Bavaria Sehr Gut!!!!!
Well what a fantastic couple of days. We headed out from Rothenberg and headed for Nürnberg. We had heard many good things about Nürnberg and we were somewhat disappointed. It is not what you might call a pretty city. It actually seems to have been beaten with an industrial sized ugly stick. Once in the walls of the Altstadt (old town) it was better but outside was .... ouch. We went to the German National Museum. This is a very important museum in Germany chronicling German culture from medieval times till the present. There was also a fantastic exhibit of German master painters with a little Rembrandt thrown in. Very cool. After that we headed to the Nürnberg courthouse. The site of the Nürnberg war crime trials. However we were not there at the right time. It is still a working courthouse today (no war criminals though) and we were unable to walk around. Ah well.
After that it was on to Füssen. Füssen is at the foot of the alps and it's big claim to fame is Neuschwanstein. The home of King Ludwig. It is quite a sight to see. However out of a planned 200 rooms only 17 are complete. Turns out that Bavarians didn't`t take to kindly to all their money being spent on fantastic castles as Ludwig was known to do. So around his 40th birthday he was declared mentally ill and went to the country with his psychiatrist. The next day he was found floating in a lake under suspicious circumstances (like there are any others to be found floating in a lake under). Sometimes it's not good to be King. However they should be glad he did build them. Neuschwanstein is the most visited place in all of Germany. It's a workout as well. As you can see it's on a mountain top. God bless the horse drawn carriage. Inside is most definitely the stuff of fairy tales. The carving on the kings bed took 14 master woodcarvers 2 years to complete.
München (Munich). Love at first sight! What an amazing city. Upon arriving in München we walked about 20 minutes to the Marienplatz. This is a huge pedestrian area that holds the city hall and a gazillion shops. It also happens to hold the tourist office. We headed there and they found us a hotel about 15 minutes from there. Excellent. After checking in Lisa recovered from hiking all over a mountain castle and I headed out to explore a little. This is all that I thought Europe would be. There are a whole ton of coffee houses (no starbucks I might add. They've yet to fully colonize this area yet.more in a minute) brauhauses and shopping. There is also a dearth of Girls! Girls! Girls! Girls! Which certainly adds an extra touch of class. Just one discreet SEX sign and a skeezy looking hallway. I went and scouted a place to buy a suit. I've been meaning to do this the whole trip. Only problem is there is never enough time. So after that I wandered around near the Marienplatz and went to get Lisa for dinner. We had a traditional Brauhaus recommended to us by the girl at the front desk of our hotel. So we headed there. What we had was very very good. But wow. Bavarians eat some strange stuff. I may have to give cow's heart a try before we go. Or maybe some Offells. "what zee leetle cows think viz" yum. Back to Starbucks for a minute. I saw something which kinda bugs me while strolling around the Munich streets last night. My first euro Starbucks. Well coming soon anyway. All I can say is I hope they do not become as ubiquitous here as they are in Vancouver. I really think that it would take away from the city and give people another reason to not experience something different when they are away from home. Just a thought. Anyway I forgot to mention the best part of my walk!!! I saw a Euro police chase!!!!! It was kinda OJish though. What I mean by that is that people weren't diving out of the way but here's what happened. Right at the Marienplatz I saw this VW Golf speeding along sort of dodging around pedestrians with another Golf behind it iwth the blue light on top. I thought that it may have been people playing around as they all looked really young. Anyway they jump up the curb and shot off down the Marienplatz.... the pedestrian mall. The police chase was confirmed a few seconds later when a real police car folooowed with lights on and went across the plaza as well. Very cool.
München day two.
Dachau.
We took the train out to Dachau. I don't really know what to say about the experience. I am very glad to have seen it though. Everyone should see something like this at least once. It's hard to imagine the scale of what took place until you see how huge a small camp was. Dachau was the first major concentration camp built in 1933 to hold political prisoners. It served as the model for all future concentration and extermination camps. Today it is only a fraction of the size that it was. It was not a camp used for mass murder. While a gas chamber and crematoriums were eventually built there only small numbers were executed there.
It's main function was slave labour and medical experiments. The gates hold the message "Arbiet Macht Frei" literally translated Work Power Free. Prisoners coming here were initially told that should they work hard they would go free. While many prisoners were periodically released many would never leave Dachau except on trains to Buchenwald or Auschwitz. It's hard to imagine the scale of those"bigger and better" camps. No witty commentary here. Just sober reflection. Never Again.
http://www.kz-gedenkstaette-dachau.de
After Dachau we were ready for something lighter. After lunch we went out to the BMW museum. Well a scaled down version. The current museum is closed for renovation while a much larger wing is built next door. It is situated right next to the BMW factory. Standing there was like being at the foot of the mothership. For those that don't know BMW's have been a passion of mine since I was about 11 years old and my Dad bought a Gold 1989 535i. Having said that, the much smaller museum was a little bit of a let down (that's what high expectations will do for you). I had been really wanting to see a 1957 BMW 507. It is the car that the current Z8 is based on. It was not there. :(. Bummer. Oh well. "We shall return!" .... possibly next week. Tomorrow it is off to Vienna. Much love and Happy Easter to all.
-Andrew and Lisa
After that it was on to Füssen. Füssen is at the foot of the alps and it's big claim to fame is Neuschwanstein. The home of King Ludwig. It is quite a sight to see. However out of a planned 200 rooms only 17 are complete. Turns out that Bavarians didn't`t take to kindly to all their money being spent on fantastic castles as Ludwig was known to do. So around his 40th birthday he was declared mentally ill and went to the country with his psychiatrist. The next day he was found floating in a lake under suspicious circumstances (like there are any others to be found floating in a lake under). Sometimes it's not good to be King. However they should be glad he did build them. Neuschwanstein is the most visited place in all of Germany. It's a workout as well. As you can see it's on a mountain top. God bless the horse drawn carriage. Inside is most definitely the stuff of fairy tales. The carving on the kings bed took 14 master woodcarvers 2 years to complete.
München (Munich). Love at first sight! What an amazing city. Upon arriving in München we walked about 20 minutes to the Marienplatz. This is a huge pedestrian area that holds the city hall and a gazillion shops. It also happens to hold the tourist office. We headed there and they found us a hotel about 15 minutes from there. Excellent. After checking in Lisa recovered from hiking all over a mountain castle and I headed out to explore a little. This is all that I thought Europe would be. There are a whole ton of coffee houses (no starbucks I might add. They've yet to fully colonize this area yet.more in a minute) brauhauses and shopping. There is also a dearth of Girls! Girls! Girls! Girls! Which certainly adds an extra touch of class. Just one discreet SEX sign and a skeezy looking hallway. I went and scouted a place to buy a suit. I've been meaning to do this the whole trip. Only problem is there is never enough time. So after that I wandered around near the Marienplatz and went to get Lisa for dinner. We had a traditional Brauhaus recommended to us by the girl at the front desk of our hotel. So we headed there. What we had was very very good. But wow. Bavarians eat some strange stuff. I may have to give cow's heart a try before we go. Or maybe some Offells. "what zee leetle cows think viz" yum. Back to Starbucks for a minute. I saw something which kinda bugs me while strolling around the Munich streets last night. My first euro Starbucks. Well coming soon anyway. All I can say is I hope they do not become as ubiquitous here as they are in Vancouver. I really think that it would take away from the city and give people another reason to not experience something different when they are away from home. Just a thought. Anyway I forgot to mention the best part of my walk!!! I saw a Euro police chase!!!!! It was kinda OJish though. What I mean by that is that people weren't diving out of the way but here's what happened. Right at the Marienplatz I saw this VW Golf speeding along sort of dodging around pedestrians with another Golf behind it iwth the blue light on top. I thought that it may have been people playing around as they all looked really young. Anyway they jump up the curb and shot off down the Marienplatz.... the pedestrian mall. The police chase was confirmed a few seconds later when a real police car folooowed with lights on and went across the plaza as well. Very cool.
München day two.
Dachau.
We took the train out to Dachau. I don't really know what to say about the experience. I am very glad to have seen it though. Everyone should see something like this at least once. It's hard to imagine the scale of what took place until you see how huge a small camp was. Dachau was the first major concentration camp built in 1933 to hold political prisoners. It served as the model for all future concentration and extermination camps. Today it is only a fraction of the size that it was. It was not a camp used for mass murder. While a gas chamber and crematoriums were eventually built there only small numbers were executed there.
It's main function was slave labour and medical experiments. The gates hold the message "Arbiet Macht Frei" literally translated Work Power Free. Prisoners coming here were initially told that should they work hard they would go free. While many prisoners were periodically released many would never leave Dachau except on trains to Buchenwald or Auschwitz. It's hard to imagine the scale of those"bigger and better" camps. No witty commentary here. Just sober reflection. Never Again.
http://www.kz-gedenkstaette-dachau.de
After Dachau we were ready for something lighter. After lunch we went out to the BMW museum. Well a scaled down version. The current museum is closed for renovation while a much larger wing is built next door. It is situated right next to the BMW factory. Standing there was like being at the foot of the mothership. For those that don't know BMW's have been a passion of mine since I was about 11 years old and my Dad bought a Gold 1989 535i. Having said that, the much smaller museum was a little bit of a let down (that's what high expectations will do for you). I had been really wanting to see a 1957 BMW 507. It is the car that the current Z8 is based on. It was not there. :(. Bummer. Oh well. "We shall return!" .... possibly next week. Tomorrow it is off to Vienna. Much love and Happy Easter to all.
-Andrew and Lisa
posted by Glen Scotia at 12:19 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home