I think it might be the best part of vacationing ;-)
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9.28.2007
At Last...Pictures!
430 photos and videos...knock yourself out.
And if you're too lazy, here's an embedded slideshow.
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| Germany/Au |
And if you're too lazy, here's an embedded slideshow.
9.24.2007
The end?
I always like to think that there's really no end to a good vacation - just a long layover in between where you have to work for a while. That doesn't make it any easier to say goodbye to a wonderful place, and this time was no exception. It's Monday today - we arrived last night around 9PM after a long day of plane rides, bad food and a long layover in Jersey where we managed to catch part of a football game. The culture shock of returning to America was thrown in our faces twofold this time around, as we both had to muster up the strength to get into the office by 7AM this morning and deal with mounds of backlogged work.
But the memories are still fresh - just past the horizon, seemingly. Intermittently throughout the day, I found myself sitting back, turning to look out my window, and letting out a deep, whimsical sigh. It's hard to imagine we could have done so much in just two weeks. It's hard to imagine that just three days ago we were sitting in the shade of chestnut trees, eating pretzels and drinking liter-sized mugs of beer without a care in the world. It's hard to imagine that less than a week ago we were drifting, dazzled, down the most beautiful river in the world.
But the hardest part of all comes a bit later - where do we go next? :-)
But the memories are still fresh - just past the horizon, seemingly. Intermittently throughout the day, I found myself sitting back, turning to look out my window, and letting out a deep, whimsical sigh. It's hard to imagine we could have done so much in just two weeks. It's hard to imagine that just three days ago we were sitting in the shade of chestnut trees, eating pretzels and drinking liter-sized mugs of beer without a care in the world. It's hard to imagine that less than a week ago we were drifting, dazzled, down the most beautiful river in the world.
But the hardest part of all comes a bit later - where do we go next? :-)
Berlin, Part Zwei
Coming back to Berlin on Friday night gave us a chance to spend a whole extra day walking around and just soaking up the city. Since we're staying in the old East Berlin this time around, we set off in the morning on a casual stroll through that neighborhood. It's a very intriguing mixture of past and present, with almost every street containing bold, new apartments and storefronts intermingled with still un-restored, bombed-out remains of a painful history. All the while, a seemingly endless stream of graffiti lines the first floor of the wall-to-wall buildings - some beautiful works of art, others hastily sprayed political statements. The people, as in any place, bear little mind to these surroundings (as they see them every day), but for us it wove together a striking and beautiful cityscape with more visible history than anywhere I've ever lived.
Later on that afternoon, on our way to dinner, Skick noticed that a few streets were blocked off, and a helicopter was hovering a ways away above the city. Curious, we decided to take a detour and find out what was happening. It was a good 8 blocks away before we started seeing rows and rows of police vans converging on an area just around the corner. When we turned the bend, we were engulfed in the thumping bass and loud chants of a political protest. We decided to follow it for a while, and made our way through hordes of college students waving flags, throngs of riot-police standing at attention, and more than a few clusters of recently pepper-sprayed kids recovering on the sidelines. The protest wasn't out of hand at all (just a few small pockets of over-zealous participants, as per any such event), and was very interesting to watch. It was also quite fitting to see since Berlin, saturated in political strife for years, has been a center of such demonstrations throughout many generations. We watched the protesters drum off into the distance, and headed on our way.
Later on that afternoon, on our way to dinner, Skick noticed that a few streets were blocked off, and a helicopter was hovering a ways away above the city. Curious, we decided to take a detour and find out what was happening. It was a good 8 blocks away before we started seeing rows and rows of police vans converging on an area just around the corner. When we turned the bend, we were engulfed in the thumping bass and loud chants of a political protest. We decided to follow it for a while, and made our way through hordes of college students waving flags, throngs of riot-police standing at attention, and more than a few clusters of recently pepper-sprayed kids recovering on the sidelines. The protest wasn't out of hand at all (just a few small pockets of over-zealous participants, as per any such event), and was very interesting to watch. It was also quite fitting to see since Berlin, saturated in political strife for years, has been a center of such demonstrations throughout many generations. We watched the protesters drum off into the distance, and headed on our way.
Leipzig
On the train ride from Munchen back to Berlin, we passed through Leipzig, one of the cities with the most remaining visible signs of WWII. Although we didn't get off and walk around, the sights from the train were truly powerful. Nearly half the city looked exactly as it had following allied carpet bombings, leaving behind an enormous carcass of a once prosperous industrial city. Entire city blocks stood in grim reminder of the war - half-standing factories with broken windows, charred walls and crumbling smokestacks. All I can really say, which does the sight no justice, is that war really, really sucks.
9.22.2007
Change of plans
Ok, so if you hadn't guessed by my description, we absolutely loved Munchen. After careful deliberation (ok, not that careful), we had decided by the time we arrived in Vienna that there was no way in hell we would end this trip without stopping by again on the way out. We ultimately figured that our time in Prague, sadly sacrificed, would be much better spent on a separate trip dedicated to Eastern Europe (Russia and the rest of the old Soviet Bloc.) This would keep the trips a bit more fluid, allow us to more fully understand each culture separately, and...oh, hell, we really wanted to go back toMunchen.
So, after our night stay in Linz, we were on our way back to Germany. We rolled into town on the late side, and had to stay in a different hostel on account of everything being booked with Oktoberfest on the horizon. I won't go into much detail about our (2nd) time in Munich, mainly because I've already (hopefully) explained the city well enough. Within 24 hours, we had kicked back, drank beer,played some pool and foosball and chatted it up with a New Zealander , an American, a Swiss, a Swede, some Germans (of course), two Australians, a Russian and probably a few I'm forgetting. We spent hours just strolling through the warm summer streets of the old town, without a care in the world. When I said this place is awesome - I wasn't joking. We could have easily done this for another two weeks straight. Suffice it to say, we had a good time, and our change of plans also gave us time for an extra day in Berlin to pick up some of the things that time didn't permit when we first arrived. But more on that later!
So, after our night stay in Linz, we were on our way back to Germany. We rolled into town on the late side, and had to stay in a different hostel on account of everything being booked with Oktoberfest on the horizon. I won't go into much detail about our (2nd) time in Munich, mainly because I've already (hopefully) explained the city well enough. Within 24 hours, we had kicked back, drank beer,played some pool and foosball and chatted it up with a New Zealander , an American, a Swiss, a Swede, some Germans (of course), two Australians, a Russian and probably a few I'm forgetting. We spent hours just strolling through the warm summer streets of the old town, without a care in the world. When I said this place is awesome - I wasn't joking. We could have easily done this for another two weeks straight. Suffice it to say, we had a good time, and our change of plans also gave us time for an extra day in Berlin to pick up some of the things that time didn't permit when we first arrived. But more on that later!
Ars Electronica
As many people know (Skick excluded - funny story there), Ars Electronica is a huge techie convention that takes place in Linz, Austria every year. They have a museum there now with the same name, chock full of high-tech interactive wonders. This place is like Seattle's Pacific Science Center meets the Smithsonian, but better. There's so much stuff to do inside, I don't know where to start.
Our experience started seconds after we paid for our tickets, when an employee dragged us over to a picture morphing machine. Skick and I sat down, they took our pictures, and the software morphed our faces together to form a couple of seriously hideous (but cool) combinations. Lev's just say thatSkick looks a whole lot better with her own face than with bits of mine thrown in!
We probably spent another half hour on the next exhibit - a beat mixing machine that used light and tactile sensors across a sort of looping timeline. There was a table where you put pieces of different sized and textured material, and a panning sensor slid across, making a beat with a different tone and feel for each one. We made some pretty bumping beats, as well as acacophony of high-pitched noise. Awesome!
The next great one was called something like the "Slot Machine Drawing Machine". This one was an ingenious mix of mathematical art and rhythm. It was a big touch-screen drawing surface, with all the normal computer drawing options - lines, circles, etc. The big difference was that it was on a slot-machine style scrolling loop, so everything that you drew scrolled around on a big loop before appearing again. It really did make the artwork that you created as much a rhythmic music experience as an art one, and was also very analytical and geometrical. Needless to say,Skick was much better at this one than me. She was able to produce some amazing triple helices of gradient color and texture, and I threw in some black and white blobs ;-)
Bz far the most intricate and advanced of the exhibits was called something like "Gulliver's World." I don't think an explanation willappropriately describe just how amazing this system is,but I'll try. There are a number of stations where you could create various parts of your "world" here, each one storing the part on a clear data card like the ones from Minority Report (or pretty much any other cool sci-fi movie.) The first one you made a 3-D rendered figure by building a model from play-do and putting it in a box with a webcam and a rotating base that captured a full circle image of the figure and mapped it out in digital 3-D.
you then took the data card to the next station, where you physically stamped out terrain, objects and your newly-created 3-D figure onto a virtual world surface, a textured half-circle dome. When you were done there, you took your data cards to a video-camera booth, whereSkick and I jumped around and acted goofy in front of the camera for a little while, then grabbed the data card and moved on. Now came the good part - putting it all together. There is a huge surface where you place all the data cards where you want, and a massive screen showing your newly created world in 3-D. One of our final products had an airport, a business park with a big billboard showingSkick and I acting goofy (fully animated), and tractors paving roads. A camera that you could physically move around showed you the city from a bird's eye view on the screen, and if that wasn't enough, there was a separate screen with a real-life scooter attached where you could literally scoot through your new world, and see everything you created in first person 3-D. Even more, slam your fist on the table where you've digitally created the world, and you create an earthquake - all the buildings crumble, your animated billboard cracks, and the roads are destroyed. I'm in the tech industry and all, but I have never seen anything this cool.
There were a ton of other exhibits, but it would take days to describe them, and I'm not even going to try. Well worth a visit, though, and you could easily spend a whole day or two inside.
Our experience started seconds after we paid for our tickets, when an employee dragged us over to a picture morphing machine. Skick and I sat down, they took our pictures, and the software morphed our faces together to form a couple of seriously hideous (but cool) combinations. Lev's just say thatSkick looks a whole lot better with her own face than with bits of mine thrown in!
We probably spent another half hour on the next exhibit - a beat mixing machine that used light and tactile sensors across a sort of looping timeline. There was a table where you put pieces of different sized and textured material, and a panning sensor slid across, making a beat with a different tone and feel for each one. We made some pretty bumping beats, as well as acacophony of high-pitched noise. Awesome!
The next great one was called something like the "Slot Machine Drawing Machine". This one was an ingenious mix of mathematical art and rhythm. It was a big touch-screen drawing surface, with all the normal computer drawing options - lines, circles, etc. The big difference was that it was on a slot-machine style scrolling loop, so everything that you drew scrolled around on a big loop before appearing again. It really did make the artwork that you created as much a rhythmic music experience as an art one, and was also very analytical and geometrical. Needless to say,Skick was much better at this one than me. She was able to produce some amazing triple helices of gradient color and texture, and I threw in some black and white blobs ;-)
Bz far the most intricate and advanced of the exhibits was called something like "Gulliver's World." I don't think an explanation willappropriately describe just how amazing this system is,but I'll try. There are a number of stations where you could create various parts of your "world" here, each one storing the part on a clear data card like the ones from Minority Report (or pretty much any other cool sci-fi movie.) The first one you made a 3-D rendered figure by building a model from play-do and putting it in a box with a webcam and a rotating base that captured a full circle image of the figure and mapped it out in digital 3-D.
you then took the data card to the next station, where you physically stamped out terrain, objects and your newly-created 3-D figure onto a virtual world surface, a textured half-circle dome. When you were done there, you took your data cards to a video-camera booth, whereSkick and I jumped around and acted goofy in front of the camera for a little while, then grabbed the data card and moved on. Now came the good part - putting it all together. There is a huge surface where you place all the data cards where you want, and a massive screen showing your newly created world in 3-D. One of our final products had an airport, a business park with a big billboard showingSkick and I acting goofy (fully animated), and tractors paving roads. A camera that you could physically move around showed you the city from a bird's eye view on the screen, and if that wasn't enough, there was a separate screen with a real-life scooter attached where you could literally scoot through your new world, and see everything you created in first person 3-D. Even more, slam your fist on the table where you've digitally created the world, and you create an earthquake - all the buildings crumble, your animated billboard cracks, and the roads are destroyed. I'm in the tech industry and all, but I have never seen anything this cool.
There were a ton of other exhibits, but it would take days to describe them, and I'm not even going to try. Well worth a visit, though, and you could easily spend a whole day or two inside.
9.21.2007
Paradise on Earth
This post is going to be far shorter than it could be, simply because the subject - our trip up the Danube river, is wholly beyond what written words describe. There truly is nothing that can compare to our experience, and I would say confidently that everyone should do this at least once in their life.
We picked up the ferry (a larger boat complete with two decks of restaurants as well as two outside decks) in Krems, a small industrial town at one end of the Wachau region of the Danube. We had three and a half hours before reaching Melk, stopping at a few towns along the way. The first hour and a half we were absolutely beside ourselves - we couldn't think of more than one or two places in the world that we had see that were as beautiful as this. We ran from side to side of the back outer deck of the boat, snapping pictures, pointing and saying "wow!" more times than I could count. Beautiful, forested rolling hills lined each side of the river, which was a deep, beautiful green (I think.) Interspersed through the forest, very small, old towns, castles, outposts and houses dotted the landscape. Utterly breathtaking.
After the first hour and a half, all we could do was sit back and soak in our surroundings. We stopped taking photos (we probably have over a hundred just from there,) and became enraptured - sipping a beer and smiling peacefully. By the time we got off, we decided not to do any of the sightseeing we were planning in Melk, because nothing could have topped our journey. So instead, we popped into a cozy restaurant and had an amazing apple strudel (Austria is famous for it) and mouth-watering wiener-schnitzel (not like the fast food in America - they're breaded veal or pork cutlets - wiener really just means "from Vienna".) It was the perfect end to a perfect day on the river. I really can't describe it any better than that.
We picked up the ferry (a larger boat complete with two decks of restaurants as well as two outside decks) in Krems, a small industrial town at one end of the Wachau region of the Danube. We had three and a half hours before reaching Melk, stopping at a few towns along the way. The first hour and a half we were absolutely beside ourselves - we couldn't think of more than one or two places in the world that we had see that were as beautiful as this. We ran from side to side of the back outer deck of the boat, snapping pictures, pointing and saying "wow!" more times than I could count. Beautiful, forested rolling hills lined each side of the river, which was a deep, beautiful green (I think.) Interspersed through the forest, very small, old towns, castles, outposts and houses dotted the landscape. Utterly breathtaking.
After the first hour and a half, all we could do was sit back and soak in our surroundings. We stopped taking photos (we probably have over a hundred just from there,) and became enraptured - sipping a beer and smiling peacefully. By the time we got off, we decided not to do any of the sightseeing we were planning in Melk, because nothing could have topped our journey. So instead, we popped into a cozy restaurant and had an amazing apple strudel (Austria is famous for it) and mouth-watering wiener-schnitzel (not like the fast food in America - they're breaded veal or pork cutlets - wiener really just means "from Vienna".) It was the perfect end to a perfect day on the river. I really can't describe it any better than that.
The Knights of...oops
Ok, so I have to admit, my planning skills aren't always up to par, which is why that's generally more Skick's department. So when I told Skick about this great old castle we were going to be heading off to in the middle of nowhere, I'm pretty sure she had doubts from the start. It turns out this place was really the middle of nowhere - the train dropped us off in a town of maybe a few hundred people, and the "map" was this old wood plank with either roads or hiking trails (no way to know) etched into it, and nothing in the way of labels. I was pretty sure I could read it, though, to which Skick only replied, "Uh, Derrick?" (a commonly heard expression of doubt that she uses) to which I replied (as always), "It'll be fine - trust me."
But after a bit of walking through the extremely foggy winding roads, I double-checked the book only to find that it wasn't listed as a 3/4 kilometer hike from the station, but a 3/4 hour one. Oops. That wouldn't leave us with much time at the castle, which by now Skick was obviously very doubtful of its mere existence. I assured her everything would be fine again, and onwards we trekked. When we turned off the road onto a small, poorly-marked and still foggy hiking trail, I have to admit that my doubts started to rise as well. I of course didn't admit as much, slipping into a rhythm of the occasional "I'm sure it's just a little bit farther."
Just about when I'm pretty sure Skick was ready to give up, I spied something through the fog - a tower, maybe? Could it be? By this point, I knew I'd never live it down if we didn't find this castle, so I hastened my pace and said confidently, "Aha, we're almost there!"
Sure enough, the castle was really there. It was an impressively massive and foreboding medieval structure, complete with moat, drawbridge and a slew of tall, arrow-slit laden towers.
The place was built by some knights a long time ago, but here's where my luck ran out. I had apparently also overlooked one other small fact in the book - it didn't open until 10AM, and we would already have to be heading to our train by then. So after a lengthy apology, I agreed to turn our backs on the castle without being dazzled by the dungeon, torture chamber, armory and mess hall promised within. Nevertheless, the hike and castle outer-grounds were well worth (in my opinion, at least...) the time. And maybe next time this'll teach me to pay a bit more attention to the details. Yeah right ;-)
But after a bit of walking through the extremely foggy winding roads, I double-checked the book only to find that it wasn't listed as a 3/4 kilometer hike from the station, but a 3/4 hour one. Oops. That wouldn't leave us with much time at the castle, which by now Skick was obviously very doubtful of its mere existence. I assured her everything would be fine again, and onwards we trekked. When we turned off the road onto a small, poorly-marked and still foggy hiking trail, I have to admit that my doubts started to rise as well. I of course didn't admit as much, slipping into a rhythm of the occasional "I'm sure it's just a little bit farther."
Just about when I'm pretty sure Skick was ready to give up, I spied something through the fog - a tower, maybe? Could it be? By this point, I knew I'd never live it down if we didn't find this castle, so I hastened my pace and said confidently, "Aha, we're almost there!"
Sure enough, the castle was really there. It was an impressively massive and foreboding medieval structure, complete with moat, drawbridge and a slew of tall, arrow-slit laden towers.
The place was built by some knights a long time ago, but here's where my luck ran out. I had apparently also overlooked one other small fact in the book - it didn't open until 10AM, and we would already have to be heading to our train by then. So after a lengthy apology, I agreed to turn our backs on the castle without being dazzled by the dungeon, torture chamber, armory and mess hall promised within. Nevertheless, the hike and castle outer-grounds were well worth (in my opinion, at least...) the time. And maybe next time this'll teach me to pay a bit more attention to the details. Yeah right ;-)
Strolling through Vienna
This city is amazing. I have never seen so many enormous things all in the same place in my life. Walking through the cobblestone streets of the old town is a truly humbling experience, and sadly nothing that can be truly captured with a camera. Royal palaces spanning three city blocks are bordered by majestic arches, rows of stone statues fifty feet tall, cascading fountains, and "normal" churches that dwarf most cities' main cathedral. All the while, around seemingly every corner is a live performer of some sort - and not your everyday guitarist that you would see in most other places. We heard beautiful renditions of Beethoven (including my favorite movement of the Moonlight Sonata), Vivaldi, Schubert and Mozart while sipping Austrian espresso, strolling through shopping plazas and staring dumbly at our surroundings.
The whole town is music oriented (not surprising to anyone who knows anything about Vienna) Our first night in town we stumbled into a live rock performance in a basement bar, and concerts, opera and musicals are running daily in the hundreds of venues within the inner city alone. We packed pretty much all of our sightseeing of the inner city into the first day there, wandering from cathedral to palace to garden with our jaws visible hanging. That evening we stopped for dinner at a real local wine tavern, and were treated to probably the best goulash I've ever had. Apparently Austrian and Hungarian goulash are a bit different, based on paprika and other spice proportions, but the details are lost to me. Regardless, it was unbelievable. We stayed for a few rounds of wine, which was also amazing. Vienna, actually, is known for its white wine, and although I normally don't like white wine, both times we tried it here it was very, very good. The atmosphere of the restaurant was fitting for the back streets of Vienna - lots of closely huddled intellectuals engaged in intense conversation about god-knows-what.
The next day we checked out the crown jewels, an enormous collection of the most over-the-top jewelry, Catholic relics, robes, crowns and swords I've ever seen. We were pretty dazzled. We also tried the famous Sachertorte - a chocolate torte made in a particular hotel that has become so popular worldwide that they sell something like 350,000 of them a year. It lived up to the hype in our opinion - a tangy dark chocolate served with whipped cream (which they put on pretty much everything in Austria.)
All in all, Vienna definitely lived up to its reputation - strolling through the city streets at night as got to be one of the (many) highlights of this trip. We headed out early the next morning on our way to an old castle before our trip up the Danube - but more on that later!
The whole town is music oriented (not surprising to anyone who knows anything about Vienna) Our first night in town we stumbled into a live rock performance in a basement bar, and concerts, opera and musicals are running daily in the hundreds of venues within the inner city alone. We packed pretty much all of our sightseeing of the inner city into the first day there, wandering from cathedral to palace to garden with our jaws visible hanging. That evening we stopped for dinner at a real local wine tavern, and were treated to probably the best goulash I've ever had. Apparently Austrian and Hungarian goulash are a bit different, based on paprika and other spice proportions, but the details are lost to me. Regardless, it was unbelievable. We stayed for a few rounds of wine, which was also amazing. Vienna, actually, is known for its white wine, and although I normally don't like white wine, both times we tried it here it was very, very good. The atmosphere of the restaurant was fitting for the back streets of Vienna - lots of closely huddled intellectuals engaged in intense conversation about god-knows-what.
The next day we checked out the crown jewels, an enormous collection of the most over-the-top jewelry, Catholic relics, robes, crowns and swords I've ever seen. We were pretty dazzled. We also tried the famous Sachertorte - a chocolate torte made in a particular hotel that has become so popular worldwide that they sell something like 350,000 of them a year. It lived up to the hype in our opinion - a tangy dark chocolate served with whipped cream (which they put on pretty much everything in Austria.)
All in all, Vienna definitely lived up to its reputation - strolling through the city streets at night as got to be one of the (many) highlights of this trip. We headed out early the next morning on our way to an old castle before our trip up the Danube - but more on that later!
Castle in the Clouds
Maybe it's the years of lost hours playing Dungeons & Dragons as a teenager, but castles have always excited me. Skick feels the same way, proclaiming that "There's no way we're coming back from Germany without seeing a castle!" We were thus obviously overjoyed when we set foot in our next destination - the town of Hohenschwangau, home to 2 of Germany's most famous castles.
The trek itself was pretty interesting - we had no map of the area and no idea where our hotel was. After stumbling in to the right little town (mostly by luck, no doubt= we were fortunate enough to meet some really nice locals that offered to give us a ride to where they "thought" the hotel might be. It turns out we never would have found it on our own - it was almost a mile up a winding side road. But more importantly - it turned out to be literally in the shadow of the most famous castle in Germany. Two steps out the front door and bam! There's an enormous castle. The castle itself was built mostly for bragging rights and luxury, not for any sort of military purpose, and happens to be what Disney modeled the castle from Sleeping Beauty after. It's nestled in the middle of the German Alps, and is pretty darned breathtaking.
With Munchen beer and Bavarian castles at our backs, we've just now crossed the border into Austria. We're cruising along in the dining car of another high speed train, this time towards Vienna - which is supposedly not so shabby a place either.
The trek itself was pretty interesting - we had no map of the area and no idea where our hotel was. After stumbling in to the right little town (mostly by luck, no doubt= we were fortunate enough to meet some really nice locals that offered to give us a ride to where they "thought" the hotel might be. It turns out we never would have found it on our own - it was almost a mile up a winding side road. But more importantly - it turned out to be literally in the shadow of the most famous castle in Germany. Two steps out the front door and bam! There's an enormous castle. The castle itself was built mostly for bragging rights and luxury, not for any sort of military purpose, and happens to be what Disney modeled the castle from Sleeping Beauty after. It's nestled in the middle of the German Alps, and is pretty darned breathtaking.
With Munchen beer and Bavarian castles at our backs, we've just now crossed the border into Austria. We're cruising along in the dining car of another high speed train, this time towards Vienna - which is supposedly not so shabby a place either.
Munchen: "I laave it"
I really don't know where to start this one - Munich (or Munchen in German) is so far the coolest place we've been to yet on this trip. It's not just the beer (although that certainly doesn't hurt), but the atmosphere as a whole that makes this place so unbelievable. The people are friendly and laid back, the food is amazing, the city itself is beautiful, the weather is great - this place really does seem like a much older version of Seattle.
We didn't actually do a whole lot of traditional sightseeing during our two days in Munchen - it does have some beautiful buildings, historic sites and all that other stuff, but the real experience of this place is interacting.
Before we even arrived, the waiters in the train's food car had given us suggestions of where to get the best beer. A few hours later, after checking into the hostel and orienting ourselves, we had a waiter at a local cafe (with AWESOME food and beer) give our tip back to us and made us promise we'd use it on his favorite beer at his favorite beer garden. That pretty much sums up the mood of our time in Munchen. The lady that served us lunch the next day (an amazing meal called a "Munchen Platter" consisting of pretzels, cheeses, and the best sausages, salami and other meat I think I've ever had) started writing down a list of places we had to go that day. After writing the names, she described them by pointing and saying "beer garden, beer garden, beer garden, place you make picture."
Our favorite line of hers, though what when she pointed to one type of food and said, with a true overflow of emotion, "this one...I laave it." 24 hours, three beer gardens, another late night chatting with other travelers at the hostel, and a ton of mouth-watering food later, that was the only way we could describe our time in this town - "Munich - I laave it."
It was one of the toughest places to leave, and within five minutes of getting on the train, we had already started plotting how quickly we could get back. So, if the 23rd comes and goes and you haven't heard from me - you can take one guess as to why we "missed" our flight home ;-)
We didn't actually do a whole lot of traditional sightseeing during our two days in Munchen - it does have some beautiful buildings, historic sites and all that other stuff, but the real experience of this place is interacting.
Before we even arrived, the waiters in the train's food car had given us suggestions of where to get the best beer. A few hours later, after checking into the hostel and orienting ourselves, we had a waiter at a local cafe (with AWESOME food and beer) give our tip back to us and made us promise we'd use it on his favorite beer at his favorite beer garden. That pretty much sums up the mood of our time in Munchen. The lady that served us lunch the next day (an amazing meal called a "Munchen Platter" consisting of pretzels, cheeses, and the best sausages, salami and other meat I think I've ever had) started writing down a list of places we had to go that day. After writing the names, she described them by pointing and saying "beer garden, beer garden, beer garden, place you make picture."
Our favorite line of hers, though what when she pointed to one type of food and said, with a true overflow of emotion, "this one...I laave it." 24 hours, three beer gardens, another late night chatting with other travelers at the hostel, and a ton of mouth-watering food later, that was the only way we could describe our time in this town - "Munich - I laave it."
It was one of the toughest places to leave, and within five minutes of getting on the train, we had already started plotting how quickly we could get back. So, if the 23rd comes and goes and you haven't heard from me - you can take one guess as to why we "missed" our flight home ;-)
9.14.2007
Wurzburg
Our next stop - Wurzburg. This place is a small city just south of Frankfurt, at the northernmost end of the "Romantic Road," a winding trail of small cities and towns chock full of historic castles, palaces & cathedrals. Wurzburg, it so happens, is also in the Franconian region of Bavaria, which means they have spent at least as much time on their culinary mastery as they have on architecture.
We pulled into town sometime after noon, and found the nearest tavern. The waitress was nice enough (which by the way, seems to be a defining trait amongst Germans) to educate us on some of the local specials, and they were very unique and pretty much unbelievable. Skick had the local schnitzel (delicious) and I tried the Wurzburg specialty, cooked pork suspended in a sort of gelatin, served cold. Sounds strange, I know, but it was damn good.
That afternoon we checked out the town's Residenz, or palace. There's at least one of these in pretty much every city, all lavishly decorated and whatnot. This one is one of the more famous ones, with a crazy marble staircase, tapestries, chandeliers and all that jazz. Definitely impressive. That night we tried some local wine (a bit odd - we didn't personally like it much) and a huge platter of Franconian cheese, which was delicious.
Back towards the station, we stopped for a late breakfast, and were introduced to the most amazing tradition - "Bavarian breakfast." Bavaria, if you hadn't already guessed, has quite a food and drink culture - just our kind of place! Anyway, so a Bavarian breakfast is Weisswurst (tender sausage), a pretzel and a hefeweissen beer. Now that is the way to start the day!
That wrapped up our time in Wurzburg, so we hopped on a train in the direction of Munich - home of the beer garden.
More on that next time!
We pulled into town sometime after noon, and found the nearest tavern. The waitress was nice enough (which by the way, seems to be a defining trait amongst Germans) to educate us on some of the local specials, and they were very unique and pretty much unbelievable. Skick had the local schnitzel (delicious) and I tried the Wurzburg specialty, cooked pork suspended in a sort of gelatin, served cold. Sounds strange, I know, but it was damn good.
That afternoon we checked out the town's Residenz, or palace. There's at least one of these in pretty much every city, all lavishly decorated and whatnot. This one is one of the more famous ones, with a crazy marble staircase, tapestries, chandeliers and all that jazz. Definitely impressive. That night we tried some local wine (a bit odd - we didn't personally like it much) and a huge platter of Franconian cheese, which was delicious.
Back towards the station, we stopped for a late breakfast, and were introduced to the most amazing tradition - "Bavarian breakfast." Bavaria, if you hadn't already guessed, has quite a food and drink culture - just our kind of place! Anyway, so a Bavarian breakfast is Weisswurst (tender sausage), a pretzel and a hefeweissen beer. Now that is the way to start the day!
That wrapped up our time in Wurzburg, so we hopped on a train in the direction of Munich - home of the beer garden.
More on that next time!
9.12.2007
I'm still alive!
Well, it's the fourth day since our departure and I'm finally now finding the time to write a few things down. Hitting the ground running - to us, at least - is the only real way to travel, especially when we have about seven cities and towns on our two week agenda. At last, though, while silently jetting through the Northern German countryside in a high-speed train, I've found a few minutes to catch up.
The first official day of our vacation would be of little interest to anyone - two planes, three airports, a crink in my neck and a couple hours of airborne sleep is about all I have to report. The important part, namely touching down in Berlin on Saturday morning, went according to plan.
Berlin, in a word or two, is totally awesome. Steeped in history and full of scars from its troubled past, it seems like every turn we took we discovered another monument of some sort. At the same time, some of the most amazing architecture we have ever seen fills the enormous city - from ancient 300 foot tall pillars to massive glass and metal esplanades as futuristic as Tokyo. It seems as if every generation for the past 300 years has left its mark in one way or another in Berlin, and the result is really pretty amazing.
Our first day in Berlin, Skick's family connection Connie met us at the central train station after we spent a few hours stumbling around in coffee and sleep deprived confusion looking for the central tourist office (as Skick noticed, this last part has become a tradition on the first day of our trips.) Connie, a north German resident and great person all around, offered us a perfect introduction to the city and the country as a whole. She took us literally all over town, providing a wealth of historical and cultural information that we never would have siphoned from a tour book. It was a great experience all around.
Near the center of town we spent some time in a memorial to the Jews killed in WWII. It is a large expanse of concrete slabs, evenly spread about three feet apart, forming a sort of grid. At the edges, where you enter, they are short, maybe one foot high, but as you near the center (where the ground dips down) they stand nearly fifteen feet tall. The resulting impression you get while walking deeper into the grid is one of isolation and estrangement - a pretty amazing and powerful effect for such a simple design. We also took some time in an attached museum reminiscent of Hiroshima's A-bomb memorial museum.
That evening Connie took us around part of the "new" East Berlin - still with plenty of grim reminders of the Cold War, but also full of evidence that it has become the hip part of town. Tons of storefronts, car showrooms, trendy restaurants and stylish bars line the narrow streets, and the crowd is generally pretty young.
Day two as equally awesome. We trekked off on our own (Connie was only out for the day) with a vague plan and a whopping 5.5 hours of sleep behind us.
Our first big stop was Checkpoint Charlie, which despite being a bit touristy, did have a ton of historical information freely available. We then tromped through the central park Tiergarten. By park, I mean enormous expanse of trees, monument sand boulevards probably almost as big as a small city in itself. Lots of historic statues and arches lined the walkway, enough to keep us busy for half the day.
After an amazing lunch of meatballs and potatoes at a great local spot, we headed off to Potsdam, an older historic site nearby Berlin. This place is, bz no stretch of the word, ridiculous. Palaces that were meant to rival Versailles spring up from massive gardens filled with fountains, small vineyards, Greek statues and beautiful forested landscapes in every direction. We saw four palaces in all, each larger than the last, until by the end we could do little more than shake our heads and say "You've got to be kidding me." Definitely an experience in amazing - if garish and gaudy - displays of power.
Like I said earlier, we're on to the next day now, which as of now has comprised mainly of train rides so far. Our next stop is Wurzburg, a spot along the historic Romantic Road.
Until next time!
The first official day of our vacation would be of little interest to anyone - two planes, three airports, a crink in my neck and a couple hours of airborne sleep is about all I have to report. The important part, namely touching down in Berlin on Saturday morning, went according to plan.
Berlin, in a word or two, is totally awesome. Steeped in history and full of scars from its troubled past, it seems like every turn we took we discovered another monument of some sort. At the same time, some of the most amazing architecture we have ever seen fills the enormous city - from ancient 300 foot tall pillars to massive glass and metal esplanades as futuristic as Tokyo. It seems as if every generation for the past 300 years has left its mark in one way or another in Berlin, and the result is really pretty amazing.
Our first day in Berlin, Skick's family connection Connie met us at the central train station after we spent a few hours stumbling around in coffee and sleep deprived confusion looking for the central tourist office (as Skick noticed, this last part has become a tradition on the first day of our trips.) Connie, a north German resident and great person all around, offered us a perfect introduction to the city and the country as a whole. She took us literally all over town, providing a wealth of historical and cultural information that we never would have siphoned from a tour book. It was a great experience all around.
Near the center of town we spent some time in a memorial to the Jews killed in WWII. It is a large expanse of concrete slabs, evenly spread about three feet apart, forming a sort of grid. At the edges, where you enter, they are short, maybe one foot high, but as you near the center (where the ground dips down) they stand nearly fifteen feet tall. The resulting impression you get while walking deeper into the grid is one of isolation and estrangement - a pretty amazing and powerful effect for such a simple design. We also took some time in an attached museum reminiscent of Hiroshima's A-bomb memorial museum.
That evening Connie took us around part of the "new" East Berlin - still with plenty of grim reminders of the Cold War, but also full of evidence that it has become the hip part of town. Tons of storefronts, car showrooms, trendy restaurants and stylish bars line the narrow streets, and the crowd is generally pretty young.
Day two as equally awesome. We trekked off on our own (Connie was only out for the day) with a vague plan and a whopping 5.5 hours of sleep behind us.
Our first big stop was Checkpoint Charlie, which despite being a bit touristy, did have a ton of historical information freely available. We then tromped through the central park Tiergarten. By park, I mean enormous expanse of trees, monument sand boulevards probably almost as big as a small city in itself. Lots of historic statues and arches lined the walkway, enough to keep us busy for half the day.
After an amazing lunch of meatballs and potatoes at a great local spot, we headed off to Potsdam, an older historic site nearby Berlin. This place is, bz no stretch of the word, ridiculous. Palaces that were meant to rival Versailles spring up from massive gardens filled with fountains, small vineyards, Greek statues and beautiful forested landscapes in every direction. We saw four palaces in all, each larger than the last, until by the end we could do little more than shake our heads and say "You've got to be kidding me." Definitely an experience in amazing - if garish and gaudy - displays of power.
Like I said earlier, we're on to the next day now, which as of now has comprised mainly of train rides so far. Our next stop is Wurzburg, a spot along the historic Romantic Road.
Until next time!
9.07.2007
Here we go!
Check it out - I made a map!
View Larger Map
This is what our vague semblance of plans for the next two weeks looks like at the moment. Doubtless all of this will change daily, but it gives us something to work with. Our flight leaves Seatac at 8AM tomorrow - and I haven't even started packing. I believe the correct expression is "Balls to the wall."
Any loyal subscribers can expect semi-regular updates for the next 15 days, hopefully interspersed with photos every now and then.
View Larger Map
This is what our vague semblance of plans for the next two weeks looks like at the moment. Doubtless all of this will change daily, but it gives us something to work with. Our flight leaves Seatac at 8AM tomorrow - and I haven't even started packing. I believe the correct expression is "Balls to the wall."
Any loyal subscribers can expect semi-regular updates for the next 15 days, hopefully interspersed with photos every now and then.
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