Bavaria
We stopped for lunch on the road in beautiful Landau, Austria. I would love to go back someday and explore that city. We had the fortune of being there on market day, and there were numerous stalls from which to select our lunch. I chose a plate of spatzl and sauerkraut and doused it with fresh mustard. Our first efforts at German left much to be desired - there was much pointing and gesturing. We had enough time to enjoy ice cream by the harbor and browse an antique shop.
As our bus rolled into Munich, I saw a girl in lederhosen and I assumed she must work in a very touristy place, but I was probably wrong - more on that later. Our hotel was located just off the marketplace in a recently renovated 400-year-old apartment building. We dropped off our bags and headed for the glockenspeil. As the huge clock struck the hour, we watched along with hundreds of others as little figures inside started to come to life.
We continued on Rick's self-guided walk, stopping to purchase a beer stein outside St. Michael's Church. The city differs from others in Europe in that after being destroyed in World War II, its citizens voted to rebuild the city exactly the way it was before the war. The buildings look old and new at the same time, and in fact, restoration is still ongoing. It was hard to believe Hilter rallied for support in such a lovely place. It being Saturday afternoon, people were out in throngs - shopping, riding bicycles, and gearing up for a night at the beer hall. We stopped in the Alois Dallmayr Deli, where they sold exotic prepared dishes and all the treats you can imagine. We were delighted to notice as we walked that all the police patrol cars were BMWs! We ended up at the Hofgarten, and then made our way back to the Hofbrauhaus for dinner. We began to notice it wasn't just waitresses that wore traditional costumes. Anyone who was headed out for their stein to be filled was wearing lederhosen, and it clearly wasn't being done for the benefit of us tourists!
Inside the famous beer hall, the accordion music was already in full swing. We spotted some people from our tour group and tried to sit down with them, but a large German waiter came rumbling up to us shouting, "Nien, nien, nien!," and we thought it best to find a beer hall that wasn't so intimidating. We found what we were looking for at Schneider Weiss. Because the tables at beer halls are communal, we sat down next to another couple. After gesturing and speaking in short words for a few moments, we discovered that they spoke English and were from Canada. A family member had gifted a timeshare in Bavaria and they had been exploring the area for the better part of a week. We exchanged stories of coping with German cultural and language barriers over sausages, dumplings, and incredibly inexpensive, but tasty, beer served by the liter; dessert was apple strudel. I found the Bavarians we met remarkably headstrong and hearty. I appreciated the fact that our waitress wouldn't let me order that beer I wanted; she indicated it tasted bad, and pointed to one on the menu that would be better.
As our bus rolled into Munich, I saw a girl in lederhosen and I assumed she must work in a very touristy place, but I was probably wrong - more on that later. Our hotel was located just off the marketplace in a recently renovated 400-year-old apartment building. We dropped off our bags and headed for the glockenspeil. As the huge clock struck the hour, we watched along with hundreds of others as little figures inside started to come to life.
We continued on Rick's self-guided walk, stopping to purchase a beer stein outside St. Michael's Church. The city differs from others in Europe in that after being destroyed in World War II, its citizens voted to rebuild the city exactly the way it was before the war. The buildings look old and new at the same time, and in fact, restoration is still ongoing. It was hard to believe Hilter rallied for support in such a lovely place. It being Saturday afternoon, people were out in throngs - shopping, riding bicycles, and gearing up for a night at the beer hall. We stopped in the Alois Dallmayr Deli, where they sold exotic prepared dishes and all the treats you can imagine. We were delighted to notice as we walked that all the police patrol cars were BMWs! We ended up at the Hofgarten, and then made our way back to the Hofbrauhaus for dinner. We began to notice it wasn't just waitresses that wore traditional costumes. Anyone who was headed out for their stein to be filled was wearing lederhosen, and it clearly wasn't being done for the benefit of us tourists!
Inside the famous beer hall, the accordion music was already in full swing. We spotted some people from our tour group and tried to sit down with them, but a large German waiter came rumbling up to us shouting, "Nien, nien, nien!," and we thought it best to find a beer hall that wasn't so intimidating. We found what we were looking for at Schneider Weiss. Because the tables at beer halls are communal, we sat down next to another couple. After gesturing and speaking in short words for a few moments, we discovered that they spoke English and were from Canada. A family member had gifted a timeshare in Bavaria and they had been exploring the area for the better part of a week. We exchanged stories of coping with German cultural and language barriers over sausages, dumplings, and incredibly inexpensive, but tasty, beer served by the liter; dessert was apple strudel. I found the Bavarians we met remarkably headstrong and hearty. I appreciated the fact that our waitress wouldn't let me order that beer I wanted; she indicated it tasted bad, and pointed to one on the menu that would be better.
The next day we got up early and walked to the metro station, where - car-dependent Oklahoman that I am - I lusted over Munich's network of vast subway lines. From there, it was a 3-hour train ride to Fussen, where we got on a bus and arrived at Neuschwanstein, King Ludwig's castle, upon which the one at Disneyworld is based. My disclaimer is that this was the most poorly planned part of our trip. We hadn't even made up our minds to go until the day before, and we should have done a bus tour from Munich, but we wound up arriving on our own to find out that we couldn't get in until almost closing time. However, I was too stubborn to turn back around at that point because it had taken us so long to get there! We made the best of our situation and spent the day taking photos, walking around the lake, and eating a leisurely lunch. When we finally got to go inside, we marveled at the bed of carved wood that took 14 years to make, and pondered Ludwig's eccentric taste in interior design. The tour guide was rather dry, and Versailles had clearly stolen my heart as far as royal residences were concerned. Nonetheless, the view of the castle from the nearby bridge and the horse carriage ride back down made it clear why Walt Disney found it so appealing for Cinderella.
Despite our lack of preparation for the Neuschwanstein side trip, we learned how to take a long-distance train in a country where we couldn't speak the language. And we loved seeing all the teenage frau and herren boarding the train with their lederhosen on and the arms full of buckets of beer, making their way to the beer hall a few towns over. When the train picked them up on the way back, their drinking songs lifted our spirits a bit. We were also delighted to notice all the field cats, who sat in the tall grass with their heads held high, as if they took their mousing very seriously. Next: Venice.