sla019

>He ridiculed Bavarians beer lovers as low class, not being able to appreciate the delicate taste of good wine

That's a pretty original stance, since Rothenburg itself is at the periphery of Franconian viniculture, even if there are a handful of respected wine growers in the area (my favourite is Christian Stahl in Auernhofen: http://www.winzerhof-stahl.de/). Basically Rothenburg is a beer drining area, and a few km from R. there is one of the finest small Franconian breweries, Landwehrbräu at Reicheslhofen (http://www.landwehr-braeu.de/). You may have tasted it at the Duererstuben in Nuremberg, it is their standard beer brand.

Fetinia

Part IV. Just one word - Munich.
Day Eleven - May 10, Tuesday. Unromantic roads of Bavaria.

Today we were waken up by the rain pounding on our windows. The weather turned really bad, and the sky really cried, as if it knew where we were going today. And we going to the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial, the site of one of the most terrible concentration camps in Germany ...
We wanted to be in time for the 11AM guided tour. It was about 2 hours driving, so we decided to skip breakfast and leave early not to be late. Instead we made a quick stop at Nuremberg main railroad station to exchange some cash and to buy a snack.

Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site (KZ-Gedenkstätte Dachau)
Website: http://www.kz-gedenkstaette-dachau.de/index-e.html
2-1 / 2 hour guided tour: € 3

The first thing we saw when we arrived to Dachau was hundreds of German schoolchildren, mainly high school students. The Germans are doing everything so their land never becomes a soil to plant a poisonous seed of fascism. Nowadays Germans have become one of the most tolerant nations to religious, ethnic and sexual minorities, all those who once was considered an outcast. They have become intolerant of any attempt to revive the Neo-Nazi ideas, ideas that led to one of the most terrible and destructive war and millions of human tragedies. And they do so by bringing and showing to younger generation what should never happen again. "Never again" is the leitmotif of the memorial.

We arrived just on time, having bought the last ticket for the tour. Actually they had only one ticket left, but they sold us one extra, therefore our group it had 31 people, not 30 as supposed to. One of the examples of the “service with care”, when even strict Germans sometimes bend the rules.
Our guide was a lovely woman, half-Italian, half-Brit, I would say the best guide of the entire trip. The tour lasted 2 and a half hours, but was so captivating so powerful that it was like 15 minutes.

Dachau was one of the first camps in 1933. It began as a camp for German opposition to Hitler, communists and social democrats, later other undesirables: Roma, homosexuals, Jews, immigrants, criminals, and then, when the war began, POWs. The Nazis conducted a rigorous classification of inmates and everyone worn a triangle patch on their clothes corresponding to their category: red triangle for communists, yellow for Jews, pink for homosexuals. Some had a several if they belonged to multiple categories. Dachau was not originally intended as extermination camp, such as Auschwitz and Treblinka, but the mortality rate here was one of the highest due to starvation, disease and overwork. Nazis used people like broken parts, threw them away and immediately replaced with a new batch of human "parts". The crematorium was built here, but was not regularly used, although there are two known instances when tests were conducted. REAL tests conducted, using humans as a test material.

Our guide led thru an outstanding museum with documents, photographs and film footage. One of the documentaries showed Americans soldiers who liberated the camp, and who vomited when they saw the prisoners, that is how bad they looked.
After the museum we went to see the barracks. Except for a few remaining most of them were demolished. ON their places currently you can see only outline of the foundation with the barrack number.
At the end of the tour we came to the monument to the prisoners of the camp, consisting of a sculpture in the form of wire made of human bodies, as well as compositions of triangles of different colors symbolizing different groups of prisoners.

…………………………………….
“NEVER AGAIN”
…………………………………….

Nymphenburg Palace (Schloss Nymphenburg)
Website: http://www.schloss-nymphenburg.de/en...lace/index.htm
Entrance: € 11.50 including Palace and all the park pavilions

After visiting Dachau, we continued our way to Munich. The weather continued to be overcast, but the rain had stopped, there were glimpses of clear sky. It took us 20 minutes to get into a completely different era. Instead of black and gray palette of depressing Dachau we again plunged into a color and sophistication of Baroque of Age of Enlightenment in Nymphenburg Palace, located on the outskirts of Munich.

Built as a summer residence of Bavarian rulers, the palace is considered one of the most beautiful in Europe. Frankly, after already seen palaces of Potsdam, Charlottenburg and Würzburg, this palace did not impress us that much with the exception of the painted ceilings, they are really superb.
However there is one room which is a-must for visit ,the Gallery of Beauties (Schönheitengalerie), where you can see portraits of the most beautiful women according to the King Ludwig I, a known bon vivant and ladies man. There you can see portraits of noble as well as ordinary women side by side, the main criterion for the choice of models was the appearance of these women, not the title.
We walked through all the rooms of the palace, then went across the courtyard to one of the palace wings to visit the Museum of the Palace carriages (Marstallmuseum). It was an excellent exhibition featuring a dazzling collection of decorative gilt carriages and sleighs. there were so many beautiful coaches and wagons, and also other related stuff: harness, saddles, horse muzzles (do not know how to properly called).
The guidebook saud there was is a pavilion with a swimming pool in a park. We got curious and decided to find it.
OMG, we were so glad we went to the parl. The Nymphenburg Park was the most remarkable of all the parks we had seen. It was not manicured Wurzburg park, not the grandiose San Suisse park in Potsdam, no. But it was the most relaxing one with stunning scenery, ponds with swans and ducks, hiking and biking trails, and of course the amazing flower beds. And this park is popular among local: moms with strollers, joggers, elderly couples.
Taking a walk in the park, we visited park pavilions Pagodenburg, decorated in the Chinese style, which was so fashionable in the 18th century. Then we feed the ducks with remains of our morning snack, then we crossed the park for pavilion Badenburg where we finally found and the royal swimming pool. There was no water in the pool, so we did not swim . Last pavilion we visited, Amalienburg was built as a hunting lodge, but was the most luxurious: its ceiling and walls were richly decorated with paintings and stucco.

BMW Welt
Website: http://www.bmw-welt.com/de/

Today we had a day of contrasts. We moved from one era to another, the scenery changed from heartbreaking site in Dachau to colorful beautiful Nymphenburg, from one architectural style to a completely different, and, before arriving at the hotel, we came back to the 21th century to sample a modern hi-tech architecture of glass and steel by visiting fairgrounds of the car company BMW in Munich's Olympic park.

Unlike Mercedes, BMW's headquarters are not in Stuttgart, but here in Munich. We were not going to go inside, we just wanted to look at this interesting structure from outside. Our “Mercedes” entered enemy’s territory and parked right in from to the building “In your face” style, and walked to see this bold dramatic structure in the shape of an hourglass with a spiral ramp leading to the entrance of the Museum. Frankly, I have not formed a clear opinion if I like me or not, but no doubt it was impressive.

Arrival in Munich. Service with care.

Finally, after a long, full of emotions day, we finally arrived at our hotel Munich ,The Charles Hotel (https://www.roccofortehotels.com/hot...=charles_hotel). We gave our car to valet and you forgot about it for the next 3 days.
This was one of the best hotels where we've ever stayed at. And it's not only because of a good comfortable room overlooking the park, but mostly because everyone in this hotel did everything so that people felt at home. In this hotel, we never heard the word "no", "unfortunately, this is not possible", "we are very sorry, but that we do not have." Whatever we asked was done instantly. “Ma’m, are you tired? We’ll bring some tea in your room (of course free of charge)”, “You are hungry but you do not have a reservation in our restaurant? Do not worry, we'll call you when your table is ready, and by the an aperitif is on a house. “, “You need to do laundry? How urgent, tonight, by tomorrow or the next day?”. “ You need bikes for tomorrow? They will be ready by the morning” Well, you got the picture. Moreover, it was done like really care, as it should be.
Before dinner, Dmitry went to the sauna, and I took a foam bath, relaxing and sipping sweet tea. My husband came back impressed with sauna and spa in general.
We went down to the restaurant, where it was the same great service and delicious food After dinner we walked around the hotel, and then I finished the day crushing into bed.

traveller1959

Ah, the Charles! We stayed there three weeks ago. A Mercedes fits well into the hotel's garage. A Bentley even better.

You wrote "Almost all hotels in Germany have a spa with sauna, a steam room and swimming pools". Unfortunately, this is true only for hotels in a certain class. And the Charles is among the best that you can get in München (we also like the Vier Jahreszeiten).

annhig

mmm - sadly the Charles is a little above my pay grade, but I can dream!

Fetinia

<Ah, the Charles! >

The Charles rules!!

<You wrote "Almost all hotels in Germany have a spa with sauna, a steam room and swimming pools". Unfortunately, this is true only for hotels in a certain class. And the Charles is among the best that you can get in München (we also like the Vier Jahreszeiten).>

traveler 1959,
That is true. It also depends on some other factors, like town size and location. Some hotels, while not particularly cheap, simple cannot have a spa due to historical building in old town. But when I was searching for hotel I included "spa" into the search filter and it gave us a wide range of hotels, including reasonable priced. I got an impression, sauna for Germans is essential to have even when travelling

<mmm - sadly the Charles is a little above my pay grade, but I can dream!>

annhig,
I usually allocate a certain budget per person/week depending on which country we travel (Germany was more expensive than Peru, but much cheaper than Japan) and try to squeeze the best possible hotels/options into this budget. I also a member of all possible reward programs, so in this trip our Nuremberg hotel was fully paid by points, the same as in Dresden Marriott, and 2 days in Berlin. This gave me some room to splurge in Munich and Baden-Baden.

annhig

I also a member of all possible reward programs, so in this trip our Nuremberg hotel was fully paid by points, the same as in Dresden Marriott, and 2 days in Berlin.>>

good plan, Fetinia, but sadly I don't tend to stay in hotels like that every often anyway, apart from my favourite Best Western in Plymouth. I must try harder!

Fetinia

The twelfth day - May 11th, Wednesday. Bratwurst, blatwurst, sauerkraut and other obazda.

To experience everything this nice hotel had to offer, we decided to have breakfast at the hotel restaurant. Despite the difference in class hotels during our trip, breakfast buffet was pretty much the same everywhere: assortment of sausages and cold cuts, selection of bread, variety of cheeses, dairy products and fruit, almost everywhere you can find eggs to order. The only difference for upscale hotels, besides outrageously high prices of course, was a breakfast champagne. This morning my husband ordered a boiled egg.
“How long would you like us to boil it, sir?”
“1 minute, 12 seconds”, My husband decided to be a smart a**.
“Of course”, not a muscle moved on the face of the waiter, he took an order and started a timer.
Here we came across something called "obazda" and tried to understand what it was. Is it a sort of mustard? No, it was not pretty bland and spicy. Something like cottage cheese or cream cheese? Nope. We could not figure out what was it, and going forward we called “probably obazda” any unknown we saw in Germany (not only food) .
I really liked the German bread with pumpkin seeds (Mehrkorn-Brötchen) which was very tasty and went equally well as with cold cuts as with jams. I also discovered the German cheeses: emenhaler and another , the one with embedded dill, the name escaped me.
Outside of Germany, its cuisine is primarily known by its Bavarian food: sausages, pork knuckle, sauerkraut and potatoes. But half way thru in our trip, we had already discovered other, less-known, but equally good food: perch, German pasta, pickled herring, plenty of dishes made of potatoes (dumplings, mashed potato, potato salad), soup with liver dumplings, and of course variety of asparagus dishes. When we read about German food we came across a very interesting dish, a stuffed pork tripe (Pfälzer Saumagen), and really wanted to try it, but so far none we did not see in on the menu in any restaurants.
Well, back to the sausages, there are a great variety of differing in taste, type of meat and color in Bavaria: the classic pork or beef (Bratwurst), blood sausage (Blutwurst - my favorite!), white veal (Weisswurst), boiled, grilled, fried. I would say a traditional Bavarian cuisine is not for vegetarians, except , probably, a sauerkraut, strong and not very, white and red.
Okay, enough about food for a body, let’s back to the food for the brain. In Munich we planned to visit attractions on a first day, and ride a bike in the English Garden and the adjacent streets on a second. But we looked at the forecast promising torrential rain tomorrow, so we switched days and decided to explore Munich on a bike today instead of tomorrow.

German Museum of Science and Technology (Deutsches Museum)
Website: http://www.deutsches-museum.de
Entrance: € 11

German Museum of Science and Technology is dedicated to the history and achievements of the German engineering and technology. We have read so many good reviews about this museum and really wanted to go. It was located on the museum island in the Isar River, and to get there we decided on the tram, the only form of transport in Germany, where we had not yet tried. I have not ridden a tram for 20 years since I visited my grandaunt small town in Russia, so it was interesting. Our hotel was located next to the central railway station in Munich, where we took a tram #16 going to the museum island.
Deutsches Museum is the largest museum of its kind in the world, wow! It’s certainly not possible to see entire museum in one day, there are a wide number of exhibits representing more than 50 branches of science and industries, from mining to aeronautics. The museum is interesting for adults, but it is a must to visit if you come to Munich with a family. Many of the exhibits are interactive, there are demonstrations throughout the day, the museum has a "Kids Zone”, where children can touch and play with everything. As I said, you need more than a day to see everything in this museum, so you need to choose which section you (or your child) are the most interested in. Our son has grown, he attends the US Merchant Marine Academy, so we were interested in everything related to navigation and nautical science.
But, following advice of the ticket lady, we started in a basement to see .... the mine. Yes, the mine built in a scale of 1: 1 with lifts, trolleys and ... miners. The museum recreated the full atmosphere being deep underground, simply amazing. The whole mining tour takes about 45 minutes.
When we came back "Up" we went to in the Electricity hall where the demonstration just start, in German only, in English the spoke only when it was necessary to cover our ears, but it was still fun. They showed how lightning is formed, and other experiments with electricity.
After Electrical show, we finally got to the maritime section. It was absolutely great: how did they manage to get a real submarine inside?! There las was half of the schooner, where they even planted a rat for authenticity. There were also all sorts of underwater suits, pressure chambers, and even the real cruise ship deck with lounges where you can relax under the cries of seagulls.
After the Nautical hall we gone up to the third level see hall dedicated to ceramics and glass manufacturing. In the ceramics section my husband, the registered nurse, got stuck looking at really cool ceramic prostheses, especially for finger and leg bones. I wanted to see a glassblowing demonstration, but unfortunately, it started in the second half of the day.
There was a DNA lab, but visiting there had to be booked in advance.
The only downside of this museum there was not much information doubled in English. We tried to translate with Google, but it not always produced intelligible translation.

English Garden (Englischer Garten)
Website: http://www.muenchen.de/sehenswuerdig...te/120242.html

After the museum we walked a couple of blocks to rent bicycles from Bike Mike shop (http://www.mikesbiketours.com/munich/), and went to the largest city park, the English Garden, which is also a very first park to be open for public use.
Why, you might ask, the largest and most beautiful park in major German city called the English garden? This is because, unlike other straight lined manicured parks in Bavaria, it followed the English tradition to build parks close to nature. It is a place where people come just to enjoy the surroundings strolling through the winding alleys and shady paths along the streams and flowery meadows.
At the beginning of our ride we saw a group of surfers practicing at the part of the stream, where rapids formed something like waves. I'm not a surfer, but it seemed much harder than for their ocean counterparts due to the narrowness of the stream.
After watching a little bit of the surfers show, we moved on and just rode around the park taking different paths, with gravel crunching under the wheels. We passed several buildings: Japanese Tea House and Chinese pagoda with a huge beer garden (biergarten). We rode around the park pond and decided to stop and have a lunch in the other beer garden the Hirschau. We had an authentic bavarian food: have several varieties of sausages, sauerkraut, potato salad, and of course for a huge beer mug, Dima had some local sort, and I had my favorite Radler.

Neue Pinakothek
Website: https://www.pinakothek.de/besuch/neue-pinakothek
Entrance: € 7.00

Our next stop was one of the galleries of Munich, the New Pinakothek, with a stunning collection of paintings of the German and other European masters of the 19th century. Germans were represented the most, from the era of classicism and romanticism to the impressionism. It turned out to be my favorite museum in Germany, I love the Impressionists, and here you can see the works of Van Gogh, Gauguin, Turner, Pizarro, Cézanne, Goya and my favorite Renoir and many others, as well as sculptures by Rodin and Picasso (I had not known that Picasso has sculptural works). Also, many of the British landscape paintings, also my favorite. The museum is very easy to follow and the audio guide is very informative.
After the gallery we rode on the city streets, back to Mike’s shop, from where we took a subway back to the hotel. Today decided not to go to a restaurant, an instead to buy seem groceries to have a dinner in the room. Our hotels closet subway station was at the railroad station where you could find many mini-markets, bakeries and wine shops. We bought some smoked chicken legs and pork thighs, local potato chips, some salads, strawberries and of course a magnificent dessert. We still were full from the hearty lunch, so we came to the room, changed clothes and went to the sauna. Our hotel had luxurious spa with a huge swimming pool, a sauna,a steam room, heated lounges and a relaxation room with fruit and fragrant tea. Today, we were here alone, just great, everything was just for us! For a fee you can get a massage, I made a 3o-minutes foot massage, and Dima had a scalp massage. The receptionist was very friendly, brought us tea directly to the loungers. She was delighted to learned we spoke Russian. Her mother, a native of East Germany, thought her some Russian too.
Back to the room, we discovered that we had no coffee or tea maker. We called and asked to bring it along with tea bags. They brought a top-of-the line coffeemaker, a box of coffee capsules, a tea kettle and a box with probably 20 variety of teas, all for free. Dima jokingly asked: can you bring a microwave too? The answer? “Do you want us to bring it in your room or you prefer that we heat up your food in the kitchen?” This hotel amazed more and more. Of course, this hotel is not cheap, but we lived in hotels that were even more expensive, but nowhere we had a service with such care and attention to detail. They earned their money for sure. By the way, what is the story with the tip: we, as is customary in the United States, were leaving 2-3 € every night at the vanity, but it stayed at the same place , the did not take it. We did not understand how we could make them to accept it. When we left I write a note “Danke” and put it on the desk along with money.
Tomorrow we had one more day in the heart of Bavaria!

sla019

>Here we came across something called "obazda" and tried to understand what it was. Is it a sort of mustard? No, it was not pretty bland and spicy. Something like cottage cheese or cream cheese? Nope. We could not figure out what was it, and going forward we called “probably obazda” any unknown we saw in Germany (not only food) .<

My daughter, wo lives in Princeton NJ, once perpared obazda for a student party. Since she was asked for the repice often by colleagues, she wrote down it. Mabe you want to give it a try:

"This is a hearty Bavarian specialty, pleasant as an appetizer or snack, or, more in the folkloristic line, as a main summer dish. Preparation time is appr. twenty minutes, and due to the genuinely unsophisticated preparation method there is absolutely nothing that can go wrong. In fact, for those of you who have been waiting for the right adults' excuse for sludging and slopping around in the kitchen (in Bavarian: bazen/batzen), this is where you can enjoy yourselves, for that's what gives "Obatzter" its name: if it's not smeary, it ain't right.

Ingredients:
200g whole-fat butter (don't even try diet! it's not gonna work)
200g mature Camembert
1 small red onion
1 tsp paprika
a few twigs of fresh parsley
Units: Metric
Serves: N/A

Cooking Instructions:

Chop the onion in tiny pieces. Let butter and cheese warm up and get soft in the meantime (they're better to process that way - but don't melt the butter). Cut butter and cheese into small lumps. Now comes the fun part - you have to mix those two. Use your hands and knead like a dough. You should get a largely homogenuous semi-soft mass with knots of Camembert crust in it. Knead in the onion and the paprika. Form a lump and chill down in the fridge. When served, it should be pretty firm. Decorate with chopped parsley and serve with pumpernickel, radishes, or horseradish. Enjoy!"

Fetinia

Thank you, sla019!
It does look like a cream cheese, but it taste completely differently. I'll try, or rather my husband, he is a cook in a family
Do you have a recipe for Pfälzer Saumagen as well?

annhig

When we read about German food we came across a very interesting dish, a stuffed pork tripe (Pfälzer Saumagen), and really wanted to try it, but so far none we did not see in on the menu in any restaurants.>>

that's because only people who live in the Pfalz will eat it! [German food can be surprisingly regional and what goes down a storm in one place is impossible to find in another]

I've tried it once and I certainly wouldn't again.

Here's everything about it that you were afraid to ask:

http://blindtastingclub.net/pfalz/pi...rom-the-pfalz/

And here's how to make it:

http://www.lecker.de/pfaelzer-saumag...kohl-5403.html

Take one sheep's stomach......

traveller1959

It is right that Saumagen is a regional specialty from the Pfalz and that it is hard get it outside the Pfalz.

It is basically a bratwurst-like sausage filling together with potato cubes which is cut in slices and fried.

The stomach is just the casing and I have to say that now, they often use a plastic wrapper as a casing (which is removed before frying).

If you want to make it in the USA, try to get raw link sausages (the ones Americans eat for breakfast) and mix the filling with minced pork belly, breadcrumbs, eggs, potato cubes, pepper and marjoram, the defining herb of Saumagen. You may also add thyme.

Then fill the mass into any container with a lid (metal or ceramic) or into a roasting bag or tube and cook it in the oven or in boiling water.

The final touch is pan-frying the sliced Saumagen before serving.

Fetinia

Thanks a lot, everyone! We actually did get a chance to eat Saumagen in Germany (it will be in later installment), and I loved it. It was exactly how it traveller1959 described and looked exactly like in anhig recipe link.

traveller1959

Fetinia, I love your attitude to travelling.

Sadly, so many travellers find their prejudices confirmed, but in every installment, you write that you have learnt something new and that you have been open to be surprised.

I also loved how you wrote that you defend Americans when Russians have prejudices and that you defent Russian when they are prejudiced. After all, humans are all the same. That is the basic experience of travelling.

annhig

our latest lot of holiday guests are from the Pfalz, perhaps we should have asked them to bring some Saumagen with them!

Fetinia

Day thirteen - May 12th, Thursday. Just Munich.

As expected, there was a wall of rain outside the window. For breakfast we finished yesterday’s dinner leftovers, and by the time we were done with eating and taking a shower, the heavy rain had become just a drizzle. We took a bus no.100 right around a corner and went to....

Munich Residence (Münchner Residenz)
Website: http://www.residenz-muenchen.de
Entrance: € 11 (for a combined ticket "Residence Museum / Treasury")

We got off the bus next to the entrance to the park surrounding the residence. We went to what seemed like the main entrance door, but it was locked. Hm, was the opening hours different today? Remember, we were supposed to come here yesterday…. Checked the website.. Nope, it should’ve been opened. We walked around the building, but all doors were locked. Funny thing, thru the windows we saw people walking inside the museum, but could not find a way to join them We saw a museum employee thru the window, waved, attracted attention, hand-signaled explaining what we want. He pointed us to some unclear direction. We walked to the pointed direction but ended up somewhere in the courtyard under construction. Construction workers completely ignored us, despite it was clear that two people looking at the map, speaking foreign language and looking around were lost. The same story as everywhere, until we asked nobody volunteered to assist. So we did ask for help and they actually walked with us to the museum entrance. It just the Residence was under renovation and construction was everywhere, so the main entrance was closed and the side entrance was used instead. Anyway, going back to the museum…..
Munich residence of Bavarian kings consists of 3 parts: the actual palace (Residenz Museum), Treasury (Schatzkammer) and Theatre (Cuvilliés Theatre), but the latter was closed that day. You can buy a single tickets for each museum or combination ticket. There are audio guides available.
We started with the palace. The first room was a grotto with, surprisingly, Indian motifs and windows facing the courtyard. And then the tours took us thru halls, rooms, chapels very different in size, style and décor: Antiquarium, the huge hall heavily decorated with marble walls and statues, Gallery of ancestors (Ahnengalerie) and the Porcelain Cabinet (Porzellankabinett), the room of Charlotte, the daughter of Bavarian King Maximilian II Josef (Charlottenzimmer), a Court room (Hofkapelle), and many, many others, stylistically very different from each other.
After walking the museum, we continued to the Treasury, the collection of luxury goods obtained by Bavarian rulers for centuries.
If the palace itself, after seeing Potsdam, Charlottenburg and especially Wurzburg residences did not overwhelm us (yes it was very nice, but did not have that “wow” factor), the Treasury was absolutely impressive. Exhibits were placed in different rooms based on the type and material: gold, precious and semi-precious stones, ivory, wood, crystal, jewelry, everyone was dedicated room, or even two. There was even a Russian Orthodox icon which we appreciated.

Marienplatz
Website: http://www.muenchen.de/sehenswuerdig...te/120347.html

After admiring crowns and other expensive toys of Bavarian rulers, we left and walked to see the most famous Munich Square, the Marienplatz, which I wanted to visit since reading an excellent book by Russian author Kunin "Russian on the Marienplatz”, the humorous story about Russian immigrants living in Munich.

The plaza was crowded: dozens of tourist groups, souvenir vendors, onlookers like us, the artists, "frozen" statues, and all of this surrounded by architecture from different eras: a basic simple old town hall, dazzling beautiful New Town Hall, and on the other side of the plaza the modern shops and pedestrian streets with boutique shops on both sides.
We are big fans of Germany national soccer team and here we bought probably all available souvenirs with team’s colors. I also bought a great knitted hat with pompom , something that I would actually needed the very next hour!

New Town Hall (Neues Rathaus)
Website: http://www.muenchen.de/sehenswuerdig...te/120394.html
Entrance: € 2.50 (for the rise on the tower)

Again, it was time to have a new challenge climbing the tower, so we decided to climb the New Rathaus tower. There was not much of a challenge, because the tower had an elevator. The wind was so strong at the top, so I had to put on a new hat. But the view, the view! it was magnificent!

Munich grocery market (Viktualienmarkt)
Website: http://www.muenchen.de/int/en/shoppi...lienmarkt.html

After freezing almost to death at the tower top, we needed something to warm up, like mulled wine. We went to the Viktualenmarkt, a small but famous market located close to the Marienplatz. Besides vegetables, asparagus, there was a lot of sausage, cheese products and lots of souvenirs. At one point we saw a mini-sausages of the size of a candy, we of course bought it: good snack on a road for tomorrow.
There were a lot of Bavarian delicacies, as well as fusion of Bavarian cuisine mingling with Mexican, Japanese and many others. We did not find mulled wine, and did not want a cold beer so settled with just a hot coffee. How the local drank that ice-cold beer on such a freezing day! and were singing songs! br-r-r.

Azam Church (Asamkirche)

Coffee made us a little warmer, and we continued our walk to see a small but amazingly beautiful church Azam, named after the sculptor and stucco master who built it for his family. It is adjoined to his house, so it is sandwiched between the buildings, making it easy to miss.
Although the church is dimly lit, it is impossible not to appreciate the beauty of the interior, frescoes framed by a walls painted rich red and gilded wooden sculptures. Do not miss this church, you will be pleasantly surprised.

Frauenkirche
Website: http://www.muenchner-dom.de/startseite.html
Free admission

Finally, the last stop for today was the Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Der Dom zu Unserer Lieben Frau), a.k.a. Frauenkirche. This is the largest church in Munich, which was the pile of smoldering rubble by the end of the war . The only thing that remained more or less unbroken were unusual for German architecture twin towers with onion domes. The reconstructed church looked majestic and dignified, although most of the closed exterior were covered by scaffolding due to extensive reconstruction. You can climb the tower and see the city from the top, but we were tired and decided to order that climbing one tower was enough for one day.

Farewell toast to the great city of Munich!

As soon as we left the Frauenkirche and went outside, drizzling rain turned into a real downpour. We hesitated should we go back to the hotel or to go somewhere to have a dinner? We decided after all that nothing, neither rain, nor snow, not rockfall could prevent us from spending the last night in Munich as the real Bavarians: in the pub with a beer and a huge chunk of pork. We found a great pub Augustiner Keller (http://www.augustinerkeller.de/restoran/?L=4) not far from our hotel with traditional Bavarian dishes of enormous size. Many tables were outdoor, but the rain was to heavy, so we decided to sit inside, warm and cozy. The pub was full of locals in varying degrees of intoxication, singing songs. The tavern had a hunting theme, there were heads of deers and other former animals on the walls. Our servers were Turkish/Middle Easters crew wearing German costumes, even more stone faced than regular German waiters, if it’s possible My husband wanted to change the order but was shouted so we kept quiet and follow the procedure. Our hotel The Charles spoiled us, and here we were brought back to the real world. Having said that , the Turkish-Arab Germans worked very efficiently, quickly bringing all our dishes. At the end my husband made a mistake giving them 20 euros more than supposed to, but water corrected a mistake, run after us and gave us money back. My husband ordered the Breaded schnitzel stuffed with ham and cheese (Cordon bleu vom Schwein), and I had the assortment of 5 or 6 different Bavarian sausages. Plus beer. Plus pretzels. After the dinner we literally could not move, we were stuffed. The walk to the hotel was the most challengin part of the day, but necessary after such full dinner. I wanted to go to sleep right away, but after such a dinner forced to go for a swim in the pool and a sauna. There we were greeted by our friendly receptionist from yesterday. She asked where we were going next. We say to the Alps, Fussen. She made terrible eyes, "Just does get disappointed ...". "Why?" "There are so many tourists there, they ruin the atmosphere!” Well, we are tourists too….

Fetinia

<Fetinia, I love your attitude to travelling.

Sadly, so many travellers find their prejudices confirmed, but in every installment, you write that you have learnt something new and that you have been open to be surprised.>

Yes, it is my favorite part of travel, I love to meet people, learn about new cultures and break stereotypes.

Fetinia

Chapter V. The German Alps
Fourteenth day - May 13th, Friday. White Snow on Black Friday.

I'll start with what we planned for that day:
1. Drive to the town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen and parked our car at the train station.
2. Take the cogwheel train to the lake Eibsee.
3. Hike around the lake, maybe kayaking, the get on the scenic cable car at Eibsee-Seilbahn to the highest point in Germany, the Zugspitze.
4. More hiking, admiring splendid views of Italy, Austria and Switzerland, have lunch.
5. Take a cable car to the Gletscher, and then take a cogwheel train through the tunnel back to the Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
6. Get to the Olympic ski jump stadium and hike the Partnachklamm.
7. Drive to Fussen and check-in to a hotel.

Great plan, right? WE just forgot about one small tiny detail: what day was that? That's right, it was Friday the 13th, or what is called Black Friday, when if anything could go wrong it certainly would. We had already been in Germany for two weeks and, in general, were lucky with the weather, but all good things eventually come to the end. Well, today was a perfect day for this, Friday the 13th ....
Well, let's begin from the start. We got up early (big plans!), had breakfast with snacks from Viktualen market, got into our car (we missed you, baby) and hit the road. It was very foggy, then rainy, then stormy, then hail started, and then ....

Snowflakes in the air
Carols singing everywhere
Santa Claus rides on the sleigh
This is great!… just no in MAY
(Folklore in the era of global warming)

Despite the weather, p. 1 of our plan had been completed without any problems. We arrived to the Garmisch-Partenkirchen train station, parked our car paying the euro or two for a whole day and went to buy tickets to Zugspitze. Here was a DISAPPOINTMENT # 1: a ticket lady told me that the Partnach was closed today because of the weather conditions.
We were disappointed, of course, but shook it off and moved on to the train. WE took the best seats right behind the driver, and the train departed. Images outside the window were not very promising in terms of improving the weather, but the clouds were low and we were hoping to see a clear sky at the mountain, above the clouds.

Mountain lake Eib (c)
Website: http://www.eibsee.de/?lang=en

30 minutes later we arrived at Eibsee station, but over there we found a DISAPPOINTMENT # 2: Eibsee-Zugspitze cable car was not working. Instead we found a counteraction of the new cable car, so the current cable car runs only on Saturday and Sunday. And today, as you remember, was a Friday, and not just a Friday, it was a Black Friday.
But we are optimists. Ebbs is very beautiful and we decided to take a stroll along the picturesque shore. Unfortunately, because of the weather kayaks and boat rental was closed, but even if it was open, we would not dare to paddle across lake ice water in such windy conditions. We were the only ones there, so we enjoyed the silence, interrupted only by birdsong, and the amazing beauty of the lake, which is lovely in any weather, mist even added some charm.
After walking and breathing fresh mountain air, we returned to the Eibsee station and boarded the next train going up to the top of Germany.

Zugspitze, the top of Germany
Website: http://zugspitze.de/en/winter/mountain/zugspitze
One day path: 43,50 € (including train and cable cars)

We were wondering how the train will go at such a steep angle? Google cogwheel, and you’ll know how
Most of the remaining ride ran through the tunnel. When we entered it, it was a just rain with small snowflakes, but when we came out of the tunnel and then went outside the Glacier station, we saw .... well, we saw absolutely nothing. Everything around us was white. When we boarded a cable car to Zugspitze we were surrounded by a solid white shroud on all sides, and only the ropes stretching into the infinite.
And, of course, when we got to the top, we came to terms with the DISAPPOINTMENT # 3: forget about Switzerland, Austria and Italy, we could hardly see each other! No, I understand is should not be a surprise to see a snow at t an altitude of almost 3000 meters, even in May but we certainly did not expect a snowstorm. It was certainly an unusual feeling of unreality, as if you are in a vacuum and nothing around you, infinity. We were happy for an Indian family who had a really good tim playing snowballs, apparently seeing a snow for the first time. My husband found something to occupy himself inspecting construction equipment, all kinds of bulldozers and tractors. We met a Swiss photographer, who was also pleased: he comes here often to take pictures in different seasons and weather conditions, and today’s weather was the one he did not have in previous occasions. Well, at least someone was happy unlike us…. Anyway, we remember that we still had a whole week of vacation, a lot to see and, we should be happy with what we have and we’ll have more chances to see amazing vistas of the Alps. Just not today, not on Friday the 13th.
We walked a bit, enjoying a fresh air, then got cold (not only because of the temperature but also by the piercing wind and blizzard stabbing eyes), we rushed inside to a cozy mountain cafe, where the first thing we ordered was a steaming mulled wine, followed by the hot stew.
It was time to go back. While waiting for the train, we watched a movie showing how this all would look next year after the completion of construction work.

How did we get to Austria.

Well, out of 7 items scheduled for today, so far we had a tie: we successfully completed pp. 1, 2 an 5, but failed pp. 3, 4 and 6
Te remaining p. 7. (“The drive to Fussen and move into a hotel “) would determine whether to consider today a successful to not. I checked the Google to find how long till Fussen our next destination, and it seemed like the best route was going thru Germany. But 20 minutes later we suddenly pass the sign "Republik Österreich”, and then there was a warning in German and English saying that you have entered the Republic of Austria, and therefore you can say "Auf Wiedersehen “ to free roads, and if you do not pay the punishment would be .... We did not want to know what would be a punishment, so we turned to the first gas station to ask what to do and where to pay.
When we entered the store at the gas station, a couple of local stared at us like waiting what we were going to do next.
"Good afternoon” we said to a girl
“Good afternoon" (Yeah, they speak English!)
“Is this Austria?" (I could not come up with anything not so stupid, of course, to start a coverstation)
"Austria, Austria"
"And how can we pay a toll?"
“Where are you going?"
“To Fussen."
“You pay toll only on highways, but no decent road goes to that place, so you OK"
From the response we sensed some beef between local Austrians and local Germans, or maybe not. Maybe just this girl had some personal grievances with her German boyfriend
We decided not to get involved, refueled (by the way diesel was cheaper here than on the other side of the border) and drove through the pretty towns and villages of Austria.

Arriving to Füssen.

After origin for about half an hour through the "Republik Österreich" we finally returned to the "Bundesrepublik Deutschland". First, we decided to check-in to the hotel, relax a bit and then walk around the town of Fussen, our stop for the next 2 nights.
We stayed at the hotel Sonne (http://www.hotel-sonne.de), very unusually decorated place in the style of King Ludwig’s time, where there were mannequins dressed in the outfits of those years. Our room was on the top floor with balcony overlooking the Fussen fortress.
First, we went to get warm in the hotel’s sauna, but were a little bit disappointed. Although there were 3 different saunas: steam, dry and infrared, we did not find much difference between them. Saunas were small, could not comfortably fit more than 2 people, so we had to wait our turn. No pool, no hot tub, only a shower. Tea in a samovar was really very good, no complaints.
After getting warm in a sauna, we changed and decided to explore the city. It was about 6PM and the city looked like a seaside port after all cruise ships departed: except a few drunken locals the streets were practically empty. Oh well, better for us. We walked through the lovely streets, went down to the lake, saw the Rathaus and The Castle, stared at the shop windows, found a couple interesting stores for souvenirs.
For dinner, we decided to go to a nice-looking outdoor cafe in our hotel. Although the rain was still on, but not so much, and a cafe had standing heaters and umbrellas, so we sat at a table on the terrace. The menu had a lot of Swiss dishes and we took Rösti , a potato casserole with various stuffings: mushrooms, bacon, etc. Tasty, but rich in calories! So after dinner, we made a circle around our hotel and went to sleep.
Oh yes, the seventh point of the plan had been completed, so the final score was 4: 3, and today’s day was officially called a success! Take it, Friday the 13th!

annhig

well at least you survived!

I admire your planning and your adaptability not to mention your ability to smile in the face of disappointment.

and eating outside after a day like that was beyond the call of duty.

Fetinia

>>well at least you survived!

I admire your planning and your adaptability not to mention your ability to smile in the face of disappointment.

and eating outside after a day like that was beyond the call of duty.<<

Thanks! I am an optimist, I learnt to appreciate what I have, and won't be disappointed facing difficulties. This attitude helps a lot.
Eating outside was not bad, they had really powerful heaters, it was actually nice. The snowstorm was only on a top, in Fussen it was just a light rain by that time.

traveller1959

I always keep warning here on this forum, when visiting the Alps, take weather into consideration! Most of the times, the mountain peaks are in clouds, so if you have only one special day to go into the Alps, the odds are against you!

Actually, we arrived in Garmisch-Partenkirchen the day after you left. It was a bright day, sunny, extremely clear blue skies, and the glacier was perfect with the fresh-fallen snow! It is hardly to believe how the visitors from India, China, Japan, Arabian countries etc. enjoyed the sunshine and the snow! Truly wonderful.

Sorry for Friday 13th. Saturday was much better.