European Vacation pt.2

After a delightfully restful sleep, we woke up in Germany ready for another day! It was Sunday and at we had plans to go to Neuschwanstein Castle, but by the time we woke up and asked the front desk how to get there, we realized that was a big old nope. It was going to be like 2 hours buy train and sh suggested that we take one of the bus tours instead. It was too late by that time, so we we saved it for the next day.

There's not may tourist attractions open on Sunday, but the Deutches Museum was! It's the world's largest museum of science and technology! There's something like 6 floors and it was a great way to spend a day.

The entrance.

There were a lot of amazing exhibits, but most of the signs were in German and I had no idea what was going on.

Except this, it was necessary to explain in English that the explosives were dummies. Thank goodness.

This was an exhibit of items discovered in an archaeological dig. Which included a teeny gnome. When in Germany.

Fake people in the salt mines.

A big ass for real ship that they cut in pieces to show the insides.

It was a BIG ASS SHIP.

Finally we made it to the top where there was an observatory and a movie about space, We went outside to see the city.

Obligatory selfie where we both were sporting some fabulous eye bags. Damn, I'm surprised the plane didn't charge us extra for those.

And just me. It was damn cold out there.

After the museum we stopped at a coffee shop around the corner from our hotel. We went there several times for coffee / pastries and they were all amazing. I had this thing that I can't remember the name of, but it reminded me a lot of the nut roll my grandma used to make. It's a nut/yum mixture rolled inside a sweet bread.

I got a loaf to take home the last day we were there.

After coffee and treats, I'm pretty sure I demanded a nap. After nap time, it was dinner! We went to another restaurant that was around the corner from the hotel, also known for pork, and to start, we ordered a bread plate.

Well, a pretzel/piece of bread and some cream cheese

I had the Weiner Schnitzel. It's thinly pounded.. you guessed it, pork, breaded and pan fried in butter. Plus fries. This is why I'm pretty sure I gained 15 pounds over the course of last year, but sweet heavens, it was amazing.

These might be the most perfect fries I've ever seen.

After dinner, we walked around the city a little and stopped in some of the shops that were open and saw the most amazing church.

LOOK AT IT!

One of the coolest things we saw was the window display for Steiff. Steiff teddy bears are well known for their craftsmanship and for being around forever as the standard by which other stuffed animals are measured. All the animals  have a button in their ears to distinguish they they're Steiff.

LOOK AT THEM! The animals were all doing woodland things and they moved!

The sheep! I die, the sheep!!

After our walk it was time for bed, we had a big day of sightseeing ahead!

The next day we got up early to make it to our bus tour in time. Every morning we had breakfast at our hotel. Let me tell you about the breakfast buffet at our hotel. It came with the room and was worth every. last. penny. There was an assortment of amazing breads and pastries every morning, meats, cheeses, eggs, juice, even champagne to make mimosas. We stayed at the Platzl Hotel and I highly recommend it.

Just look at the bread. This is what heaven looks like.

Tiny pretzels for breakfast? Always!

Yes. I even had the wiesswurst which is a breakfast white sausage and it was so good.

Then it was off to the bus meeting place which was a short walk from the hotel. Soon we were on the bus and headed to the 1st of 2 castles, both built by King Ludwig.

The first stop was to Linderhof, which was the smaller of the 2 castles. It was a palace he never quite finished.

Let me tell you about German tour guides. They don't mess around. We get to Linderhof and she tells us that there's a gift shop there, but we aren't to spend any time in there. There's no time for that. We can get souvenirs when we stop in the next town. If we "really" have to go to the bathroom, we can. I was a little scared, but my walnut bladder took a chance and went anyways.

The gift shop we weren't allowed to shop in.

As a kid I NEVER found anything with my name on it. Never. But Fingerweg gets a necklace. jk I know it translates to finger wag. I took a picture because someone on my team says it all the time.

Fingerweg

So, here we are, in the mountains of Bavaria, in the snow. it doesn't get more idyllic than that. It really doesn't.

Selfie!

Kev and the majestic front door

All of the majestic front door

Me and the majestic front door.

Snow covered gardens across from the front door.

The whole shebang.

We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, hence all the outdoors. Let's just say that Ludwig loved him some gilt. All the gold and even more Rococo than was in the last palace. I'm not sure if they were afraid his designs would be copied which is why no pictures? Yea, nope. 

Soon enough we were hurried back onto the bus and off to Oberammergau. It's a small town in the mountains mostly known for the Passion Play they put on every 10 years and have since 1634. It's a pretty big deal and people come from all over the world to see it. They're also known for their woodworking. Lots of carvings of things.

We had an hour and a half (?) there and we could get a coffee and do some shopping. We were given very specific instructions as to when we should return to the bus. Kev and I got a coffee and a cookie and we looked at a bunch of wooden things. I didn't buy anything there though.

We were on the bus and the departure time came and we were missing people. The guide and the bus driver started to get agitated. The guide went looking for the missing people and 5 minutes later, they came back to the bus, after getting lost. At that point the bus driver scolded them! "Why are you late? It's so disrespectful to the rest of the bus!"

Damn.

But we were still missing 2 people.... THEY LEFT THEM! THEY LEFT THEM IN OBERAMMERGAU. Kev and I are a little freaked out, because crap! We just left people there. I guess they have to live there now and make wooden carvings and be in the passion play. The rest of the day I was terrified of being late to the bus. I can't live in Germany forever.

*We think the German speaking tour group who was a few minutes behind us picked them up. I hope so.

A short us ride and we were at Neuschwanstein!

See it?

Closer.

When you get to the castle, you are let off at the bottom of the hill, where there are several shops and restaurants. You have 2 options, 1. Ride the horse-drawn carriage most of the way up the hill and walk the rest or 2. Walk the entire thing. After much convincing, Kev agreed to walk up with me.

Horse that we could have ridden up on.

We still had some time to kill until our tour, so we wandered around the shops and took in the scenery.

The mountains, the snow!

This is where we were let off, and there's the castle. It's a solid 45 minute walk straight up the hill.

That's Ludwig's Dad's house, which was not on the tour.

Since we had time, we had some lunch at the hotel. I had spatzel and what I think was the German version of Salisbury Steak. At least that's what it looks like.

I do have an odd love of Salisbury Steak.

After lunch it was time to start the long trek uphill.

One of us was way more excited than the other.

The views while walking up were so fricking picturesque! 

Oh, hello beautiful mountain stream.

This was halfway, Where you could find a souvenir and a bottle of water.

Getting closer

Damn we're high up.

Almost there!

Finally!!

The views were amazing!

So big

Really excited that we made it!

More scenic.

We had to be at the top by a certain time when we would meet the tour guide and she would give us our tickets. We were allowed to go in at EXACTLY 2:55pm. We had to scan out tickets and they were only good for 5 minutes. You had to scan the ticket to get in from 2:55-2:59:59. If you tried at 3pm, it was no good. Did I mention that the German's don't mess around when it comes to being on time?

We couldn't take any pictures inside, but I assure you, it was just as fabulous and over the top as the other castle. Ludwig even made a stone grotto hallway to walk between rooms. It was ridiculous.

Then our tour was over and it was time to head on back down the hill and to the bus.

One last selfie before we go!

There's a lot of talk about King Ludwig and how he was "mad" and just wanted to build castles. One of my favorite stories was that Ludwig wanted to teach the army to play instruments because they could play for the enemies and the sound would be so beautiful that they would all lay down their weapons and find peace. A military mastermind, Ludwig was not.

After going to both castles, here's what I think about Ludwig, it's not that he wanted to build, he just wanted to decorate. He just looooved decorating houses.

By the time we got back, we were starving and we headed to the famous Hofbrauhaus!

More pretzels were consumed.

Well, just this one. A lady came around with a basket of pretzels. When it Rome! Well, Munich.

Kev got a small beer.

It was the never ending beer. 

I think I had the steak tartare, which is not a dish that Germany is known for... It'll just leave it at that. Spoiler, Paris is where the steak tartare lives. OMG it's there.

Yet another apple strudel

After a long day of castles it was time for bed. We had a trip to Austria planned and needed our rest. If you missed part 1 of the recap, here it is!

Linking up with Amanda - Meet @ the Barre! AND