Sunday Nov 30 Rothenburg

Had a VERY good nights sleep last night (not sure if Clemente did as I probably snored enough to keep the whole building up). It's now about 9am on Sunday and the Church bells are ringing in the village. We had a nice breakfast and ready to head out for the day. Most things start to open at 10am. The tour buses should be arriving shortly too. Ok, gotta run!

Saturday Nov 29- Rothenberg!

We took the train from Munich to Rothenberg ob der Tauber, the medieval walled city. It is truly amazing and that is just what we saw from the taxi ride to the hotel. This hotel is so damn cute. I am at the computer terminal outside our room in the hall. We are resting for a short time before heading out in the city. There are a lot of people here- tour buses coming for the xmas market which opened last night. I'm hoping they'll be gone by late afternoon, but we have all day tomorrow. Ok, time for a quick 30 minute nap, then off for the day. Later that same day... We walked the city streets for a couple hours, got something to eat- amazed at the architecture. We found out that 40% of the city was destroyed in WWII but the remainder is 500 to 1000 years old. Later in the night we went to the main square for the 8pm English walking tour of the city with the Nightwatchman. He is thoroughly enjoyable to listen to. You walk the streets and even go outside the walls and he explains what things are and why they were built the way they were. There were about 50 people walking with us and it was a cold night (except for that hot wine we had minutes before the walk....hmmm....this hot wine thing seems to becoming a theme with me I think. It sure was nice to get back into our toasty room.

TV, table & clothes chest in our room at Hotel Gerberhaus

One of the most comfortable beds I've ever slept in!







This chair folds open into a twin bed. The gated wall of the city is just outside our window.







Short video of our room upon our arrival.


The free computer terminal was right here outside our room door.



Free tray of cookies in our room on arrival.




This was taken from in front of our hotel.




Horse rides through the village.


This lady would occasionally throw down some little bag of goodies for people- not sure why.


Rothenberg is known for their Schneeballs (snowballs in English). It is like taking the remnants from pie crust and I think they deep fry them and dip in various items- nuts, chocolate, cinnamon/sugar, etc. They sell them all over town for about $1.50.



Main square (lots of people during the day on bus trips- nighttime is much quieter)


We had dinner at Italian restaurant. The funny thing is- I don't drink beer at home, but I like 2 versions of their lighter beer. One is call Radler which is beer & lemonade mix and the other is Russian which is a white beer & lemonade.



One of many fountains along the street.

Climbing the steps to the wall around the city- about 2 miles long.

Walking the wall around the city.



Xmas market stalls around the city.


The Nightwatchman- very entertaining!



On the Nightwatchman tour, we went outside the walls of the town and this is looking at the gates. Yes, it was as ominous as it looks....especially at 25 degrees.


A brief video of the Nightwatchman walk.

Friday Nov 28- afternoon/evening

Friday, after Nymphenberg, we went back into the city to the Karlstadt area. We watched some ice skaters while having some Gluhwein (that good ole hot wine to warm you up). We then visited Michaelskirche- beautiful huge church where the royal family is buried in the crypt underneath which of course we had to see. Then we had lunch at a beer hall, then some shopping, then a stop at another church- Asamkirche- a very small Church but more Roccoco decoration than you can imagine, then back to the hotel. For dinner went went to the Hofbrauhaus- it was obligatory. It took a while walking around to find a table to sit at. Clemente had the pork knuckle and I had the pork steak and both had a litre of beer. The oompaa paa music was a little disappointing- they would play a song, stop, a few minutes later play another, etc.

Nightime at Marienplatz

Watching people skating in the Karlstadt area. I love that they had these little helpers for the kids.

Clemente had a friend it appears after selling some more Gluhwein to us.


Had lunch at this big beerhall. They sat us with a guy who spoke only a couple words of English. The one thing he knew was "Obama" with a big smile.


Inside Michaelskirche. It is quite beautiful. The royals are buried directly under the altar. You enter through a floor door in the right transept.


This is the grave of King Ludwig II - the "mad" king who had Neuschwanstein built and died "mysteriously" in a lake.


As you can see, Clemente is very happy with his pork knuckle he had for dinner at the Hofbrauhaus!

Dinner at Hofbrauhaus


Here is a short video of the Asamkirche (sorry to those of you with dialup computers that can't see these videos, aka Mom)

Friday afternoon

We went to Schloss Nymphenberg this morning- on the outskirts of Munich. The castle is owned by the government but the Duke of Bavaria still lives there. It is a massive complex yet you only get to view small portions but it is totally worth it! The main building had the living quarters. We also went to the Amalienburg which is the hunting lodge in the woods at the rear of the castle. We also went in the Marstall Museum building which has all the sleighs and coaches along with the porcelain museum.


A sample of the porcelain in the Nymphenberg Palace.


Some of the sleighs and coaches on display

Another porcelain piece

In front of the Nymphenberg Palace (grounds extend WAY behind it too)

Inside the main hall on 2nd floor

Bill with portrait of Lola Montes in the "Hall of Beauties". I just finished reading her biography before coming to Germany. She was King Ludwig I's lover in the 1840's and was one of the main reasons the King had to abdicate his throne- fascinating story.

One of the beautiful coaches.

Believe it or not, this is the "hunting lodge". It is called the Amalienburg and has this large hall of mirrors. It is only about 300 feet behind the main house but it has a bedroom and kitchen also. I guess if they got tired and didn't want to walk back.

Out front of the castle on the pond.

Thursday- Thanksgiving Day

Its 1030pm and back in the room after another tiring day. We went to the Dachau concentration camp today- very bleak. Later we went to the Bavaria Museum- it was fine but not what we thought it would be and then to the Pinakothek der Moderne (Museum of Modern Art) - very, how should I say it, ......odd? (Clemente here: Loved it!!!) I kept my views to myself (thought I'd burst by the time we left). Then after a short rest at the hotel, we went to the Oktoberfest grounds about 7 blocks from our hotel to the Winter Festival- a small fair. They were selling lots of trinkets and everyone was drinking at the many bars, we had dinner and then back to the hotel. Nothing out of the ordinary to report today :) In the pictures, there is one of the dinner at the Winter Festival, exhibit at the Pinakothek der Moderne, restroom (yes, Clemente will take pictures everywhere) at the Modern Art Museum, and the crematorium at Dachau.

Thursday- Thanksgiving morning

Just thought I'd write a line or two while Clemente gets ready for the day (trying to figure out how many layers of clothes to wear). We are off to Dachau concentration camp this morning, then a couple museums for the afternoon. We will probably end up this evening at the Tollwood Winter Market at the Oktoberfest grounds, about 8 blocks from the hotel. It sounds more like a county fair than a Xmas market and is free (my favorite word).

Couple observations- food is very good but I'm not seeing the beer/pretzels/sausages like I thought I would. They make it sound like that is all the city has. There are more middle Eastern people around this neighborhood- I believe Turkish- so food is good. Very few people are on cell phones. Kids are better behaved (except for those obnoxious American kids from the other day). Everyone has been communicable with most speaking enough English but if they only know a couple words, you get the message and they don't get upset. Our tv only has one English channel and it is MTV or something like that so we don't spend time watching that. They have great desserts/breads everywhere.

Well breakfast is calling so must go fill my belly for the day- several meats, cheeses, fresh breads, about a dozen fresh jams, Nutella, boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, deviled eggs, eggplant, sundried tomatoes, tomatos, mozzarella, musli, yogurts, coffee, juice, teas, croissants, etc. OH, now I am hungry! Later!

Wednesday Nov 26

We got up early, had a wonderful breakfast (one picture in here of one part of the breakfast buffet-they had alot more), then took 2 hour train ride to the Neuschwanstein (white) & Hohenschwangau (yellow) castles. It was a breathtaking day. The sun was shining, snow on the ground and the castles were amazing. It was SO cold though! We were so thankful there was no wind. Had 2 horsedrawn carriage rides also. We walked around the city of Fussen afterwords. You can click on the triangle next to the picture with the horses as I tried a short video on our horse ride. The train home was cancelled so they drove us part way by bus to another train station and continued that way. We both lost one glove in the past 24 hours so had to each buy a new pair. Clemente's went down the gap in the subway and mine fell off somewhere during that horse ride. Oh, well, I like the new ones better anyway. Almost 10pm Wednesday and go to bed soon. We've been in town 2 1/2 days and we feel like we've done so much already!