Germany

Day 1 – Bavaria - all those German stereotypes rolled into one – and yes people do still wear lederhosen’s and some of the beer hall do have oompah bands!

Lots of window boxes and I even spotted a few cows with bells.

Germany

Day 1 – Bavaria

All those German stereotypes rolled into one – and yes people do still wear lederhosen’s and some of the beer hall do have oompah bands! Lots of window boxes and I even spotted a few cows with bells.

We revisited Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein – Mad Ludwig’s fairy-tale castle that Fantasyland was based on.  Bleak and cold – had to ferret out the jeans (and yes they still fit – just) and thermals.  What a see-saw of temperatures we’ve experienced lately – what’s a girl to wear?  Back to the castles.  What a slick operation.  A bit different to 20 years ago when you went in and did your own thing.  Not so today - tour guides, allotted times, buses to transport you up the hill – all at a cost of course.  They also have a new museum covering the history of the Bavarian Kings. Very interesting.

Day 2 & 3 Munich

Sustained by German pastries we picked up an excellent walking tour with a knowledgeable Irish guide – you pay what you think the tour is worth – a novel idea and it works. We were lucky as our tour only had 7 in it!  Lots of facts and quirky information.  He also gave us a bit of background information on the 3^rd Reich from its beginnings in a beer haus (house).  Even political parties in Bavaria today launch their campaigns from beer houses today!

We quelled our rumbling stomachs with pork knuckles and beer at the Augustiner Beer House- reputedly the best beer in Munich – brewed on site and frequented by locals.  Complete with black draft horses stabled behind glass on the way to the loo!   The German across the table from Nick and I had spent 2 months touring NZ.  He recognised our Kathmandu sweat shirts!

We followed this with a bit of culture and visited the national Museum.  A well rounded day!  

Munich Day 2

Sun shining but a cold wind.  Today was our ‘Education Day’.  We spent the whole day at my favourite museum ‘The Deutsch Museum’.  It houses one of the largest natural science and technical collections in the world.  A great teaching resource.  It’s huge and covers 5 floors.  My favourite sections were mining where you walked through coal, potash and salt mines all in the bowels of the museum and the shipping and maritime area.  This had a full size U boat, an Eskimo seal skin kayak and a model of a liner cross sectioned to show the different cabins and heaps of other cool stuff!!.  Perhaps you had to be there!  Off to Austria tomorrow and back to Germany later.

Pastries

Germany has pastries to rival France!  My current favourite is a peach concoction.  Michelle’s is apfelstrudel and Nick and Greg is whatever takes their fancy in the day!

German sausages and beer

Nick and Greg are spending a small fortune as they sample Germany’s finest!!