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Published: August 21st 2006
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Neuschwanstein Castle, Romantic Road, Germany
Tell me Disney weren't inspired by this place? Cesky Krumlov
D - I don't know how many times it's possible to descibe places as twee, cute, or fairytale, but Cesky Krumlov (CK) in the Czech Republic ranks up there with the most twee, cute and fairytale in Europe. With our requirement for small towns overrulling the need to visit cities, and following the recommendations of fellow travellers, we descended on CK after a mammoth train journey (from Bled it took us something like four different trains and nine hours - though we did get amazing views going through Austria) to be met by pouring rain and gloomy skies. We found a bed, dumped our things, and fell into the first local place we could find for food and beer. Pork, bread dumplings and saurkraut washed down by good pints of the local dark beer, soon warmed us up. The town itself is small, and very baroque, with painted buildings (yes Adrian, lots of different twiddly bits on the buildings) and an amusing pink, yellow and green tower dominating the town. Over 700 years old, CK has remained untouched by modern architecture, and is proud of the fact. A slow wander down the main street will find shops
Castle Tower, Cesky Krumlov
Described as a Rocketship as conceived by Hans Christian Andersen selling hand-carved wooden toys, boarskins and even suits of armour! Despite this, it isn't stuck wholly in the dark ages, we managed to get our photos backed up onto CD while we had a coffee, and checked our emails!
Three days here saw us kick back and relax - over 8 weeks on the road and we were still in desperate need of some chill out time. Croatia and Bled had helped, but we needed more. An hour in a bookshop here, lots of food and drink there, and some slow walking to more restaurants did the trick.
The castle is wonderful. With inner courtyards and beautiful grounds - and the views of the town from the surrounding countryside didn't disappoint. We liked CK, our rest and relaxation helped by having an apartment in the castle buildings itself - a little refuge of luxury...
Munich - Beer halls, wurst and rain
A - Daren has been to Germany before, but this was my first time. Suddenly I understand why Tim L decided to have an exchange year here. Germany is fantastic, and the Germans we met just made me want to stay longer. They were
Yum, Cesky Krumlov
Pork, Bread Dumplings and Sourkraut, and Eggenberg dark beer... Now Abbies favourite beer friendly, funny, earnest and direct.
Munich felt like a comfortable old pair of slippers. We arrived and immediately felt at home. Even though it was still raining. Which just gave us an excuse to spend time in the beer halls, slowly working our way through huge steins of beer and lots of wurst.
We also did some touristy stuff. We were watching the Glockenspiel (corillion) of the Neues Rathaus play - dancing figures and a something that sounded horribly like the clonky church bells we could hear at the Aldgate flat every Sunday at 11am - when Munich's gay parade came prancing around the corner and into the main square. Loud dance music (happily obscuring the Glockenspiel), feather boas, bare bottoms, huge wigs and high heels. Slightly unexpected, but it added a real party atmosphere to the streets.
We spent some time in the Englischer Gardens. The guide book said people get all their kit off here on hot summer days, but since it was still cold and rainy we didn't have much luck sneaking a peak. We visited the treasury (Schatzkammer) and ooohed and aaaahed at all the pretty jewels. We even shopped. Dal is now
the proud owner of a pair of Birkenstock sandals. He couldn't bear the stink of his other sandals any longer. One of my favorite moments was when the chiropodist we had asked to add extra holes to them asked why he wasn't wearing them with socks!
The Black Forest
After spending much of our beer drinking time puzzling over how to see the Black Forest and travel along the Romantic Road, we finally concluded that a car was the easiest option. We'd been feeling pretty low, and the prospect of winding it out along the speed unlimited sections of Germany's autobahns perked both of us up. Until we saw our Vauxhall Meriva. Hardly the type of car you imagine yourself tearing up the road in. But beggars can't be choosers, and as it turned out we still managed to do a lot of overtaking...
We may have mentioned that it was raining. Here it was absolutely pelting down. Which didn't encourage us to get out of the car to really see the Black Forest. But even from the car, through torrents of rain, it's still a beautiful part of the world. Black fir trees as far
as the eye can see, chalets and meadows high up on hill sides, ski lifts and huge mountains. It would be great to come back when it's covered in snow.
We did manage to stop at the Clock Museum, which was a welcome change from the standard tourist fodder of chuches and castles. And of course we found time to sample Black Forest Gateau.
The Romantic Road
This is simply a route from Wurzberg in the north to Fussen in the south taking in a number of picturesque towns, castles etc. Not quite realising the vast distances we were trying to cover (we didn't have a proper map), we ended up racing through many of them. We did stop in Nordlingen, a gorgeous medieval town with town walls intact, for lunch. But our aim was Neuschwanstein, Ludwig II's fairytale castle near Fussen.
Although we didn't get there in time to see the interior, its location at the foot of the Alps and it's extraordinary architecture (hopefully the photos do it justice) made it worth just turning up to look at from the outside. I think we were both very impressed despite suffering severe castle fatigue.
Berlin
D - Arriving after the overnight train from Munich (although we're huge fans of Deutsche Bahn, the German train company, their sleeper service wasn't as comfortable as the one in Morocco), we hit the streets of the big city early. We were here for two days, but, as I've experienced before with Berlin, you don't feel an urgent need to see the sights. You see what you see. It always feels like you'll be back again in the future. We did a bit of admin (washing, Vietnamese visa's and the like!), then jumped on a bus with a guide in hand and saw some sights! Off at Alexandersplatz where the obligatory scaffolding and fences of regeneration is no longer a surprise, and a stroll around Checkpoint Charlie and the curiously named 'Sony Center' at Potsdamer Platz. Yep, back in the big city (only London compares), and it felt good. For me, having a handful of words and comprehension of numbers etc. really helps, and German, which I studied for 3 years back at school, would appear to be my second language. No boasting about having conversations with the locals, but this is the place where I've
felt most comfortable on our travels so far.
Where to next?
Today is the 21st August and we're now in Wroclaw, Poland. Tonight we're on the overnight train to Warsaw where we stop for a day. Then Vilnius in Lithuania, before (hopefully) getting the train to St. Petersburg, arriving on the 25th.
And in other big news...
Although it happened in Krakow, we couldn't wait for the Poland blog to let you know that... WE'RE ENGAGED. We're both really thrilled and still trying to get used to what feels like a very adult concept.
P.S. If you like our photo's don't forget to give them a rating...
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Michelle
non-member comment
At last!!!
Congratulations to you both. I hope you are very happy together. Being engaged is fabulous because it is the first step towards a lifetime together. Not to be too sentimental but "love is like a precious jewel, it's treasured more each year"