I know I was supposed to post about the remaining Christmas markets, but sometimes things happen. In this particular case I got very ill and did not get to go. Yes, I was disappointed. I did spend Christmas in the Hamburg area with family, but we came back to Munich for New Year's Eve. We celebrated 9 hours before you folks in Eugene--so 3pm was midnight for us! We set off fireworks and generally had a great time!
It was warm over Christmas, but it's pretty snowy now. There are several inches of snow here--enough to shut down schools in Eugene for a week! For those who didn't know, part of our school is an old castle (one of my classes got moved to the chapel last week--pretty neat teaching in a 200 year old chapel complete with ceiling paintings and lovely tiled floors). Anyway, here are a few pictures of it in the snow from Thursday. These were taken from my office (yes, this is the view I have every day out my window):
The top picture was taken at 7:45 am and the bottom picture at 2:30 pm.
Now that school has started back up we have become socially and touristically active. We paid another visit to Neuschwanstein with some friends, this time by car. For those who don't remember, this castle was the inspiration for Disney's Cinderella Castle. It is located in the town of Hohenschwangau, less than 2 hours from our home north of Munich. Built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria, it's a must-see on a trip to this part of the world. The king was known as Mad King Ludwig, and while he wasn't completely crazy, he was weird.
This was our first time driving in, and while the snow conceals it, this is the first proper view of Neuschwanstein. It doesn't look like as much from here. Click on the picture for a better view.
We stopped in the lovely town of Füssen for lunch.
This is Hohenschwangau, the castle belonging to King Ludwig II's mother. It's below Neuschwanstein,and you can tour it, too. Haven't done that yet, but it is pretty.
The restaurant 2/3 of the way up the steep hill to the castle. Really pretty with all the icicles!
You can walk over to this creepy glass overlook to get a magnificent view. We found a ticket there for a Mandarin tour, and we made some guy very happy--it's a long walk down to buy another!
Here's the creepy overlook hanging over the ravine.
The road behind this church is the one on which we came into town and from which I took that first picture. Pretty church, too!
Some castle pics because it's just THAT awesome.
Notice the horse on the side tower in the picture below. King Ludwig was big into knights, legends, chivalry, and the like, and he was fascinated by German legends such as the story of Tristan and Isolde. He was a hopeless romantic. The windows on the far left just at the top of the tree are Ludwig's indoor grotto and cave. Yes, he has a cave inside his castle.
The balconies here are from his throne room and one other room (uncompleted) and overlook his mother's castle of Hohenschwangau.
Also on the horizon are:
-Fasching--stay tuned for more news on that!
-Ski week (still working on renting a cabin in Austria or Switzerland, but we may do something else instead)
-A visit to Freiburg and the Black Forest
-A visit to Köln (Cologne)--something that's been on the list ever since I heard about the chocolate factory there
-Spring break and a visit from family. We're working on booking a Danube cruise to Vienna and Budapest.
-Perhaps another weekend away? Thüringen and Berlin are on the list, as is Switzerland and Italy
-A bit more exploring of our own München as the weather gets warmer
-More quality time with neat colleagues from all over the world!
In other news, I took some photos on the drive home from Glückstadt last month. Here ya go!
We interrupt this cloud cover to bring you a picture of this mystery blue stuff. Do not be alarmed.
Typical in Schleswig Holstein and other parts of Germany: windmills! These generate wind power, but you can also find the old fashioned kind in some places.
Bridge over the Elbe River in Hamburg. This thing is huge! After all, major cruise ships and container ships need to fit underneath it.
Hafenstadt Hamburg! This port is one of the busiest in the world, and this is just a small part of the docks and cranes used to unload stuff from all over.
The beautiful countryside of northern Germany
Our two travelers. Jimmy gets carsick, so he doesn't enjoy it. Trotsky has finally learned to lay down in the car and now enjoys trips much more.
It's a bit hard to read without clicking on it, but this sign says that this was where the border between East and West Germany was 1945-1990. A few guard towers have been left:
The lovely forest of Thüringen!
Hope you enjoyed our tour!
