Wife in the Fast Lane: GERMANY: MUNICH & FUSSEN

Thursday, May 1st

My "parentals" arrived in Munich! Nick and I drove 5 hours to meet them Thursday night to start a 6 day excursion starting in Munich. We wanted to see the beautiful Bavarian area then dip into Liechtenstein and Switzerland.

I discovered that I need to figure out a different GPS system for navigating outside of Italy. I printed google map directions off because I knew I wouldn't have reception or internet connection on the road. The print-out worked well until we had to drive through Munich at night...in the rain. (Holy moly!) Luckily, I turned my data roaming on for about 20 minutes to get us to our hotel. We made it safely to our hotel and Nick and I are still friends. Ha!

We checked into our hotel room. Both of us were so exhausted we didn't realize that we only had a room for one person. It was a small double bed with just one tiny comforter and a pillow. We called reception to ask for another pillow and comforter. While she was in our room I asked her if I had any messages. She looked at me confused. I told her that the phone in our room had a red message light flashing. She informed me that no one can leave messages on the phones. I don't know if this was just lost in translation or I was just crazy because it was almost 1am at this point. haha!

Friday, May 2nd

After a good night's sleep, we had a delicious breakfast and got to see my parents for the first time since they arrived. We started off the day by walking to the famous glockenspiel in Marienplaz at the heart of Munich.

We knew we found the right place when we saw the crowd gathered and staring up at 11am. The glockenspiel only performs at 11am and noon.

It's pretty amazing that this giant coo coo clock (aka - glockenspiel) dates back to 1908.

After the somewhat anticlimactic performance, we walked over to St. Peter's Church. The church was mostly destroyed during WWII, yet the staircase up to the top of the bell tower is still probably as narrow as it was before.

This staircase is meant for traffic going up and down for just a quick 300 steps to the top. Oy!

View from the top was spectacular even though getting a good photo was pretty difficult with the amount of people on a tiny awning.

Nick and I RACED back down the stairs as fast as we could before the next set of tourists arrived.

These little signs were for sale just outside the church. I think Nick and I need one of these. :)

We walked around the side of St. Peter's and into the Viktualien markt. There were vendors selling fresh flowers and tasty treats.

Every town in Germany has a maypole. It's more like an info tower. It lists the various brews, crafts and merchants that are in the town or markets.

We wandered around before stopping in the beer garden for some lunch.

We quickly ordered some brats with sauerkraut and a warm pretzel. Nick ordered a huge piece of meat. I think he wished he had also ordered a brat.

Later we stepped into the Dallmayr Delicatessen on our way to the Residenz. They carry some of the most delicious treats for a steep price. Nick found a small box of edible rose pedals for 30 Euro. No thanks!

Just outside of Dallmayr was Marienhof. This park was once covered with buildings until it was bombed during WWII. They haven't rebuilt as a reminder of the damage of war.

Next door to the delicatessen was Manufactum. It's one of the coolest stores we've ever been in. Nick was actually the one that wanted to take the detour inside. It was the classiest man-store I've ever seen. They had a copper bathtub, leather anything, fancy shaving tools, and knick knacks galore.

Here my mom is holding up a German scrabble game. I would think that would be the WORST possible game to play in Germany since they have words like, "Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaftskapitän."

It started pouring outside, so we hurried over to the Residenz for a tour of one the Wittelbachs palace's.

When we entered, we immediately bought tickets and started to walk into the museum. A woman informed us that we had to leave our wet umbrellas near the cloakroom area. We stood in line for about 30 minutes to put our umbrellas up because there was only one person working the cloakroom. When we finally arrived at the front of the line we were informed that we also had to leave our purses. My purse is tiny. I looked over at the woman that had told us to put our umbrellas up. The cloakroom worker and the woman taking the tickets started arguing in German. A few minutes later, we were allowed to keep our purses with us, and were given a number to retrieve our umbrellas at the end of our trip into the museum. Phew! While we were walking through the museum I noticed almost all of the women had their purses on them AND they were much larger than mine. I don't think it was a shady operation going on, I just don't think that woman was very happy doing her job. I think I'll just start praying for those people I meet from now on. :)

We finally made it inside. Here's mom and dad doing a jig in the Antiquarium.

Fancy shmancy.

We took a quick break to sit and enjoy this little chapel attached to the Residenz. It was severely damaged during WWII. It just reopened in 2003.

I loved how simple it was. It's not dripping in gold.

We continued on and Nick found a kiosk with his favorite number. "510 - Rule!"

I'm not sure who this is on the horse, but I loved how relaxed he looks on this bucking bronco.

The last room we walked through was the Ancestral Gallery of the Wittelsbach Family. It's a big room with a huge family tree.

When we left the Residenz the rain had stopped. I wanted to get a quick pick of the side of the building. The stones were gigantic! And, no, Nick isn't missing a tooth, he had just been eating some chocolate. Hahaha!

These lions lined the street next to the Residenz. I kept seeing locals walk by and rub the front of them. The faces were shiny they had been rubbed so much. I asked this woman as she walked by why she had touched it. She said it was for "good fortune" or good luck.

We walked toward the sound of some music playing near Odeonsplatz. I didn't get a picture because the musicians had a large sign that said, "No photos." But I think my mom played the dumb American card and got one anyway. :)

Here is the Theatinerkirche.

There were many tour groups gathered at the Viscardigasse. Hitler had riled up a group near here to bring revolution to Germany, 10 years before he came to power. 16 of his beloved followers were killed here during his failed coup. He was sent to jail, and started writing his ideas down for Mein Kampf.

Afterward we stepped into the peaceful Hofgarten.

I think we took about 20 photos here and this was the best one we got. :)

We were hoping to ride some bikes over to the English garden, but with the rain on and off all day we decided to just walk. (You can't hold an umbrella when riding a bike.)

We walked by the Prinz Carl Palais.

This was the real reason we wanted to see the English Garden. They have a wave built here for surfers.

I could tell Nick really wanted to try it. :)

We walked further into the garden passed the "Nudist meadow" to head over to the Chinese beer garden. Luckily, there were no nudy-booties out that day.

We didn't order a "pair of wieners" or any beer, but we did have a refreshing drink while we watched an oompah band performing for a wedding.

"Rule!" - So much purple!

We headed back into the downtown area to follow the Rick Steves walking tour. This is the first metro system that actually confused Nick. He's normally very good and quick at figuring them out. I found that this was the EASIEST system I've ever seen. Almost all of the trains go to the same stops.

Also, the main station at Marienplaz is huge, and has some great food! It was surprising to see so many good restaurants in a train station.

The next place on our list was St. Michaels church. Apparently, there are stairs by the altar that lead down to 40 Wittelsbach tombs. We walked up and down the church several times during a service to find the stairs. There were others tourists that looked just as confused as we did. We never found the stairs, but it's just as well because I didn't particularly want to see a bunch of dead stuff. :)

When we walked back out onto the pedestrian mall Nick noticed a store that he wanted to go in. I just want to mark this down in history that Nick not only wanted to go in one store (Manuactum), but TWO in one day! My jaw dropped. And of course I obliged...in hopes that he will politely return the favor one day. :) Haha!

We walked back down the pedestrian mall passed the German Hunting and Fishing Museum (where we snapped this silly photo) and onto the Frauenkirche.

We think this was supposed to be a water feature, but it was dry now! So we couldn't resist playing on it just like the other kids. :)

The onion shaped dome behind me somehow survived the bombings of WWII, while most of the church it's attached to did not.

That's where we were located on this "Game of Thrones" styled map.

Somehow I took a wrong turn and missed part of the Rick Steves tour. (It wasn't the first wrong turn I'd taken that day. Apparently, Munich's downtown area confuses me, and the train system confuses Nick.) Instead of backtracking we decided to continue on with the end of the tour. It led us to the Hofbrauhaus - the world famous beer hall. We thought it would be a good place to try and get some grub. Literally ever table in this huge beer hall was full. One waiter kindly asked a couple if we could eat at their table. Unfortunately, it had already been spoken for. I tried one more time. I started asking a waiter for a table as he walked by. He didn't hear me or he was ignoring me, so I gently touched his arm as he walked away. He turned and stared at his arm where I had touched him, then stared at me in disgust. My first thought was that I had somehow hurt him, and then I realized I had actually offended him by grabbing his arm. Clearly, he wasn't really interested in helping me, so I just moved on. I think he may have partaken in some beer while he was on duty. We all decided we could probably find a better place to eat than a noisy, hot beer hall with intoxicated waiters.

There was a little beer hall near our hotel called Hacker Pschoor Brauhaus. The food was excellent. The service was not that great. I ordered my favorite: shpitzel. It's a fancy mac and cheese.

We all tried a different version of their non-alcoholic beer. Mine was mostly lemonade with some beer. It was actually pretty good! Nick's tasted like metal. Ick.

In all, despite the weather being somewhat cold and dreary, we had a great start to our trip!

Saturday, May 3rd

The next morning we got up and drove outside of Munich to Fussen. Once again we didn't have GPS, so it was a little intimidating driving down old farm roads in the middle of nowhere in a different country... with signs in a different language. No big deal. Somehow we made it to Hotel Am Hopfensee in about an hour and a half to drop off our luggage and continue on to our next adventure. My dad had never been to Austria, so we drove about 25 minutes from our hotel into Reutte, Austria, which came highly recommended by Rick Steves.

We must have hit Reutte at an off time. Reutte seemed like a ghost town. All of the major restaurants apparently close at NOON! Who does that?! I felt like we were back in Italy. We did find one little cafe that was open. They had a very limited menu, so we all ordered pizzas. I can honestly say that I've bought frozen pizzas that were better than the pizzas this cafe served; however, they made up for it in their desserts. They were delicious! And we had one of the best hot chocolates here as well.

Side note: One trend we started to notice, was that there was always one fly flying around us at almost every meal we had been to on our trip. It was very strange.

I didn't take any pictures of the town because it wasn't as charming as I had imagined. One of the big draws for the town are 4 castles that surround it, but it was so foggy that day we couldn't see any of them.

We left Reutte, and drove back into Germany to see the Linderhof castle. The drives on the winding roads in Bavaria are breathtaking. I would go back just for the views....but, maybe with a really good GPS. :)

Our first sighting of the gardens at Linderhof. Silly Nick. :)

It was a whopping 39 degrees F and drizzling, but it was still beautiful!

You can't tell from this photo, but there were TONS of tourists there even though it wasn't even 40 degrees and it was raining. Where did all these people come from?! It's not even summer yet!

Doesn't this palace look tiny?! That's because it is! But it sure packs a punch.

We were waiting for our English tour, so we walked through the garden to kill some time.

This is one of the most BA statues. He makes reading look cool. It almost looks like he's "flipping the bird" with his other hand..or maybe he's just pointing at something above with his middle finger.

It was finally our turn to take the tour. We viewed 12 rooms in the palace. We weren't supposed to take pictures, but I snuck a few in.

Look at this place! It was dripping in gold!

I wouldn't mind sleeping here.

Apparently, Mad Kind Ludwig had a passion for building palaces like his father and grandfather. This was the only palace he would live to see finished. He spent most of his time alone. He even liked to dine alone. They came up with a table elevator system to fit his reclusive lifestyle. The cooks would prepare his food in the kitchen and set it on his table, then they would raise into his room above. How cool is that?! And this was more than 100 years ago!

After the tour inside, we went back outside to the gardens to take a tour of the grotto Ludwig had built.

This grotto was built in 1876. The electricity was supplied by 24 dynamos. He was way ahead of his time.

Next we hopped over to the Moorish kiosk which was built for the World Exhibition in Paris in 1867.

At this point we were all frozen. So we headed back to the car. Nick must have really been freezing because he raced back to the car ahead of us.

On our drive back we went through Oberammergau. We wanted to stop and take a few photos, but all Nick could think about was the sauna back at the hotel.

That night we had a delicious dinner at our hotel. Tripadvisor didn't have great reviews for restaurants in our area, so I'd highly recommend our hotel restaurant if you happen to be in that area.

It was a great day, but we were sure excited at the forecast of sun for the next day.

Sunday, May 4th

The four of us got up early and drove straight to the Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein castle ticket booth. We were informed that it was best to get there early before the crowd. We walked to the front of the line because we had preordered our tickets. It was a good thing! A few hours later the line was ridiculous!

It's quite a walk between the two castles, so the mode of transportation is horse drawn buggies.

We had an hour to kill so we ducked into a hotel to get some hot chocolate. My take on this area is that they survive on tourism, but they don't always like tourists. Hmm...

Our first view of the Hohenshwangau castle where the Mad King was raised.

We stood in line waiting for our tour number to come up on a screen. If for some reason, you aren't paying attention to the numbers it would be easy to miss the start of your tour. And if you miss the start of your tour, it's a huge headache trying to get into a different tour. Sounds like a recipe for disaster.

The clouds started to dissipate, and we had our first sighting of Neuschwanstein from Hohenschwangau. From the time he was a boy, The Mad King Ludwig (MKL) envisioned this castle on the hill from his bedroom window at Hohenschwangau.

Our guide was pretty hysterical. He was a little sleepy and possibly hung over that Sunday morning.

This was the only picture I was able to get inside the castle.

On our walk back down from Hohenshwangau. I kept having to remind myself that it was just the beginning of May. There were so many tourists. I would guess that at least 60% of them were asian. Also, many people were not dressed for the cold weather or prepared for the amount of walking around this area. One woman was wearing high heels! SMH.

We started our one-hour climb up to Neuschwanstein.

We took a quick break at a cafe and gift shop. There was a sign we noticed after taking this photo. It says, "1 Euro for a photo with a hat." Haha! No.

The smell of fresh baked donuts was taunting us. So we bought a few on the way up...and maybe on the way back too. :)

We reached the top and there was still snow on the mountain!

I was almost more interested in the fact that SUNSHINE was coming our way!

It's hard to tell from this photo, but that bridge is PACKED with people on it taking photos of Neuschwanstein.

Once again, during our tour we weren't allowed to take photos, but I tried to sneak a few in.

The tour was only 30 minutes because only about a third of the castle was finished before MKL died. We had about 40 people on the tour with us which made it a little hard to hear in the large rooms.

Hohenschwangau below

After the tour, we made it up the steep climb to Mary's Bridge. I had to get a photo of all the people standing on the bridge taking pics.

My mom took this photo of us. It was pretty funny to watch her as people were running into her trying to get their own photos.

Nick had to do a jumping photo! There was a group of little asian girls that all starting laughing when Nick did this photo. They like to do jumping photos too. :)

We grabbed some food on the way back down. They must have run out of normal sized buns...:)

After our castle adventures, it was time for some fun! We escaped the crowds by heading over to Tegelburg for a luge ride.

One of the few photos we got together on the drive to the luge.

There was literally no line for this ride!

Nick went first since he wanted to race down.

Haha! He was going so fast I couldn't get him in the frame!

My mom was giving me a hard time for going so slow. And then she went down about 15 minutes later. I think I've seen snails move faster than her! Haha!

Weeeeeee!

This park next to the luge had all kinds of fun toys to play on. Here's Nick racing a 7 year old girl on a zip line. Haha! Tough competition.

It turned into such a beautiful day. I could see why MKL and his ancestors wanted to live in this area.

We took a quick jaunt back to our hotel on Hopfensee Lake. We had seen some locals standing around this wooden box and laughing hysterically. We decided to check it out...

Hahahahah! It's a little German prank! Nick tested it for us. It works!

We put some water back in it for the next person. :)

We wanted to ride the Ferrari on the lake, but the boat rental company was closed that afternoon. Add that to our list of "to do's" for next time.

Such a great way to end our day!

We even spotted Neuschwanstein from the lake we were staying on.

I know this is really random, but I REALLY wanted to pet a cow while I was in Bavaria. They're so cute, and they all wear cowbells. None of them were as interested in me as I was in them.

It's hard to tell, but there's a cat in this photo and deer up on the hill in the background as well as the cows. This place is so magical! I want to live here! They have breathtaking views with mountains, lakes, CASTLES, and green rolling hills with sweet cows and their cowbells.

We ate at a cute little hotel restaurant called Fruhlingsgarten in Fussen that night. It was an adventure to get to through winding one-lane roads with huge tour buses. But it was totally worth it! They had gourmet food and a family atmosphere. There were German Shepherds running around the lobby area. They were so cute!

We did a quick drive through Fussen that night after dinner. It's such a quaint, little town. It didn't look to overrun with tourists like Rick Steves seems to think. Then again this isn't high season yet. But nothing beat our little hotel on the lake. This was our view at sunset.

Monday, May 5th -