You know the Germans always make good stuff

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Well, mini-disaster has struck when my camera was smashed to bits getting off a train in Florence, so I lost my pictures from Munich, Austria and Florence. Im currently in Rome looking for an electronics store to by a new one. But oh well, stuff happens ... so the next few entires are just text. Most of the stuff I took pictures of is pretty recognizable tourist stuff. Lots of mountains, lots of statues, lots of castles.

From Brussels I took a train to Colmar France in Alsace (northeast corner next to German border). Not much to mention about Colmar other than it was quaint, quiet and cheap. Cheap enough that I could actually get my own hotel room, where I spent a 48 hour routine of sleep, shower, walk to the grocery and pick up some food and read, read, rinse, lather, repeat. After 2 days Im refreshed and ready to finish up the next 4 weeks of my European leg.

After a short train ride through Germany into Munich. Somewhere down the road I would definintely like to make another 2 week trip to Germany to see the Rheinland, Black Forrest, Berlin and into Poland ... but for now Im just doing Bavaria. The main thing I liked about Munich is they have an appreciation for parks. The Englishgarten is their main city park, and it is expansive and right in the middle of the city. Inside the park they have biergartens ... patios set up, usually in a scenic area by a lake, with picnic tables and beer booths where they drink the local beer, eat pretzels and take in the fresh air. The main tourist attraction in the citz is the Mainplatz ... maybe best described as the worlds biggest cuckoo clock. It was badly damaged during the war, but has since been restored. At noon the clock strikes, a chorus of bells ring a horde of Bavarian figures come out of the tower to dance, spin and twirl, including jousting knights.

I took a day trip to join a guided tour of Neuschwanstein Castle. If the name doesnt look familiar, you can probably google it and it will look familiar. Its the castle Walt Disney based the Cinderella Castle on when he designed Disneyland. The Bavarian countryside, in the heart of the Alps, was amazing. My luck with the weather continues, as the temperatures were about 65 F degrees even in the thick of snow capped mountains. Lets hope the Himalayas are this genteel. Mad King Ludwig, a bit of the Michael Jackson of his time, built the castle as a personal playhouse (unmarried and in his late 30s) for he and his buddies based on the operas of Wagner in the 1870s. The tour group was comprised of mostly Americans, which was also nice, including a couple of military guys on leave before they have to return to Kuwait ... which allowed me to engage in something I had sorely missed, American sports talk. Baseball season has started in America, but I couldnt find anyone showing a game. I had high hopes for a gigantic sports bar with 4 screens in the touristy section of the city by the train station, but as it turned out they showed soccer on all four screens. This is the torment of being stuck in Germany in April ... beer, hot dogs, bratz and pretzels everywhere you look, but no baseball to go along with them.

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Comments

[anonymous]

I feel your pain. I'll root the cubbies on for ya!