It is Saturday evening here, after a whirlwind two days. Here is how it all went down...
Friday morning, we woke up at 7 am in Frankfurt. We got packed up, checked out of the fabulous Hilton hotel we had found on Hotwire, and walked to good ol' Dunkin Donuts. They have techni-colored donuts here. Some are flavored green apple and plum. This was a nice, cheap breakfast that we ate as we walked to pick up our rental car.
We found the rental place and Peter requested the Peugeot... a little French car I was hoping looked like his Honda Fit... well... the man at the desk said, "Mr. Wiley we give you upgrade to a Mercedes C220." I thought Peter was going to faint with joy. I thought, "Here we go... Peter on the Autobahn with no speed limit in a Mercedes..."
We got in the car and Peter grinned with pure happiness. We plugged in the address to our first destination... a little Medieval town called Rothenburg. We arrived in Rothenburg with no trouble at all. This little town is a walled city so you have to park on the outside and walk in. It is adorable! We happened upon a giant Christmas store called Kathe Wohlfahrt. Peter is amused by her last name. Ahem. This store is actually two giant stores full of millions of Christmas ornaments and decorations. It is insane!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I bought a Baby Jesus, an apple, and a Santa ornament. It was a tough decision...
Then we wandered the little Christmas market stands. I found some beautiful handcarved ornaments, Peter had more gludwein, I bought stollen bread (look it up!), and then I bought cookies. Lots of cookies. Butter cookie cut outs and jelly thumb prints. I planned on saving both of these but ended up finishing them last night for a snack. They were so soft and flavorful. I want more before we leave.
Our lunch consisted of a German version of flatbread pizza sold at one of the stands and wood-fired. We tried a flatbread with bacon and cheese. I don't even really know how to describe to you how good it was. I really don't. I am speechless. So, I will post a picture.
We jumped back in the car and hauled off to the Disney Castle...Neuschwanstein. I have posted the link below so you can read about it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuschwanstein_Castle
Ludwig II of Bavaria had it built. We actually decided to be cultural and pay to go inside. We had to walk about 2 miles up the mountain to see it. The view here is majestic. I definitely know why my man Ludwig decided to build his castle up here. The inside is ridiculous... the murals and furniture are so over the top. This man had access to some serious money. But alas, money can't buy everything because he was arrested by the Germans and died alone. The audio tour tells all about it. It's creepishly sad when you walk through.
Afterwards, we ran down the mountain, jumped back in the car, and set off for Munich. We hit some traffic coming in and finally found the garage where Peter kissed the Mercedes good bye. We found our hotel... a rather... shady Best Western. Hotwire did not deliver on this hotel. But that's ok. After dropping off our ridiculously heavy backpacks, we wandered out into the city of Munich. On the train, I got to people watch and the girls were DECKED TO THE NINES to go out on Friday night. I did not get the memo about needing to wear leather pants and platform heels. Darn it.
We wandered around in search of Hofbrauhaus, a giant beer hall. This was number one on Peter's list for this vacation so I went along with it. We wandered through a few Christmas markets with billions of people before we found it. It was INSANE! Thousands of people were inside sharing tables with huge beer steins. I turned to Peter and said, "I can't eat here." With a promise to come back and have a beer there later, we found McDonald's as my blood sugar began dipping dangerously low and the angry Katie came out. :) Peter loves this side of me...
I ordered a "Cheese and Beef," a cheeseburger with about 6 kinds of cheese on it. It was quite tasty. This was a nice, cheap meal and I continued my tradition of trying McDonald's in every country we visit. This McDonald's delivered- fries are the same.
Then, we returned to Hofbrauhaus. We wandered up and down the rows of tables for about 20 minutes before joining a table of 4 other people. Peter ordered a 1 liter mug of Pilsner. He was more than pleased with his selection and loved the atmosphere. I smiled and nodded. The noise was insane. Check that off the list of Bucket List items.
We made a quick stop at the train station to buy our train tickets for Salzburg and returned to the hotel to crash. After sleeping in until 9:30, we got up this morning and packed up to head over to the Christmas markets and the train station.
I found a painted glass ornament and a door decoration while Petey tried some more gludwein. We are collecting the cups from each Christmas market we go to. We have been successful so far and only have one more cup to achieve in Salzburg. My impression of Munich was okay... it is just another big city, in my opinion. Once you've seen a big city, you've seen them all. The real magic is in the journey between the cities.
We hopped the train for a 2 hour trip to Salzburg. We arrived in Salzburg this evening and my first impression of the city is that is is magical. The Alps hug the entire city so as you walk where Mozart grew up, you see view of snow-speckled peaks. The glacier water that runs through here is a vibrant blue-green. This is by far my favorite stop on this trip. I am so happy we have two nights here! I am going to save the description of their Christmas markets for tomorrow's entry. Tonight, we did see the markets, ate a Schnitzel sandwich and ham/cheese sandwich, and enjoyed a Cappucino/hot chocolate at a delightfully cozy little cafe. We are preparing to go to sleep early so I can purchase 15 more ornaments tomorrow, our last full day on this Christmas Market tour.
Hooray!
Cheers,
KT and PD
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