Upon arrival, I noted right away that it felt a lot like a German version of Lucca. It’s got a lot of “old world charm”, but still has some modernity to it. It seems just off the beaten path enough to still feel authentically German, but not so far off that you felt like you were in the middle of nowhere. In short, it was exactly what we were looking for.
After a nice walk from the train station (side note: traveling by train is a lot of fun! Longer train rides feel a lot like airline flights with more space in your seat, lots of room to get up and walk around, no security, enough time to really feel relaxed and enjoy the experience of traveling, and nice scenery all the time. In the US, it seems train travel is a bit more expensive than air travel these days, but if you have the opportunity, I recommend it. It is slower than plane, but is it’s own experience that we have found quite fun!) we made our way to our hotel. On the walk, it was clear we had found a great place. It felt like we were walking through a Disney movie. I’ve heard people use that phrase before and understood what they meant, but I’ll tell you experiencing it in person is pretty awesome. When you see places like this in cartoons, you think the artists are exaggerating and they may be, but not much. I’ll let the pictures speak a bit and they don’t even do it justice.
Checking in at our hotel, the charm continued. It was what appeared to be a family run old style hotel with actual metal keys and a central staircase that lead to the floors…that doesn’t sound that exciting or interesting as I type it, but it felt like there was an innkeeper taking care of the place and that we were guests of theirs, not a corporate building where people go to sleep. Breakfast was included with a nice young lady who made a point to chat with us a bit and tell what local beer we should try (unfortunately we never got to try her recommendation).
We only spent two half days in Bamberg so we didn’t really have a ton of time to sight-see. The list of “must see” attractions there is small, but I found I would’ve been happy just wandering the town and looking down side streets and finding little bits of history around unexpected corners the whole time. If our year-long adventure would’ve been based in Germany instead of Italy, this would’ve been the place.
Before I get on to Munich, a quick note about Gluhwein. This drink seems to be the official beverage of Weihnachtmarkts (Christmas markets). It’s a warm, mulled wine and it comes in various flavors with various other liquors added or not added. It’s clear why it’s so popular as it warms both body and spirit in the cold. I have officially decided that our new home when we return to the US will have a third tap dedicated to what I shall now refer to as, The Nectar of the Gods.
Onward.
During World War II, both Frankfurt and Munich were bombed pretty badly (actually, I suppose it’s more accurate to say they were bombed very well, but I digress). Most of both cities were destroyed and needed to be rebuilt. Frankfurt made the choice to take that opportunity to modernize when they rebuilt. They decided to do away with old styles and turn it into the Manhattan of Germany. As you may have noticed in Stacey’s post about our time there, to this day it’s quite modern.
Munich, on the other hand, chose to go the opposite route. They made the decision to rebuild as they were pre-war in a more traditional style that showed off their German-ness. The whole city, while definitely modern and metropolitan, has a definite sense of heritage. The downtown area is pedestrian only (one of the first cities of post-car era to make that decision) which makes it very accessible and fun to walk through, sightseeing and people watching.
Our first day was spent enjoying this downtown area. Our first stop of the day (after a slow morning) was lunch at the world famous Hof Brau Haus. For those who aren’t familiar, when you think of a German beer hall with a polka band playing and lederhosen clad gentleman serving you obnoxiously large beers, you’re thinking of this place. And it’s exactly like you imagined it. Very large, very busy, and very noisy with liter pours of beer all around. A must-experience if you ever find yourself here.
The rest of the day was spent strolling the streets and market picking up the sites along the way. A few highlights: the old town government building with large, mechanical clock with moving, Small-World-like figures every half hour (sadly which we never got to see operate in person as it seemed not be running the times we were nearby),
a stop in the central church where we happened upon a free advent concert in progress including some young performers from local schools and alphorn ensembles,
a Macy’s-like window display at a department store showing off various fairytales with stuffed animals,
a stop to get the girls some traditional German dresses (Arya has chosen to wear hers just about every time we’ve returned to our hotel/apartment since purchasing it. She’d wear it around all the time if it weren’t 1 degree C outside),
and a dinner stop at Hans Im Gluck for dinner. After lots of würst and schnitzel and pretzels, this Munich based burger place was a welcome change with very fresh burgers in a hip atmosphere and a menu written inside a fairytale children’s book.
Day two was spent on a scenic tour (our only bus tour of the 12 day trip) to see Neuschwanstein castle, aka the castle Walt Disney was inspired by to build Disneyland’s castle. Along the way we stopped at another smaller royal residence, Linderhof Palace, also built by Ludwig II (the “Mad King”). Ashley and Arya had been hoping for snow since we landed in Berlin and finally we had some.
Beautiful grounds and an amazing “small” palace, complete with Lewis Girl made sneeman (our new favorite German word).
Another quick stop in a small village along the way and finally to the main event, Neuschwanstein castle.
Ludwig II grew up in this place.
Yeah, that yellow castle with the great view on top of that hill between the lake and the town wasn’t good enough for him. He decided to build this on a nearby mountain where there were the ruins of an older castle.
So there’s that. By the way, that’s not our picture. The day we were there, the weather wasn’t quite so nice. Here’s what we saw from a distance.
Alas, the bad weather, combined with a ban on photos inside allows me to only share these few shots with you.
Let’s just say that it is truly a sight to see. Ludwig was indeed a little mad and the inside is as grand as the exterior. He was a huge fan of composer Richard Wagner and every room is themed to one of Wagner’s operas, including a room that is literally a cave inspired by a scene from Lohengrin. Look up more about it online or just go see it yourself. Also check out a bit about Ludwig too, an interesting fellow to be sure. Quite fascinating.
So with that, we said “Auf wiedersehen!" to the German leg our tour. Next stop, home of Mozart and the Family von Trapp, Salzburg, Austria!
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