My mom, Sheila, has become very good at journaling about her trips with us since she then goes home and creates wonderful scrapbooks with our treasured memories. This trip was no exception. She was very dedicated to write down her adventures every night before she fell asleep, then once they returned home she has typed them all up, did research to add historical significance to some sights and this time even included traditional German recipes for all the food we ate. I can’t wait to see how this scrapbook turns out! Since she has done such a wonderful job, I’m “borrowing” just a sampling of her journaling to create my blog.
Dec. 23rd, 2009
(Ok, I’ve already mentioned the worst part of the trip. Luckily only the first two hours, which included delayed flights, destroyed luggage, stolen jewelry, incorrect rental car and my father running over my husband’s foot…so we’ll just gloss over those details, get on the road and to the enjoyable rest of the trip.) We proceeded on our two hour drive to Rothenburg-ob-der-Tauber (literally, "red castle on the Tauber"). At the Marketplaz we found the Christmas market where we had Gluhwien, (glow wine) a hot wine, which nobody especially cared for. I like the smell of it and enjoy holding a steaming hot cup on a cold winter’s night, but not so much the taste. Jim and Seth had brats (mmmm bratwurst), while Kristal and I had wiener hose or meter long brats. Those were fun to eat! We all had the Schneeballen (snowball), which is a Rotherburg specialty.
Our bed and breakfast was inside the city wall and was built
in 1521. It was very cozy, although we
all had to share a room together. I’m
sure, just the thing Seth wanted to do with the man that just ran him over. Being
jet lagged, I unfortunately awoke at 3AM and decided to shower not realizing it
was so early. I broke the shower head in
the process so we all had to shower with just the hose. After my shower I figured out that it was the
middle of the night so I laid down again until Seth's alarm went off, he had
forgotten to adjust for the time zone change so instead of 5:30 it was only
4:30. But no one realized this until everyone
else had gotten up and showered. Then we
realized that it was only 5:30 AM (not 6:30) and breakfast wasn’t until
7AM. So we all went back to sleep for
another hour and a half. Once it was 7AM
the hotel cat came around meowing. If we
would have known that the hotel had its own alarm clock system we would have
all just slept till the cat.
Dec. 24th, 2009 Christmas Eve
We continued along the Romantic Road toward Nurnberg today. The Romantische Strasse or Romantic Road is
220 miles in length. The name isn't
meant for lovebirds but rather means, wonderful, fabulous and imaginative
having started as a road on which the Romans traveled. The route winds through medieval towns,
villages, castles and churches. The
concept began after World War II to attract tourist to the region. This area did not contain industrial plants
or areas of military interest so they were spared destruction during the war. Prior to World War II the area's economic
base had been destroyed by the Thirty Year War, thereby preventing
modernization of the area. These factors
preserved the towns in their historic state.
The Romantic Road begins in Wurzburg and winds its way down to
Fussen.
Once in Nurnberg we headed straight to the
Christkindlesmarket (Christ-child-market) in the old city center, Hauptmarket,
we didn’t have much time since it closed at 2:00. Christmas markets (Weihnachtsmarkte) date
back to at least the 14th century. Well
into the 20th century they were the only time to buy seasonal items, such as
baking molds and decorations. The most
famous Christmas market is the Nurnberg Christkindlesmarkt. It is at least 375 years old making it one of
the oldest, and with over 200 vendors it is also one of the largest.
We arrived just in time to see the Mannleinlaufen strike 12
noon. The Mannleinlaufen is a clock
dating from 1509 and every day at noon the seven electors of the Holy Roman
Empire glide out of the clock to bow to Emperor Charles IV before sliding back
under cover. The clock is on
Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady) built in 1350 by Roman Emperor Charles
IV. The site was originally the Jewish
quarter until Charles IV had it burned, killing 500 Jews, making way for the
central market.
Within those 2 hours we had time to stimulate their economy
by buying 3 sets of the Holy Family wood carvings. It is a set with many additional pieces which
we hope to add to each year. Germany,
especially southern Germany, is known for its wood carving and wooden nativity
sets. Seth and Kristal also got a wooden
Advent calendar which plays a music box when the doors are opened. The Advent calendar (Der Adventskalender) is
a German invention designed to involve children in the time leading up to
Christmas. The first hand-crafted Advent
calendars were produced in the mid 19th century. The first printed calendar appeared in Munich
in 1903.
On the corner of the Hauptmarket market square is the
Schoner Brunnen (Beautiful Fountain).
Carved around the year 1400, the elegant 60 foot high Gothic fountain is
adorned with 40 figures arranged in tiers.
The gold ring is set into the railing surrounding the fountain,
reportedly placed there by an apprentice carver. Touching it is said to bring good luck.
Kristal remembered from her trip in high school that you had to turn it three
times, so that's what we did.
Just as the market was closing we were able to get sausages
and lebkuchen (gingerbread cookies), then we took a walking tour of Nurnberg
starting at the Kaiserburg (Imperial Castle), once the residence of the Holy
Roman emperors. The oldest part of the
complex was built in 1050. Also on our
walking tour was the house of the great painter Albrecht Durer who lived there
from 1509 to 1528.
Dec. 25th, 2009 Christmas
Since it was Christmas day we weren’t planning
that much would be opened today and so planned to spend the day leisurely
driving the Romantic Road and
stopping and several of the quaint little towns along the way. First we stopped at Dinkelsbuhl a beautifully
preserved medieval town which is less tourist-oriented than Rothenburg. The Munster St. Georg (Minister St. George)
is a focal point of the town.
Then
we set off for Nordlingen, which has it entire city wall still intact and you
can walk along the top of it around the entire town. We set off along the top and walked half way
around, and then wandered through the streets
Nordlingen
lies in the center of a huge, basin like depression, the Ries, that until the
beginning of this century was believed to be the remains of an extinct
volcano. In 1960 it was proven by two
Americans that the 24-km-wide (15 mile wide) crater was caused by a meteorite
at least 1/2 mile in diameter. The
compressed rock, or Suevit, formed by the explosive impact of the meteorite was
used to construct many of the town's buildings, including St. Georg's
tower. You could see the crater rim best
from the tower. At the center of town is
St. Georg church or "The Daniel" as the locals refer to it. We climbed the 365 steps which were concrete
spiral steps the first half but then turned to wooden switch back steps the
last half. It was quite scary to climb
up.
Dec. 26th, 2009
As we approach Dauchu we see our first glimpse of the
Alps. Dachau is infamous worldwide as
the site of the first Nazi concentration camp.
The camp is the site where more than 30,000 of the 200,000-plus
prisoners lost their lives. The
atmosphere at Dauchau was reverent and somber.
One is left to wonder how man's inhumanity to his fellow man could be allowed to
reach that extent.
I wondered what life was like for my Great Grandparents and
how they came to the United States and what my Grandparents thought of the
reports of what was happening in Germany during the war. What did they think of their sons fighting
against their homeland? What records I
have indicate my Great Grandparents were from Westphalia, Germany, which I have
found a region called North Rhine-Westphalia in what is now Lower Saxony. I remember that my mother said they spoke
"low German" and that she did not speak English until she started to
school.
We then walked around the town of Dauchu and visited Schloss
Dachau, the hilltop castle, with views of the Alps and Munich, dominates the
town. Only one wing of the palace
remains having been built for the Wittelsbach ruler Max Emanuel in 1715.
Dec. 27th, 2009
We took the train into Munich. Our first stop was to watch the glockenspiel
which plays daily at 11, noon and 9PM.
As the chimes peal out over the square, the clock's doors flip open and
brightly colored dancers and jousting knights act out two events from Munich's
past: a tournament held in Marienplatz in 1568 and the Schafflertanz (Dance of
the Cooper's), which commemorated the end of the plague of 1517.
We took the tram to the Flugwerft Schleissheim (flight
museum). Jim was somewhat disappointed
in the aircraft museum, in that they didn't have more German versus American
aircraft.
And of course no trip to Munich is complete without dinner
at the Hofbrauhaus with it's oompah band - the father of all beer halls. In 1589 Duke Wilhelm V founded a brewery at
the royal residence and it continued until 1808. Maximilian I built his brewery in 1607 and
Ludwig I decreed that it should be open to the public in 1828, thus laying the
foundation of today's Hofbrauhaus.
Measuring 11,000 square meters the Hofbrauhaus that we know today was
opened on Sept. 22 1897. It can seat
3,000 people and with hundreds of waiters and waitress it can accommodate as
many as 30,000 people a day. Over it's
400 year history it has had regulars such as Mozart and visitors from all over
the world. In January 1823, Munich's
opera house caught fire and since the fire brigade's water had frozen the
Hofbrauhaus sent large barrels of beer to put out the fire. During the Thirty Year War the Hofbrauhaus
gave 362 buckets of beer to the conquering Swedish army and was therefore not
destroyed. It was not so lucky during
the wartime bombing of World War II when 60% of the building was destroyed.
In Germany, they don’t serve tap water in restaurants and
most bottled water is mineral water and more expensive than soda. The soda is also more expensive then the
beer. So I finally had to concede and
acknowledge the fact that Kristal did indeed HAVE to drink lots of beer while
she was studying here in college…it was simply the most economical thing to do.
Dec. 28th, 2009
We once again took the train to Munich today and then a tram
to Schloss Nymphenburg. Nymphenburg Palace on the
outskirts of Munich was the summer residence of Bavaria's electors and
kings. In 1664 when construction began it was surrounded by open
countryside. Over the years the palace and gardens have been expanded and
remodeled extensively with each successive ruler by an army of architects,
artist, painters, sculptors, landscapers. Radiating out from the focal
main pavilion is the "ideal town" with the residence of the royal
family, stables and a dairy, kitchens and butcher's facilities, rooms for
artists and craftsmen, palace chapel and monastery, a mill and a porcelain
factory. To this day members of the royal family live here and the
porcelain factory is in operation as it continues to be one of the most
extensive palace complexes with its lavish display of wealth and power.
Bavaria's "fairy-tale king,
Ludwig II was born here and spent much of his youth here. King Ludwig I's
Gallery of Beauties is a series of portraits done between 1827 and 1850
reflecting Ludwig I's ideal of beauty rather than social rank of the
sitters. The daughter of a cobbler is included in the collection.
It occurred to me that all of the beauties had very straight noses. The
Koch nose would not have been attractive to Ludwig I.
We then headed back to the main
part of Munich to the Fussgangerzone or pedestrian zone which is a mile long
central shopping area and got some roasted hot chestnuts. We had 10 to
share between the 4 of us and had a surplus. Soft and chewy is not
appropriate in our minds for a nut. Although they were not a favorite for
any of us, we can at least say we tried them.
Dec. 29th, 2009
We left Augsburg and drove in a
wintry mix to Ettal to see the Kloster Ettal. It was founded by Holy
Roman Emperor Ludwig the Bavarian for a group of knights and a community of
Benedictine monks. This is the largest Benedictine monastery in Germany:
approximately 55 monks live here. The
church's chief treasure is its enormous dome (83 feet wide) depicting
heaven. Ettal liqueurs, made from a centuries-old recipe, are still
distilled at the monastery. The monks make seven different liqueurs, some
with more than 70 mountain herbs. Originally the liqueurs were made as
medicines, and the have legendary health-giving properties. Their ad
is "Two monks know how it's made, 2 million Germans know how it
tastes."
From Ettal we went to Schloss
Linderhof. Built between 1870 and 1879 on the spectacular grounds of his
father's hunting lodge, Schloss Linderhof was the only one of Ludwig II's royal
residences to have been completed during the monarch's short life. It was
the smallest of the king's castles, but his favorite retreat as a reclusive
monarch. The palace's main inspiration came from the Sun King of France,
Louis XIV, who is portrayed in numerous pieces of art. This castle has
several impressive features including the dining room which features a table that
rises from and descends to the kitchen below so that Ludwig could eat his meals
in private and a huge artificial grotto in which scenes from Wagner opera were
performed, with full lighting effects to create the illusion of a royal dream
world. After seeing a few of his castles and learning a little be about
Bavaria’s “Fairy Tale King” we all go very interested in learning more about
King Ludwig II and also about Richard Wagner who influenced him so much.
Seth and Kristal had a snowball fight.
Dec. 30th, 2009
Today we were four more of the one
million people to visit Neuschwanstein Castle. With the background of the
Thannheim mountains, Poellat Gorge and the two lakes; the Alp Lake and Swan Lake make Neushwanstein a very picturesque and romantic setting. We
arrived early morning and bought our ticket and still had over an hour wait,
which we spent walking up to the castle and taking pictures along the
way. The walk took about 40 minutes.
After 17 years of construction,
Ludwig II only spent a total of 108 days at Neuschwanstein Castle and work
stopped when he was taken away and died. The castle is a symbol of the
mysterious life and death of the King Ludwig II and one of the most recognized
symbols of Germany and top attractions. This castle was conceived by a
set designer instead of an architect, thanks to King Lidwig II's deep love of
the theater. The castle soars from its mountainside like a stage
creation - it should hardly come as a surprise that Walt Disney took it as the
model for his castle in the movie Sleeping Beauty and later for the Disneyland
castle itself.
Above the Poellet Gorge with
it's 149 foot high falls is the Marienbrucke (Queen Mary's Bridge).
At a height of 304 feet, the bridge is older than the castle. It was
named after Ludwig's mother, Queen Mary, when it was rebuilt in 1866.
It had rained for several hours
during the night and there was still heavy fog and mist. The walkway to
the bridge was closed and there was still ice on the path but quit a few people
including ourselves climbed around the barricades and braved the icy
sidewalk. This will probably be one of Seth’s most memorable experiences
during this trip that his mother-in-law was the one persuading the rest of the
group to break the rules and go around the barricades. But it was totally worth it for the pictures.
On our way to the bridge we had a
good view of the Hohenschwangau castle.
We did later go walk around the Hohenschwangau castle. Built by the knights of Schwangau in the 12th
century, the castle was remodeled by King Ludwig II's father, the Bavarian
crown prince (and later king) Maximilian, between 1832 and 1836 after it had
been heavily damaged during the Napoleonic wars. Unlike Neuschwanstein,
the yellowish Schloss Hohenschwangau has the feeling of a noble home, where comforts
would be valued as much as outward splendor.
