Alright. Traveling. I’m going to do things a bit out of order here and write about this past weekend before I write about Easter in Austria. I’ll try to post about Austria later this week when I have a chance to breathe! As I said, mom’s flight got into Frankfurt Wednesday morning. When I went to Salzburg, the ticket checker didn’t stamp my rail pass so I got an extra day on it and was able to catch a train up to Frankfurt to pick her up which worked out well because it’s quite complicated to get to HD from the airport. Mom definitely got an odd first impression of the punctual German train system considering our train back to HD was cancelled so we had to take a different one. Got her checked into her hotel, she saw the center, and I made her walk all around Altstadt and see all the churches and die Alte Bruecke, etc. Also made a stop at Kebab Haus because of course she had to try a doener!
Let her go back to her hotel and take a nap while I had an appointment with my director to finalize my schedule which is officially set in stone—no changes! Then had one class, and afterwards met up with mom again to go get dinner. We ate at Heidelberg’s most famous restaurant, Goldener Hecht—it was delicious! Our program took us to eat there our second night in HD back in February but I was still really sick so I barely remembered it. After dinner we went to Eckstein because it was Wednesday, of course. This must’ve been the first time since we’ve been here that no one from AJY came to Eckstein on a Wednesday so mom didn’t get to meet anyone, but I bought us some Koelsch and we watched some Fussball and she even asked a German guy next to us “Haben Sie Feuer?” (meaning, do you have a light? She wanted to light the candle…) Said goodnight to her and headed back to the Feld.
We were scheduled to meet at 9 the next morning to do some touring but of course I walk out my door to a completely flat tire on my bike. BAHHHHH! So I had to take it on the bus and was late, but mom was in such high spirits, just LOVING Heidelberg that she had no worries. The city seems to have that effect on people, must be why it is so crowded with tourists every day! So we went up to the castle—again, we did this the second day when I was really sick so I didn’t really remember it. Luckily, it turned out to be a beautiful day so she was able to see the city in all its splendor with blue skies. Left her to explore Hauptstrasse and do some shopping while I did my daily boring activities like class (lolll). Met back up for dinner, this time went to eat at Perkeo. It was sooo good! It’s a little pricey for just friends, but maybe I can convince people to go with me. I had a goat cheese salad appetizer dish which was delicious. I’ve been on goat cheese withdrawal because I can’t find it in the grocery store and every time I think I’ve found it, my purchase ends up being some other weird cheese. Took mom to Destille after so she could try the famous vodka and schnapps shots that they make at that bar.
Met early at the train station Friday morning to catch our 9:14 train to Munich. Got seats in a little compartment, but once we got to Stuttgart, the train was just sitting for a while… Then the conductor came on the speaker and told us it would be a 20 minute delay… then 30… then 40… then 50… then, oh hey! Train is cancelled so you have to get off (All of this was only said in German though, so half of me was just really excited that I could understand what was going on)! So again, mom’s got a greattt impression of the supposedly incredibly punctual German train system. So we lugged our stuff onto an IC train heading to Munich, but basically our entire train got onto this other train, so it was standing-room only. We had luckily gotten some seats, but were surrounded by this group of roudy-Germans who were drinking and just yelling about how ridiculous the situation was and how they should get free Sekt. It was funny for me because I could understand them, but mom seemed to be getting really annoyed with them… I’m sure everyone was though.
Finally, we made it to Munich! Took a roundabout scenic route to our hotel, but once we found it, it was absolutely lovely! Now after spending 13 nights in the last month in hostels, any hotel would be nice, but this hotel was veryyy nice. In mom’s Eyewitness Munich book, it was actually considered a ‘luxury’ hotel, but she got an amazing rate on it. So we unpacked some stuff, then went out to walk around and do some stuff in the city before the day was gone. Grabbed a bite at ‘San Francisco Coffee Company’…yes, that was our first dining experience in Munich. Got tickets to tour the Residenz—the old palace of the Bavarian kings up until 1913. Walking through the palace took literally over an hour, I was so sick of it by the end. I mean, it was BEAUTIFUL, but all palaces are basically the same and I was getting tired. The cool thing though, was that we were basically the only ones in the whole place. It was a very nice afternoon, and it was closing in an hour, so I guess not many people were coming to visit the palace, so my pictures aren’t full of other tourists with their cameras!
Headed to the Englischer Garten afterwards because we were on the hunt for the Chinesischer Turm Biergarten! This is a famous Biergarten in Munich that seats about 5,000. We arrived to the sounds of an oom-pah band playing on the second level of the tower, and thousands of German, some in lederhosen, drinking giant mugs of beer and eating sausages and schnitzel on a beautiful Friday afternoon. So we grabbed some food—I got currywurst and pommes and mom got schnitzel and kartoffeln, then I got the beers—got mom a pint of Weissbier and I got ein mass (one liter) of Weissbier. Did I actually want to drink that much beer? Absolutely not. Was it the coolest thing ever? Absolutely yes.
So we sat there for a good hour eating our schnitzel and wurst and drinking our beers enjoying some nice German music from the band. Seriously, just think of anything that’s stereotypically German and you’ve got our experience in the Biergarten. Tired and stuffed full of carbs and beer, we made our way back to the hotel to call it an early night. I TOOK A BATH!!!! We had a giant tub in the bathroom, so of course I took baths both nights, because those will be my only baths in my five months abroad ☹
Next day! Saturday! CASTLES!!!! Got up super early to get on the big tour bus at 8:15 that took us through the Bavarian Alps and the Romantic Road to see the world of King Ludwig II. (I keep making a note of how early I keep getting up…because I’ve gotten up before 9 every morning for the last ten days and I am just really tired! I realize this is a normal phenomenon for most of the population of the world, but it’s something I am very not used to…) Okay, back to the castles! It started out as a beautiful day. Sunny with a few white puffy clouds dotting the bright blue sky. I didn’t pack very well though, so thinking I’d be okay in shorts and a little sweater was not the smartest decision on my part…
First stop was Linderhof Palace, the favorite of Ludwig. It was situated right in the Alps—so picturesque! This palace was very small, but SO ORNATE! The inside was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! He had veryyy good taste. But for those that don’t know anything about ‘mad’ King Ludwig (“the fairy-tale king”), he was extremely anti-social and didn’t like being around people, so during his lifetime, rarely anyone saw all of his castles which is such a shame, because if my house was that awesome, I’d be having people over around the clock. (Party every day, p-p-p-party every day!)
(me and King Ludwig himself!)
After the tour, we had some time to walk around the gardens a bit before we got back on the bus to head to the little town of Oberammeragau. This tiny little town in Bavaria is best-known for the seven-hour ‘Passion’ plays it puts on every ten years. The last one was in 2010, so the town will be quite sleepy for the next nine years, but I was able to buy some pretty postcards…!
A quick note about the tour—giant tour bus with about 50 of us, being shipped around like sheep with set times for everything and set times to be back on the bus and what not. Aka, not my cup of tea. Unfortunately though, unless you actually stay in Fuessen, this is really the only way to see the castles and countryside, because they’re in such remote locations. So I suppose that one day on a tour bus out of all my days of traveling while I’m abroad isn’t tooo bad.
Back on the bus to Neuschwanstein! We drove down the Romantic Road to get there, which was absolutely BEAUTIFUL. (I think I’ve said that about almost everything that I’ve described in this post…oops.) Arrival at Fuessen, and it started raining, and of course I left both my rainjacket windbreaker and umbrella at the hotel…and as I said, I was in shorts. Fail. Grabbed a quick lunch in the little restaurant at the foot of the mountain, then took the bus up the mountain (I would’ve walked if I hadn’t been with mom…and maybe if it hadn’t been raining combined with my wardrobe choice…) Hiked another five minutes to the Marienbruecke at which point it started thunder-storming. WE ARE SEEING THE MOST MAGICAL CASTLE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD, AND IT IS THUNDER STORMING! I was convinced that it would stop very soon though and I would see a beautiful rainbow across the sky bordering the castle, and everyone would be so jealous…but that didn’t happen.
The combination of the thunderstorms and the hundreds of tourists on this tiny shaky wooden bridge hundreds of feet above a cliff made the experience QUITE SCARY! I looked down and thought back to when I bungee-jumped off a bridge in New Zealand and I honestly still have no idea how I managed that because I’m fairly certain I have a minor fear of fights, I was freaking out while we were on that bridge. Mom was freaking out even more though, and I was able to get one obligatory awkward alone photo of her before she rushed off the bridge. We then made the twenty-minute walk down to the castle entrance, the entire walk offering incredible views of the surrounding Alps, countryside, and giant lake. Still thunderstorming—at this point I am very wet and FREEZING (remember, shorts) but I was just so excited to be at this amazing castle that I didn’t care. Got to the entrance with 20 minutes before our tour and this experience was an example of humanity at its finest and it was just hilarious to watch. The waiting area is outside except for this little section under the old drawbridge, so there are just hundreds of tourists all pushing and shoving to get in the space that was protected, and all of these people have on ponchos and rainjackets and are closing their umbrellas and shaking them and getting everyone all wet and yelling in their own respective languages. I was just going with the flow and ended up being squished in the middle of the giant Italian group, and I could actually understand some of what they were talking about (that two years of Italian wasn’t so worthless!) and eventually everyone started moving again and this nice (and molto bello) Italian boy about my age next to me was like “Please go, so you can be next to your mother!” I thought that was so nice!
So after this hilarious situation, it was time for our tour and we walked around the castle with our guide for about 30 minutes. Now everyone has seen the famous pictures of the outside of castle, but I had no idea that the inside was just as beautiful! The castle was never finished, but the room that were—WOW. As I said before, Ludwig had extremely good taste. Neuschwanstein is said to be the inspiration for Sleeping Beauty’s castle at Disney World, but the whole castle and life of Ludwig actually much more matches to Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. Ludwig is a lot like the prince before he turns into the beast, very mean and selfish and spoiled and not wanting to be around anyone, and the castle matches the movie as well! This giant and beautiful and splendid castle in the middle of nowhere on the top of a giant mountain! So while we were walking around the castle, I was just waiting for Lumiere or Cogsworth to pop out. We got to see the kitchen and even that was right out of the beginning of “Be Our Guest.”
Despite the terrible weather and my terrible clothing decisions, I loved every minute of the Neuschwanstein tour and it was even better than I had imagined! Of course I had to buy a giant poster of the castle which will immediately be going in my room. Walked down the hill, fortunately it had stopped raining, and we got back on the bus to head back to Munich. Rolled in around 6:30, had a quick rest to change clothes and freshen up, then headed to this Italian restaurant our hotel had recommended. I know we were in Bavaria, but I had taken mom to very German restaurants since she had arrived, and I’ve been eating German food for months, and I am honestly just sick of it. The restaurant was extremely local (no menus in English, that’s always the first sign that it’ll be good) and local also means better food and cheaper prices (like that local place we ate at two nights in a row in Istanbul because it was just so good.) Mom had a little freak out in the beginning because she couldn’t read the menu and I wasn’t able to translate all of it (half was in Italian, half was in German—my tow languages lollll) but everything ended up being wonderful. We had a bottle of Chianti and just the most wonderful and delicious food! I’m tempted to go visit her when she goes to Italy next month just so I can eat some Italian food!
Back to the hotel, another bathhh, and another relatively early night after a busy and exhausting day. Up this morning, checked out, and headed to Frauenkirche for Hauptgottesdienst at 10. Being high mass, it lasted about 90 minutes and all I could think about during the service was food. I actually understood a good portion of the homily though, I think… I could have understood it completely wrong but I guess I’ll never know. And mom got to experience German mass, where they all rush up into a giant mob to receive communion. It’s something I don’t think I’ll ever get over! Frauenkirche is the Muenchner Dom, and its two onion-dome towers have become a symbol of the city, especially because they survived the World Wars. Made our way to Marienplatz after mass and ended up in the middle of a protest by Die Linke (literally “the Left”—German socialist party.) Walked into the Heiliggeist Kirche, but didn’t take any pictures because mass was going on… walked and walked and walked some more.
Mom and I parted ways here, so I spent the afternoon walking around and exploring the city at my own pace which was a nice change. I learned that while I was traveling alone in Vienna—sometimes it’s easier to just do things by yourself, because I just like to walk and walk and walk around cities just finding stuff, but not everyone else, namely my mother, likes touring that way. Stopped by a bakery and grabbed some pastries, and saw lots of the Munich main sights.
Climbed St. Peter’s bell tower which offered splendid panoramic views of the city, then ate some of my pastries in Marienplatz, sitting on the fountain, while there was a big music festival/party thing going on. While I was sitting out there, it had warmed up a lot and was sunny, but then it started raining and got cold…LUCKILY I HAD MY RAIN JACKET THIS TIME THOUGH! Walked and walked and walked some more, and finally found Asamkirche which I had been looking for. It’s the tiny little church stuck between a bunch of buildings, but you walk inside and are just blown away by the decoration of the interior of the church. Definitely worth my long trek in the rain to find it.
Never found the May Pole though! It’s a big deal in Bavaria, and we’re here on May 1st when it’s raised…but I never saw it in my wandering around the city ☹ Finally made my way back to the hotel, mom and I chilled for a bit, then made our way to the train station (literally a one-minute walk from the hotel), sat and had some fresh crepes, then got on the train, and here we are! We should arrive in Frankfurt in about 90 minutes, and I’ll say goodbye to mom and then catch a train back to Heidelberg and say goodbye to my German Railpass since it’s done today.
Overall I think mom had a lovely time on her visit to Germany. She’s never traveled to central Europe since cruise ships can’t really get here, so I’m very glad she got to see the Alps and Bavaria and such, and of course Heidelberg! It was fun to show someone from home where I live and such, and she was excited to have someone plan her whole time and such, since I can speak the language (kind of…) and know everything about Heidelberg at least. Alright so this post is another long killer, so congratulations if you’ve made it to the end, it really does mean a lot to me when people read my blog and keep up with my travels and experiences abroad! As I said, I’ll aim to get my Austria posts up later this week! ☺
Forty some years after my Dad left Germany he still knew the train schedules, tracks, times destination where and when he needed to go. Awesome! Now forty years later, I imagine it hasn't changed.
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