our reserved tickets by 8:20am. We started with Hohenschwangau, the older of the two castles and King Ludwig's family's holiday home. It was beautiful, especially the lake that surrounded it. Since it was pretty early, it was really nice to be able to take pictures before the crowds rolled in. The tour was good. I especially liked learning more about the family and some of the history. The 30 minutes were up before we knew it and so we then headed off to Neuschwanstein. 


Next it was off to Neuschwanstein but first we had to walk up this crazy long hill to get to it. Jerry and I definitely had to take a couple of breaks on the way up. 40 minutes later we arrived to the top and eventually it was time for our tour. This castle was very different from the first. It was designed by King Ludwig II but he died shortly after it was finished. It was definitely over the top inside (I so wish we could've taken pictures in there). Every inch was covered with some sort of decoration, detail, or extravagance. The man even had them build a faux cave room that he could sit in to listen to operas by Wagner. Bananas. 



Like the first tour, it was over before we knew it. Afterward, we took another uphill walk up to Mary's Bridge so that we could take a few cool pictures of the castle.   The bridge was packed and a pretty tight squeeze so we took a few shots then headed back downhill. We had an overpriced lunch then it was time to head off to Rothenburg ob der Tauber. More on that tomorrow! 


Monday, October 3, 2011

Mountains, Lakes, and Cows Oh My

Next stop: Switzerland!

On Sunday morning (Sept 18), Jer and I embarked upon our drive to Switzerland. It was about a 5 hour drive and our hope was to drive there by way of the Black Forest and maybe stop in Freiburg or Baden Baden for lunch on the way... Apparently our GPS had different plans as we were a tad surprised when all of a sudden we were driving through the France border.


When we finally crossed into Switzerland, it was like crossing into another world. Everything was so beautiful and so green and lush. And there were a ton of cows...almost reminded me of our drives down to Roanoke along 29 (almost). When we got closer to our destination, we started coming upon these gorgeous blue lakes in the valley of the Alps. I dont think my camera did them justice - plus it was difficult for Jerry to drive with me trying to lean over him to take a picture of them.


Eventually we ended up in Lauterbrunnen. We parked the car, took a cable car ride up to a town called Grutschlap and finally a train to Murren since Murren is a car-less town where the cows use the roads more than the people do.



Unfortunately the weather was less than desirable - raining and almost freezing. The rain caused this fog to form and so it was really difficult to see that we were in the midst of these most incredible mountains. Never ones to stay in our hotel room, even when the weather sucks, we checked in to our apartment at the Chalet Helvetia and then immediately headed to dinner at the Hotel Alpina and then for beers at the Eiger Guesthouse where we befriended the bartender - who was thisclose to getting me to drink a Das Boot.



The next morning we woke up to snow and even colder weather. Since Jer and I had not planned for this weather, we weren't sure of what to do since Murren is such an outdoors town. So, Edmee, our lovely host, recommended we go to the glacial waterfalls of Trummelbach since most of them are in caves and we would stay dry. We took the cable car from Murren down to Stechelberg where we caught a bus to the waterfalls. The power of the falls was incredible. I had to take videos of them because pictures just did not do them justice (hence why I dont show them below). On the way back we stopped for a few minutes in Gimmelwald - a very small town that Rick Steves highly recommends. Overall, it was a great afternoon and I'm glad we were able to make the most of it.




On Tuesday morning, we woke up to crystal clear weather and of course it was the day we had to leave. Such a travesty because we could finally see the mountains! And man were they gorgeous. I just wish we had at least another day or two to spend there. There was so much we couldn't do because of the rain/snow. But at least it gives us a good reason to go back.


Sunday, October 2, 2011

The Honeymooners

A year after we got married, Jerry and I finally took our honeymoon. From September 15-29, we headed off to Germany, Switzerland, and Austria.

The trip was so incredible. We saw so many great sights and really enjoyed the culture. It was pretty tough coming back to the states. I keep wanting to say "danke shoen" to everybody we come into contact with and it's disappointing when we don't get a "bitte schoen" in return. It's hard to pick a favorite stop because they were all so different and special in their own way but I think my top three would be: Murren, Rothenburg ob der Tauber, and tie between Bacharach and Munich.

Since the trip was so long and we saw so much, I plan to blog about each of these stops over the next few days - dedicating each one to a different city.

First stop: Bacharach.

The morning of September 16, we arrived in Frankfurt then drove on the autobahn to Bacharach, a village on the Rhine. We couldn't check into our hotel yet but the lovely hostess at Hotel Kranenturm, Fatima, let us join for breakfast while we waited. Afterward, we were pretty exhausted so we had to sleep in the hatchback of our Ford Focus.


Eventually we woke up around 1pm, checked in, then went exploring. We climbed up a big hill and saw the local castle (every village has one apparently) and then did some more walking around town. It was a lovely village - exactly what i picture medieval Germany to be.


That evening, we ate at a restaurant in the oldest building in the town, the Altes-Haus, pictured below. It was absolutely delicious. Jerry got the wienerschnitzel and I got some amazing pot roasty dish. We had some terrific wine and Bitburger bier and then topped the meal off with some "apfelstrudel". It was awesome. I was well on the road to not being able to fit into my clothes by the end of the trip but it was worth it... there is no "diet" in "honeymoon."


The next day (Sept 17), we took a cruise up the Rhine to St. Goar to check out Rheinfels Castle. We also saw several castles along the way - can't go a mile..kilometer rather.. without seeing one. Rheinfels was pretty awesome. It was massive and while in ruins, you definitely got a feel for what it must have been like there centuries ago. Plus the views were incredible... definitely well worth the hike up the hill and the 4 euro entrance fee.


After Rheinfels, we had lunch (bratwurst naturally) and then caught the boat back to Bacharach. After a delicious wine tasting at the Weingut Fritz Bastian, a mediocre dinner at Cafe Am Markt, and uber-yummy gelato at Eiscafe, we went to bed early to get ready for the long drive we had ahead of us to Switzerland. Bacharach was incredibly lovely and we couldn't ask for a better first stop.