Visiting Castle Neuschwanstein

We had a friend from college visit this past weekend and one of sights he wanted to see was Castle Neuschwanstein. It was on our list as well, so we decided we'd make the trip out to see it on Saturday. We lucked out, because the weather was gorgeous, albeit a bit colder in the mountains than maybe we anticipated. Rookie mistakes!

Castle Neuschwanstein is located in the pre-alps, very close to the Austrian border. Back in the day, King Ludwig II had an obsession with building castles. He built Neuschwanstein (1869-1886), Linderhof (1874-1878), and Herrenchiemsee (1878-1886) as his "southern" homes. Castle Neuschwanstein is located just up the mountain from Castle Hohenschwangau, which was the home he built for his mother.

Neuschwanstein is famous for inspiring the Disney Cinderella castle, and for being one of the largest and most lavish castles in Germany. They give "tours" which are of about only 5 rooms in the castle. You can walk around the castle grounds for free, but it is very crowded. We went on a cold day in the off season and we still couldn't get a tour earlier than 2 hours after we arrived, because there were so many people!

It's a beautiful sight to behold as you arrive by bus to the town, and even more beautiful a sight as you hike the 40 minute hike to the castle, or take the extra 20 minutes to walk to Maria's Bridge behind the castle, and take in the view from there. Here are a few of the best views, and here is the link to the Google album with all the pictures!

The view from the train as you arrive

Arriving in town, this is the first sight of the castle 

The next thing you'll see as you hike up the hill toward the castle is the other castle!
This is Castle Hohenschwangau, the "in law suite" as we called it. 

As you keep hiking you come across this view and know you're about halfway there.

After you get to the castle, you can take an extra walk to the Marienbrucken, Maria's Bridge, and this is a sight you'll see as you take that walk. There is Hohenschwangau, nestled in between two gorgeous lakes and a few town buildings. 

The same view, just zoomed out. You can see more of the pre-Alps and more of Bavaria.

Looking down from Maria's Bridge. There's a beautiful pool with a waterfall, and on
the other side of the bridge is another pool with a smaller waterfall.

The best view of Neuschwanstein is from Maria's Bridge.
And due to the weird sunlight that day, the best view was also in black and white! 

Joe doing "the point" (but it also looks like he is trying to touch the top of the castle) 

A courtyard are in the Castle grounds. 

More from the Christmas markets

I finally made it out to the markets with my nice camera, during a bright, sunny day, to get some pictures for you all! We had a friend come to visit this past weekend, and on Friday he got straight off the plane and we got coffee and then set out to see as many markets as possible. There area quite a large number of them, even in small places in the city, but they are very neat. They all generally sell similar things, but the atmospheres can be pretty different. Here are some of Sarah's favorites, since she has been to more than Joe. As always, here's the link to the Google album with more pictures. (Posting too many pictures on Blogger can be a pain when you try to load it, so we post the Google album so that you can see all of the pictures in an easier format!)

First market is the market at the Wittlesbacherplatz. Every year this is the "Medieval Market" and their setup and
products reflect a Medieval theme. 

Huge tower at the front! This way you know at first glance where to get your Glühwein!

Next up is the Christmas Village at the Munich Residenz! This is the royal home we toured back in October.
This courtyard is transformed into a family friendly Christmas market with animated woodland creatures
and traditional foods. 

A very traditional Bavarian food stall. 

It's almost impossible to get a photo at the most visited market, the one at Marienplatz. It's ALWAYS packed, no matter the time of day (this was at 10am!) In the picture you can see the Glockenspiel as well. 

Every year the biggest and flashiest market is at Tollwood, which is held on the Oktoberfest grounds. Tollwood is
market at the front entrance by this massive Christmas tree made of bikes! At night, it lights up as well, and
they even bring out stationary bikes you can ride to make it shine brighter/light up different lights. 

The booths at Tollwood are big, showy, and entertaining. They sell the largest variety of food and drinks of any market. 

More decorations! Tollwood is a very exciting place to walk around. 

Tollwood also has the largest selection of merchandise! There is a giant tent of only vendors selling handmade goods. Some are very creative, like vinyl records turned into entire dining sets of dishes, while others are more traditional, like these lanterns. 

A Trip to Blutenburg and Some Christmas Spirit

We've been exploring some more Christmas markets! And by we, we mean mostly Sarah, with more of the free time to do so. She's met up with new people to tour around a few of the markets. Joe finally got to experience a small Christmas market this weekend, though, and it's safe to say he is eager to return for more glühwein and bratwursts Christmas cheer. It is really neat to walk through mini-stalls of handmade gifts, food, and decorations, all to celebrate the Christmas season.

Many booths sell gifts like candles and candle holders, artwork, sewing/knitting/quilting items, hand carved or potted figurines, ornaments, decorations, etc. Meanwhile, every market has food stalls that sell bratwurst of every kind, fries, and the bigger markets with seating will sell spaetzle, warm soups (mostly pumpkin), and other adventurous meals. You can also buy a variety of treats- chocolate covered fruits, traditional German cookies, sweet breads, stollens, and roasted and spiced nuts of every kind. We caved and tried a waffle on a stick at the market this weekend, because, well, it just looked good. And was easy to eat with gloves. And lastly, the tradition is to sip some warm glühwein while you walk around. This is basically warm, spiced wine, and each market sells it in their souvenir mugs. You do pay a deposit on the mug (just like you do for beer steins at beer gardens), but if you return the mugyou get the deposit back. Alternatively, you can keep it and it's like you've bought a great souvenir. For the "over-the-top" Christmas spirit, you can add rum or amaretto to your glühwein, or get a feuerzangenbowle, or "fire-tongs bowl" if you're feeling particularly festive.  Besides the cold temperatures, these markets are the definition of "warm and fuzzy holiday feelings."






And BRRR has it been cold here in the last week or so. Highs have been in the 30s, 40s on sunny days, and the lows have been in the teens and 20s. This weekend we braved the cold to go on a tour with the University Welcome Center where Joe is working. They do once a month outings to encourage interaction with other academics and visiting professors/post docs/etc. but also to get to know some of the culture around Munich and Bavaria. We went on a tour in October, missed the November tour, and this weekend went with the group to visit Blutenburg Castle. It's more of a "manor" than a "castle" but it keeps the name anyway. We had a rather long winded tour guide, so our 90 minutes of tour only got us a look at a statue outside, a visit to the International Youth Library (which has a fabulous history), and the church of the castle, which is one of the rare churches/historical buildings to have not been destroyed in the war. It is completely in tact, art, decor, and all, from the 1400's. Here are a few pictures of our time there, and a few Christmas market pictures. As usual, a full album of our tour can be found here!

The oldest and most intact Gothic-decorated church in Bavaria. Most churches were redecorated in the Rococo style or
later, but this one has been kept in it's original decor. 

On the left is the original flooring of the church- those stones and bricks are more than 600 years old!

On the right is a statue depicting the prince who build Blutenburg castle, and his forbidden lover, who then became his wife, but who was then convicted of witchcraft by his father so that he could marry a more suitable woman. Tough times for that guy, eh?

The International Youth Library has books for kids 0-teen years, and in over 30 languages. 

The International Youth Library houses a collection of original books
and memorial for Erich Kaestner, who was a well known children's
author before war started in the 1930's. His books were largely banned
by the Nazi party. The editions in the memorial are all first editions,
and published in other languages. He was one of the most popular
children's authors of his time and had his books translated into
dozens of other languages. 

More walking around! (English Gardens and Schleissheim Palace Gardens)

The tree at Marienplatz

The last few weeks have been pretty quiet. We finally got our Visas sorted out and Sarah managed to trade in her (cough..old..) Virginia driver's license for a German one. That's a story for another time, but it's quite entertaining. Everyone here in Germany is pretty much done with their Christmas shopping and now they are all enjoying the Christmas markets, otherwise known as Christkindlmarkt or Weinachtsmarkt. We haven't been out to them together, but Sarah's casually strolled through a few. For a rather large, fairly liberal city, Munich has very traditional and conservative roots regarding Christmas traditions. Advent is on everyone's minds, and Advent calendars are actually sold in almost every store. You can get them in all kinds of themes and there's also a culture of those who "only use homemade" Advent calendars. These take a bit of time and effort to put together, but they're impressive.

A booth at the Viktualienmarkt, like a farmer's market, with Christmas decorations

We went out to visit the Palace at Schleißheim, but it was foggy and rainy, so it wasn't as stunning as it may normally seem. We were also duped by Google, who told us it was open for touring, but then when we got there, they were closed earlier due to Winter hours. We should have researched that a bit more thoroughly, but it was still a nice outing.

The Palace! The dirt pit in the foreground is a fountain that's been drained for winter. 

Part of the gardens of the Palace

Sarah's still job hunting. And because of that, we haven't decorated or started Christmas shopping at all! We feel a bit behind from the Germans, but we'll get there. We just want to make sure we're being smart while we're still a one income household. Coming soon will be Sarah's account of her adventures with the unemployment office, which is vastly different than it is in the USA. But that's for another time. Here are some pictures of life around Munich the last few weeks, and an album of pictures of our visit to the Palace. Thanks for checking in!!

Spelling Christesen, a
worldwide problem. 

Sarah did a bike tour with some other women and it was
tacky sweater themed. Found this at one of the
department stores here and thought, "Why not?"

From a Sunday stroll through the English Gardens

A Visit to the Bavarian State Museum

Supermoon in Munich

Since I (Sarah) am still not working, I've been exploring around the city, going to ex-pat meetups here and there, which has been a nice way to try new restaurants, cafes, and pass by some of the sights I didn't even know existed around the city. I've traveled to quite a good number of stops on each of the U-Bahn (underground train) lines, and walked around between stops as well to see what there is to see! Joe, unfortunately, doesn't have that kind of daily schedule. So this weekend we walked around a lot on Saturday so he could see some things and walk through some of the places I've been. Not just pretty buildings and historical sights, but also some of the big downtown shops and stores. We discovered that the Karstadt Sport store between Marienplatz and Karlsplatz has THE best soccer section of any of the sport shops I've walked through, and we passed through the setup for some of the upcoming Christmas markets (Christkindlmarkts or Weinnachtmarkts).

On Sunday, we decided to take advantage again of the 1€ admission specials that several of the museums offer. This time we went to the Bavarian State Museum (Bayerische Nationalmuseum), which showcases historical pieces of art and culture throughout the history of Bavaria, or Southern Germany/the Alps. They have a ridiculously large number of artifacts and their exhibits fantastic to walk through. We were there for two and a half hours and we really only made it through about half of the exhibits. It was really neat to see so many different parts of history in one museum, and so many well preserved pieces of culture.

Here's some pictures of what we saw. The lighting was not so bright there in many exhibits, to preserve color and texture of some of the older pieces I am sure, so taking pictures was not always easy (no flash photography allowed). But we got pictures of some of the exhibits and pieces that caught our eye. We'll have to head back to see the rest of the museum another time!

Here are a few pictures and here is a link to the rest of the Google album with more pictures. Enjoy!

This is a hand blown glass vase where the handles are elephants. SO much detail! 

A scale model of Munich circa...sometime in the 18th century, I think? Don't quote me on that. I don't remember. But it was pretty cool to see. Joe for scale (This model took up a whole room!)

Joe particularly enjoyed an exhibit all about medieval armor. They had a few interactive pieces too, like this metal glove and some chainmail.

These pieces of furniture were so strangely proportioned! The dresser (left) was HUGE and had so many doors, drawers, and cabinets. Meanwhile, the bed (right) was so small! All of the white on the bed frame, however, is inlaid ivory and it is so tiny and detailed. It must have been painstaking to put together!

One of the royal cabinets...I think they are made for jewelry and perfume storage. However, this one is gold, and matte blue porcelain and gold and has 176 hidden cabinets and drawers. The top part rotates around and the backside is pictured below:

We maybe had too much fun imitating statues at this museum...

Settling In

Pretty common parallel
parking situation here

There's not been much new to report here, except that we are trying to settle in and figure out how to be residents here and not just tourists. A few examples:

- We've been playing (indoor) soccer with people from Joe's work. There's a group that gets together once a week to reserve an indoor soccer court. Typically there's been about 10 people who show up, us included, and we just play 5 v. 5 soccer for about an hour and a half. It's been pretty fun and everyone seems to be around the same skill level, which is good news for us. We've gone a couple of times and really enjoyed it.

Coffee and Blueberry cake at "Zimt & Zucker"

-We've finally started discovering a few new restaurants and trying out some different things. Luckily there is a lot to try near where we live. For example, all within a block or two of our apartment, we've tried the Pho at Ha Noi bistro, pizza at Il Mulino, and Sarah even managed to try a burrito from a Chipotle-style place called "Pureburrito." A bit further out are some new döner restaurants, authentic Chinese food at Yi Nong, and quite a selection of bakeries. Sarah's first donut purchase (she has a slight donut obsession) was a powdered donut with a surprise apricot filling. Bread here is made fresh daily. In fact, if a bakery sells out before "closing time" they'll just close early! Bread is also a point of pride for the Germans, not just the pretzels, and is not worth eating if it's not fresh.

Found "Hedwig" street. Thought of Harry Potter!

- Sarah's been job hunting and meeting people through various Expat groups, since German is still a language barrier. She's met up in various outings- movies, coffee, cocktails, lunches. The main group is quite a fun gathering of ladies who are mostly moms and new moms looking to mingle and get out of the house. Maternity leave is a BIG deal here, as most Bavarians will judge you for taking anything less than a year off of work when you're on maternity leave. So there's a large pocket of parents and especially new parents who have gone from a busy work environment to having quite a bit of free time and are looking to socialize. They've been helpful both for keeping busy and for those questions about insurance and visas and boring paperwork things that we haven't figured out yet.

- We met up with some of these new Expat friends at an American bar, called "The Keg," for Halloween! We didn't really dress up much, but we had a nice night out meeting people and chatting. Halloween is not quite as big a deal here as it is in the USA. There are costumes and Halloween events, but they are only recently becoming popular. From what we've heard, "celebrating" Halloween is more about going out for a few drinks since November 1 is a state holiday and everyone has off work...

Walking around the Olympic Park on a nice Sunday afternoon

That's about it for now. We're hoping to go somewhere interesting this weekend, so perhaps there will be more to update next week :)

Lastly, smoke detectors are now legally required in Munich. Apparently that's a new policy. So we had THREE installed in our tiny apartment and we got this handy visual to help us understand fire safety...