Blogs from Bavaria, Germany, Europe - page 259

Grüße Gott! Today I took the EurAide tour to Schloß (Castle) Neuschwanstein, Schloß Linderhof, Wieskirche (Wies Church) and an unscheduled but abbreviated drive-by of another church and monastery at Ettal. Wieskirche was disappointing. We arrived at exactly the time a Mass was starting, so we were unable to look around inside or take photographs. I got the impression that Herr Wissenberg (our tour guide and owner?/manager of EurAide) knew in advance that this would be the case, and the interior is really the reason for visiting, so I'm not sure what the point was. However, we did get to see the inside (from the back), and even hear part of the Mass, and I picked up a guidebook with detailed photos and information about the church, so I guess it is not much different from the ... read more

Grüße Gott! I read, but had forgotten, that this is how German-speakers in Bayern (Bavaria) and Austria say "hello", so it was quite disorienting at first since I had come to expect, and had practiced, "Guten Morgen" (good morning) or "Guten Tag" (good day) as used in the north. Now I think I have the hang of "Grüße Gott" (which literally means, "greet God") as well. In fact, I think I have officially learned just enough German to be dangerous, as I'm able to ask rather complex questions now... the obvious problem with this being that I get back rather complex replies in German. However, I did successfully ask a young man at the Drogerie (drugstore, but really only a toiletries store) whether they had contact-lens solution there or if I needed to go to an ... read more

I met Karin Engelhardt by accident in Hofbrauhaus a couple of weeks ago, and found out that she was the first Fachhochschule Coburg student to come to K-State. That was three years ago now, but she’s still around, finishing up her last semester in school. She goes home almost every weekend to her town of Himmelkron and she invited me to with her anytime I liked, so I called her up for this past weekend of the 17th-19th of June. (June? Already?) Karin picked me up Friday afternoon, and we hit the road. The first stop was supposed to be a visit to Karin’s godmother, who was in the hospital with minor pains, but a few wrong turns later happenstance put us at the foot of a hill with a well-known Pilgramige Church atop. I’d known ... read more

What an interesting few days, and each was certainly very different from the other. My first day was spent almost purely in transit from Venice to Munich. I got a quick haircut in Venice too before I took the train, my first since leaving Canada. The barber didnt speak English, but my passport photo is very recent, and was taken the same day as I got a haircut, perfect! I just showed him it and said "like this", he did a fantastic job. The trainride from Venice to Munich....wow....speechless. That was easily the most beautiful trainride I have been on yet, right through Innsbruck and the Austrian Alps. Too beautiful. I arrived in Munich around 2030, rather late. Luckily the hostel I had booked myself into was only 50 metres from the train station, a very ... read more

Hey, not much time to write...we decided to stay in munich one more day because we got tickets to a Beck concert! Then it´s off to vienna. I will write more when we get there! ok I´m off! Courtney... read more