A Zwinger of a Day

We have come to realize that Dresden gives a very upbeat and alive vibe.  Almost all the old town area was incinerated in the Allied bombing of February, 1945.  Not much got rebuilt during Dresden's days behind the Iron Curtain.  But that has all changed.  Many of the old classic buildings have been or are being rebuilt.  Dresden has been a rich city through most of its history and was the capital of Saxony. We decided to spend the day wandering this beautiful city.  Our first stop was the historic Green Vault. The Historisches Grünes Gewölbe is actually a series of 9 treasure rooms, each one having a theme based on the treasures it contains, for example, the Amber Cabinet, the Bronze Room and the Hall of Precious Objects.  Unfortunately, like a lot of museums and some churches, no photography is allowed.  On top of that security is the tightest we have seen anywhere.  All bags and cameras and purses must be stored in lockers and entering and egress are through a series of double doors.  Thoroughly overwhelmed we left the vault and began our walking tour of the city.

 Everywhere you look there is another amazing building, the Semper Opera House, the Royal Palace and the Zwinger complex.

 Although the Zwinger looks like a palace to those of us who don't know any better it was never lived in.  It was only a place to hold royal parties.

 One feature of the Zwinger was the Glockenspiel, but instead of the regular tubular brass bells it has chimes made of porcelain.  

Probably the most interesting thing we saw was the 250 meters long ceramic mural depicting the royal history of Dresden.  Because this mural was made from ceramic tiles it survived the firestorm intact.  

Wandering through the Old Town we came upon a promenade along the banks of the Elbe River and decided to sit in the shade and enjoy some ice cream. 

A Chequered Past

So far on our trip there has been no real evidence of Germany's recent dark past.  That changed

today.  Because of its ties to the Holy Roman Empire (the first Reich) Hitler chose Nuremberg to hold his immense party rallies.  He made plans to construct a grandiose permanent site to hold these rallies.  

These included the Congress Hall, Rally Grounds (the Zepelin field) and a planned soccer stadium which was to be the largest in the world seating 400,000.  

The remains of the immense Congress Hall have been turned into the Documentation Centre, a first class museum documenting how the Nazi party came to power and its effect on the German people. 

Considering the subject matter this museum is a must see. It's exhibit, called "Fascination and Terror", clinically documents how Hitler was able to gain so much momentum and influence.  Finishing up we needed some fresh air and stopped at Gutman's Beer Garden by a pretty swan-filled lake.

After a nice lunch we strolled on to the Zepelin field.  Nature is slowly reclaiming this gigantic edifice, however it is still used for a major car race and various concerts. 

Catching a tram back to the old town, we strolled down the pedestrian strasse.  We made a mandatory stop at the Staedeler Flagship store where you can buy everything from a make-it-yourself pencil kit to a fountain pen they wouldn't even put the price on.  A little further along we crossed the river and saw a hospital donated by a rich merchant in the 14th to 15th century. 

Further along we came to the imposing Frauenkirche which was built on the site of a former Synagogue.  To commemorate this it has a Star of David in the floor.  Entering the church we lucked out as a young man was practising on the gigantic organ.  After enjoying a brief concert we headed for dinner, ice cream and home. 

To get around in Nuremberg we used their amazing transit,  squeaky clean and unthreatening subway system paired with trams and buses.  We purchased a day pass which covered up to 6 people for all zones, all public transport, all day for an unbelievably low €11.  Translink, you should be ashamed.  

B - double E - R R - UN Beer Run

The 24th was a travel and maintenance day (laundry).  We travelled from Munich to Nuremberg.  

Early in our planning I had seen a picture of an interesting building spanning a river.  We discovered the town was called Bamberg.  This became our side trip from Nuremberg.  

Further research revealed Bamberg is the beer brewery centre of the universe. It contains the highest concentration of breweries in the world, 9 in the old town alone.  We had thought Rothenburg to be the cutest town in Europe but we quickly discovered Bamberg could give it a run for its monies. 

The old town of Bamberg is surrounded by 2 rivers and has many small canals running through it. Very picturesque.

We spotted a brew house with a patio on the river and stopped in to quench out thirst. 

We visited the Frauenkirche at the top of the hill. 

Passing through a narrow lane we came upon a small square and the Svhlenkeria Brewhouse which serves a Bamberg specialty - rauch bier (smoked beer).  We stopped in to taste this interesting brew and had quite possibly the worst meal in Germany so far.  I'm pretty sure everything on our plates was pickled, including the fried chicken.  We went down the street to the Ambrausianum Brewhouse for dessert in the hopes of washing the vinegary taste out of our mouths.  As it was getting late we did a little more sight seeing and headed back towards the train station. 

The entire old town of Bamberg is a Unesco World Heritage Site.  

 

 

Froliche Geburtstag

Kelly's wish was to celebrate her birthday at the Hofbrauhaus in Munich.  At the hauptbahnhof we transferred to the U Bahn, a bright, clean and efficient subway system.  We arrived at Marienplatz, the main square of the old town, which is dominated by the new Rathaus (city hall), the oldest looking building in the square. 

The main feature is the glockenspiel, a clock which performs a mechanical medieval wedding at 11:00 and 12:00 complete with jousting Knights.  The hometown Bavarian is in blue and his villainous French opponent is in red.  

Glockenspiel watching is thirsty work so we headed to the Hofbrauhaus to celebrate Kelly's birthday. This brew house has been a fixture in Munich since the early 1500's.  Following the siren call of an oom pah pah band we entered this vast complex and joined three Italians on a long wooden bench.  

After ein Maß and lunch we headed back to Augsburg, as I wanted to see the Geldener Saal.  The golden room is a fixture of the Augsburg Rathaus. 

Kelly wanted to just chill so she sought out a nice chair in the main square while Jude and I went for a stroll.  Augsburg is a very old town, established by relatives of Augustus Caesar.  Situated on the ancient salt road from Salzburg, it has been wealthy throughout its history.  It contains one of the oldest examples of social housing still in use.  The Fuggerei was built by a wealthy banker in the 16th century and amazingly he has never upped the rent. 

It was getting late and we decided to act on the recommendation from our tour guide yesterday and try the Ratskeller.  The restaurant, located in the basement, provided us with the best meal so far this trip at an amazingly low price. 

That Castle

Up very early to begin our journey to Neuschwanstein Castle, the iconic fairy tale castle that was the model for the Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland. It is almost too pretty to be real and that's because it isn't.  It was designed by a set designer and is of the same vintage as that other famous European tourist magnet, the Eiffel Tower.  Having said that, it is quite breathtaking to behold. The getting there is the problem. 

We had read that the lineups can be ridiculous so we booked a skip-the-line tour back in June.  We met up with our tour group at 9:30 in the Munich Train Station and boarded a train for a 2 hour ride to the town of Füssen, changed to a bus for an additional 20 minute ride to the foot of the hill the castle is situated on.  

After a quick lunch of bratwurst on a bun we hopped another bus which took us up to Marienbrücke, the bridge overlooking the castle.  The bridge is a creaky wooden structure jammed with tourists. My new bionic elbow came in handy getting us a good vista point on the bridge.

 After snapping off a few photos we hiked down to the castle itself.  Surprisingly the castle was never actually finished as another tower and a garden were planned.  

Like good sheep we lined up and proceeded to climb the 400+ stairs to the decorated rooms.  Unfortunately no photography was allowed inside.  

Neuschwanstein's nickname is "Mad Ludwig's Castle" alluding to King Ludwig II of Bavaria who commissioned its construction.  King Ludwig II was a very interesting and controversial King.  He only managed to live in the castle for 2 weeks before he was declared insane and sent off to a family home in Munich. He died shortly thereafter under extremely suspicious circumstances.  He and his doctor went for a walk around a lake and later, both were found dead.  The "official" version was death by drowning but no water was found in their lungs and the lake was only 2 feet deep. The question of Ludwig's sanity involved a considerable amount of political intrigue.  A panel of 4 psychiatrists declared him insane without ever having spoken with him.  In the ultimate example of karma the doctor who drowned with Ludwig was the head of this 4 person panel. 

We repeated the bus, bus, train scenario in reverse and arrived back in Munich.  The big question is, "was the over 10 hours of travel and preparation worth it for a 35 minute tour?"  That's another box checked and like its contemporary, the Eiffel Tower, we've done it and are there is no need or desire to to it again.

We're Having a Party

Our first big mistake - we only booked one day in Rothenberg.   We boarded the train and headed to Augsburg.  Augsburg is about one half to three quarters of an hour from Munich.  It's Oktoberfest in Munich and whatever hotel rooms were available were horrendously expensive.  Dumping our stuff in our hotel in Augsburg, Argie came up with the brilliant idea to head to Oktoberfest today. Finding Oktoberfest was simple - all we had to do was follow the dirndls and lederhosen and if you weren't bright enough to figure that out they painted arrows on the sidewalk. 

I was lukewarm on attending Oktoberfest. You know I don't like crowds and fat drunks in short leather pants and oom pah pah music are not high on my like list.  Oktoberfest began early in the 19th century as a celebration for the wedding of Ludwig I.  It has flourished and grown ever since. Today it is the largest festival in the world attracting seven million visitors in its 16 day run.  These visitors consume over seven million litres of beer.  The site is huge.  There are 14 large tents, each representing a major brewery as well as twenty smaller tents.

 We opted for the most famous Hofbrauhaus tent, medium-sized for the larger tents. It holds 7,000 people and an additional 3,000 in its beer garden.

 Entering the tent you are immediately swept up in the party atmosphere. Everyone is in a joyous mood and very friendly. We immediately found seats at a long wooden table and joined the party.

Seventy-five percent of the people at Oktoberfest are appropriately dressed in either dirndls or lederhosen.  I actually enjoyed the oom pah pah band and I hadn't even had a beer yet.  Kelly and I ordered a maß of beer (1 litre), Judy and Argie ordered Radlers (Shandies).

 Everyone was super friendly.  Kelly hadn't even made it into the ten when a grey haired man in lederhosen wanted his picture taken with her.  Every five minutes someone at our table would yell, "prost" and everyone would join in.   Occasionally someone would climb up on a table and attempt to chug a maß of beer to the encouragement of 6,999 of their closest friends.

We met people from all over the world.

Time absolutely flew by.  Argie heard rumours of a dessert tent so off we went in search of the elusive dessert tent.  Finding said tent we settled in for strudel and cake and enjoyed the serenading by a pop rock band.

Before we realized it, it was getting late so we ambled back through the expanding crown and tight security to the train station and home.