Crazy King Ludwig and His Castles

When I went on my first trip to Europe with the IUP Chorale in 1998, we visited one of King Ludwig's castles, the Castle Linderhof.

Thanks, Wikipedia!

Linderhof had some crazy amenities, including the "Venus Grotto," which is a cave with a lake featuring scenes from Wagner's operas.  Apparently, Ludwig was a great "lover" of Wagner, if you catch my drift.

On our Germany trip, Kevin and I visited what is probably King Ludwig's most famous castle, Neuschwanstein.  You've seen it, even if you haven't heard of it.  Images of it proliferated those college poster sales, and it's the castle that Disney's Cinderella castle is based on.

The poster picture you've probably seen probably looked something like this:

You can buy this poster from posterlovers.com.

 Since we were going there in December, we had fantasies that the castle would look as beautiful and ethereal as it does in this photo, but, in reality, if there had been this much snow, we wouldn't have even gotten close to the castle.  And I don't think we could have seen it from this angle, regardless.

But more about the castle in a minute.

Rothenburg ob der Somethingoranother

It's really Rothenburg ob der Tauber, but it took us weeks of talking about our trip calling it variations of that before we remembered it consistently.  We had initially planned to do Nuremberg and Rothenburg in the same day, but when the Deutsches Museum was closed, we decided to split the two, instead.  It worked out, really, because Rothenburg was so charming and pleasant, and the weather so lovely, it was worth spending the day.  Although, I guess if we had saved Nuremburg for that day, too, it would have been been pleasant, as well.

Rothenburg ob der Tauber is interesting because it appears to be so quaint and old, but apparently much of it was rebuilt in the same medieval style after being destroyed in World War 2.  In my opinion, it was the most picturesque town we were in, but, while it wasn't overcrowded, it was definitely touristy.  Rothenburg is famous for it's Christmas shop and handmade wooden ornaments.  We perused THE Christmas shop (Kathe Wohlfahrt), and I spent A LOT of money, but felt a little hoodwinked when every other cutesy shop had the exact same stuff.  The ornaments and decorations are really made in Bavaria, but not exclusively for that store. 

We also had doner kebab for lunch.  It's kind of like a gyro or something similar, and is apparently very popular in Germany.  Who knew?

Since Rothenburg ob der Tauber is so picturesque, I'm just going to share a bunch of photos we took there.

This is just as you walk into the picturesque part of town.  When you first get off at the train station, it doesn't look very promising.  But once you walk through the city gate, here's what you see!

There is a medieval wall that goes around the city that you can walk most of the way around.  It's a little treacherous at some points, but the views are great. Into the city, that is.  At some points, if you look to the other side, you can see the tourist parking lot for the town, which takes away some of the charm, I think.

We happened upon an awesome playground...

With a spectacular view into the valley and the Tauber River.  If we had had more time, I would've loved to figure out how to hike down there and explore it.

A few more views of the town...

"Ausfahrt." Because Kevin and I are twelve.

The Christmas Market.

We also bought a cuckoo clock in Rothenburg ob der Tauber.  We thought it would be a good honeymoon souvenir.  Although, apparently the place to get a cuckoo clock is the Black Forest, which we skipped.  It seems like Bavaria is a good second, though.  I would post a picture of our cuckoo clock, but it is still safely packed in its box in our bedroom.  Maybe someday you (and we) will get to see it.  :-)

Oh, speaking of pork knuckles...

I found a picture of me with the pork knuckle on Kevin's iPhone!

THUNDER SLEET! (Germany, still, Part Whatever)

I know it can't possibly have been three months since I last posted, but apparently it was.  We've been working on some projects around here that I'd like to post about soon, but in the meantime, maybe I'll finish writing about Germany?

After our day exploring Munich, we had intended to visit the Deutsches Museum, but once we got there, it turned out the museum was closed for a special staff day that day.  It was a little frustrating, because we had just checked their website that morning.  So, we spontaneously decided to go to Nuremburg, instead.

When we arrived in Nuremburg, it was bright and sunny(ish).

After going to a cafe for a snack (flammkuchen!), we came out to a miserable rain.  Kevin had a few sites he wanted to see, which we attempted, but it was just so rainy and windy that we ducked for cover in a pub.  It was packed with other like-minded people, but we got squeezed in at the end of a table.  I wasn't particularly hungry (it had only been about an hour since the flammkuchen), but Kevin ordered Nurnburg sausages, and was in love. The sauerkraut that came with the sausages was particularly good - almost a little sweet.  I actually attempted to replicate this meal for Kevin's birthday in February.   They also had a basket of pretzels on the honor system - you ate what you want, and then told the server how many you had. 

We ventured back out.  By now it was dark, and the weather had let up a bit.  We decided to split up - Kevin was going to some scenic viewpoint, and I wanted to check out the Christmas Market.  After all, Nuremburg has the most famous Christmas Market in the world, and isn't that why we were there?  Not long after we split, the fine mist in the air exploded into a THUNDER SLEET.

I actually burst out laughing at first.  It initially seemed almost festive, and then it started thundering, and I was like, "What the heck?  Is this a THUNDER SNOW?  No...it's a THUNDER SLEET!" I actually continued perusing the markets, in surprisingly good spirits, but the wind picked up and flying ice persisted, so I gave up and found shelter in a regular shop.  Then, Kevin and I had a little trouble figuring out how to get back to the train station from where we were, getting soaked more thoroughly the whole time.  The worst part was definitely sitting on a train for the next two hours soaked completely through.  It was a relief to get back to the hotel, put on comfy (DRY) clothes, and head to the hospitality lounge!

The Pork Knuckle

During one of the first few days of our German trip, in Cologne, Kevin almost accidentally ordered a pork knuckle.  He actually asked for the German word meaning "pork knuckle", not realizing it was pork knuckle, but quickly changed his order once our server clarified what Kevin had asked for.  To us, "pork knuckle" just doesn't sound appetizing, especially given that so many people think that it is the same as "pickled pigs feet," which it isn't.  It would really be more accurate to call a pork knuckle a "pork knee" or "pork elbow." Nevertheless, it still retained that aura for us.   Even with that, though, I chastised Kevin for changing his order.  "Who knows?" I exclaimed, "It could be delicious!  We should be adventurous!"

What I actually meant was, "I'm curious about pork knuckle, but I am too chicken to order it myself. You should get it so I can see what I think."

"You're right," he replied. "Darnit, I should've stayed with the pork knuckle.  The next time I see it, I'm going to order it!"

This sentiment was reaffirmed when his alternate order, a plate of pasty sausages and limp french fries appeared in front of him.

"I'm in Germany and I'm eating hot dogs and french fries!" he lamented, shaking his head.

So, after our very long day in Munich (which truly didn't seem so long until I wrote that last entry), we ended up at the Wirtshaus zur Brez'n in the Schwabing neighborhood.  This was a little by accident.  After riding the ChristkindlTram, we had checked out Munich's medieval Christmas market, where the food smelled delicious, but we weren't quite ready to eat.  So, we continued on to the Schwabing Christmas market, but by the time we got there, we were cold, tired, and slightly damp, so we decided to find a place to sit down and warm up before hitting the market.  Given that the tour books had described Schwabing as a bustling college neighborhood, we assumed this would be easy, but we circled the blocks by the subway station for 10-15 minutes before finally finding this promising-looking pub.

Our intention was to go in and have one beer, which we did, and watched as it began to snow outside.  How festive!  As we got up to brave the Christmas market and find some dinner there, we caught a whiff of something delicious.  We only briefly considered whether we would prefer to eat market food in a wet snow or stay inside this cozy pub.  Since we had already settled our tab and given up our seats at the bar, we approached the hostess for a table.  The place was pretty bustling now, so where did she end up escorting us?  Right back to the bar.  We felt like jerks, having not ordered food from our original bartender, and here we were, back at the bar.  I tried to hide my face, worried that he would take it personally.  "It's not you!" I wanted to say.  "We just changed our minds!"

As I scanned the menu, I tried to figure out what the delicious thing I smelled had been.  I could only come to one conclusion: the pork knuckle.

So, I ordered it.

This is not my pork knuckle.  I borrowed this image from http://www.dimsumdolly.com

I have to confess.  When I hesitantly took the first bite of this creation, I believed in that moment that I was tasting the most delicious morsel to ever enter my mouth.  It was salty, flavorful, juicy, with just the right amount of crispy skin.  It was like heavenly bacon, but instead of just one little strip, it was the whole chunk of meat.  I gorged myself, carving around the bones, until I could eat no more.

This was a mistake.

Not only was I outrageously full that night, bloated and uncomfortable despite a long walk back to our hotel, but my stomach burned the entire following day.  What had made the pork knuckle so delectable, the salt and fat, had ravaged my stomach.  The only thing I wanted to eat that next day was fruits and vegetables - and good luck with that in Germany, especially in December.

So, my mouth remembers pork knuckle fondly.  My stomach - not so much.

Long Day in Munich is Long

When we checked into the Hilton Munich Park Hotel, overlooking the English Gardens, we were surprised by a swanky, newly-renovated room on the 14th floor, and this:

We still don't know if it was complimentary because Kevin is a Gold Member, or because he told them it was our honeymoon when he made the reservation, or if it was a gift from a mysterious benefactor.  We loved it.  After so much meat and starch, our digestive tracts appreciated some fresh fruit.

Also spectacular was the Hilton Honors Lounge.  No cans of soda and stale snack mix.  Instead, there were mini-sandwiches and appetizers or desserts, depending on the time of day, and free beer, wine, cocktails, and fancy coffee.  I actually accidentally ate dinner in the lounge one night.

We stayed the most days in Munich, but ended up feeling like we never really "got" the city.  Because of the dreary weather and multiple side trips, we never quite found the charm of the city, although we know it's one of the most popular in Germany.  I think we might also not have spent enough time finding the nooks that would've endeared it to us - we caught some touristy stuff, but truly spent more time using Munich as a jumping point for other destinations than exploring it fully.

Our first day, we made sure to catch the Glockenspiel, which was cool, but let's just say that I wouldn't try to set my watch by it.  It's quite a performance, though, and if you want to see it, be aware that it doesn't "perform" every hour, so check when it's scheduled, depending on the time of year.

The Rathaus.  In the center, framed in green, is the Glockenspiel.

 We then had coffee at the bustling Cafe Glockenspiel, where I drank a Cafe Glockenspiel, and it was delicious.  We wandered around the Christmas Markets around the Marienplatz (the main square in Munich), visited some historic churches, including Asamkirche, which was pretty fantastic inside:

You can see how fantastic I thought it was.

We also went by the Viktualienmarkt, a huge outdoor food market.  So many different foods to explore!  If it had only been a nicer day, we could have made a lovely picnic lunch.  As it was, we tucked ourselves in to the nearby cozy Cafe Rischart, where I had a deliciously unhealthy pretzel stuffed with cream cheese and chives.

There was no way we could forgo the Bier and Oktoberfest Museum - once we finally found it!  I found Munich to be a horrible city to navigate.  I know many old cities have winding, crooked streets that make no sense, but I think Munich was especially challenging because it is so big.  And the Bier and Oktoberfest Museum is tucked away in an alley with a tiny sign that I couldn't even see until we were right in front of it.  I didn't even want to follow Kevin up the alley it was on, because, to me, it clearly wasn't there.

The museum itself was pretty interesting - as much as we could get from the few English-translated signs.  The first part basically traces the development of the beer industry in Germany from each pub having it's own brew to more regional and national breweries.  As you might guess, the second part does the same for the famous Oktoberfest - how it started as an agricultural fair, got a few more fun attractions to honor the marriage of Prince Ludwig, and grew from there.  The museum is in a four or five level rowhouse (or whatever you call them in Germany) with stairwells seemingly in every corner.  Kevin and I got separated, and had such a hard time finding each other that he almost went back to the hotel - our agreement should either of us get so lost we couldn't find the other.

Then, we made our way to ride the ChristkindlTram , or Christmas Tram.

It's essentially just an old streetcar that's been decked out for the holidays, or, as our friend Darra put it, "It looks like Santa Claus vomited inside." We rode the ChristkindlTram on a very special day, though - December 6th - St. Nicholas Day!  Purely by accident, we rode the only day during the holiday season that St. Nicholas rode the Tram, as well.  We had a short chat with him, but I was so starstruck that I didn't ask him for a photo together.  So, here's a picture of St. Nicholas:

And here's a picture of us on the ChristkindlTram:

You'll just have to use your imagination to picture St. Nicholas there with us.  Did I mention there was gluhwein on the Tram?

The Ulm Munster

Before we headed out of Ulm to our last big stop, Munich, we embarked on a climb to the top tower of the Ulm Minster.  As the tallest church in the world, you can imagine what kind of feat this is.  How many steps to the top of the tower?

You can't see the top of the tower in this picture.

800.  800!!! We were brave, though, and went for it.  I've climbed a few church towers in my life, but this was Kevin's first.  It has also been many years since I climbed a church tower, or I might have had second thoughts.

The thing I hate most about climbing church towers, aside from the pain in my legs, shortness of breath, sweating, and fear of heights, is the scary spiral staircase.  The staircase isn't even so bad going up, but to me, it's terrifying coming down.  I am always just certain that I will have a misstep and tumble head over heels down 700-ish cold, wet stone steps, bones cracking the whole way.

Kevin took this without me knowing because he knew I wouldn't want to forget these terrifying stairs.

I mean, is a railing to much to ask?  And even then, what if someone comes up while I'm going down?  See how narrow the stairway is?  And how slender the inside of the step is?

Some of the views going up were quite nice.

The Christmas Market

The Danube

At one point, you could go inside to a room above the bell room (I'm sure there's a more official term for this), where you could look down and see the bells.  Hanging around the room were drawings of many of the other great churches/cathedrals of the world, and it was fun to pick out the ones I/we had been to.  Kevin was more interested in the bells, of course.

Every time I see this picture I get the theme from Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame stuck in my head.

This is the view from the highest point of our ascent, again, of the Christmas Market:

Once we came down, we toured the inside of the church, then split up to do some souvenir shopping.  Funnily enough, there wasn't a lot of "Ulm" merchandise to be had - Ulm is just not that much of a tourist destination,  Still, I purchased a few items with sparrows, as the sparrow is the Ulm mascot, and there are sculptures of them everywhere, kind of like we used to have all the crab sculptures in Baltimore.

Then, the strangest thing happened. We were standing outside of the Ulmer Weinachtsmarkt on the only sunny day we'd had since arriving in Ulm, and thought it would be nice to have a photo of the two of us in front of it, perhaps to use as our Christmas card.  We looked around for other tourist-types to ask to take a picture, but since it was nearing lunchtime on a Monday, most people were dashing purposely and we didn't see anyone we felt we could stop.  Then, we noticed a young woman standing near us - maybe in her late teens or early twenties, somewhat sullen looking (so, she was probably a teenager ;-)) with headphones on.  She was just standing around as though she was waiting for someone or something, so she seemed like our best bet. 

"Enshuldigen zie," I said politely.  This is German for "Excuse me."


She looked at me.


I held up my camera, smiled, gestured at Kevin and myself in the universal sign language for "could you take our photo," and said questioningly, "Photo?" 


She glowered at me, and spat out, "No."


I was so bewildered, I thought she might have misunderstood me.  I held up the camera again, and with a confused smile, gestured again and said, in English, "Could you take our photo?"


She shook her head and with a bigger scowl said again, "No."


Ok, I realize now that I should have:


A. Learned how to say "Could you take our picture?" in German ahead of time.


or


B. At least asked her if she spoke English and apologized for my bad German, first, which I had really done for about everyone else I talked to the rest of the trip.


 I don't think that she misunderstood me at all.  I don't see how she could have.  Who hasn't asked or been asked to take a photo with the universal gesture of holding up the camera and pointing?  I had obviously offended her in some way, or she is just a super, super grouchy person, or was just in a really, really terrible mood.  I was just really kind of bewildered by it for the rest of the day. 


So, just imagine that Kevin and I are standing under the sign in this picture.

Ulm, Part II

Ulm proved to be just as lovely as a town by day as by night, despite somewhat miserable weather.  We started off for a walk along the old city wall, past tiny quaint houses to find the Einstein statue.  Ulm's one minor claim to fame is that Einstein was born there.  However, his family left the city around the time Einstein was one year old, so I don't know that he felt as much of a connection to Ulm as the town feels to him.  In any case, they honor him with this monument:

Pulling Einstein's tongue is apparently the thing to do.  We didn't take a picture, but the top, dome part of the statue is pretty cool, too, with random shapes and symbols that we supposed was an imagining of what was floating around in Einstein's brain.

We then ate lunch in the Einstein Cafe, which was a great spot for tourists to have lunch.  It was very bright and modern, with an English menu and a variety of entrees.  Kevin got some kind of salad with deep-fried feta, and I tried a burger, just out of curiosity.  The burger wasn't that great, but Kevin's deep-fried cheese salad was super!

We wondered down to the old fisherman's village by the Danube and walked along city wall.

That is the Leaning Tower of Ulm in the background, apparently.

We ended up back where we were the previous night and took some daylight photos.

Note how the houses are pretty much built right in the water.

Supposedly the "most crooked house in Ulm."

The "most crooked house" at night.  Still crooked.

Hey!  Something that says Ulm on it!

Speaking of, imagine our delight at finding Ulmergasse, or, Ulm Street (or Alley, I guess).  Wait, you don't have to imagine it!  Take a look for yourself:

 

Am I thrilled, or did it just sink in that *I* am an ULMES???

 We'll wrap up Ulm with our attempt to climb to the top of the tower of the Ulm Munster.  Will we be successful?  Wait and see!

Ulmes in Ulm

We all assume that Kevin's father's family was, at some point, from Ulm.  We know that he has German heritage, and the names match up, so there you go.  I'm sure Ulm would never have been even a passing thought if it wasn't for the questionable family connection.  Ulm was listed in the travel books I picked up, but I don't know that it would've caught my eye as a destination if we didn't think we would find Kevin's long lost family castle (or even just brewery) there.

Regardless, Ulm ended up being a nice place to visit!  A little bit of a smaller town, but decent-sized with a serviceable downtown area and one of the more picturesque old towns.  Not to mention...

The Ulm Minster is the tallest church in the world, and for awhile was the tallest man-made structure in the world.  To be honest, looking at it, that statistic kind of surprised me.  For whatever reason, the Cologne Cathedral seemed taller.

Can you believe I actually had to borrow this from the interwebs?

(As a side note, when you look at the Wikipedia article for the Ulm Minster, notice that at the bottom they have a timeline of tallest buildings..  I just thought that was really interesting and a really good way to end up wasting a day.)

In any case, Ulm was so charming and festive at night...

 

 

Ulm was kind of a German Venice.  That's the River Blau.

We tried to have dinner at the place above, as it was highly recommended, but discovered when we got there that we needed reservations.  The least touristy city we stayed in, and we needed reservations.  It all worked out, though, because we ended about a block away at Allgauer Hof, which featured pfannkuchen, a.k.a.....

PANCAKES!

They really had dozens and dozens of pancakes, both savory and sweet, and they were literally the size of a large pizza.  To clarify, though, they were really more like crepes than American pancakes.  I had a spicy vegetable pfannkuchen, and it was DELICIOUS.  Really hit the spot.


On a slight tangent, I wanted to mention the attitude I took towards eating out in Germany. which I admit might have been a little...ill-advised.  So, as you might know, people in Europe tend to be less overweight than in the U.S., and there are far fewer obese people.  I also observed that no one got to-go boxes in restaurants.  Additionally, I know that people in other countries tend to be less wasteful than Americans, so I could only surmise that Germans probably don't leave much behind when they are out, which leads to my conclusion that German restaurants must serve just the right amount of food, and I was meant to eat all of what was on my plate.


Thoughts? Good theory?  Let's just say that while I abided by it for the most part, I wasn't willing to get on the scale that was in our Munich hotel.


But, suffice it to say that I ate my entire pizza-sized pfannkuchen topped with spiced veggies. Veggies are healthy!  We also got to try the local beer, Gold Ochsen. Kevin would have loved to tour that brewery, but of course, it was closed the two days we were there.  How would we ever entertain ourselves?  Stay tuned!

The Blue Pot

If you know me in real life (and I imagine that everyone who reads this does), you know that we've been back from Germany for several days, and you also probably know that I always fall behind on this kind of thing.  I am determined to finish blogging about our trip, though!

Our next stop was Ulm, but right after our train got in, we made a side trip to the Ulm suburb of Blaubeuren. Blaubeuren is probably not a place you've heard of, and we weren't able to find it in any tourist books.  I discovered it by accident when I was looking for Ulm hotels.  When I was searching, I saw a few adorable-looking hotels, then saw the distance was something like "9 miles from city center."  Without a car, that wouldn't really work for us in Ulm, but what was this Blaubeuren place with these quaint hotels?

If you bothered clicking on the Wikipedia link above, you saw that the Blaubeuren was pretty much non-existent.  Truthfully, this site is much better, but you have to have your Google Translate installed and ready to go.

Anyway, Blaubeuren is a small, quiet town just outside of Ulm.  Their main attraction is the Blautopf, or "Blue Pot," which is a deep, bubbling spring that is a startling shade of blue.  We didn't quite see the vibrant blue at first, and attributed it to being an overcast day.

I mean, the water is definitely a nice shade, and that mill is quite quaint and picturesque, but the "Blue Pot" is supposed to B L U E.  Like this:

Not my photo.

You might have noticed that these photos are taken at different angles...as we also realized that the B L U E part of the Blautopf was not in front of the mill, but behind it.

My photo.

Definitely a lot bluer.  The Blautopf is tucked back in what seems to be preserved nature/historic area.  After passing through the town on our way there, we came across the Blaubeuren Abbey.

 

 It's not necessarily captured in these photos, but this whole compound was very expansive and peaceful.

Blaubeuren was the first of our side-trips, and a very pleasant one.  We were there on Saturday and much was closed, but there still didn't seem to be many shops.  A few restaurants and hotels, though.  Ulm is only a 10 minute train ride away, so I could see this being a quiet alternative if you were traveling through the area.