June 21 -- Have I mentioned how hot it has been the last few days? Really, the temperature hasn't been that hot (in the mid 80s), but when you're hiking and touring and staying at places with no air conditioning, it has felt warm enough.
Have I mentioned how gorgeous the mountain lakes are here? With the hot temperatures and having completed our tour itinerary for Fussen yesterday when we saw the castles, we decided that an afternoon at the lake was in order. We went to a mountain luge at a ski resort this morning, and the kids enjoyed the slide down the mountain on the metal track in toboggan type sleds. I didn't get to try it (a disadvantage to traveling while pregnant), but I had fun reading in the shade.
Then, we drove to Schwansee Lake right outside Fussen for the afternoon. The water was cold but not as cold as I was expecting. The water was very clear, clean, and refreshing. And sitting on the dock with the mountains around us was also a treat.
Wednesday, June 21, 2017
Day 35 Fairy Tale Castles and Mad Kings
June 20 -- We had an understandably late start to our morning, involving going to the grocery store to get some breakfast. We headed to the only place in this relatively small town with hoards of people: the castles. We reserved a tour for 1:55 and went back to the grocery store to get lunch. We entered the Hohenschwangau Castle first, which was built by Maximilian the first. It was very ornate and filled with the original furniture and many gold, silver, and ivory birthday and wedding presents that were given to him, as well as hundreds of painting and statues of swans. All the walls were covered with enormous paintings, but they didn't compare to the view. Apparently his wife was quite the mountaineering woman (unusual for the day) and climbed many of the surrounding mountains.
Their son (Mad) Ludwig II also lived in this castle most of his life, but Ludwig was obsessed with castles and wanted to build his own. He started many castles but only one was completed by the time he died (either by suicide or murder...no one knows) at the bankrupt age of 40. The most famous of his uncompleted castles is right across the hill from his parents' castle and was our second tour of the day: Neuschwanstein. This castle is more well known and popular (read crowded) than the other one. Most people recognize this castle because not only is it picturesque, but also it was the muse for the Disney castle. Only 15 of 59 rooms were completed by the time he died even though they had been working on it for 17 years, and our tour consisted of seeing those 15 rooms. Just the wood work in his bedroom alone took 14 men 4 year to complete. This castle too is full of swans because apparently he liked swans a much as his dad did. The decor is over the top, and if I had a location like his with the incredible views in every direction, I would have incorporated the views into my design more so than the paintings that again covered every wall.
After our short tour, we walked up to Maria's Bridge for a good view of the castle and the surrounding countryside. It was very windy. By the time we walked back down to the car and found a place to eat, we had walked 11 miles (most of it on steep up and down hills), and this was supposed to have been our easier walking day.
Their son (Mad) Ludwig II also lived in this castle most of his life, but Ludwig was obsessed with castles and wanted to build his own. He started many castles but only one was completed by the time he died (either by suicide or murder...no one knows) at the bankrupt age of 40. The most famous of his uncompleted castles is right across the hill from his parents' castle and was our second tour of the day: Neuschwanstein. This castle is more well known and popular (read crowded) than the other one. Most people recognize this castle because not only is it picturesque, but also it was the muse for the Disney castle. Only 15 of 59 rooms were completed by the time he died even though they had been working on it for 17 years, and our tour consisted of seeing those 15 rooms. Just the wood work in his bedroom alone took 14 men 4 year to complete. This castle too is full of swans because apparently he liked swans a much as his dad did. The decor is over the top, and if I had a location like his with the incredible views in every direction, I would have incorporated the views into my design more so than the paintings that again covered every wall.
After our short tour, we walked up to Maria's Bridge for a good view of the castle and the surrounding countryside. It was very windy. By the time we walked back down to the car and found a place to eat, we had walked 11 miles (most of it on steep up and down hills), and this was supposed to have been our easier walking day.
Monday, June 19, 2017
Day 34: All I can say is wow
June 19 -- Today's quote: "Another word to describe this is beautiful." M2
We left Austria and drove just a short drive into the mountains of Germany again and ended up at Konigssee Lake in the Berchtesgaden National Park. We took a boat ride across the lake and then did a short hike up to another mountain lake. The water in both lakes is as clear and blue as you can imagine, despite being over 600 feet deep in parts. Words really cannot describe the beauty that we saw with the sheer mountain cliffs reflecting off the water. The Tetons in the United States have probably the most comparable scenery to what we saw today, and if the pictures do it even 50% justice, they should be some pretty amazing pictures. We also got to see a glimpse of Hitler's Eagle's Nest way up on the top of a mountain in the park.
Because our destination for the day was Fussen, we weren't able to spend as much time at the lake as we would have liked. We already knew we would be getting to our guest house for the night quite late, but getting stuck in traffic (we literally went 10 km in one hour) and then our navigation system sending us on what seemed an obscure route (which took us into Austria, back into Germany, into Austria, and finally back into Germany) through winding mountain roads in the middle of nowhere, it was quite late when we got to Fussen.
We left Austria and drove just a short drive into the mountains of Germany again and ended up at Konigssee Lake in the Berchtesgaden National Park. We took a boat ride across the lake and then did a short hike up to another mountain lake. The water in both lakes is as clear and blue as you can imagine, despite being over 600 feet deep in parts. Words really cannot describe the beauty that we saw with the sheer mountain cliffs reflecting off the water. The Tetons in the United States have probably the most comparable scenery to what we saw today, and if the pictures do it even 50% justice, they should be some pretty amazing pictures. We also got to see a glimpse of Hitler's Eagle's Nest way up on the top of a mountain in the park.
Because our destination for the day was Fussen, we weren't able to spend as much time at the lake as we would have liked. We already knew we would be getting to our guest house for the night quite late, but getting stuck in traffic (we literally went 10 km in one hour) and then our navigation system sending us on what seemed an obscure route (which took us into Austria, back into Germany, into Austria, and finally back into Germany) through winding mountain roads in the middle of nowhere, it was quite late when we got to Fussen.
Sunday, June 18, 2017
Day 32-33 The Salt Castle
June 17-18 -- Today's quote: "Look at that view. I'm envious of myself right now. Is that even possible?" SC
The problem with traveling for over 6 weeks is that you have to take days to do some chores even if you are in really cool cities with way too many cool things to do, but when you're running out of clean laundry, you have to forego seeing some of the awesome things. So Saturday ended up being a down day. We had planned to do laundry in the morning, and then head to the lake country in the afternoon and take in a salt mine or a small mountain town, but after laundry, we were all running short on energy, steam, and decision-making skills, so I went back to the hotel for a nap, and the kids played in a really cool playground for several hours. The U.S. could learn a thing or two from European playgrounds.
For church on Sunday, we attended the Salzburg Cathedral. What a treat to listen to a choir, orchestra, and organ as party of the service. We didn't understand much of it, but the music was a great free concert. Only one of the four organs in the church was being played, but we didn't complain. We hiked up a mountain to eat at a cafe for lunch and had views that we thought couldn't be beat as we ate our lunch, but that was before we saw the views we would have at dinner from a different mountaintop restaurant. We did a walking tour of Salzburg in the afternoon, seeing Mozart's residence and the shopping district, the two horse washes (think car wash but for horses) in town, the other churches, and the oldest restaurant in the world where supposedly Charlemagne ate in the 800s. Salzburg does not lack in picturesque scenes around every corner. For dinner, we decided to hike up to the Salzburg Fortress. It was a very steep walk up the mountain, and since we are cheap and didn't want to pay the entrance fee, we had to wait at the top until after the museums closed and could enter the grounds for free. But the hike and the wait were worth it when we saw the view of the city and of the surrounding mountains. The food wasn't even that great but the view was worth paying for.
The problem with traveling for over 6 weeks is that you have to take days to do some chores even if you are in really cool cities with way too many cool things to do, but when you're running out of clean laundry, you have to forego seeing some of the awesome things. So Saturday ended up being a down day. We had planned to do laundry in the morning, and then head to the lake country in the afternoon and take in a salt mine or a small mountain town, but after laundry, we were all running short on energy, steam, and decision-making skills, so I went back to the hotel for a nap, and the kids played in a really cool playground for several hours. The U.S. could learn a thing or two from European playgrounds.
For church on Sunday, we attended the Salzburg Cathedral. What a treat to listen to a choir, orchestra, and organ as party of the service. We didn't understand much of it, but the music was a great free concert. Only one of the four organs in the church was being played, but we didn't complain. We hiked up a mountain to eat at a cafe for lunch and had views that we thought couldn't be beat as we ate our lunch, but that was before we saw the views we would have at dinner from a different mountaintop restaurant. We did a walking tour of Salzburg in the afternoon, seeing Mozart's residence and the shopping district, the two horse washes (think car wash but for horses) in town, the other churches, and the oldest restaurant in the world where supposedly Charlemagne ate in the 800s. Salzburg does not lack in picturesque scenes around every corner. For dinner, we decided to hike up to the Salzburg Fortress. It was a very steep walk up the mountain, and since we are cheap and didn't want to pay the entrance fee, we had to wait at the top until after the museums closed and could enter the grounds for free. But the hike and the wait were worth it when we saw the view of the city and of the surrounding mountains. The food wasn't even that great but the view was worth paying for.
Saturday, June 17, 2017
Day 31 I'm tired of Germany. We should leave.
June 16 -- We leave Germany and drive an hour and forty minutes to Salzburg, and what seems like from one minute to the next, we are in the mountains again, and not just any mountains: the Alps.
What do tourists do in Salzburg? Take a Sound of Music bike tour. It really is only for tourists because very few locals have even seen the movie or recognize any of the songs. The bike tour lasted 3.5 hours and took us past the sights from the movie that were filmed in Salzburg and not in a Hollywood studio. As we rode our bikes through town, our tour guide played the music from the movie. I couldn't help but wonder what the locals think about the bike tours riding past while singing "Do Re Mi" and trying to yodel "Lonely Goatherd."
The only hotel with availability that we could find in Salzburg was the Holiday Inn with just one double bed, so five of us are pretty squished into the small room, but we can do anything for three nights, right?
What do tourists do in Salzburg? Take a Sound of Music bike tour. It really is only for tourists because very few locals have even seen the movie or recognize any of the songs. The bike tour lasted 3.5 hours and took us past the sights from the movie that were filmed in Salzburg and not in a Hollywood studio. As we rode our bikes through town, our tour guide played the music from the movie. I couldn't help but wonder what the locals think about the bike tours riding past while singing "Do Re Mi" and trying to yodel "Lonely Goatherd."
The only hotel with availability that we could find in Salzburg was the Holiday Inn with just one double bed, so five of us are pretty squished into the small room, but we can do anything for three nights, right?
Thursday, June 15, 2017
Day 29-30 It's a Small World of Yelling Germans
Quote 1: "Germans always sound angry." --M1
Quote 2: "I've never had this many angry Germans yelling at me in one day before." SC
June 14 -- When you have over 100 cousins, you never know when or where in the world you will run into one of them. We walked down to the Town Center and did a walking tour using an audio guide which we had downloaded. It took us past the old and new town halls and into several churches. We were also at the Glockenspiel at noon to listen to the chimes and watch the wedding re-enactment by the figurines on the clock. Just before the clocks started chiming the noon hour, I looked around at the crowds of people and saw my cousin and her husband standing there looking up at the clock. I had known that she was going to be in Munich the same time as I, but we hadn't made any arrangements to meet up. The odds of seeing each other in a city of 1.5 million people were pretty slim, so it was pretty exciting. We ate at the most famous beer hall in the world, the Hofbrau, for lunch. It was too touristy and over the top in my opinion.
June 15 -- We rented bikes today to ride through the English Gardens and to do whatever other sight seeing we opted to do. The bike rental place was the first time we had someone yelling at us as we tried to figure out what sizes the kids needed and took longer than they wanted us to. We took off on our Townies around 11. The gardens are beautiful and very big. We learned that it was a national holiday today for Corpus Cristi, which explained the empty roads this morning and the thousands (no exaggeration) of people at the park this afternoon. We rode in the nice shady trees, following a creek most of the way. We stopped for lunch at a self-serve beer garden. This was the 2nd place we had lots of Germans yelling at us as we tried to figure out how to order and paid lots of money for brats and potatoes. After lunch, we proceeded to ride through city streets to the BMW World, but before we got there, one of the kids' bikes got a flat tire. We went into the BMW center to see if we could find a phone to use. The lady at the counter was really nice and even looked up the number for us. But when we called, the rental company said we would have to take a subway back to the rental place and get a different bike. But they said they would only reimburse us for one person's subway ride. Well, we couldn't exactly send a kid by herself, so we were trying to figure out if I should go or what. Then, the lady at the counter told us that her husband had a slime kit and would run over from their house and let us use it. So we waited for him, and then he helped us get the tire back to working (which included him running back to his house to get a pump and riding his bike back to the center with the pump in his backpack).
He would have helped to give us a better perspective of German people, except he wasn't German; he was Canadian.
We walked around in the BMW center for a while, mostly just to make our husbands jealous. Then, we rode back to the gardens in order to see the surfers in the river and to spend a little time in the creek. The garden was full of people, most quite drunk, though thankfully mostly clothed, and we had to swerve around many people, where we got yelled at by many people for who knows what reason. We got back to the rental place right before closing time, and we explained that we didn't think it was right that they expected us to figure out how to take care of the flat ourselves in a city where we don't know the subway system. He had no sympathy and said he didn't understand why we would say that. We finally just had to leave.
Quote 2: "I've never had this many angry Germans yelling at me in one day before." SC
June 14 -- When you have over 100 cousins, you never know when or where in the world you will run into one of them. We walked down to the Town Center and did a walking tour using an audio guide which we had downloaded. It took us past the old and new town halls and into several churches. We were also at the Glockenspiel at noon to listen to the chimes and watch the wedding re-enactment by the figurines on the clock. Just before the clocks started chiming the noon hour, I looked around at the crowds of people and saw my cousin and her husband standing there looking up at the clock. I had known that she was going to be in Munich the same time as I, but we hadn't made any arrangements to meet up. The odds of seeing each other in a city of 1.5 million people were pretty slim, so it was pretty exciting. We ate at the most famous beer hall in the world, the Hofbrau, for lunch. It was too touristy and over the top in my opinion.
June 15 -- We rented bikes today to ride through the English Gardens and to do whatever other sight seeing we opted to do. The bike rental place was the first time we had someone yelling at us as we tried to figure out what sizes the kids needed and took longer than they wanted us to. We took off on our Townies around 11. The gardens are beautiful and very big. We learned that it was a national holiday today for Corpus Cristi, which explained the empty roads this morning and the thousands (no exaggeration) of people at the park this afternoon. We rode in the nice shady trees, following a creek most of the way. We stopped for lunch at a self-serve beer garden. This was the 2nd place we had lots of Germans yelling at us as we tried to figure out how to order and paid lots of money for brats and potatoes. After lunch, we proceeded to ride through city streets to the BMW World, but before we got there, one of the kids' bikes got a flat tire. We went into the BMW center to see if we could find a phone to use. The lady at the counter was really nice and even looked up the number for us. But when we called, the rental company said we would have to take a subway back to the rental place and get a different bike. But they said they would only reimburse us for one person's subway ride. Well, we couldn't exactly send a kid by herself, so we were trying to figure out if I should go or what. Then, the lady at the counter told us that her husband had a slime kit and would run over from their house and let us use it. So we waited for him, and then he helped us get the tire back to working (which included him running back to his house to get a pump and riding his bike back to the center with the pump in his backpack).
He would have helped to give us a better perspective of German people, except he wasn't German; he was Canadian.
We walked around in the BMW center for a while, mostly just to make our husbands jealous. Then, we rode back to the gardens in order to see the surfers in the river and to spend a little time in the creek. The garden was full of people, most quite drunk, though thankfully mostly clothed, and we had to swerve around many people, where we got yelled at by many people for who knows what reason. We got back to the rental place right before closing time, and we explained that we didn't think it was right that they expected us to figure out how to take care of the flat ourselves in a city where we don't know the subway system. He had no sympathy and said he didn't understand why we would say that. We finally just had to leave.
Wednesday, June 14, 2017
Day 24-28 ERs, Churches Galore, and Other Fun Times
June 9 -- We woke up and walked a little more in the town center of Bamberg. We didn't really have an agenda or anything particular to see, so we just ambled down roads and enjoyed looking at the fruit stands. The problem with not posting an update for a few days is that I have already forgotten if we stopped anywhere in between Bamberg and our next stop of Rothenburg ob set Tauber, but I'm pretty sure a grocery store for lunch was our only stop. My memory is not helped by the fact that not only had my cold not completely gotten better but it was on its way to becoming a sinus infection, but more on that later. Rothenburg is a small medieval city with most of its wall still in tact. It was a really cool little city. Our hostel for our stay was the old horse mill in town, and although not the nicest hostel we've stayed it, it was old and quaint. I took a nap in the afternoon, while the others walked part of the wall and went to the Kathe Wolfart Christmas Museum. I met them for dinner, and afterwards, we took part of the night watchman tour around the city. It was an entertaining and informational, albeit a little cheesy, hour long walk with a guide dressed as a medieval watchman. It even rained at the appropriate time of our tour when he was explaining how rain had prevented the town from being destroyed by the marauding Roman Catholic army in the 1500s.
June 10 -- We had another full day in Rothenburg. It was so nice to not have to pack up in the morning after several days in a row of that. We downloaded a Rick Steves audio walking tour of Rothenburg and did that most of the morning. It was a really fun way to see the city and to hear about the history of the different buildings. The most impressive part of the tour was definitely the wooden altar constructed to show off the drop of Jesus' blood. The drop of blood was not impressive but the altar was one of the most beautiful (huge) wooden carvings I've ever seen. The main part of the carving is of the Last Supper, and the artist carved Judas as a separate piece so that during Holy Week he can literally be taken out of the picture.
We stopped for lunch in one of many beer gardens, where I had a traditional manicotti meal that reminded me more of an omelet than of manicotti.
That afternoon, I took another nap, and we got some laundry done. We stopped by a tourist shop right before closing time to do a little souvenir shopping. The store is owned by a 90-year-old lady who knows the United States and all its interstates, most of which she has traveled on a Harley, better than we do. She and her son, who helps her run the store, were very generous and gave us a free hand drawn map and free post cards. They told us about the wedding tradition where the bride and the groom drink from the same cup, but the cup has two different sections to it that pivot. We went to another beer garden for dinner (nothing like being in Germany while pregnant...haha), where I had a delicious potato soup.
On a funny note, the kids have learned that in Germany at most grocery stores you can turn in plastic bottles and get 25 cents each for them, they so they have become Germany's newest garbage collectors.
June 11 -- The plan was to go to church at the St. Jacob's Lutheran Church in town, but after waking up, I realized that a doctor's visit was in order as I was pretty sure that I either had strep throat or a sinus infection. Since it was Sunday, I knew that the ER was probably the best option, so the others dropped me off on their way to church. I checked in to the ER. They checked my temperature and then told me that the doctor was too busy to see me but that they would refer me to another doctor's office, so I paid 11 euros and got directions from them to walk about 10 minutes to another doctor's office. After checking my temperature, throat, etc., he wrote me a prescription for some antibiotics and told about the only pharmacy that is open on Sundays. And then he said that he wouldn't charge me anything, but he requested that I send him a postcard from my hometown when I get home. That was a nice surprise!
We left Rothenburg in the afternoon and drove to Nuremberg, where we walked through the Nazi Documentation Center and the Rally Grounds. It was an informative museum with a lot of videos and pictures of how the Nazis rose to power. We spent about 2 hours there and didn't nearly cover it all. Then, we drove to Regensburg and checked in to our hostel. It was another cute hostel that was very family friendly and had many families staying there who were traveling on their bikes, even with little kids. It was inspirational.
June 12 -- We spent the day in Regensburg. We saw a 1000 year old stone bridge and the brathaus that was built to feed the people who worked on the bridge. We also went in to St. Peter's Church. It was amazing and beautiful, of course, but unfortunately, all the churches are starting to blend together, so I can't tell you much about that one.
In the afternoon, we took a 50 minute boat ride down the Danube to a place called Walhalla, which is a monument built by King Ludwig the first that is full of memorial statues of Bavarian kings and other important dignitaries. It is a "new" building, built in 1845 that looks a lot like the Lincoln Memorial. It was a steep climb up from the river where the boat dropped us off and had amazing views of the countryside. The boat picked us up again after 75 minutes, we enjoyed the river back to Regensburg. We ate at another beer garden that evening, and I ordered a meat and cheese platter of which I barely could eat half.
June 13 -- We checked out of our hostel and then went to walk around in Regensburg one last time. We wanted to go up the clock tower of one of the churches to get a view of the city, but when we got there, we learned that it didn't open until noon, so we had an hour and a half to kill. So what did we do? Went to another church, of course. This one was called the Basilica of St. Emmeran. It was a strange church because it had skeletons displayed with jewels and ornate paintings of headless people giving their heads away. We couldn't find any information in English, so we just enjoyed the bizarrity and left. The church bell tower that we climbed was from the Holy Trinity Church, where we went up 125 stairs not meant for tall people. It was a 360 degree view at the top, with church steeples and other towered in every direction. We were glad we stuck around to go up.
We left Regensburg, heading to Munich, stopping in Dachau on the way. We spent about an hour and a half at the concentration camp, walking around the grounds. We decided not to go into the museum (partly because it is not recommended for children under 12 and partly because seeing Fort 7 in Poland was enough for me). The size of the camp was mind blowing, and we went into one of the remaining barracks that was supposed to house 200 but by the end of the war was housing 2000 people. The crematorium closed before we made our way over there, so we didn't have to decide whether or not to go in there.
We drove the rest of the way to Munich, through evening traffic, and we found out upon arriving at the hostel that it was limited to people between the ages 18-35, of which in our group only yours truly qualifies. So we went to a beer garden to figure out our next move. It was the biggest beer garden you can imagine with a playground for the children. The beer is only sold in liters and the pretzels are the size of dinner plates. We ate (I had grilled chicken) and found a nearby hotel with availability. We checked in and found a parking garage with some open spots. I still wasn't feeling the greatest so I was very happy for bed.
June 10 -- We had another full day in Rothenburg. It was so nice to not have to pack up in the morning after several days in a row of that. We downloaded a Rick Steves audio walking tour of Rothenburg and did that most of the morning. It was a really fun way to see the city and to hear about the history of the different buildings. The most impressive part of the tour was definitely the wooden altar constructed to show off the drop of Jesus' blood. The drop of blood was not impressive but the altar was one of the most beautiful (huge) wooden carvings I've ever seen. The main part of the carving is of the Last Supper, and the artist carved Judas as a separate piece so that during Holy Week he can literally be taken out of the picture.
We stopped for lunch in one of many beer gardens, where I had a traditional manicotti meal that reminded me more of an omelet than of manicotti.
That afternoon, I took another nap, and we got some laundry done. We stopped by a tourist shop right before closing time to do a little souvenir shopping. The store is owned by a 90-year-old lady who knows the United States and all its interstates, most of which she has traveled on a Harley, better than we do. She and her son, who helps her run the store, were very generous and gave us a free hand drawn map and free post cards. They told us about the wedding tradition where the bride and the groom drink from the same cup, but the cup has two different sections to it that pivot. We went to another beer garden for dinner (nothing like being in Germany while pregnant...haha), where I had a delicious potato soup.
On a funny note, the kids have learned that in Germany at most grocery stores you can turn in plastic bottles and get 25 cents each for them, they so they have become Germany's newest garbage collectors.
June 11 -- The plan was to go to church at the St. Jacob's Lutheran Church in town, but after waking up, I realized that a doctor's visit was in order as I was pretty sure that I either had strep throat or a sinus infection. Since it was Sunday, I knew that the ER was probably the best option, so the others dropped me off on their way to church. I checked in to the ER. They checked my temperature and then told me that the doctor was too busy to see me but that they would refer me to another doctor's office, so I paid 11 euros and got directions from them to walk about 10 minutes to another doctor's office. After checking my temperature, throat, etc., he wrote me a prescription for some antibiotics and told about the only pharmacy that is open on Sundays. And then he said that he wouldn't charge me anything, but he requested that I send him a postcard from my hometown when I get home. That was a nice surprise!
We left Rothenburg in the afternoon and drove to Nuremberg, where we walked through the Nazi Documentation Center and the Rally Grounds. It was an informative museum with a lot of videos and pictures of how the Nazis rose to power. We spent about 2 hours there and didn't nearly cover it all. Then, we drove to Regensburg and checked in to our hostel. It was another cute hostel that was very family friendly and had many families staying there who were traveling on their bikes, even with little kids. It was inspirational.
June 12 -- We spent the day in Regensburg. We saw a 1000 year old stone bridge and the brathaus that was built to feed the people who worked on the bridge. We also went in to St. Peter's Church. It was amazing and beautiful, of course, but unfortunately, all the churches are starting to blend together, so I can't tell you much about that one.
In the afternoon, we took a 50 minute boat ride down the Danube to a place called Walhalla, which is a monument built by King Ludwig the first that is full of memorial statues of Bavarian kings and other important dignitaries. It is a "new" building, built in 1845 that looks a lot like the Lincoln Memorial. It was a steep climb up from the river where the boat dropped us off and had amazing views of the countryside. The boat picked us up again after 75 minutes, we enjoyed the river back to Regensburg. We ate at another beer garden that evening, and I ordered a meat and cheese platter of which I barely could eat half.
June 13 -- We checked out of our hostel and then went to walk around in Regensburg one last time. We wanted to go up the clock tower of one of the churches to get a view of the city, but when we got there, we learned that it didn't open until noon, so we had an hour and a half to kill. So what did we do? Went to another church, of course. This one was called the Basilica of St. Emmeran. It was a strange church because it had skeletons displayed with jewels and ornate paintings of headless people giving their heads away. We couldn't find any information in English, so we just enjoyed the bizarrity and left. The church bell tower that we climbed was from the Holy Trinity Church, where we went up 125 stairs not meant for tall people. It was a 360 degree view at the top, with church steeples and other towered in every direction. We were glad we stuck around to go up.
We left Regensburg, heading to Munich, stopping in Dachau on the way. We spent about an hour and a half at the concentration camp, walking around the grounds. We decided not to go into the museum (partly because it is not recommended for children under 12 and partly because seeing Fort 7 in Poland was enough for me). The size of the camp was mind blowing, and we went into one of the remaining barracks that was supposed to house 200 but by the end of the war was housing 2000 people. The crematorium closed before we made our way over there, so we didn't have to decide whether or not to go in there.
We drove the rest of the way to Munich, through evening traffic, and we found out upon arriving at the hostel that it was limited to people between the ages 18-35, of which in our group only yours truly qualifies. So we went to a beer garden to figure out our next move. It was the biggest beer garden you can imagine with a playground for the children. The beer is only sold in liters and the pretzels are the size of dinner plates. We ate (I had grilled chicken) and found a nearby hotel with availability. We checked in and found a parking garage with some open spots. I still wasn't feeling the greatest so I was very happy for bed.
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