It was brought to my attention that I had neglected to write about our adventure to Munchen back in December, so as per request, let me fill you in.
The Taylors are blessed to have amazing friends and we consider ourselves very fortunate to have them come to Germany and provide a chance for us to get together. We learned that the DeBusks were flying over from Pennsylvania and going to be in the Munchen area and we knew that meant nothing but FUN, FUN, FUN. First, a little history, Ron and I met the DeBusks back in the early days of dating in Salt Lake City. We were very lucky to get to stand up for them at their wedding. Since those early days we have shared many interesting events, one being inside of a microburst in the Nevada desert, good laughs, birthdays and yes, even a few somber times. There have been times we have moved and travelled in opposite directions, but somehow we just always pick up right where we left off before. We consider the DeBusk's to be some of our absolute dearest friends.
We had made train reservations and we're scheduled to leave on Friday afternoon and arrive in Munchen around 9 pm in the evening and meet at the hotel. The only one that wasn't "in" on our travel arrangements was Mother Nature. Germany and surrounding areas for about 2 weeks prior were getting slammed with snow storm after snow storm. The day we were to leave it dumped on Dresden again. But, we always say, "the show must go on". We left Dresden 1 hour late and we were to change trains in Leipzig, but as it turned out we spent over 6 hours in the Leipzig train station in frigid temperatures. My family tells me that I was really not nice to be around during that time. I am officially apologizing now. I have never been so chilled to the bone as that night...enough about that. We arrived at our amazing Marriott hotel at 2 a.m. in the morning.
So, up bright an early, we had sights to see and places to visit. First stop, the Glockenspiel at Marienplatz. This being the 3rd largest city in Germany and Christmas season with all sorts of Christmas Markets, made it very crowded but also very festive. Christmas markets provide another opportunity for Germans to build cute little sheds with decorative trim, sell wurst and drink bier or gluhwein, all this while walking around outdoors in freezing temperatures. It is awesome, this was Linda & Damon's first time to taste gluhwein, it took their breath away-literally. There was a market right on Marienplatz so we could sip warm drinks while we waited for the mechanical muscians, jousting knights and dancers to perform. The Glockenspiel is in the tower of the Gothic style Rathaus built in the late 1800's. All that time in the crisp outdoors will make you hungry, it was time to head over to the nearby Hofbrauhaus.
Hofbrauhaus is well-known for it's delicious food and outstanding bier. Guess what, it's also well known because back in 1920 Mr. Hitler launched his National Socialist Party at a meeting at this restaurant. Judging from the crowd inside this place they didn't let that bother them. Ruby loved the authentic Bavarian style pretzels and we were entertained with a traditional "Oom Pah Pah" band. Munchen is also the location for the annual Oktoberfest, by German "law" only about 6 brewers are permitted to provide bier for this festival. Hofbrau being one the main ones.
Strolling through Munich is very fun and especially during the Christmas Holiday, there is something going on everywhere, it is also a very pretty city to walk around.
We took the metro and strolled over to Olympia Park, where the ill-fated Olympics were held in 1972, this is the site of the Israeli atheletes that were taken hostage and died in a tragic shoot out. The architecture of many of the facilities was very unique and it appears that many of the buildings were undergoing improvements and upgrades as this area is a large hotspot for recreation. It was nice to see people out using the facilities, in fact, while we were there we saw runners for a nearby race come through the park. The Olympics created a great opportunity for Munchen to expand their public transportation systems and plan out the city with better access to certain areas. Prior to the Olympics they had huge expansions to get around town with city buses, underground metro, street trams all make it a snap. That is a big advantage Munchen has over some other large cities, it is very accessible.
We made reservations for an all-day bus tour to the edge of Bavaria's forest. We left first thing in the morning on a wintery day with snow covering the ground. This made for a fantastic backdrop of the mountains. We stopped in Oberammergau which is known the world over for it's Passion Play, all about Christ. This play was originally performed in 1633 after villagers had been spared the ravages of the plague; the play now takes place every 10 years, the cast of 1,700 performs to over 500,000 people. Competition for major parts is serious as you must be from Oberammergau, the men grow long hair and beards and rumor has it, the Virgin Mary part has some very strict restrictions. The small city itself is charming and has fairy tales painted on the exterior of the homes. I think we saw Hansel and Gretal walking down a nearby street.
Schloss Linderhof, one of the most appealing castles of frustrated King Ludwig II was up next. From the looks and sounds of it, he really would have been more suited for working in the design industry instead of being a royal. All this man wanted to do was build more castles and he basically bankrupt the country doing so. When you see his castles it is understandable because surely there is no more gold or marble left anywhere in the world. Some of the tapestry's had gold thread woven into it, stunning is a good word to describe it. Schloss Linderhof was completed in 1878 and is completely isolated by surrounding forest, it was his favorite castle.
Schloss Neuschwanstein, another of mad King Ludwig II's castles started construction in 1869, and this is the castle Disney modeled the Cinderella castle after. The interiors are filled with murals of sagas & dramas of Wagner's Operas, one of Ludwig's favorite past times. He unfortunately never saw the completion of this castle as he died of a mysterious drowning in a nearby lake and to this day there is no explanation, can you imagine? Because of the snow, this castle was breathtaking perched on the top of a hill with huge mountains surrounding it. It was simply gorgeous. Ironically, he built his castle to tower above his parents' castle, which you will see in the photos is a cheerful yellow castle, makes me think of weekend cottage...
On Monday morning we decided to visit the Deustsches Museum, it is rated the world's foremost museum of science and technology, this has everything from chemistry experiments, hydraulics & bridges, cars, locomotives, computers, telecommunications, space and aircraft, all under one very large roof. There was even an entire area with computer chip manufacturing and several tools from fabs. It was fun for Ron & Damon to share what they had worked with for the last 20-30 years. You could spend days inside this museum we were disappointed we didn't have that much time.
Alas, time to head back to the train station and work our way back home to Dresden after a fast weekend with our friends. It was tough saying goodbye but we'd already started planning our next get together in New York and we know that time flies when you're having fun. We'll be hanging out with the DeBusk's again soon.
The Taylors are blessed to have amazing friends and we consider ourselves very fortunate to have them come to Germany and provide a chance for us to get together. We learned that the DeBusks were flying over from Pennsylvania and going to be in the Munchen area and we knew that meant nothing but FUN, FUN, FUN. First, a little history, Ron and I met the DeBusks back in the early days of dating in Salt Lake City. We were very lucky to get to stand up for them at their wedding. Since those early days we have shared many interesting events, one being inside of a microburst in the Nevada desert, good laughs, birthdays and yes, even a few somber times. There have been times we have moved and travelled in opposite directions, but somehow we just always pick up right where we left off before. We consider the DeBusk's to be some of our absolute dearest friends.
We had made train reservations and we're scheduled to leave on Friday afternoon and arrive in Munchen around 9 pm in the evening and meet at the hotel. The only one that wasn't "in" on our travel arrangements was Mother Nature. Germany and surrounding areas for about 2 weeks prior were getting slammed with snow storm after snow storm. The day we were to leave it dumped on Dresden again. But, we always say, "the show must go on". We left Dresden 1 hour late and we were to change trains in Leipzig, but as it turned out we spent over 6 hours in the Leipzig train station in frigid temperatures. My family tells me that I was really not nice to be around during that time. I am officially apologizing now. I have never been so chilled to the bone as that night...enough about that. We arrived at our amazing Marriott hotel at 2 a.m. in the morning.
So, up bright an early, we had sights to see and places to visit. First stop, the Glockenspiel at Marienplatz. This being the 3rd largest city in Germany and Christmas season with all sorts of Christmas Markets, made it very crowded but also very festive. Christmas markets provide another opportunity for Germans to build cute little sheds with decorative trim, sell wurst and drink bier or gluhwein, all this while walking around outdoors in freezing temperatures. It is awesome, this was Linda & Damon's first time to taste gluhwein, it took their breath away-literally. There was a market right on Marienplatz so we could sip warm drinks while we waited for the mechanical muscians, jousting knights and dancers to perform. The Glockenspiel is in the tower of the Gothic style Rathaus built in the late 1800's. All that time in the crisp outdoors will make you hungry, it was time to head over to the nearby Hofbrauhaus.
Hofbrauhaus is well-known for it's delicious food and outstanding bier. Guess what, it's also well known because back in 1920 Mr. Hitler launched his National Socialist Party at a meeting at this restaurant. Judging from the crowd inside this place they didn't let that bother them. Ruby loved the authentic Bavarian style pretzels and we were entertained with a traditional "Oom Pah Pah" band. Munchen is also the location for the annual Oktoberfest, by German "law" only about 6 brewers are permitted to provide bier for this festival. Hofbrau being one the main ones.
Strolling through Munich is very fun and especially during the Christmas Holiday, there is something going on everywhere, it is also a very pretty city to walk around.
We took the metro and strolled over to Olympia Park, where the ill-fated Olympics were held in 1972, this is the site of the Israeli atheletes that were taken hostage and died in a tragic shoot out. The architecture of many of the facilities was very unique and it appears that many of the buildings were undergoing improvements and upgrades as this area is a large hotspot for recreation. It was nice to see people out using the facilities, in fact, while we were there we saw runners for a nearby race come through the park. The Olympics created a great opportunity for Munchen to expand their public transportation systems and plan out the city with better access to certain areas. Prior to the Olympics they had huge expansions to get around town with city buses, underground metro, street trams all make it a snap. That is a big advantage Munchen has over some other large cities, it is very accessible.
We made reservations for an all-day bus tour to the edge of Bavaria's forest. We left first thing in the morning on a wintery day with snow covering the ground. This made for a fantastic backdrop of the mountains. We stopped in Oberammergau which is known the world over for it's Passion Play, all about Christ. This play was originally performed in 1633 after villagers had been spared the ravages of the plague; the play now takes place every 10 years, the cast of 1,700 performs to over 500,000 people. Competition for major parts is serious as you must be from Oberammergau, the men grow long hair and beards and rumor has it, the Virgin Mary part has some very strict restrictions. The small city itself is charming and has fairy tales painted on the exterior of the homes. I think we saw Hansel and Gretal walking down a nearby street.
Schloss Linderhof, one of the most appealing castles of frustrated King Ludwig II was up next. From the looks and sounds of it, he really would have been more suited for working in the design industry instead of being a royal. All this man wanted to do was build more castles and he basically bankrupt the country doing so. When you see his castles it is understandable because surely there is no more gold or marble left anywhere in the world. Some of the tapestry's had gold thread woven into it, stunning is a good word to describe it. Schloss Linderhof was completed in 1878 and is completely isolated by surrounding forest, it was his favorite castle.
Schloss Neuschwanstein, another of mad King Ludwig II's castles started construction in 1869, and this is the castle Disney modeled the Cinderella castle after. The interiors are filled with murals of sagas & dramas of Wagner's Operas, one of Ludwig's favorite past times. He unfortunately never saw the completion of this castle as he died of a mysterious drowning in a nearby lake and to this day there is no explanation, can you imagine? Because of the snow, this castle was breathtaking perched on the top of a hill with huge mountains surrounding it. It was simply gorgeous. Ironically, he built his castle to tower above his parents' castle, which you will see in the photos is a cheerful yellow castle, makes me think of weekend cottage...
On Monday morning we decided to visit the Deustsches Museum, it is rated the world's foremost museum of science and technology, this has everything from chemistry experiments, hydraulics & bridges, cars, locomotives, computers, telecommunications, space and aircraft, all under one very large roof. There was even an entire area with computer chip manufacturing and several tools from fabs. It was fun for Ron & Damon to share what they had worked with for the last 20-30 years. You could spend days inside this museum we were disappointed we didn't have that much time.
Alas, time to head back to the train station and work our way back home to Dresden after a fast weekend with our friends. It was tough saying goodbye but we'd already started planning our next get together in New York and we know that time flies when you're having fun. We'll be hanging out with the DeBusk's again soon.
Love this post. Know you had a blast. The Germans take Christmas market very serious. Can't say I ever got to like the gluhwein however. Enjoy your time there. Remember they can't tax your memories.
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