Day 6: Stops on the Way to Innsbruck

After our castle visit, we headed to Innsbruck with a couple of stops on the way. The first was to a small village - Wies - with a church that is known for the pilgrimages Catholics make to it.












If you walked around the back of the church you even saw...and smelled...some of the local farming!



After our short stop in Wies, we drove on some winding, but good, roads to Oberammergau. This village is the site of the Passion Play that is only performed here once every 10 years. Two people in our group had actually been to see the play before!






After a quick look at the theater, we had some time for shopping...some of us chose a coffee break instead...






We made one more stop and that was to the Olympic Ski Jump Of the 1936 Winter Olympics. Very cool.













The railing at the top of the stairs is where Hitler stood to observe the action.






More on our day in Innsbruck soon...

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Day 6: A Visit to a Castle

We left Munich early Wednesday morning and headed west then south to Neuschwanstein Castle which I believe one of the Disney castles is modeled after. It was a gorgeous morning and more than one in the group deemed this their favorite visit yet.

It started with some wonderful views from the bus of quaint German villages and snowballed mountains.






Once in the village below the castle we had to decide whether to take the bus up, or a horse drawn carriage or walk. Which one do you think he picked?



If you guessed the carriage ride, you win! Several in the group went up this way.









The others decided to walk up...it was a trip up some steep hills but we made it...



Here's our destination...



We saw this on the way up!



Beautiful, isn't it? It was built in the 1880s and was never completed because the king who was building it - King Ludwig II - was declared insane and died while it was being built. It is still quite impressive.









Some of walked on to a scenic overview



There are actually two castles in the same area, this one was older and built by King Ludwig's parents.


















This inside was quite with spiral staircases leading to a throne room with mosaic floor, the king's bedroom complete with running water and a flushing toilet, a room that looked like a cave, one of the earliest telephones and radiators with a swan on top that served as a humidifier (ask others how they worked).



Several other stops today that I'll fill you in on later.

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Day 5: A Free Afternoon in Munich

While most of the group headed out to visit Dachau, the site of a concentration camp during WWII, my family (Norman, Jane, Terri) and I set off to experience Munich. My parents and I had visited the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp outside of Krakow, Poland while I was studying there as a college student, so we felt we'd had the experience already.

So my apologies for is next post...it really is all about me (or at least us) and probably is of little interest to those of you tuning in to stay tuned to what your loved ones are up to. I'll be back to regular post in Day 6, I promise.

Once we left the main square, we found the large outdoor market with meat shops, vegetable stands, bakeries, restaurants and more!

It even had a May Pole...



I really loved the flower booths...













Aren't these cute?








Then we found this place, have you heard of it?



If you haven't, then you are missing out!

The Hofbrauhaus is a bier garden - beer garden. This one is world famous.

It has a band playing traditional tunes...




It has an English menu - thank goodness...



But most of all it has bier - BEER - German beer and pretzels (to soak up the beer).




Dad got the dark beer and mom and I got the Weiss (wheat) beer. Yum.

Terri tries the dark...




It takes two hands...




Guess who finished hers first...me!




Poor Mom, she just couldn't go on...




Just kidding! Here they are AFTER our visit...




It was a great afternoon and we finished the day with a very traditional German meal complete with sausages and sauerkrat.

On the walk back we found this store...how perfect for this couple...




Off to Innsbruck today with a couple of stops on the way today (Wednesday), stay tuned.

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