Amanda's grandmother knew someone living in Austria, so she helped us connect with them, and they invited us to come stay at their house. We were planning on only staying the night but we ended up getting to see some of Graz and staying two nights. It was wonderful.
We stayed at the house of Georg and Elizabeth. They have four children, Anne, Simon, Thomas, and Jonathan. Also, the grandparents, Bob and Lil, come over all the time. It was great to be in a house with other people. They picked us up at the train station and fed us schnitzel, which had been one of our goals in being in Austria. They also gave us some vegetables, which had been lacking in our diet. They were wonderful and hospitable. I really enjoyed just sitting around and talking. And drinking lots of tea.
The next day was Sunday, so we accompanied them to church where they had a translator. We went home and had Sunday lunch. I had parsnips for the first time, which was rather ironic because you usually can't get them in Austria. I really enjoyed them. Then, Elizabeth offered to give us a tour of Graz, the big city close to them. She knew all the little stories behind things and took us into lots of little courtyards we would have missed.
She told us all about the history of Graz, from the cobblestones and streets, to the building fronts and statues. We went into a church that had been bombed during WWII, and when it was rebuilt, the man who was in charge of the stained glass put not only himself in the windows, but also a picture of Hitler and Stalin. It caused a bit of an uproar later.
We got to walk down different streets that years ago had been dedicated to different professions. All the butchers together, the knife sellers, the bakers and weapon smiths... Many of those streets still housed similar shops, but in more recent years had closed down because the next generation in the family had gone off to college instead of running the family business.
She also took us to see the famous Double Spiral Staircase. It's quite a fun and difficult creation. People still aren't quite sure how he managed to build the stairs. But the top looks down on all that's left of the old city wall.
We also got to see the Modern Monstrosity right in downtown. It helped Graz earn a cultural center for 2008, but looks like a mix between an upside down pig and a blue squid tentacle.
Then we headed for the mountain. Apparently at one time, it had mostly been a stoney rock, but someone rich had wanted to make it into a park. They built a castle at the top because of the multiple Turk invasions. There's a very old mural on one of the churches of the hardships from one year: a plague of locusts, a Turkish invasion, and the Black Plague. The castle at the top of the mountain had a well that went all the way down, so they wouldn't be stranded without water.
The stairs that went to the top were closed because of the ice and snow, so we took the elevator to the top, which is a good thing, because it was a long walk. There's a clock tower at the top that was closed for construction, but on it, the minute and hour hands were reversed so that those very far away, who could only see the one large hand would still be able to see what time in general it was. We walked down the backside of the mountain.
We went to a coffee shop and shared a number of traditional pastries. Then we went back to their house and played board games with the family. It was a lot of fun. We played a Castle game, which Amanda and I, on a team, accidently won. After the kids when to bed, the adults played a train game, which was very fun but very stressful. I'm going to have to look for both those games back in the States.
The next morning we got to watch the sun rise and they dropped us off at the train station to head back to Vienna. We had read a bit about the city and gotten some recommendations, so we actually knew what to head for. We got to the Belvedere Palace, St. Charles's Church, and the Schönbrunn Palace. We wandered around numerous gardens that would be lovely in the Spring and Summer, but were currently rather bare. We knew that Schönbrunn Palace had a labyrinth hedge maze, and I was really excited to go. It took us a very long time to find it, ironically, because we had been looking at the map incorrectly. However, when we finally found it, it was closed for the winter. I was disappointed. Amanda thinks we might be able to find a maze in one of the Welsh castles. Hopefully it's not closed.
We had a few problems catching the next train. We tried to get to the train station by walking, and we found the station nearly all walled off. We walked around the wrong side of it, and wasted like 20 minutes. Then, when we got to the station, we didn't see the train we wanted. The only one for Munich was one that had come in. We were short on time, so we asked. He told us this other train, which was just about to leave. We ran to get on it, but ended up in first class. We had to get out to go to second class and in the 30 seconds we were off the train moving to different cars, the train left. We were standing on the platform. Thankfully, it wasn't hard to get a different train to Salzburg and transfer there. But it was a horrible unlucky scene.
We arrived in Munich and checked in to our hostel. We had lots of issues trying to get onto the internet. They have a funny firewall thing for people using anything other than the Explorer browser. But eventually, we did get it to work. There was also some construction happening on the building next to ours, who we shared a wall with, so we were up bright and early each day.
Our first day there, we went on a free tour of Munich. The weather was rather miserable. It was half rain, half snow. So we were wet and cold. But Munich is a beautiful city I would love to come back to. Our tour guide was very good, and we learned a good deal about the city we would have missed. We got to see the famous Glockenspiel, with the French knight losing to the Bavarian.
We saw the famous church the Allies banned on bombing, because they used it as a landmark for Munich. It was built in 20 years, which was quite a feat for the scale of the building. There's even a legend about the Devil being tricked into helping to build it.
In walking around the city, we got to see a number of memorials. Hitler got his start in Munich, so there were remnants of that. In 1923, he attempted a failed coup d'etat. They tried what Mussolini had done in Italy, but the police were prepared and foiled it. In the aftermath, 16 Nazis had died, and 4 policemen. Hitler's bodyguard saved his life, taking 11 bullets for him. Imagine how things would be different if that bodyguard hadn't been so good at his job. (Hitler was later tried. He should have been given the death penalty for treason, but was only given 5 years, of which he only served 6 months for good behavior. He was arrested hiding in a friend's basement.)
The Nazi party, after they had gained political power, rewrote the history of that event. The event was named the Beer Hall Putsch. At the location of the failed event, they hung a plaque to commemorate what had "happened" there. To pass by it, you were supposed to give the Hitler salute. People who didn't want to do it would walk around, crossing down an intermediate street. However, the Nazis noticed people avoiding, took note, and would send people to concentration camps for even this passive action. Right near there, Hitler gave many of his addresses in Munich.
We also visited the most famous beer house, Hofbrauhaus. We saw the Opera house built by Ludwig I. However, he's more famous for his wedding present to his wife, Therese, the meadow which first hosted what would later become Oktoberfest. It was later extended from six to sixteen days, and during that time, Munich's 1.4 million people become 5.3 million. And they brew special 12% alcohol beer in honor of the wine they originally drank. (Okay, I just looked this up, and was not backed by wikipedia. So I don't know how true our tour guide was.) We went to a pub and drank some normal beer, and had some traditional stew, which was perfect for the cold weather.
The next day, we finally got the internet working. Hurrah! Then we headed out on our day trip to Neuschwanstein Castle. It is the castle the Cinderella's Castle in Disney World was modeled after. It was build by Ludwig II. He had wanted to build it in the Medieval style, but although beautiful, his castles do no look very Medieval. He also undertook many building projects, and spent far too much money on his fantasies. His advisors tried to have him declared insane. He was taken away to be examined, and drowned the next day. His building projects were never finished, including Neuschwanstein, but the parts that are completed are spectacular.
We arrived on a day that it was snowing. It made the visit even more magical. The castle sits on a hill, overlooking beautiful mountains and valleys. I can't imagine waking up to that view every day. The castle itself is a monolith of stone, with soaring towers and arched windows.
We got to go inside, but weren't allowed to take any pictures. (We did sneak one of me with a dragon.) The inside of the castle is even more amazing than the outside. There are paintings everywhere. The walls and ceilings are all decorated, and the furniture is very beautiful. There are giant chandeliers holding bunches of candles. The throne room lacks a throne, because it wasn't built before he died. His house also had running water and a plumbing system, as well as central heating. (I'll take it!) His bedroom had 3 woodcarvers working for 14 years, and has some of the most incredible woodwork I've seen. Also, around all his rooms he has murals of Wagner's plays. His bedroom is scenes from Tristan and Isolde. I bought a little book that tells the stories painted in the different rooms with paintings from the castle. It was stunning.
He also created a man-made cave in one of his rooms, which looks actually a lot like a real cave. The second floor was never completed (but walking through it still gives quite the sense of the elaborateness of the place), but the kitchen on the bottom floor is done. I would have loved to see it in action. There are roasting spits and ovens and stove tops, as well as lots of places to work. There's a chef's room, and the room for washing dishes is bigger than most people's kitchens. I can just imagine the kinds of feasts they would have created there.
We were the last tour of the day, and so in walking home, we were pretty much alone. There was a hush that only newly fallen snow can create, and walking away from the fantasy castle through the snowy trees was quite magical. I really liked it.
We are now on our way to Rothenburg, which is supposed to be a fairly traditional German/Bavarian town. It has been a great trip so far. So many wonderful memories.
Would love to see that sneaked photo of you and the dragon. What a great time!
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