Today, I am twenty-five years old. I am one quarter of a century. And what a quarter it has been. I realized what changes I have witnessed in only those twenty-five years.
This was what started the discussion on technological changes. I was attempting to take some pictures from the train, and I took a bunch of the same thing, trying to get a good one. We knew we could just go through and pick out the best ones later, because we had digital cameras. And what a wonderment it is. I remember taking pictures with film, hoping the pictures turned out and only taking a few special pictures, never nearly as many as we do these days. Remember the view finders and purchasing film at jacked prices because you ran out. Now everyone has tiny digital cameras.
Another thing EVERYONE has is a cell phone. Everyone, not even just every family, but every family member older than 14, has one and they do amazing things. They play music, take pictures, surf the web, watch movies, play games, oh, and call. They come in cool colors and slimly fit in your pocket. And I remember before really anyone had one. (I even remember when Caller ID was catching on.) When I went away to college, I got a cell phone. It was a brick of a phone, but my brother and friends were both very jealous, because none of them had one. However, by the time my contract was up and I could get a new phone, they all had phones, and cooler ones than mine by far. Every year, new phones come out, and they are all cooler than the ones before. You are almost afraid to pick one because you know the next cool one will be out soon.
I sit here typing on my year old Macbook. I love it dearly and don't know what I would do without it. However, 10 years ago, hardly anyone had laptops. My dad did, but it really wasn't the sort of thing you'd want to carry around with you. And of course, it could never do half the things my computer can do now. It certainly wouldn't be the kind of thing you'd bring to Europe with you. It would be far to heavy and there wouldn't be much benefit. You couldn't book your hostel online or update your blog or Skype your parents. Internet in general wasn't close to what it is today. I remember when Dial Up came, and you had to be careful about being on too long because of people trying to call. Then one person I know got DSL, which seemed like lightning in comparison. Now of course, I get impatient when a page doesn't instantly load and expect everywhere I go to have WiFi. This laptop has drastically changed my life.
Another change I've alluded to is the music revolution. Growing up, we had a record player. My brother and I had our favorite record. However, when that broke, my parents jumped straight to a six tray CD changer. I was not so quick. My first ever portable music player was a Walkman, which played tapes. I had a number of favorite tapes, some of which I made myself. Then I got a portable CD player. It had horrible anti-skip, and I always had to be careful how I carried it. That lasted quite a while for me, because I got a car and started listening to radio. But just recently I finally got on the MP3 wagon and got an iPod. Pretty much everyone I knew already had one, so I was behind the times. Of course now, I wouldn't think of getting anything else. Music is almost all digital. I'm just as likely to buy a CD online as I am to buy one in store.
Another technology change I vividly recall happened while I worked at Blockbuster. When I started working there, it was all VHS tapes. We had to check and make sure all of them were rewound. Then, there came a time when we had to make a DVD section. It was a small section on a few shelves at first. Eventually, however, it became apparent we had to make room for these DVDs on the Wall, and intermix them with the VHS. Pretty soon, there were titles only being released in DVD and only the big titles came in VHS, two copies shelved at the beginning. Finally, none of the titles came in VHS. We had a few complaints, mostly parents of small children or relatives of people staying in the hospital, but overall, it was a smooth transition. DVDs had replaced VHS, and it was obvious why. However, even now DVDs are being replaced by Blue Ray. And so it continues.
I have not been alive that long. I did not live through WWII or hear Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous speech. I can not recall where I was when Kennedy was shot, nor when we landed on the moon. I did not see the first steam engine, or commercial flight, or Space Shuttle. However, I have witnessed many changes. I went from film to digital, corded to cell phones, and records to MP3s. I am part of the internet revolution and witnessed the DVD takeover. I was alive when the Berlin Wall came down, the Twin Towers were hit, and the first black president was elected. I have seen much change in these twenty-five years of life.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Ah Pari!
[Monday] We made it to Paris, after a detour through Switzerland. (We wanted to see the Alps, but had heard it was expensive, so we just took a train through, and then stopped in Zurich to have a cup on Hot Chocolate. It was funny, because they gave us the hot milk and then a packet of chocolate mix to stir in ourselves. It was surprisingly smooth and tasted wonderfully. Just kinda funny.) We had to catch a connection in Milan, which I can say by far is my least favorite city we've been to. But after some issues, we made it to Paris.
We had planned to stay with a lady Amanda kind of knew, but she got sick at the last minute, so we had to book ourselves a hostel. We are staying at one called Peace & Love, and are on the fifth floor after tons of winding stairs. It's quite the trek to get up, and rather dizzying to come down. But we like it overall. We were exhausted that first night after long days of travel and very little sleep the night before. (We had to sleep at the Milan train station, and I didn't sleep much.) So, after some shopping and cooking and emailing, at the early hour of 8:30, we went to bed and slept until 9 the next morning.
[Tuesday] We signed up to go on a tour with one of the people from the hostel. She used to be an American, but has now married a French man and is staying over here permanently. And I can see why. It's funny, because I've heard a lot about Paris and France. I know the people aren't supposed to be nice at all, but the city seems to be wonderful, with the temptation for many famous people to come and stay. And I can say that I found the latter to be true.
Paris had never been high on my list of places to come. I knew a lot of people went there, but I was never really that excited about it. I think, even in planning this trip, I originally was more excited to be going to the Normandy area, seeing the beaches and the tapestry, than I was for Paris. But as the time got closer and more people talked about it, I started being more and more excited. And then, when things started to go wrong, Paris was the place I wanted to get to and the one city I really wanted to see.
It's a beautiful city. Most of the buildings are appealing to look at and then there are tons of actual sites to see. Everywhere is rich with history. Our tour took us down the central area of Paris, starting at Norte Dame. I hadn't realized that the real reason that church is famous is because of Victor Hugo's book. (Who is buried at the Parthenon, as well as the guy who invented Braille.) Yes, it has two of the largest rose stained glass windows and 85% of the glass in the church is original. But overall, I have seen far prettier churches on this European tour. I thought the flying buttresses were part of the reason it was famous, so the church itself was going to be amazing, so I was a little disappointed. It did take over 200 years to build though, taking the longest time of any church in France.
Near Norte Dame, we saw the Shakespeare and Company bookstore. I want to buy a book there. Hemingway hung out there, and James Joyce is only famous because the lady who owned the store finally offered to publish him. At the original location, there were beds behind some shelves, so people really could stay there. Now, there is a reading room, and a used book part, and if you buy a book there, it's stamped with Ground Zero, because Napoleon crowned himself at Norte Dame and declared that Paris, where he was, was the center of the world. (There are apparently mile markers outside of Paris telling you how far away you are from Paris, the center of the world.)
We got to see the Pont Neuf, meaning New Bridge in French, but it's really the oldest bridge in the city. And we got to see the Sex and the City bridge, from the last episode, and I guess people often use that bridge to propose. We also walked on the island where the last High Priest of the Knights of Templar was burned at the stake. (Allegedly, they bought Jesus's crown of thorns and it rests in one of the churches in Paris.) And the garden of Cardinal Richelieu (think Three Musketeers), where the French Revolution started. We walked through a number of Paris's over four hundred parks (few of which allow you to walk on the grass) and got to see statues and the green chairs donated to the city. We ended our tour at the Big and Little Palaces, after learning about the Nazi sent to Paris to destory it by Hitler because he knew he wasn't going to win the war, so he wanted to level Paris. However, that Nazi was so impressed with the city, he stalled and lied and managed to keep Paris much more intact.
Following the official tour, four girls (Hilary, Ali, Amanda and I) all set out to go to the Arc de Triomphe. It was a nice walk, with a pit stop at the Louis Vuitton. We made it to the Arc, which the Romans had inspired Napoleon to build. However, it took so long that he never saw it completed. On his second wedding, he wanted to ride through it with his new wife. So he had his men build a wooden replica in front of the unfinished one just for this occasion.
After that, we headed down to the Eiffel Tower. It was just getting dark and so they lit it up. When it's lit up, they make it sparkle every hour on the hour. We arrived just in time to watch it sparkle across the river. It was beautiful. I thought the sparkling would only last a minute or so, but it went on for five minutes. Quite lovely.
Three of us decided to go up the Tower. We got amazing views of the city at night, all lit up and beautiful. Although chilly, the air wasn't as cold as I was afraid it was going to be. I really enjoyed being up there, and we stayed long enough to see it sparkle again, this time we were on it. It was a great way to end the night.
[Wednesday, officially three weeks] We had originally planned to visit Versailles today, but one of the girls we went on the tour with yesterday, Hilary, was going to see the catacombs, so we decided to go with her. The other girl we talked to, and went to the Eiffel Tower with, decided to come as well. The catacombs were cool, but different than I was expecting. All the time I was walking down there, I kept thinking of "The Cast of Amontillado," even though that was Italy. We came down and there were carvings, castles built into the walls. They were done by a prisoner who was killed in a cave in after trying to build a tunnel down to where he was. The tunnels often had low ceilings that I could have brushed my head against if I tried. After a while, it got damp and dripped.
It had stacks of bones, with skulls throughout. A guard down at the bottom showed us a number of notable skulls, from one old man with a jaw bone still, to a family, to a heart made of skulls arranged in the bones, to a man who was killed by a bullet to another with a hole from a doctor. There are six million people's bones stored here, moved from the Cemetery of the Innocent because of a disease outbreak. A bunch of them were killed in the Revolution. Many of those had sentenced others to death, only to meet the guillotine themselves.
The catacombs were originally a quarry, and took a long time to move. They are now all stacked very neatly with a scattering of bones behind the orderly ones. There are so many of them.
After, Ali headed off to the museums where we planned to meet up with her later when the Louvre tickets went on sale. So in the mean time, we decided to head to Sacre Cour, which is a high point of the city as well as a church. We made it, and got to look down on Paris. It is massive. A giant sea of buildings as far as you can see in every direction. It was strange to look out on. In the other cities when we get up and have a view, you can see other things, rivers, mountains, the edge of the city, but with where we stood looking at Paris, there was none of that.
After touring the church, we decided to find Moulin Rogue, which we knew was close to where we were. Oh our way, we found a bunch of artists painting original art on the sidewalks. Mostly there were scenes from around Paris, but there was one on the corner that was impressionistic with Jazz players that I was quite impressed with. We didn't end up getting any of them however.
It took quite a bit of work and wandering, but eventually we found the neighborhood of Moulin Rogue. It was quite, um, interesting. The entire street is lined with sex shops and shows, with the occasional restaurant thrown in. We did find the famous windmill, but I think I would skip this in the future.
We walked back to our hostel, going through a sketchy part of town. We made curry rice and then headed out to the Louvre! It was evening by this point and the tickets were on sale. We knew a few things we wanted to see, and headed for those first. We found the Mona Lisa of course, which was small and far away. But I got to see it! And we got to see the Venus de Milo, and some Botticelli, as well as numerous other famous pieces.
The things that really impresses me about the Louvre was imagining this as a palace. The ceiling and halls are often intricate and lovely, and yet it wasn't enough for the late king, who moved to his hunting lodge, Versailles. Crazy. I'm glad they have now converted it to a museum.
Oh, and an interesting note, if you're walking around the courtyard, you can see little orange dots on some of the windows. Those are for the firemen if the building ever catches on fire, they know where the most important pieces of art are, and can rescue those first.
We stayed until they kicked us out. I really enjoyed some of the sculptures, and found a piece I would love to own. (I really like the story of Cupid and Psyche, especially the C.S. Lewis version.) Then we went out into the courtyard with the pyramids all lit up. It's really beautiful at night.
We made it back to our hostel where a number of people were hanging out around the bar. I saw someone there who looked familiar to me, and I started chatting with him. Eventually, I asked him if his name was Charlie, and it was! I had met him in South Korea when I was teaching there. We had only met one night, and I had no idea he was going to be in Paris. In fact, he was only in Paris for two days before returning to Liverpool, where he's from. So the fact he was in the city at the same time as us is absolutely crazy; even more crazy that he was at the same hostel that we were. (He used to work there.) I am still amazed at the connection.
[Thursday] We woke up and packed up, ready to head out of Paris for London. It was quite a process for us, because we found it was cheaper to fly from Paris to Glasgow to London than that the train. So that's what we did, and although we had a long day, we made it safe and sound, and even got to eat some fish and chips in the process. So now we're in London. It's good to be back in a place where we can speak the language.
Joke: What do you call someone who can speak three languages? Trilingual.
What do you call someone who can speak two languages? Bilingual.
What do you call someone who can speak one language? American.
I am going to learn German. I am. I am. (Our tour guide (an American) told us that joke.)
We had planned to stay with a lady Amanda kind of knew, but she got sick at the last minute, so we had to book ourselves a hostel. We are staying at one called Peace & Love, and are on the fifth floor after tons of winding stairs. It's quite the trek to get up, and rather dizzying to come down. But we like it overall. We were exhausted that first night after long days of travel and very little sleep the night before. (We had to sleep at the Milan train station, and I didn't sleep much.) So, after some shopping and cooking and emailing, at the early hour of 8:30, we went to bed and slept until 9 the next morning.
[Tuesday] We signed up to go on a tour with one of the people from the hostel. She used to be an American, but has now married a French man and is staying over here permanently. And I can see why. It's funny, because I've heard a lot about Paris and France. I know the people aren't supposed to be nice at all, but the city seems to be wonderful, with the temptation for many famous people to come and stay. And I can say that I found the latter to be true.
Paris had never been high on my list of places to come. I knew a lot of people went there, but I was never really that excited about it. I think, even in planning this trip, I originally was more excited to be going to the Normandy area, seeing the beaches and the tapestry, than I was for Paris. But as the time got closer and more people talked about it, I started being more and more excited. And then, when things started to go wrong, Paris was the place I wanted to get to and the one city I really wanted to see.
It's a beautiful city. Most of the buildings are appealing to look at and then there are tons of actual sites to see. Everywhere is rich with history. Our tour took us down the central area of Paris, starting at Norte Dame. I hadn't realized that the real reason that church is famous is because of Victor Hugo's book. (Who is buried at the Parthenon, as well as the guy who invented Braille.) Yes, it has two of the largest rose stained glass windows and 85% of the glass in the church is original. But overall, I have seen far prettier churches on this European tour. I thought the flying buttresses were part of the reason it was famous, so the church itself was going to be amazing, so I was a little disappointed. It did take over 200 years to build though, taking the longest time of any church in France.
Near Norte Dame, we saw the Shakespeare and Company bookstore. I want to buy a book there. Hemingway hung out there, and James Joyce is only famous because the lady who owned the store finally offered to publish him. At the original location, there were beds behind some shelves, so people really could stay there. Now, there is a reading room, and a used book part, and if you buy a book there, it's stamped with Ground Zero, because Napoleon crowned himself at Norte Dame and declared that Paris, where he was, was the center of the world. (There are apparently mile markers outside of Paris telling you how far away you are from Paris, the center of the world.)
We got to see the Pont Neuf, meaning New Bridge in French, but it's really the oldest bridge in the city. And we got to see the Sex and the City bridge, from the last episode, and I guess people often use that bridge to propose. We also walked on the island where the last High Priest of the Knights of Templar was burned at the stake. (Allegedly, they bought Jesus's crown of thorns and it rests in one of the churches in Paris.) And the garden of Cardinal Richelieu (think Three Musketeers), where the French Revolution started. We walked through a number of Paris's over four hundred parks (few of which allow you to walk on the grass) and got to see statues and the green chairs donated to the city. We ended our tour at the Big and Little Palaces, after learning about the Nazi sent to Paris to destory it by Hitler because he knew he wasn't going to win the war, so he wanted to level Paris. However, that Nazi was so impressed with the city, he stalled and lied and managed to keep Paris much more intact.
Following the official tour, four girls (Hilary, Ali, Amanda and I) all set out to go to the Arc de Triomphe. It was a nice walk, with a pit stop at the Louis Vuitton. We made it to the Arc, which the Romans had inspired Napoleon to build. However, it took so long that he never saw it completed. On his second wedding, he wanted to ride through it with his new wife. So he had his men build a wooden replica in front of the unfinished one just for this occasion.
After that, we headed down to the Eiffel Tower. It was just getting dark and so they lit it up. When it's lit up, they make it sparkle every hour on the hour. We arrived just in time to watch it sparkle across the river. It was beautiful. I thought the sparkling would only last a minute or so, but it went on for five minutes. Quite lovely.
Three of us decided to go up the Tower. We got amazing views of the city at night, all lit up and beautiful. Although chilly, the air wasn't as cold as I was afraid it was going to be. I really enjoyed being up there, and we stayed long enough to see it sparkle again, this time we were on it. It was a great way to end the night.
[Wednesday, officially three weeks] We had originally planned to visit Versailles today, but one of the girls we went on the tour with yesterday, Hilary, was going to see the catacombs, so we decided to go with her. The other girl we talked to, and went to the Eiffel Tower with, decided to come as well. The catacombs were cool, but different than I was expecting. All the time I was walking down there, I kept thinking of "The Cast of Amontillado," even though that was Italy. We came down and there were carvings, castles built into the walls. They were done by a prisoner who was killed in a cave in after trying to build a tunnel down to where he was. The tunnels often had low ceilings that I could have brushed my head against if I tried. After a while, it got damp and dripped.
It had stacks of bones, with skulls throughout. A guard down at the bottom showed us a number of notable skulls, from one old man with a jaw bone still, to a family, to a heart made of skulls arranged in the bones, to a man who was killed by a bullet to another with a hole from a doctor. There are six million people's bones stored here, moved from the Cemetery of the Innocent because of a disease outbreak. A bunch of them were killed in the Revolution. Many of those had sentenced others to death, only to meet the guillotine themselves.
The catacombs were originally a quarry, and took a long time to move. They are now all stacked very neatly with a scattering of bones behind the orderly ones. There are so many of them.
After, Ali headed off to the museums where we planned to meet up with her later when the Louvre tickets went on sale. So in the mean time, we decided to head to Sacre Cour, which is a high point of the city as well as a church. We made it, and got to look down on Paris. It is massive. A giant sea of buildings as far as you can see in every direction. It was strange to look out on. In the other cities when we get up and have a view, you can see other things, rivers, mountains, the edge of the city, but with where we stood looking at Paris, there was none of that.
After touring the church, we decided to find Moulin Rogue, which we knew was close to where we were. Oh our way, we found a bunch of artists painting original art on the sidewalks. Mostly there were scenes from around Paris, but there was one on the corner that was impressionistic with Jazz players that I was quite impressed with. We didn't end up getting any of them however.
It took quite a bit of work and wandering, but eventually we found the neighborhood of Moulin Rogue. It was quite, um, interesting. The entire street is lined with sex shops and shows, with the occasional restaurant thrown in. We did find the famous windmill, but I think I would skip this in the future.
We walked back to our hostel, going through a sketchy part of town. We made curry rice and then headed out to the Louvre! It was evening by this point and the tickets were on sale. We knew a few things we wanted to see, and headed for those first. We found the Mona Lisa of course, which was small and far away. But I got to see it! And we got to see the Venus de Milo, and some Botticelli, as well as numerous other famous pieces.
The things that really impresses me about the Louvre was imagining this as a palace. The ceiling and halls are often intricate and lovely, and yet it wasn't enough for the late king, who moved to his hunting lodge, Versailles. Crazy. I'm glad they have now converted it to a museum.
Oh, and an interesting note, if you're walking around the courtyard, you can see little orange dots on some of the windows. Those are for the firemen if the building ever catches on fire, they know where the most important pieces of art are, and can rescue those first.
We stayed until they kicked us out. I really enjoyed some of the sculptures, and found a piece I would love to own. (I really like the story of Cupid and Psyche, especially the C.S. Lewis version.) Then we went out into the courtyard with the pyramids all lit up. It's really beautiful at night.
We made it back to our hostel where a number of people were hanging out around the bar. I saw someone there who looked familiar to me, and I started chatting with him. Eventually, I asked him if his name was Charlie, and it was! I had met him in South Korea when I was teaching there. We had only met one night, and I had no idea he was going to be in Paris. In fact, he was only in Paris for two days before returning to Liverpool, where he's from. So the fact he was in the city at the same time as us is absolutely crazy; even more crazy that he was at the same hostel that we were. (He used to work there.) I am still amazed at the connection.
[Thursday] We woke up and packed up, ready to head out of Paris for London. It was quite a process for us, because we found it was cheaper to fly from Paris to Glasgow to London than that the train. So that's what we did, and although we had a long day, we made it safe and sound, and even got to eat some fish and chips in the process. So now we're in London. It's good to be back in a place where we can speak the language.
Joke: What do you call someone who can speak three languages? Trilingual.
What do you call someone who can speak two languages? Bilingual.
What do you call someone who can speak one language? American.
I am going to learn German. I am. I am. (Our tour guide (an American) told us that joke.)
Monday, January 26, 2009
The Alps
There is something utterly majestic about mountains. It's the same kind of majesty that the ocean has. There is this sense of untamed peace about them. The kind of thing on an intellectual level I associate with Aslan and God.
We rode the train today through the Swiss Alps. We knew we wanted to travel during the day so we could see them. (However, because of expenses, we decided not to stay in Switzerland and instead keep traveling.) They actually met my expectations.
Looking at these mountains, I can see why they are famous. They are massive. And they are different than any other mountains I've ever seen. They are more like a childhood drawing of mountains. I've seen the Rocky Mountains, which are massive as well, but in different form. There is a roundness to the tops of the Rockies, and they don't eclipse one another. They are like hugely inflated hills, a sea of giant bicycle bumps. The Alps are not. They are more sheer. They rise up rather suddenly from the ground into steep slopes that end in jagged peaks. They are all rock and trees and snow. They are daunting to look at.
I can not imagine crossing them. I would assume that in summer they are less fearsome, but cannot really picture it. Or perhaps just the valleys are as deep as the mountains are high.
Looking at them, you feel a sense of your own insignificance. Little houses hide in the crevices. Waking up in the morning surrounded by such beauty fearsome works of nature, you can't help be in awe. They can be scary, with avalanches and frozen temperatures, but also there is a sense of security. They are protective barriers and beautiful companions. Staring at them out the window, you breath in more deeply, acutely aware of the moment. The Alps are simply majestic.
[P.S. I love riding on the train. Probably my most favorite form of travel. You get some room to spread out. And you aren't responsible for paying attention. You don't have to stress about traffic or directions. You can nap or read or simply look out the window and admire the amazing land you're traveling through. Trains are wonderful. When they work.]
We rode the train today through the Swiss Alps. We knew we wanted to travel during the day so we could see them. (However, because of expenses, we decided not to stay in Switzerland and instead keep traveling.) They actually met my expectations.
Looking at these mountains, I can see why they are famous. They are massive. And they are different than any other mountains I've ever seen. They are more like a childhood drawing of mountains. I've seen the Rocky Mountains, which are massive as well, but in different form. There is a roundness to the tops of the Rockies, and they don't eclipse one another. They are like hugely inflated hills, a sea of giant bicycle bumps. The Alps are not. They are more sheer. They rise up rather suddenly from the ground into steep slopes that end in jagged peaks. They are all rock and trees and snow. They are daunting to look at.
I can not imagine crossing them. I would assume that in summer they are less fearsome, but cannot really picture it. Or perhaps just the valleys are as deep as the mountains are high.
Looking at them, you feel a sense of your own insignificance. Little houses hide in the crevices. Waking up in the morning surrounded by such beauty fearsome works of nature, you can't help be in awe. They can be scary, with avalanches and frozen temperatures, but also there is a sense of security. They are protective barriers and beautiful companions. Staring at them out the window, you breath in more deeply, acutely aware of the moment. The Alps are simply majestic.
[P.S. I love riding on the train. Probably my most favorite form of travel. You get some room to spread out. And you aren't responsible for paying attention. You don't have to stress about traffic or directions. You can nap or read or simply look out the window and admire the amazing land you're traveling through. Trains are wonderful. When they work.]
Oh What a Beautiful Day!
Oh, What a Beautiful Morning! Oh What a Beautiful Day!
We have just spent the day wandering around Salzburg. I knew that it was a touristy city so I didn't have super high expectations of it. But I really enjoyed it. I'm sure it didn't hurt that for the first time, it was lovely weather. The sun was shining and we didn't need to wear hats. We decided to skip the hostel's showing of The Sound of Music, because it showed right when we wanted to be out enjoying the sunshine. I'll have to watch it once I get home.
We hiked up one of Salzburg's three hills, following the Passion of Jesus up the hill, and got some shots of the city. Sadly, the roofs here are not as nice as some of the other cities we've been in. Graz and Prague both have very pretty red roofs, but Salzburg is mostly modern metal. :(
We found our way back to town and down lots of little alleys and streets filled with fun shops. We walked in a bunch of them, from jewelry and musical instruments to prom dresses and Mozart mugs, we ran the gauntlet. We found a purse for me. It was quite on sale. It's in a color that I'm not sure about, but it is broken into 3 pouches, and I like all the pockets. We also found a crazy store called Easter in Salzburg. It was FULL of decorated eggs. I have never seen so many eggs in my life, especially not all individually decorated. There were tons and tons of designs and all of them were very pretty. I'm going to attempt to make some back home, because we were pretty sure an egg wouldn't make the trip.
Across town, we hiked up another hill to the largest fortification in Europe. However, we decided to skip the internal castle and museum and use the time to see the rest of Salzburg.
At the bottom of the hill we found a church built in 1491. It had a packed graveyard, with family graves, some with very recent deaths, so obviously it was still being used. Attached was a monastery that was built into the side of the mountain. We heard that originally, it hadn't had any windows because the Romans would have opposed the monks praying. We were also stopped by a woman who only spoke limited English. She wanted to show us that the Hebrew word for Jehovah was written on one of the graves, as well as other times in the Bible. She was a Jehovah Witness, and wanted us, when we got back to the States, to find another Jehovah Witness and ask about these things. Only with Amanda.
A bit further on, we got a yummy bacon (ham) and cheese pretzel and stumbled upon a Farmer's Market with a bunch of booths selling assortments of meat, cheese, sausages, bread, and flowers. We ate a few free samples, and found some cheeses we liked, and some we did not. We had been looking all day for some Apple Strudel, but most of it did not look very good. However, one of the booths sold some that did, so Amanda got to try her "crisp apple strudel."
[Side note about the song: We have gotten to experience a number of new things from the song. 1. Schnitzel with noodle: Wonderful. I loved it. I actually got the recipe and will be attempting to make it at home. Homemade noodles are hard to beat. 2. Apple Strudel: Very good. Tastes a lot like apple pie. 3. Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes: Really annoying. If it's your eyelashes, you are blinking a lot to get them off, and if it's on your nose, you want it off before it melts and turns into a drop of water that runs down your face. So #3 is not one of my favorite things.]
After that, we went into another church; a cathedral if you will. It was the most unique church like that I've ever been in. It had the same structure as most of the other churches, but instead of the gilded gold and gaudiness of other similar churches, there were decadent carvings out of white stone with a black wash to illuminate the carvings. And then there were colorful paintings all over the ceiling. It was brighter than most churches, with multiple organs. It was a lovely church. We both really liked it.
We found both Mozart's birthplace and his later home. Both hosted museums for him, but we skipped them (deciding to watch Amedaus later). We then went to Mirabell Gardens and Palace, supposedly the most famous wedding venue in the world. It was funny, because it was the last thing on our list to do, and we were just thinking that we had missed the Pegasus Fountain which we had hoped to find wandering around. Well, just as we were talking about this, we walked into the the garden, and there it was! So Amanda got her picture with the famous fountain, and I got to ride a unicorn. (I had to hop a fence to do it. Shh! Don't tell.)
We went to the Marionette Theater, but it's currently on tour throughout Europe. (In February, it will be touring the USA!) We rounded off our day with a visit to a bookstore that had a bunch of English books super on sale, and picked up a cheap fun mystery before heading back to the hostel. It was a lovely day. And we still had to time to upload pictures and do some laundry. Then showers and bed, and an early train through Switzerland tomorrow.
We have just spent the day wandering around Salzburg. I knew that it was a touristy city so I didn't have super high expectations of it. But I really enjoyed it. I'm sure it didn't hurt that for the first time, it was lovely weather. The sun was shining and we didn't need to wear hats. We decided to skip the hostel's showing of The Sound of Music, because it showed right when we wanted to be out enjoying the sunshine. I'll have to watch it once I get home.
We hiked up one of Salzburg's three hills, following the Passion of Jesus up the hill, and got some shots of the city. Sadly, the roofs here are not as nice as some of the other cities we've been in. Graz and Prague both have very pretty red roofs, but Salzburg is mostly modern metal. :(
We found our way back to town and down lots of little alleys and streets filled with fun shops. We walked in a bunch of them, from jewelry and musical instruments to prom dresses and Mozart mugs, we ran the gauntlet. We found a purse for me. It was quite on sale. It's in a color that I'm not sure about, but it is broken into 3 pouches, and I like all the pockets. We also found a crazy store called Easter in Salzburg. It was FULL of decorated eggs. I have never seen so many eggs in my life, especially not all individually decorated. There were tons and tons of designs and all of them were very pretty. I'm going to attempt to make some back home, because we were pretty sure an egg wouldn't make the trip.
Across town, we hiked up another hill to the largest fortification in Europe. However, we decided to skip the internal castle and museum and use the time to see the rest of Salzburg.
At the bottom of the hill we found a church built in 1491. It had a packed graveyard, with family graves, some with very recent deaths, so obviously it was still being used. Attached was a monastery that was built into the side of the mountain. We heard that originally, it hadn't had any windows because the Romans would have opposed the monks praying. We were also stopped by a woman who only spoke limited English. She wanted to show us that the Hebrew word for Jehovah was written on one of the graves, as well as other times in the Bible. She was a Jehovah Witness, and wanted us, when we got back to the States, to find another Jehovah Witness and ask about these things. Only with Amanda.
A bit further on, we got a yummy bacon (ham) and cheese pretzel and stumbled upon a Farmer's Market with a bunch of booths selling assortments of meat, cheese, sausages, bread, and flowers. We ate a few free samples, and found some cheeses we liked, and some we did not. We had been looking all day for some Apple Strudel, but most of it did not look very good. However, one of the booths sold some that did, so Amanda got to try her "crisp apple strudel."
[Side note about the song: We have gotten to experience a number of new things from the song. 1. Schnitzel with noodle: Wonderful. I loved it. I actually got the recipe and will be attempting to make it at home. Homemade noodles are hard to beat. 2. Apple Strudel: Very good. Tastes a lot like apple pie. 3. Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes: Really annoying. If it's your eyelashes, you are blinking a lot to get them off, and if it's on your nose, you want it off before it melts and turns into a drop of water that runs down your face. So #3 is not one of my favorite things.]
After that, we went into another church; a cathedral if you will. It was the most unique church like that I've ever been in. It had the same structure as most of the other churches, but instead of the gilded gold and gaudiness of other similar churches, there were decadent carvings out of white stone with a black wash to illuminate the carvings. And then there were colorful paintings all over the ceiling. It was brighter than most churches, with multiple organs. It was a lovely church. We both really liked it.
We found both Mozart's birthplace and his later home. Both hosted museums for him, but we skipped them (deciding to watch Amedaus later). We then went to Mirabell Gardens and Palace, supposedly the most famous wedding venue in the world. It was funny, because it was the last thing on our list to do, and we were just thinking that we had missed the Pegasus Fountain which we had hoped to find wandering around. Well, just as we were talking about this, we walked into the the garden, and there it was! So Amanda got her picture with the famous fountain, and I got to ride a unicorn. (I had to hop a fence to do it. Shh! Don't tell.)
We went to the Marionette Theater, but it's currently on tour throughout Europe. (In February, it will be touring the USA!) We rounded off our day with a visit to a bookstore that had a bunch of English books super on sale, and picked up a cheap fun mystery before heading back to the hostel. It was a lovely day. And we still had to time to upload pictures and do some laundry. Then showers and bed, and an early train through Switzerland tomorrow.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Snowy Days
We went to Rothenburg today. And our blessing of snow followed us. It has been rather funny to watch. We left America with more snow than we've had in years. Then we came to Europe, where I was expecting snow. And lo and behold, in Berlin, there was snow frozen to the ground. They were just coming off a record cold streak. Both Prague and Krakow had snow frozen on the ground as we walked away, and the little tiny bits of precipitation that came were in the form of snow.
At Auschwitz, it was actually snowing, and snowing a lot. There was already some on the ground, but a bunch more came down while we were there. Then, we went to Vienna and Graz. They had just gotten a new batch of snow. Apparently, in recently years, they haven't gotten much snow at all. They used to have skiing, but haven't really been able to open for long because of the lack of snow. The few days we were in Graz they happened to have some. They had gotten some on Christmas, but it had melted, and this was the next stuff.
When we go to Munich, there wasn't any snow. And it was above freezing, so none left residually. I thought we wouldn't have snow there, and we were prepared for rain. The next day, armed with umbrellas and ponchos, we did get rain, but it was mixed with snow, and after a while, turned to straight snow and started to stick. It made for a wet cold day, but our pattern held.
When we went to Neuschwanstein, and there was snow on the ground. It was up in the mountains, and they were all covered with lovely snow. And then, while we were there, it snowed more. All the bare branches were outlined in snow. Like a magical wonderland. It was perfect.
Then, we went to Rothenburg, and there wasn't any snow. It was quite cold the day we arrived, but the next morning, it had warmed up. We were headed to town and it was sort of raining, then slowly it turned to snow, and soon it was snowing quite heavily. Giant cotton ball-esce flakes. So to dodge the windswept snow, we ducked into the Christmas store, looking at beautiful fully decorated trees and giant nutcrackers, as well as scoping out ornaments.
Once back outside, the snow had stopped, but we got to walk through the bit of accumulation to a famous church there with an intricately carved wooden altar. We stopped in at a bakery and got a Schneeball, traditional from Rothenburg. Tastes a bit like a doughnut mixed with baked pie crust. We got to see the wall that encircles the town, probably the most famous thing about Rothenburg. Then we headed to the train station. We still had some issues catching trains and making connections, and ended up on a bus again, but we made it, and didn't waste much time today. We still have to get to Salzburg, but it shouldn't be too hard.
At Auschwitz, it was actually snowing, and snowing a lot. There was already some on the ground, but a bunch more came down while we were there. Then, we went to Vienna and Graz. They had just gotten a new batch of snow. Apparently, in recently years, they haven't gotten much snow at all. They used to have skiing, but haven't really been able to open for long because of the lack of snow. The few days we were in Graz they happened to have some. They had gotten some on Christmas, but it had melted, and this was the next stuff.
When we go to Munich, there wasn't any snow. And it was above freezing, so none left residually. I thought we wouldn't have snow there, and we were prepared for rain. The next day, armed with umbrellas and ponchos, we did get rain, but it was mixed with snow, and after a while, turned to straight snow and started to stick. It made for a wet cold day, but our pattern held.
When we went to Neuschwanstein, and there was snow on the ground. It was up in the mountains, and they were all covered with lovely snow. And then, while we were there, it snowed more. All the bare branches were outlined in snow. Like a magical wonderland. It was perfect.
Then, we went to Rothenburg, and there wasn't any snow. It was quite cold the day we arrived, but the next morning, it had warmed up. We were headed to town and it was sort of raining, then slowly it turned to snow, and soon it was snowing quite heavily. Giant cotton ball-esce flakes. So to dodge the windswept snow, we ducked into the Christmas store, looking at beautiful fully decorated trees and giant nutcrackers, as well as scoping out ornaments.
Once back outside, the snow had stopped, but we got to walk through the bit of accumulation to a famous church there with an intricately carved wooden altar. We stopped in at a bakery and got a Schneeball, traditional from Rothenburg. Tastes a bit like a doughnut mixed with baked pie crust. We got to see the wall that encircles the town, probably the most famous thing about Rothenburg. Then we headed to the train station. We still had some issues catching trains and making connections, and ended up on a bus again, but we made it, and didn't waste much time today. We still have to get to Salzburg, but it shouldn't be too hard.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Trains and Trouble
We're currently staying with some more folks that friends of Amanda's know. They are really kind. The wife is German and the husband is in the US Army. The wife made us traditional food today. We had German dumplings, pork, and this sweet sauerkraut stuff, and a very tasty gravy. I really enjoyed it.
We had a horrible time trying to get here though. We were supposed to spend the day in Rothenburg, seeing the down. We left our hostel around 10:30, and expected to be there by around 1. However, I was a little nervous about the train transfers, and apparently I should have been. It was horrible!
We had looked up everything the night before, and wrote down as much information as we could, because we were going to some little stations that weren't listed in our book. Well, we made a mistake and got off too early on one station, but then it wasn't hard to just get back on and get to the right place. We were supposed to come in at 1:03 and then catch a 1:10 train. Well, we waited at the platform the computer stated, but the train didn't come. Well, the next time we checked the computer, it said we needed to get the 2:10 train, so we figured we had missed it. So we waited another hour.
As we were going up to the platform this time, a man stopped us and told us "no train." He bade us follow him. So we did, where he took us to the bus part of the station. We looked it up and there was a bus to Rothenburg. However, as far as we could tell, the bus had left at 1:30, and but hopefully there was another at 2:45. So we sat outside the station and waited. It was freezing! Well, 2:45 came and went and no bus showed up. Amanda wanted to find out if we were really doing the right thing. So we went to information, and she also informed us that yes, we had to wait for a bus.
Well, what we had been afraid was true. There wasn't a train apparently from this station, though both the internet the night before and the computer system they had said that we should have been able to catch on. We had to take a bus, and it wasn't going to be there until 4:50. (We were supposed to meet someone to pick us up so we could stay with them at 6. So we were getting pretty nervous.) So we went back inside to wait for another two hours.
Finally, it was time, and yay! the bus was there. However, the driver had to take a little break, and get a cup of coffee. Then, we loaded on, not being able to use our rail passes, we had to pay. By this time, it was getting dark and we weren't really sure where we were going. So we were pretty nervous about missing our stop because we couldn't read the signs.
Thankfully, we made it to Rothenburg only a bit after 6. (Apparently it's normally like a 20 minute trip, which we managed in about an hour twenty.) (Even more ironically, the guy who picked us up works in the city we were stuck in for hours. So he could have picked us up there!) However, we finally made it and are now nice and cosy in a lovely big bed, full of food and quite happy.
We had a horrible time trying to get here though. We were supposed to spend the day in Rothenburg, seeing the down. We left our hostel around 10:30, and expected to be there by around 1. However, I was a little nervous about the train transfers, and apparently I should have been. It was horrible!
We had looked up everything the night before, and wrote down as much information as we could, because we were going to some little stations that weren't listed in our book. Well, we made a mistake and got off too early on one station, but then it wasn't hard to just get back on and get to the right place. We were supposed to come in at 1:03 and then catch a 1:10 train. Well, we waited at the platform the computer stated, but the train didn't come. Well, the next time we checked the computer, it said we needed to get the 2:10 train, so we figured we had missed it. So we waited another hour.
As we were going up to the platform this time, a man stopped us and told us "no train." He bade us follow him. So we did, where he took us to the bus part of the station. We looked it up and there was a bus to Rothenburg. However, as far as we could tell, the bus had left at 1:30, and but hopefully there was another at 2:45. So we sat outside the station and waited. It was freezing! Well, 2:45 came and went and no bus showed up. Amanda wanted to find out if we were really doing the right thing. So we went to information, and she also informed us that yes, we had to wait for a bus.
Well, what we had been afraid was true. There wasn't a train apparently from this station, though both the internet the night before and the computer system they had said that we should have been able to catch on. We had to take a bus, and it wasn't going to be there until 4:50. (We were supposed to meet someone to pick us up so we could stay with them at 6. So we were getting pretty nervous.) So we went back inside to wait for another two hours.
Finally, it was time, and yay! the bus was there. However, the driver had to take a little break, and get a cup of coffee. Then, we loaded on, not being able to use our rail passes, we had to pay. By this time, it was getting dark and we weren't really sure where we were going. So we were pretty nervous about missing our stop because we couldn't read the signs.
Thankfully, we made it to Rothenburg only a bit after 6. (Apparently it's normally like a 20 minute trip, which we managed in about an hour twenty.) (Even more ironically, the guy who picked us up works in the city we were stuck in for hours. So he could have picked us up there!) However, we finally made it and are now nice and cosy in a lovely big bed, full of food and quite happy.
Hostels, Hospitality, and Halls
Ah, the busy of life of traveling hasn't let me much time to write. And then, even when I had the time, I didn't have the internet, so I am very far behind. I will attempt to update the past while, starting with our visit to our time in Graz, then back to Vienna, then to Munich and Neuschwanstein Castle.
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.
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.
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