13 – Munich (day 3)

By our third day in Munich we were exhausted.  Also it was our last day in Germany before heading to Switzerland.  We decided to sleep in, then just go to the city for some shopping and walking around.  I have almost no poctures from this whole day because it was mostly a resting day!

carved memorial to King Ludwig the IV

One cool thing I realized though… When I was in college there was a painting on the ceiling of my room from whoever lived there before.  I thought it was a griffon, but it is actually a bavarian symbol of the lion.  I’ve seen it all over here on beer labels, crests and insignias, and signs.  In German, Löwe means Lion.

So that was it for the day… lots of napping too.

12 – Salzburg, Austria (day trip)

This was such a fun day, as we made a day trip from Munich to Salzburg Austria.  Often referred to as the most beautiful city in Europe, it is also the location that The Sound of Music was filmed.  We had to take an early train because it is 3 hours away, and soon as we arrived it started to rain.  But regardless we spent a great day.

Upon arriving we walked over to the old town, crossing this very scenic bridge that provided a view up to the castle.

Salzburg

Salzburg Fountain

We found a little cemetary with crypts carved into the mountainside.  It was neat because some of the dates were centuries old, and some were recent.  It must be owned by families that want to rest with their ancestors.

on the mountain you can see the carved in area that the next photo is taken from

view of dome from catacomb

We also did a fortress tour and museum.  The fort was up on the hill with a great view of the surrounding area.  Did I mention that Salzburg is extremely beautiful?

there is the dome again

The museum was interesting–it had pieces from world war 1 and also medieval weaponry.  Not many photos were taken, but I had to get this one:

when an axe isn't going cut it....

BRING AN AXE-GUN

It was raining heavily by this point.  Sara offered me a poncho, but I think she was representing enough poncho for the both of us.

Our next stop was the palace in town, but the real thing to see their are the ‘wasserspiele’, or water-play (gardens).  The crazy ruler that lived there loved the fresh alpine water so much that he used it to create a fun garden of water spouts, moving figures, and fountains.  Our tour group included about 30 french middle schoolers, so that was funny too.  Our guide would use hidden controls throughout the tour to spray water at unsuspecting people.

he had kids all sit here, and they were soaked

moving water powered figures

There is a modern day zoo near the palace, so after this tour we went over to there.  It was so much different than an american zoo.  Maybe it was the weather, but nobody else was there.  Also all the cages were extremely close, I could reach out and touch most animals.  At one point I could’ve picked up a monkey and put it in my backpack.

the monkey jumped down in front of me

I thought about petting it

turned a corned and startled both of us

so cute snow leapords

views all around

Then we took our train back to Munich.  The zoo was so fun!  I have videos of the monkey jumping down to say hello, but cannot upload yet.

salzburg hbf

11 – Munich (day 2)

We had a late start this day, but decided to head back into the old town to see what was up.  We found a big palace of the Bavarian kings to tour, which included the treasury museum.  We went for the treasury first.  We were given a little audio device that could tell about individual items from the displays.  All we had to do was input the catalogue number of the piece we were interested in.

goldsmith created for the king

detail of the cool bavarian crest

this was incredibly shiny

bavarian lion detailing

Sara has a bunch more pictures of the treasury items… I wish I had taken one of the royal crown and baton / sigils.  The possession of those items were what solidified the authority of the king.  The crown was actually not worn though, it was kept on a pillow and placed in front of the king at ceremonial events.

After the treasury we went into the palace.  It was enormous, as it had been enlarged a small amount through each subsequent ruler.  The tour was self guided with the audio device again, but after about 20 rooms sara and I stopped listening.  There must have been over 75 rooms to walk through in total.  I was impressed, then mildly interested, then bored .

he knows how to party

the fountain sprayed water from his decapitated body and dripped it from his head

royal great hall

Sara and I were glad to finally see daylight again, and wanted to enjoy the nice day.  We were close to an area called ‘english gardens’, so we headed over.  It is a large connection of parks and gardens that lots of students hang out in.

English garden

We saw some interesting stuff… such as a naked man sunbathing (he was an older gentleman, amongst all the younger kids).

But coolest of all, there is an area that the river is built to allow surfing.  I don’t know why the water flows so quickly here, but the city poured a concrete ridge at the bottom, so that the water curls up and over, making a wave.  There must have been about 12 people waiting in line and surfing, and many spectators.  The surfers would just wait for their turn at either side, then jump in and land surfing on their boards.  Each persom would go about a minute or two before falling or jumping off.  Things like this are what really feel strange to me as an American, because in the US they would close this area off due to danger and injuries.

I have video but can't post it yet

At night I wanted to see the Allianz Arena, which is where Munich’s soccer team plays.  It was designed by Herzhog and Demueron, and covered in glowing LED panels.  They can change colors or show patterns, but today they were all red.  We got there just as it was getting dark, so perfect timing to see it glow.

from train station

Allianz at sunset

Allianz Arena

Surfers in Munich

The river flows really fast here and the city built a concrete step into the bottom so that it curls into a surfable wave.  So awesome, but I can’t upload my videos yet

10 – Munich

We arrived in Munich on another high speed ICE train from Nuremburg.  We had 3 days to see this city, so we took our time a bit more.  The general plan was to spend the next few days seeing the old town, having beers, visiting the Allianz Arena (by Heurzog and Demueron), and see the olympic stadium.

This first day we started with the olympic stadium.  Using more excellent public transit, we were at the stadium in less than 25 minutes from the city center.  And when we got there, I was surprised to see the whole campus bustling with activity.  First we walked past the main stadium and olympic sea.  It looked as if there had been a public showing of the live soccer final the night before.  Also the main stadium is used nowadays for concerts and other public gatherings.

sara in front of munich olympic stadium

olympic sea

olympic stadium

stage for soccer viewing being taken down

Then we of course went to see the natatorium (water sports).  It was awesome and we took lots of pictures.  They have it open to the public as a membership type swimming pool.  I also saw some divers going off the lower boards, but they had no skills.

go off the 10 meter wimp!

i wanted to dive

After that we just kind of wandered some more.  There was a place to rent paddle boats, and a funny place you could get put into a plastic bubble and then pushed onto the lake.

We next headed into Munich’s old town to explore.  Most of what we did was look at shops, but they all kind of sell the same touristy crap.  For dinner we ate at a place that served lots of Paulaner beer.  They also claimed to be the inventors of Weißwurst, a popular bavarian white sausage.  So of course I ordered it while Sara got a sampler plate of sausage.  The weißwurst came in a special bowl of broth, and was very good.  But also very rich / buttery tasting.  Definitely filled me up…

entrance to munich old town

Across from where we were eating is the Munich city hall.  There is an enormous clocktower with a ‘glockenspiel’ on it.  This is a clock that has moving figures and sounds.  Every day at 11 and noon the little show happens.

munich town hall

glockenspiel

We were thirsty after dinner so went to find the famous Hofbrau haus to have a drink.  It took us forever to find it because we looked too hard.  It wasn’t the best smelling place in the city, but it is pretty much something you have to do if you go to Munich.  We ordered our 1 litre sized beers and had a pretzel.

munich hofbrauhaus

prost!

9 – Nuremburg

The only reason I had heard of Nuremburg before the trip was from the Nuremburg trials after WWII.  After deciding to include it in our list of destinations, we found out that it has a very famous christmas market, and a style of sausage named after it–called Nuremburgers.  The christmas market was closed during the summer, but I saw pictures of it and it reminded me of the one in Chicago.

Also during trip planning we found an event being held the night we arrived called “Blaue Nacht”, or blue night. It is a cultural festival where all the shops and churches stay open late, blue lights are set up to shine on buildings, and lots of beer is consumed.  That was our plan for later in the day, but first we met up with our host.

We stayed with a really friendly woman named Kerstin.  Originally she was going to come see blue night with us, but had to change her plans because Munich had made it into the Euroleague soccer finals and everyone and their mother was planning to watch the game that night.  We set a plan to meet up after the game, and she gave us a bunch of ideas and maps on what to see in the city.

Nürnburg hbf

For lunch, our host assured us that Nuremburgers were the finest würst in all of Germany, and told us where the best place to get them was.  So we walked over to try them.  They are served as 3 small sausages on a bread roll, and reminded me a lot of sausage links in the US.

Then we went to find some more churches and kill time before the blue night began.  Nuremburg was really easy to navigate, and they have both an underground rail network, and an above ground tram system.  It always amazes me how much quieter and more silent the public transportation has been everywhere.

trams are awesome

Nuremburg has a famous fountain in the center of town, and within the metalwork are hidden 2 metal rings.  A black one on one side, and a gold one on the other.  When the fountain was completed they appeared magically linked in, and it is said to be good luck to spin the ring.  Black is for locals, gold is for tourists.

do you see the gold ring

Another fun place in the city is a famous picture spot that you see on many postcards.  It is from the bridge, looking at a historic hospital building.  The reflection is a neat effect.

famous view

Nuremburg had a grand cathedral similar to Köln, but not as big.  Still it was very cool.  Inside it had pictures of the destruction after the war.  Apparently Nuremburg was considered by Hitler to be one of the ‘most’ German cities, which is why it was a major target for allied bombs.  Also the trials were held here to increase demoralization.

a relic contained within??

Some of the war photos had poems on them.  This one below reads:
“Peace–What is peace?
That we can go through the ruins
without fear of bombs?
That the sun warms people and stone
as if nothing had happened?
That the horror is already beginning
to belong to the past?”
There were more, and I suggest googling to see if you can turn up the full set of photos and writing.

war is hell

present day reconstruction

There is also a famous artist from this town.  I think his name was Albrecht Turor(not spelled correctly).  Here we are in front of his statue.

And then it was getting dark so time for the blue night!  It was so much fun, and combined with the soccer fans pretty crazy.  Unfortunately Munich lost (to Chelsea).

blue night beginning!

8 – Heidelberg (day 2)

Castle Heidelberg

After an exhausting first day in Heidelberg, we wanted to have a relaxing second day in Heidelberg.  But he city was just too beautiful and there was too much to do.

Our main goal for the day was to visit the castle Schloss, which sits up on the hillside at the outskirts of the town.

At least we were able to save some of our strength and ride a tram up to the castle entrance.  It was a very short ride, and cool because the tram runs at a 45 degree angle up the slope.

Near the castle entrance we were able to buy tickets for a tour (in english!!).  It was wonderful except for the family with 5 kids that ran out of control for the entirety.  The youngest one, which I think was named Aiden (ugh), kept crying.  His parents gave him coins to play with, but he just repeatedly picked them up and dropped them, causing a ruckus.  At one point he was banging the coins into the wooden carpentry, and even then his parents only lightly scolded him before they let him run off again.  His only slightly older brother also talked the whole time, giggling and laughing when his parents shushed him.  Why did they have to be American as well.  Our poor tour guide was so flustered.

Besides that, the tour was really great.  We learned about the history and craftsmanship of the castle, and the lines of succesion of kings.  Also we learned about the incredibly large wine barrel, which was guarded by a fellow nicknamed Perkeo–because when he was offered more wine he would say “por que no?” (Spanish for why not).  Legend says that he died after finally drinking a glass of water.

post WWII castle remains

Other notable achievements this day were finding this interesting snack to try.  It was basically a dough ball covered in sugar.  In the window it looked delicious, but it was actually quite dry and gross.  I do not recommend it to anyone.

delicious deception

We wanted to get to bed early this night because of all the hiking the day before, but went for dinner first.  Up to this point, all of our interactions with German people were really nice.  But the place we stopped for dinner was the exception.  It was empty when we walked in, and took a while for the owner to come by.  When she did she did not look pleased.  We ordered our food, but when she asked what we wanted for drink, we said nothing (too tired for beer).  She gave a very nasty look, then pointed to our hiking water bottle and said we couldnt drink from it while we ate.  Stunned, I repeated what she had said.  She said yes and started to walk back to the kitchen, but Sara and I stood up at the same time and let her know we would find somewhere else to eat.  She said good, and we left with a very bad taste in our mouths.

more castle

We found a very nice place to eat somewhere else, and then went to bed after a frustrating day.  Regardless, the castle was beautiful, Heidelberg was still one of our favorite stops thus far, and we had Nuremburg to look forward to in the morning.