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Well, I am back in Germany after my Southern sojourns. I boarded a night train from Burgos to Paris in the middle of the second half of the Spain v. Germany game, and was on the edge of my bunk waiting to learn who won. When I got to Paris I saw people walking around wearing Spanish flags and knew immediately. I wasn't able to get a train to Munich until that night, so I got to spend the day in Paris. I walked all around, going back to my old neighborhood to get my favorite sandwich from my favorite boulangerie, which I ate on a bench facing Les Invalides. I walked around the Opera area, over to Les Halles and then up to the Centre Pompidou to see if there was an interesting show on. They still have the incredible re-installation of their permanent collection up, but I had seen it in December and decided to save my 9 euros. Instead I continued to walk around and made it to Notre Dame, where I sat and read my book in the park for a while before continuing on through the Latin Quarter. Then I headed back to Gare de l'Est
to catch my train.
Unfortunately, all of the sleeper cars were booked, so I was in a middle seat in a compartment of six people. Not the most comfortable situation for an 11 hour train ride. Luckily, I have magical sleeping abilities and was able to pass out most of the way. When I reached Munich I was glad to find that my hostel was right across the street from the Hauptbahnhof, so I had a very short walk. I dropped off my bag and joined a free walking tour that met at the hostel. I was hoping this one would be better than the one in Madrid, and was it ever! The guide was an enthusiastic Canadian who moved to Munich four years ago and has been touring for three now. He began the tour by sitting us down in the bar/breakfast room and giving us a summary of Germany's history so that we would be able to put the sites we were going to see into context. It was amazing all
of the different dates and names he through about with such ease. The most amazing thing I learned was that only six major buildings remained intact after the bombings during WWII, meaning that everything else in the city was less than sixty years old, but much had been restored to its original design based on detailed Nazi documentation. After our history lesson we headed out and saw: the Frauenkirche, the Glockenspiel, the Hofbrauhaus (famous beer hall, which was also the birthplace of the Nazi movement), Karlsplatz, Marienplatz (city center), Maximillianstrasse (like Rodeo Dr.), St. Michael's, The National Theater/Opera House, Odeonplatz, St. Peter's, The Residence, Viktualienmarkt (big outdoor market), several beer gardens, and The English Garden. It was incredible and took about four and a half hours, including a 25 minute break at a beer garden in the Viktualienmarkt for beer and German sausage. By the time I got back to the hostel I was absolutely exhausted, so I took the rest of the evening to do laundry and walk around the neighborhood a bit.
The next morning I headed out right after breakfast to the three major museums in town. I went chronologically from the Alte Pinakothek to the
Neue Pinakothek to the Pinakothek der Moderne. They had incredible collections of Italian and Northern Renaissance works, several rooms of Rubens, a number of Breughels, then great Impressionist works. The Moderne was of course my favorite, especially because of a special exhibition they had up of works on paper that belonged to the three museums. These works included drawings and sketches by Michelangelo and Raphael up to prints by Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns, and everyone in between. It was really incredible to see all of these works set in context with each other and to see the differences, but more importantly the similarities, over the span of more than 500 years. They also had an incredible design collection including cars, furniture, computers, silver, and pottery. Then there was of course the painting and sculpture galleries on the upper floor with incredible Kirchners, and Picassos, and Flavins, and Judds, and Beuys, and so many more. I got to the first museum around 10 am when it opened, and left the last one around 4:30. I headed back towards the center of town to take a closer look at things we had passed on the walking tour, and made it to
Marienplatz just in time to hear/see the Glockenspiel go off at 5 o'clock. It began with the bells playing a tune, and eventually the sculptural figures on the front of the town hall began to dance. First there was a dance, then a joust between a Bavarian and a Frenchman (guess who won), followed by another dance by the figures on the lower level. I'm glad I had such accidentally perfect timing.
The following morning I checked out of the Wombat City Hostel, leaving my bag in the luggage room, and headed to the Literaturhaus where there is a Jenny Holzer installation in the cafe with running text from Oskar Maria. After taking a bunch of photos and interviewing the wait-staff about the work, I headed down the road to the Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung to see an exhibit on Adolph Menzel. The kunsthalle hosts exhibitions on all kinds of art, and I was sad to be there at a time when the exhibition wasn't on modern or contemporary art, but was fascinated by Menzel. A large part of the show relied on his sketchbooks, and I have rarely seen such good draftsmanship. With a simple pencil or piece of
charcoal he could make some of the most realistic type-portraits that I have ever seen. Absolutely stunning. This was followed with another stunning, though in a very different way, exhibition. I went to The Residence Museum, the residence and seat of government for the ruling family of Munich, the Wittelsbachs from the 1623 to 1918. The elaborate Baroque and Rococo rooms transported one to another time and culture, and it was amazing to think of everything that had taken place in these rooms over the years. I was only able to be in awe for a short time because I had to run back, get my bag, and catch my train to Heidelberg.
Everything went smoothly and I arrived right on time to Heidelberg and was greeted with flowers by Mr. and Mrs. Schiopu. It was so great to see them, and they immediately started documenting my visit with a number of pictures. We headed back to their house, built in 1620, in the center of the Old Town, right by the Altebrucke (Old Bridge). Mrs. Schiopu prepared a delicious smörgåsbord with different types of German sausage, and cheese, and bread, and veggies. So tasty! After dinner and constant
chatting and catching up, we took a walk around the Old Town, taking in the Church of the Holy Spirit, the Rathaus, Hotel zum Ritter, and the pedestrian Hauptstrasse. When we returned to the Schiopu's beautiful house I almost immediately jumped into the Princess bed in which they had set me up. The house is cozy and lovely with four floors, one room comprising each floor. It's incredible to see the exposed wooden beams that must be original to the structure.
The next day was a lazy, relaxing day that included doing some work on the computer and walking around the old town more. In the morning Simona, Joe, and Novalina came over for Nova's weekly painting, singing, and piano lessons with Grandpa and Grandma. Nova, 2, was so adorable and sweet as she painted a very expressive canvas and played in the Japanese-style loft (Uncle Sorini's room). Later that afternoon I also met Annette, a friend of the Schiopus from around the corner, who took me up to walk along Philosopher's Way, a pedestrian path on the hill on the other side of the Neckar River that has an incredible view of the city. On Saturday I walked
the 30 minutes to the Bahnhof and then back along the Neckar. I returned home for a light lunch prepared by Mrs. Schiopu, followed by a trip up 315 steps to the enchanting Heidelberg Castle, with its beautiful views of the city, giant wine barrels, and Pharmaceutical museum. Then we took a nice boat cruise along the Neckar, which nearly put me to sleep. Not because it was boring, but because it was a moving vehicle, which automatically triggers my sleepy magic. Luckily, afterward, I had an hour nap in the delightful Princess bed before we headed down the street to the Altebrucke festival for dinner and live music. We returned at 9pm to meet Sorin's friend Inga, who was kind enough to offer to take me out to see Heidelberg at night. The only catch was that we got to talking and it was nearly 2am before we even left the house. We did decide to head out though, and went to Cave54 with its interesting mix of people and music: Doors, Amy Winehouse, Simon & Garfunkle, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Cure, Sublime. I loved it, and had a great time dancing. I was also excited to learn
how to order tap water in German (leitungswasser) from Inga.
I retired that night around 4:30, but was up before 10 for a yummy breakfast with my adoptive family. We then headed out to Schwetzingen to the castle and gardens. Despite the light rain, the gardens were absolutely gorgeous, and we had a great time walking all around seeing Romanesque ruins, a mosque, a number of beautiful sculptures and fountains, and incredible grounds. We stopped to feed the ducks for a couple of minutes, and a swan bit my finger. I informed him that that was not the way to get food, and made sure to throw the rest of the cracker bits out of his reach.
After Schwetzingen we stopped by Simona and Joe's, a short walk from the gardens, to say hi to Nova. We got to hear about her adventure riding a horse earlier in the day, and then spent about five minutes in the back yard pondering and laughing at how much the cat, Beowulf, sheds and figuring out different and silly ways to get his hair off of our hands. Our visit was quick, and we soon headed out to Ladenburg to see
the quaint streets and houses that date back as far as 1480. It was also nice to drive through the countryside and see the mountains in the distance and the farmland all around. I was surprised to see fields of tobacco; I knew that it had to be produced outside of Southern Maryland, I had just never seen it. That night we had a relaxing and tasty dinner at home, and relaxed for the rest of the evening.
I was so happy to get to visit the Schiopus, who treated me like a second daughter. It was sad that Sorin wasn't able to be with us, but that just means that we'll have to all get together at some point in the future 😊
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Mom
non-member comment
Hmmmm....
Sorry, I have NO remedy for a swan bite. Just treat the beast like Smokey--stay far away. Or, as our ancient cousin Natalie Marsot dealt with her cat, many decades ago-- bite it back!