Day 15: Prague Love

Tired and hungry, we made our way back to Amedia Hotel Theatrino. (It's not nearly as threatening in the daylight and once we had our bearings.) All day we'd talked about going back to Akropolis and it was another great decision. In Prague their menus have "appetizers" and "foods that go well with drinking beer". We ordered some fried green beans with chili garlic sauce from the latter section, expecting something like a basket of fries. It was enough green beans to feed a family of 6 - all for about 3 bucks! Then I had the pasta Chris had ordered the night before and he got another great pesto pasta dish. So Asian appetizer, Italian main course, and Czech beer in a Greek-sounding restaurant. A much better infusion than our Austrian-Italian-Indian experience in Salzburg.

Praha - I Love Thee!

Day 15: Prague - Staré Mêstro

Pretty worn out, we took a bus back to the east side of the river to Staré Mêstro (Old Town) but got to the Old Town Square (or Staromêstské nàmèstî) too late to see its major churches - [another] St Nicholas and St James. Cash's Prague blog-post from her trip last year gave a great description and I was looking forward to seeing the 600 year old shriveled arm of the would-be thief who tried to steal the jewels from the statue of the Virgin Mary (see here - http://caitlincash.tumblr.com/)

On the hour, we gathered with the hundreds of other tourists to see the town hall tower's astronomical clock do its thing. This clock, built in 1410 and improved in 1490 by master clockmakers, is absolutely amazing. I still don't quite understand it all but it tells the time, sunrise, sunset, an astrological star clock, reads military time and standard time, moon phases, zodiac signs, stellar time, and the month/season.

Crazier than all this is the scene that plays out every hour. The 4 figures represent the issues of 15th century Praguers - Vanity, Greed, Death, and Pagan Invasion. The lower figures are the Chronicler, Angel, Astronomer, and Philosopher. On the hour Death rings a bell and inverts his hourglass and the other figures shake their head while the 12 Apostles parade past the upper windows. At the end the rooster crows and the hour rings.

The story goes that because Master Hanuš had created such a spectacular clock, he was blinded by Prague officials so he couldn't recreate it elsewhere. So in revenge he climbed up and dismantled it so it wouldn't work... Documents show that it didn't work properly until 1570...???

Day 15: Prague - Petrîn Hill

Petrîn Hill is about 300m. high and earlier in the day I remember asking Chis how big of a hill that would be. I don't remember his response but after the long, hot, 927-step (approx) hike, we both knew it was high and/or steep. I had this false thought we'd be able to get to the top and see forever without actually going up the lookout tower. But it didn't work out that way and after the huge hike (most people took the bus apparently) we felt it would be a waste not to go up the tower for the full 360 view of the city. So, like tourists, we doled out some crowns to take the lift to the top observation deck. Of course without a panoramic lens it's hard to capture, but a magnificent sight.

From Petrîn we hiked down to Strahov Monastery in the Hradčany neighborhood which has an amazing library and some other weird stuff. It's the largest monastic (not sure what that adjective means in the context of libraries?) library in the country housed in 2 massive baroque halls. The halls themselves are beautiful and rows upon rows of old books line the walls.

Outside in the corridors are Cabinets of Curiosities - glass cabinets full of interesting and strange things that explorers/sailors found and brought back to Europe as examples of sea monsters and crazy species. Typical things like shells and insects and skeletons, and also "crazy" things like whale penises and armadillos.

There's also a large collection of old (and probably very valuable) books in their original bindings unique to the era and location. It was amazing to see 15th century handwritten personal bibles, in beautiful gilded handwriting with illustrations. I can't imagine hand-copying massive texts; I can't even write in cursive...

Day 15: Prague - Malá Strana

From the castle we walked through Malá Strana to check out its many gardens. The Wallenstein Garden is a huge walled "formal"garden with a pond full of huge carp and some peacocks call it home, including a white one. The Vojan Gardens are less manicured but with more locals hanging out. I liked it more and a couple was getting married while we were there!

St Nicholas Church and its huge green cupola dominates the heart of Malá Strana. It's home tomEurope's largest fresco. Mozart played here in 1787 and an upstairs gallery houses an intense and dark series of paintings of The Passion. The Communists used its bell tower to spy on the Americans at their nearby embassy.

We passed the John Lennon Wall on the way to Petrín Hill. Lennon became a hero of pacifist Czechs after his murder and someone painted Lennon's face on this secluded wall. It became a venue fir thought and political graffiti during the communist era and now tourists and locals add to it layer upon layer. Really cool.

Day 15: Prague - Prague Castle (Pražky hrad)

The largest ancient castle in the world at 570m. long, Prague Castle mimics the city itself - you can tell it grew organically over time. It's somewhat of a jumble with a courtyard here, a church here, little complexes here and there and very incongruous (is that a word?) All the architecture seems different from different eras, but in the middle of it all is the impressive gothic-looking St Vitus Cathedral. Beautiful (I really need a thesaurus for a word meaning extra-beautiful) stained glass all around the nave and transept. There are also some great wood carvings including a door that shows Bohemian saints depicting their martyrdom - St Vitus in a cauldron of boiling oil and St Wenceslas stabbed in the back by his brother while clinging to the church door handle trying to get inside (the very door handle is in the church on the door to his chapel).

We also got to see the changing of the guards at Noon, nowhere near the extravagance of that at Buckingham Palace, but still pretty impressive.

Day 15: Prague - Charles Bridge

We had a long and exhausting day walking/bussing through Prague to see everything we could in 16 hours. It was incredibly warm that day and we ended up a little sunburned with tired feet.

We walked toward the Vltava River and saw the famous modern "dancing building". Then crossed the pedestrian-only Charles Bridge, full of painters, craftsmen, musicians, souvenir-sellers, tourists, and most likely pick-pockets. Such a great scene, still wish I would have bought one of those street paintings...

Day 15: Prague

The Czech Republic is so different from Germany (or anywhere I've ever been). Chris would tell you he didn't love it and that he didn't feel safe and that there were drugs everywhere, but I would have to disagree. I loved Prague and only wish we had had more time there and that I'd read about the city and the country's history a little more in advance.

Walking to our hotel (not in the best area) from the train station (also typically not in great areas) in the evening with huge backpacks in a new country where we absolutely don't understand the language certainly didn't help. The buildings were covered in graffiti and lots of men in doorways along the street. So it wasn't a great first impression.

It's definitely more run-down in many places and [seemingly] isn't as well off as the other places we've been. Everything is incredibly cheap (our dollars go much further as Crowns than as Euros). It's also the land of Bohemia, so it's a little more "free lovin" I guess you could say. But when you read about its history, you understand it a little more. Not that the former Czechoslovakia didn't have opportunities to determine its destiny, but it traded hands so many different times in European and World power struggles, it's really a wonder that it is what it is today.

So powerful and important in the past that it was once the seat of the Holy Roman Empire and is where the Thirty Years' War began (when a Protestant mob pushed 2 Catholic councilors out the window). Then Austrian rule for 300 years, an independent Czechoslovakia for 20 years, then under Nazi control, then communism under the Soviets, until finally independence in 1989 through the Velvet Revolution at the end of the Cold War, after which the Czechs and Slovaks peacefully split. A major multi-billion-dollar flood later ('02) and the joining of the EU in '04, the Czech Republic is finally getting back on its feet.

And it truly has some amazing, beautiful sites. The view from above - with its red rooftops and hundred spires - I could just look at forever. And its great river with the Charles Bridge full of peddlers and cobbled streets with a different neighborhood on each hill. I just loved it and sadly feel like it didn't get the time it deserved in our itinerary because we really wanted to make sure we got plenty of time to explore and relax in Berlin before our trip back home. So that's my disclaimer for poor Praha - I will come back to give you the attention you deserve one day!

Day 14: Prague (Praha), Czech Republic

It was a rough train ride to Prague, or Praha. It was supposed to be a 5.5 hr. train from Salzburg with a switch at Linz. But we ended up being herded off the train somewhere in the middle of the Czech Republic and all the passengers put on busses to another train station 45min. away, about 40km. from Prague. All of this happened without any English-speaking officials providing any direction and the bus was packed with no AC on an especially warm May day.

We finally got to the main train station in Prague and it was a rough walk finding our hotel in a somewhat seedy neighborhood on the edge of the Old Town. I'd gotten pretty good at German and making my way, but written (and verbal) Czech is just crazy! So many consonants - Cs and Zs and Ks and Vs and all in a row! It's like every street is the last name of someone in Shiner. (And what's worse is that in most places, a site has basically one name - like Neuschwanstein Castle. It's not called New Swan Castle, it's Neuschwanstein no matter what language. But here everything has an "English" name and its real name, which could be totally different. For example Wallerstein Garden is actually Valdštenjnská zahrada. And not every map/guide/sign has both. So you have to figure out where you need to go in the guide book, look up its Czech name, then find it on another map and try to find it in real life... Very confusing.) So we were a little grouchy and a little overwhelmed with all the Czech consonants.

So grouchy, hot, tired, and feeling dirty from trains, busses, and the differing hygiene of Eastern Europeans, we were so thankful to find a lovely little hotel room that had been converted from an old theatre - our first time with a shower and WC (water closet/toilet) in the room in a long time. And our first room with a bathtub and a fridge and a balcony! And so cheap!

We cleaned up and made our way to Restaurace Akropolis - a nearby restaurant Chris had found in Lonely Planet. Best find ever! They had some traditional food (Czech is somewhat similar to German in that it's heavy meat and potatoes stuff) but also tons of other more standard fare. Chris got an awesome pasta dish - penne, creamy garlic basil sauce, mushrooms, leeks, grilled chicken, parmesan. So so good. I had chicken with sun dried tomatoes and goat cheese and couscous. Great beer and incredibly reasonable - probably our best, cheapest meal yet. (It made up for the rough day getting there and prepared us for a full day of site-seeing the following day.)

Day 13: Salzburg Love

We truly loved Salzburg and would go back in an instant. Unfortunately my pictures don't do this beautiful town - its hills alive with the sound of Mozart - the justice it deserves.

Day 13: Salzburg - Sound of Music tour

While it may sound cheesy, we took the Sound of Music tour by bike to see the sites where the movie was filmed and also the historically accurate sites where the Von Trapp family story actually played out. Turns out the movie sticks to the truth pretty well, with some interesting changes here and there. Most Austrians actually haven't seen the movie and don't know what all the fuss is about. And at the time of filming - not long after WW II - you can bet the locals weren't too excited to wake up to find swastikas hanging from the town square for filming purposes.

The tour was great; it was a beautiful day and was really as much of a Salzburg sights and history tour as it was about the SOM. We had a great guide from Copenhagen and a small group and saw more interesting and off-the-beaten-path things than we could have ever seen on our own. Now we want to go back and re-watch the movie that neither of us has watched nice we were kids to see all the places we visited.

Interesting fact: The famous gazebo where Liesl sings "I am 16" was given to Salzburg after filming [read: the studio didn't want to transport it back to the states]. Salzburg doesn't really care much about the gazebo (since they dont understand the movie fascination) and had to move it 11 times in 10 years because wherever it goes, tourists find it and dance around, causing a ruckus. They finally put it in a public park and had to lock the doors because people slipped when it was wet and tried to sue the city. Silly tourists.

The photo is a small mansion on the outskirts of town (you can see Hohensalzburg in the background) that was used for the back of the Von Trapp mansion. This is the lake in which they tipped the boat over. The filmmakers actually used a different Salzburg mansion for the front of the house.

Day 12: Salzburg

That afternoon we walked around town to see all the sites -Mozart's home, beautiful and massive baroque churches, picturesque streets, and a steep hike up to Hohensalzburg Fortress, Europe's largest standing castle, never taken by force (although wisely surrendered to Napoleon). We didn't pay to tour it (about castled-out) but the grounds provided a great view of Salzburg, nestled and protected between two cliffs and the Salzach River (named for the precious cargo it transported from the nearby salt mines, Salzburg's lucrative namesake).

We walked through pretty little St. Peter's Cemetery at the base of the Mönchsberg cliff, the cemetery that inspired the set design for where the Von Trapps hid from the Nazis in The Sound of Music. In Austria (and most of Europe I think), you don't own your cemetery plot, you just rent it and it has to be well tended by your descendants. So after a generation or so, it usually becomes home to the next deceased family member (or if no one pays your rent check, your remains are tossed and the plot goes up for rent).

We ended the afternoon at Sporer, a little shop where they've made homemade spirits for over 100 years. You can pay to taste small samples and we found some favorites to bring home with us - elderberry liqueur and a pear-ish baileys type thing (sounds weird but so good) for me and a Christmas and orange punch liqueur for Chris.

After a rest back at the farm, we headed out for our anniversary dinner, hoping to eat at this little place we read about - Saran Essbar - which is supposedly open on Tuesdays but turned out not to be. (Around here posted hours are rare and even if they're posted it doesn't really mean anything. There aren't really chains so these family businesses open - or not - when they want and will stay open later if there's a crowd or shut down early.) So we ended up at a random place a few doors down... Specializing in Austrian, Indian, and Italian... That should have been a sign I guess??? Strange decor, interestimg mix of aromas, not bad food but not great food. One thing they couldn't screw up was the beer, Chris' first in 2 days. He's back!

Day 12: Salzburg, Austria (our anniversary)

May 8 - Happy Second Anniversary to us!!! Waking up in Germany and going to sleep in Austria was a pretty fantastic way to celebrate two years of marriage!

Chris played our favorite - Wade Bowen - on the iPod while we packed. It was an easy train ride to Salzburg, about an hour. We bought 24hr. bus/tram tickets and eventually made our way to Helga Backhammer's guesthouse a little outside of town. It's a farmhouse with a working dairy in the back and a view of the Alps.

Salzburg - a town of about 100k and home to Mozart and the Sound of Music - proved to be our (or at least my) favorite town so far. It's the perfect size with plenty to do, friendly people, public transportation, and a small town feel.

Day 11: Munich - Augustiner Biergarten

The Augustiner was my favorite place yet, as far as atmosphere. It's a huge beer garden under huge chestnut trees full of locals - friends meeting for a drink, dates, businessmen after work, etc. The food wasn't anything special - I had brats and pommes frites (fries) with a weiss (wheat) beer and Chris made a bad decision of ordering "ham" which proved to be meat loaf, only their "meat loaf" is truly a loaf of meat, with the taste of sausage but texture of green stuff/seafoam salad. Not high on his list. But the best part was watching him ask for water - he still wasn't up to drinking beer. Everyone looked at him like they'd never heard the question before and directed him to someone else. He finally found a mug and place to fill it with water. When busboys came by to clear empty glasses, they tried to pick his up thinking it was empty then looked confused realizing it was full of water - pretty sure they hadn't seen that before. Haha.. Sorry to laugh at your discomfort chris but it was pretty amusing.

But seriously the atmosphere of this place is awesome - laid back with more tables than I could possibly count and a playscape for kids. We always talk about starting a restaurant/pizzeria/microbrewery/winery with Scout and Ben. Ben has come up with all the details, deciding to call it The Angry Baer (Sterns & Baers). I've decided the venue needs to have a beer garden feel under big pecan trees, although we have to figure out how to handle the Texas heat. (That's up to my engineering counterparts.)

Day 11: Munich - Englischer Gartens

This was probably our favorite spot in Munich. Europe's "Central Park" - the biggest park on the continent, laid out by an American in 1789. We found a great spot by the river (which flows extremely fast) to lay on the grass, read, doze off, and mostly people and dog watched for a few hours. Walking back to town, there's a spot where the river flows back underground creating some major rapids and people surf! Seriously funny to watch these surfers in wetsuits in the middle of the city. I could tell Chris wanted to give it a go, watching so intently...

On the walk back we got some fresh strawberries and cherries from one of the many fruit stands along the pedestrian mall, the strawberries are beautiful bright red and so sweet here.

Day 11: Munich - Amalienburg Palace

Our favorite part of the complex was probably the "quaint" little Amalienburg Palace about 300 yards away in the woods. It's a hunting lodge that Karl Albrecht had built for his wife Maria Amalia in 1734. She was quite outdoorsy and had a perch on top she shot pheasant from. The rooms were ornately decorated with hunting themes and a mini hall-of-mirrors. Pretty similar to the decor in our tin-roofed and tin-walled camp house at the deer lease.

We were pretty hungry and about schnitzel-ed and brat-ed out. We found a great Vietnamese restaurant that hit the spot before heading back to the centrum (town center; downtown).

Day 11: Munich - Nymphenburg Palace

The next morning Chris stayed in bed longer than normal and swore he was done drinking beer for awhile... that lasted about a day and a half. While he recovered I was securing a place to stay in Salzburg and enjoying our hotel's awesome breakfast buffet. It was a smorgasbord of food - even some normal American breakfast food like scrambled eggs and BACON! (Despite our earlier hotel problems, this turned out to be a great place with a prime location.)

We caught a bus to Nymphenburg Palace - the Wittelsbachs' summer palace a few miles outside of Munich. Wow! Really beautiful with a grand entry with ponds full of swans and ducks. The gardens were spectacular and seemed to stretch for miles. The land was a gift from Bavarian ruler Ferdinand Maria to his Italian wife Henriette Adelaide in 1662 for bearing him a son (and heir) after 10 years of trying. (Chris says he'll do something similar if I can somehow ensure we have all boys.) She had the palace built in an Italian-Baroque style.

Day 10: Munich - The Hofbräuhaus

[Chris' dad taught me how to insert the umlaut but no promises I'll do it as often as I should]

We felt right at home at the much-anticipated Hofbräuhaus. It's like Wurstfest on steroids... Beer, live Polka band (but no dance floor unfortunately), sausage, schnitzel, lederhosen, dirndls, locals, tourists, antlers, steins, the whole shebang. They only sell beer in 1 liter mugs (we've been ordering .5 liter glasses at most restaurants, which is about 1 1/3 of a bottle), so each mug at HB is about 2 2/3 beers we're guessing. We ended up having a little too much fun and some of us, more than others, were regretting their 4th liter of dunkel the next day.

We made good friends with the Dutch father and son we sat next to - they were big fussball (soccer) fans whose team had just beaten the Munich team and they'd been celebrating - scarves on and all - for awhile. The best part was Marcus' (the son) reaction when Chris told him we were from Texas. His impression - like most people here - is that we're all cowboys. He made the motion of riding a horse with guns in the air - " bang bang"! Then his first question in very broken English was - "Can't y'all shoot people if they come into your house?" After a hesitant - "Yes, but.." response from Chris his next question was -"Have you ever done that?" ... As if it's a frequent occurrence.

The Hofbräuhaus is the world's most famous beer hall. Sure there are plenty of tourists but also tons of regulars. Many of the tables have "reserved" signs above them for the groups that regularly sit there and the regulars keep their own steins locked in cubbies. I like Rick Steves' description in his guide book: "It's fun to see 200 Japanese people drinking beer in a German beer hall. The locals go for the entertainment - to sing 'Country Roads', see how Texas girls party, and watch tourists try to chug beer." Hah, pretty true, although we fit right in - being familiar with the songs, the atmosphere, and knowing all the words to the toast. I desperately wanted all my Voges cousins to be there with us singing and toasting -"Ein prosit. Ein prosit... Prost!" Our only disappointment was that the oompah band didn't know "In heaven there is no beer" - we asked - apparently it's an American song.

The wall painting above the band reads: "Durst ist schlimmer als heimweh" (Being thirsty is worse than feeling homesick). It's safe to say we were neither that night...

Day 10: Munich

We got back to our hotel and even though we were told they were full the next night at the TI, I asked reception and they said we could stay another night - woo hoo! But the price jumped to 111€, an increase of 45€ from the first night (66€) - yikes! But considering I'd anticipated having to spend around 80€ per night in Munich, it somewhat balanced out. And at least it gave us more time in the city we'd been so excited to visit.

We were hungry and made our way from the hotel through the city's center (which is an awesome pedestrian-only area) toward some dinner and beer. We stopped to view the sites in Marienplatz, the town square with the Old Town Hall and New [relatively speaking] Town Hall.

Day 10: Munich, Germany - Dachau Concentration Camp

The Dachau Concentration Camp memorial was a sobering experience, to say the least. You enter through the same gate as the prisoners, which reads "Arbeit Macht Freit." (Work Makes You Free.) They have a well-done exhibit in the former administration building, which also housed the bathing rooms. We read much of the history of Hitler's concentration camp plan in general, and about Dachau specifically. It was the first camp and basically the model for the others. They have a huge map of Europe and I didn't realize how many camps and sub-camps there were.

Walking out onto the grounds, the first large piece reads, in several languages - "May the example of those who were exterminated here from 1933-1945 because they resisted Nazism help to unite the living for the defence of peace and freedom and in respect for their fellow men."The memorial grounds, which are really only a small portion of the entire camp, show 2 of the barracks' interiors, the rest were leveled in the 60s but you can see where they previously stood, all numbered. There are four meditation areas beyond the barracks - Jewish, Catholic, Protestant, and Russian Orthodox. There are several smaller memorials within the grounds with the recurring theme of: "Never Again"

After our experience here and at the Nazi Documentation Center, it is still shocking to me how this all could have happened, not so long ago, here in Europe. A reminder plaque leading into the exhibit about the setting in Germany before Hitler's reign reads - "This room shows the historical background to the Third Reich.This preceding history does not necessarily mean that everything that followed had to happen the way it did, or that it could not have turned out differently. But the seeds of antisemitism, racism, disregard of human dignity and democracy had been sewn during the preceding period, and gained ground after 1933 with alarming speed. Each of us today is shaping the background history of tomorrow." - Chaim Schatzker

Never Again.

Day 10: Munich (or Munchen) Problems

We'd realized our traveling luck might be running out in Switzerland when we'd tried to book our next couple stops from Daniela's (thank you free wifi). When we started emailing and checking on booking.com for places in Munich, everything seemed full, which was new to us. Turns out there was a huge conference coming to town Mon - Fri ( and we were planning to stay in town Sun - Wed.)

So we got to Munich mid-afternoon and headed straight to the TI (tourist info). Listening to people ahead of us, it was clear everyone was having trouble getting rooms. A room that night wasn't a problem, but apparently there was no vacancy in the city or its vicinity beginning Monday. After brainstorming all our options we realized there was no way logistically (or financially) to re-plan our next 4 stops/11 days. Munich-Salzburg-Prague-Berlin flows very nicely via trains and side we're flying out from Berlin we had no other choice than to just take our one night in Munich and roll with it. We got a double room (twin beds, bathroom in the hall) in the Europaicher Hotel next to the train station for 66 euro, booked through the TI, and started emailing guesthouses in Salzburg anticipating having to leave Munich the next night.

With a few more hours before we had to return our Focus, we headed out of town to Dachau Concentration Camp because this was a must for us and we could save time and money doing it by car rather than public transportation.

Day 10: Linderhof - Gardens & Grotto

The palace itself was ornate - although simpler than Neuschwanstein and probably like 1/20 its size. The gardens and fountains were immaculate and immense, this is what we really loved. But the craziness was still evident. In the back forty, he had an artificial grotto built to match the set from Wagner's opera "Tannhauser". 300 ft long and 70 ft tall, this thing is creepy huge, creating a private underground theater for the recluse to listen to his music, complete with a large wave pool, boat, fountain, and changing lights. The first electricity in Bavaria was generated here, in order to run all of this.

Day 10: Linderhof Castle

Sunday morning, after a filling hostel breakfast, we made our way toward Munich, stopping at Schloss Linderhof first. This is the "smallest" of Ludwig's castles and the only one finished in his lifetime. He lived here as a hermit. There wasn't even a dining room, only a room with a small table that could be lowered to the floor below so it could be pre-set and then lifted up so he didn't even have to interact with his servants while dining.

Day 9: Tirol - Reutte, Austria

Worn out from hiking the castles, we headed to the small little Austrian town of Reutte (ROY-teh), 20 miles across the German border. It's beautiful, nestled in the mountains with "grade 1" fresh air. We had a nice dinner at a local hotel/restaurant. It's spargel season here (asparagus), only they have the white asparagus, which is much bigger and heartier than the green. So many restaurants have special seasonal spargel menus and it's often served as the main course. I've been dying to try some and finally did -I had the cream of spargel soup - so delicious - and spinach dumplings (like huge balls of gnocchi) with fresh tomatoes and Parmesan. Chris had venison stew. And of course some fantastic beer!

We found a nice hostel-ish type of place to stay - Gasthaus am Graben - and had bunk beds in a room for four. But no one else showed up, so it was a private room at a hostel-ish price. We've been really fortunate with the weather - if not I might not be saying this - it's been really warm and dry for early spring here. But we've really been pleased with our decision to travel ahead of tourist season really beginning. Not many crowds and easy to find a place to stay just a day in advance (or even day-of), which allows us to travel spontaneously (not a word I generally use to describe my plans).

Day 9: Bavaria - Neuschwanstein Castle

"Mad" King Ludwig was a crazy guy. He was born in 1846, but lived in a dream world, obsessed with medieval times and Romanticism. He inherited the throne at 18 but didn't really have much power beyond being a pawn of Prussia or Austria in their power struggle. Hence his obsession with medieval times when kings had legitimate power. He was BFFs with Richard Wagner, the famous composer whose operas were based on these same medieval ideals. He ruled 22 years but spent most that time away from politics in Munich, at Hohenschwangau, designing his dream castle.

Neuschwanstein (new swan stone) was first designed by a theatre set designer, then an architect. It's the castle that inspired Walt Disney. Ludwig spent 17 years building it but only spent 172 days in it with only 1/3 of the interior complete. He was declared mentally unfit to rule Bavaria and evicted. He died tragically and mysteriously - found dead in a lake 2 days later along with his psychiatrist...

Unfortunately, half of the exterior was being renovated, so the most impressive views were obstructed with scaffolding. But google it to see how impressive and Cinderella-like it truly is.

Day 9: Bavaria - Hohenschwangau Castle

Saturday morning we left Switzerland and headed for Bavaria - the area/culture that probably comes to mind when you think of "Germany"... Heidi, beer halls, yodeling, castles, polka music. Our first stop after a scenic drive from Switzerland back to Germany (dipping into Austria and Liechtenstein along the way) was Hohenschwangau Castle ("high swan land") - the first of the King's Castles. I've learned more about the Wittelsbach family (which ruled Bavaria 700+ years), "Mad" King Ludwig, the Habsburgs, and Sissi the empress of Austria than I'd ever imagined I would. A very interesting and often tragic history...

Hohenschwangau was used as the Wittelsbach summer hunting lodge until 1912- built in the 12th century, ruined by Napoleon, and rebuilt in 1830 by Ludwig's father King Maximilian II. As the boyhood home of Ludwig, it was here that he dreamed up and watched the construction of his fairy-tale castle across the way.

Day 8: Switzerland - Family

We had such a wonderful time getting to know the Klager family (by the way there is an umlaut above the a, in addition to many of these German words, but I can't figure out how to do it on the iPad.) More important than being awesome hosts, tour guides, cooks, entertainers, chauffeurs, etc - it was great to get to know our somewhat distant relatives and better understand their way of life, traditions, and outlook through our conversations. It was an invaluable experience and one we will always cherish. We hope to be just as generous hosts when they come to visit us one day!

Before we left Altdorf on Saturday morning, Daniela's parents came over for breakfast and coffee. Daniela's mom is Chris' grandma Terri's first cousin - she's from Fluelen and her husband from Altdorf, I believe. It was a nice German/English conversation with Daniela and Aline acting as translators. It's true what we've heard - people over here know more about American politics than we do. Note to self: stay on top of current events better.

Thank you Daniela, Peter, Michelle, and Aline for being such gracious hosts and giving us our second wind (and clean clothes) for the second half of our trip. Come visit us!

Day 8: Switzerland - Lake Lucerne

Lake Lucerne is breath-taking. Such a unique shade of blue -always changing - and so peaceful. If you only look at the lower half and ignore the snow-capped mountains, it looks like Hawaii or a tropical island, I think. Chris and I borrowed the bikes when we got back and rode around Altdorf and then rode all the way to the tunnel where his Grandma got her first glimpse of Lucerne. Mostly uphill at the end - we were hurting a little - but the coast back to town was easy peasy. We hit a couple of ice-cold pockets of air on the way down. Chilly!

Day 8: Switzerland - The Alps

On Friday, Daniela took us on a half day tour of the area. Words and pictures can't describe how beautiful it is here and how cool and fresh the air is. And so much better that we were able to see it all as locals, rather than tourists. We drove up the mountain to an area also used for skiing in the winter and used this rickety little cable car to get ourselves up a ways where we wanted to hike. Of course Chris pegged me with a snowball the first chance he got.

This is all farmland where the farmers/ranchers keep their cattle, sheep, goats during the winter. Then in the summer (soon) they really do put bells on all of them - you can hear them all jingling - and lead them up to their alps higher up. I never knew "alp" is actually the word for the pastures up high in the mountains where the herds get taken to graze. All the farmers own land low and an alp up high also. To me - these "alps" look like the area we'd consider the bowl when skiing.

After hiking, we headed to a little restaurant by the lake where Daniela treated us to dinner - fried fish - but different from our traditional. It was little strips with the skin still on and homemade tartar sauce. We also got a chance to feel the freezing cold water.

Day 7 & 8: Switzerland - Altdorf

We had a wonderful couple of days with the Klager family. We spent 2 nights with Daniela, Peter, Michelle, and Aline and they were the absolute best hosts. They went out of their way to take care of us and it was so nice to be with family, to eat-in, and to just sit on the back-porch taking in our beautiful surroundings. Also - they all speak great English (in addition to Swiss German and "High German") so it was nice to be able to communicate freely for a change. We had so much great conversations throughout our stay, about all sorts of things and I've learned so much about Switzerland and their culture and way of life.

The Swiss love of cheese is no joke - I recall this from my first Switzerland trip. They made awesome meals for us - the first night a Swiss tradition - Raclette (google it). It's like Switzerland's fondue; a little table top oven and everyone has a personal "pan". You put bacon, a huge slab of Swiss cheese, and whatever toppings - tomatoes, mushrooms, garlic, etc - then grill it. Then slide it off and eat it with little fingerling potatoes and a sour cream of sorts. Soooooo good! We devoured it. Chris loves potatoes and at one point Peter said "Potatoes make you stupid." That's what his mom told him growing up, I don't really remember why, but it was just really funny because we'd been talking about how much Chris likes potatoes. Second night Peter grilled homemade pizzas on the grill and Daniela made a beautiful caprese salad. And of course great breakfasts each morning - yogurt, bread, cheese, meat, jam, nutella, lattes, etc.

Thursday evening after dinner we went for a nice long walk around Altdorf to a monastery on the top of the hill so we could see all of the pretty town and concluding with a beer at their favorite local hangout. Then came home and had some of Peter's best grappa - intense!

Day 7: Switzerland - Fluelen

Chris' great-grandfather Joe Walker (his dad's mom's father) was born in this building in 1898. The Walker family owned and ran the Hotel Tell + Post in Fluelen, Switzerland, on the bank of Lake Lucerne for over 100 years. Chris' cousin Daniela (whose mother is first cousins with Chris' grandmother Terri) and her family hosted us for several days; they live in the neighboring town of Altdorf. It was a beautiful drive from Staufen into the Swiss Alps and Daniela met us at the tunnel right before Fluelen. When Terri (chris' grandmother) was about 20 she bought a bike in Amsterdam with a friend and rode all the way to Fluelen! The story we heard is that she cried when she got to this tunnel and saw Fluelen - home after such a long ride. (Is all of this correct Baers?) The Walker family doesn't own this hotel anymore and it looks much different (more modern/boring) than it did in the past.

Fluelen is famous because it's the spot where Wilhelm Tell jumped out of the ship (away from the Austrians I believe who were trying to take over Switzerland) and onto the banks of Lake Lucerne and basically founded Switzerland as its own country around 1307 I think??? This is the spot -Tellsplatte -where we met Daniela. I remember the Wilhelm Tell Overture (Tchaikovsky?) from music class and you probably know the legend of him shooting the apple of his son's head with a cross-bow in defiance of the Austrians. I remembered the story, just never really knew the context and who it was about. But this supposedly happened in the main plaza in Altdorf.

Day 6: Black Forest - Staufen

The Black Forest is beautiful - known for cuckoo clocks and the famous chocolate cake with cherries - neither of which we bought, although we came to Germany thinking we wanted to take a cuckoo clock home. But they are so expensive and the somewhat affordable ones you have to wind daily, so we passed.

We didn't really "do" anything in the area, just drove the beautiful windy roads and switchbacks through the hills - it really is beautiful. Dairy cows, goats, and sheep on the hillside and amazing views. We took the scenic route around Freiburg - through tiny towns of St. Margen and St. Peter - to get to Staufen, where we'd decided to stay for the night. We drove to Kandel peak - where we could see for miles and miles, and where it was freezing - 7 Celsius (about 44 plus major windchill factor). There are lots of cyclists on these crazy hills and paragliders take off from this peak.

We had called Bahnhof Hotel earlier in the day, trying to reserve a room. They speak zero English so I tried my best at - "Wir hatten gern ein zimmer." (we'd like a room). Her response of "Ja" and what seemed to be "40 euro" gave us hope we'd have a bed that night in this sleepy little town. We arrived pretty late and found the place, the little lady was seriously the smallest adult I've seen, cute little German woman who couldn't be more than 4" tall. It was a funny little place and our room had a large poster of the Matterhorn -foreshadowing our next stop on Switzerland. (chris has never heard of the Matterhorn... He's never been to Disneyland.)

It was late and getting chilly, the town extremely quiet. So we just walked around a bit and found the only open restaurant - Konhaus or something. It was a bit more than we've been spending but chris' favorite meal yet (pork medallions with homemade noodles) and tied for first for me, along with my salad with goat cheese and honey in Bacharach. Salads take on an entirely different form here - it's lettuce and so much more and all piled sort of separately on your plate, with various dressings or marinades on each part - if that makes sense. This one had salad, carrots, white carrots, purple cabbage, tomatoes, cucumbers, then hot mushrooms and poultry (they described it as bigger than a chicken but not a turkey?) And of course the beer was great!

This picture is the eating area outside our "hotel" - it's a restaurant too and they have a booth made out of a huge wine barrel (I want one of these). Grapes are clearly the cash crop around here and the wine trade is what made Staufen rich and keeps it alive today.

Day 6: Black Forest - Baden-Baden

We left the Rhine Valley headed for the Black Forest area. It rained on us for a bit at first while driving, then stopped. Seriously - the weather is coinciding perfectly with our travel plans. The Black Forest is the southwestern region along the Rhine/bordering France. It's a beautiful area with a densely wooded forest (hence "black forest" or Schwarzwald in German) that becomes hilly then mountainous then turns into Switzerland.

Baden-Baden marks the beginning of the Black Forest and is an area with a lot of geothermal activity. "Bad" means bath in German. This is a high-class spa resort town full of expensive shops and wealthy international travelers along with Germans looking for some relaxation.

As you might imagine, this isn't really our sort of thing, but it was on our way so worth a stop for a quick self-guided tour, some people watching, and a stop in at the market for some groceries to make a picnic. There are some pretty buildings, but my favorite sight was these very old light fixtures outside the Trinkhalle. They are pulley lights, a much larger and much more impressive version of the counter-weighted pendants we just put in our kitchen.

Everything in its place

Germany is beautiful - so clean and orderly - everything in its place. Well-kept roads, fields perfectly edged and mowed, tidy landscaping, huge stacks of firewood very neatly piled everywhere. Chris keeps commenting on this with much surprise. No surprise here (have you met my family?) We're very much a Type A people - obsessive-compulsive, anal, neat freak, are a few descriptors that come to mind... Being in Deutschland, it's easy to see this is a cultural gene.

Day 5: The Rhine - St. Goar & Burg Rheinfels

St. Goar is another little town along the Rhine, next door to Bacharach where we were staying. It's home to Burg Rheinfels, at one time the largest castle on the Rhine. The ruins are now only a third of its former size. We did a walking tour on our own (all the tours are in German) and went on a pretty crazy excursion.

We took the detour Rick Steves talks about - only possible with a flashlight. It's down into this tunnel system they built around the outer walls of the castle then booby-trapped the ceilings with explosives to crush intruders. It's about 3ft. high most the way so you are crawling around in the absolute pitch black. Like seriously no one with the slightest hint of claustrophobia or fear of the dark should do this. We only had my tiny LED barely-working-if-you-twist-and-hold-it-right flashlight (which Chris had in the front) and we're trying to read the directions of this underground, cold, dark, rocky maze. Which narrow tunnels to turn down and which not to, which T to turn right at then take second left afterwards, kinda crazy. The whole time I was trying to memorize the way back out in case our flashlight died, so we wouldn't die there. I'm thinking no way this would be allowed as a self-touring area back in the states. When we finally made our way out there was a couple with a little girl and 2 dogs about to try to enter. The dogs were having none of it and we tried to discourage them... I hope they're not still there.

Day 5: The Mosel Valley - Moselkern & Burg Eltz

We left the Rhine for a little trip to the Mosel River Valley. Burg means "castle". We toured the amazing Burg Eltz in Moselkern. The Eltz family has resided in this castle for over 850 years - really amazing how intact it still is, both exterior and interior. Can't take pictures inside like most places, but the furnishings were just amazing. 80 rooms, 40 fireplaces, and 20 toilets I think - very comfortable living for its time. We took the scenic route getting there, which was a beautiful 45min hike up the hill along a nice little creek.

PS Germans love their dogs - they take them everywhere. We're missing Beaz for sure, but know Scout, Ben, and Maize are taking good care of her. Beaz - we talk about you and show pics of you to every German with a dog that we meet/pet, so don't forget about us!

Day 4: The Rhine Valley - Bacharach

After a few wrong turns, we arrived at our destination in Bacharach around 4pm - a pretty little village on the most scenic part of the Rhine. We managed to find Orthodox Zimmer, the little guesthouse kept by Irmgard Orth - I'd called her earlier in the day to hold a room for us in her cute little guesthouse. (We bought a cute little German go phone on base through Stormy and put $20 worth of minutes on it to help with reservations and whatnot - since we booked absolutely nothing before we left!)

Bacharach was sort of like Florence was on our girls trip in '08. Europe somewhat shuts down on Mondays, which is the day we were in Florence (which i think might have been my favorite Italian city if it hadn't been a Mon.) So we got to Bacharach on a Monday and the following day was May 1st -May Day, basically a national holiday... double wammy! It reallly wasn't too bad though - just that many things along the Rhine were closed those days - lots of restaurants, the TI (tourist info), shops, the grocery market...

Bacharach's castle is Burg Stahleck, now a hostel, we didnt go see it, but rather walked around for awhile, checking out the "town" (it's tiny), looking at the sites, watching the train fly by, and trying to find an open, affordable restaurant with outdoor seating. Finally found a spot -only about 4 open options. Food was nothing spectacular but apple streusel was excellent - not very sweet, the ice cream complemented it well. Walked around, had the famous Rhine Valley Riesling. I usually don't like Riesling because it's always so sweet, but here they have different types. Sweet, dry, and half dry. I got dry and chris got half - very good. Ended the evening with gelato - chocolate for Chris and the "Italia Eis" owner's special creation - local Riesling flavored - for me. Sounds weird but so good!

I've failed to mention how awesome the weather has been... Apparently it was still cold and wet pretty much until the day we arrived when everything cleared up and spring set in. It's been absolutely gorgeous since then - I hope this doesn't jinx it, but seriously beautiful! Sunny, cool breeze every once in awhile. Perfect.

It's weird to me how many Europeans still smoke, especially since so many Germans seem to be so health conscious. I had really bad allergies when we left SA and was so happy to escape the pecan pollen. But then with everything blooming here, people smoking everywhere in the city, and the fact that I swear someone has been supplying German women with 2 distinct perfumes, both extremely strong, my sneezing and allergies have been non-stop until we got out the city and into some fresh air - much better now.

Day 4: Wurzburg

We left our gracious hosts in the morning. Train from Sachsen to Nurnberg Hauptbahnhof (main train station) then the U2 (U-bahn/subway) to the airport to pick up our rental car. Sweet Ford Focus (no sarcasm here... It really is sweet. Can't even be compared to Chris' old Focus). Then hit the road toward the Rhine Valley. Stopped in Wurzburg along the way to see it's Residenz. Beautiful palace in Rococo and Baroque style - Germany's version of Versailles. You know how much I like old stuff - we walked through the palace rooms, with their lavish decor, huge frescos, tapestries, neat furniture, and art. (In much of the art, the "4 continents" are represented. The Americas is always an uncivilized naked woman on an alligator, often with chocolate. So that's what they thought about us in the 1700s.)

The gardens are beautiful - 3 distinct areas (which we learned is the definition of Baroque gardens): French, Italy, and England. I probably wouldn't have come up with this realization on my own, but having been to those places - these gardens really did symbolize what we saw in those countries. French - nicely trimmed trees with rows of shaded park benches, just like in Paris. England - sort of a "messy", casual park with sporadic benches. Italy - terraced with a small vineyard. Really, really pretty - beautiful tulips! This park is open, free to the public. Wouldn't it be nice to get to walk around this with a sandwich (or brat) on your lunch break?

Back on the autobahn headed for the Rhine. Skipped along the outskirts of Frankfurt along the way, not much interest in seeing a big modern city. (Our GPS had somehow converted back to German. After trying to find the language settings for about 15min, we decided to go with it. So we're now [attempting to] navigate in German. It's a great educational tool.)