Our Weekend in Munich...Day 1 and 2

We are tourists...once again!

Mark was able to get away from work for a few days so we flew to Munich, Germany for the weekend. We left Thursday afternoon and returned Sunday afternoon.

The only time we had spent in Germany so far had been in the Frankfurt Airport during layovers, so we were looking forward to really visiting Germany this time.

The flight to Munich was only 1 hour and 20 min....so nice to have a short flight and to arrive so quickly.  While waiting for our luggage, there was a huge floor mural map close by and so I stood on it. It was a great visual of where we would be visiting this weekend!

One of our first stops...even prior to getting dinner was to change our Polish Złotys to Euros.

We (Mark) appreciated the convenience of the ATM!

Mark is walking between terminals...enroute to finding Munich's suburban trains...the SBahn.

In a short  amount of time we became quite familiar with how the trains work....they are fabulous!

When we stepped off the train, we were happy to see  a "Holiday Inn" sign pointing us to where we needed to go. 

Day 2....On Friday morning, we awoke early and looked out the window toward the Old Town of Munich.  The twin towers in the center are the most famous landmarks in Munich.  One of the towers is covered with scaffolding for maintenance.

We prepared to take a 10 hour bus tour traveling away from Munich.  Destination....the Bavarian area of Germany to see the Neuschwanstein Castle.

It was only a 2 hour trip to the castle...but on the way we stopped to see another castle, the village of Oberammergau, and the Bavarian Alps.

This is beautiful country!

We were thrilled that the skies were blue and the temps were to be quite warm (30-40s). As we traveled away from Munich we noticed more and more snow and we soon could see the Bavarian Alps in the distance. 

We enjoyed seeing many many small villages...and so much snow! The homes were covered with more snow than we had seen in Warsaw this winter...and we enjoyed seeing how different the homes were compared to in Poland.

Most homes had shutters and decorative wooden adornments around the homes.

Our first stop was to see Linderhof Castle...home to King Ludwig II.

He spent most of his time here in this remote area of the mountains.

Above is one of the buildings close by the castle.

We hiked a short distance to the castle.

I could hardly believe so much snow in one area...it was quite beautiful!

Here is the castle...it is really a hunting lodge that is beautifully adorned inside.  Alas...photographs are not allowed in the castle, so we can't show how pretty it was inside.

And...there was no heating.  In fact, it was warmer outside the castle than inside!

King Ludwig II is also referred to as The Swan King...so it was fitting that we found some swans on the castle property.  The sunshine on the swans above makes them almost glow.

It was a beautiful day....with a beautiful tourist.

(Mark's comment - Jackie doesn't know I put this comment in.)

Our next stop...the village of Oberammergau - internationally famous for its Passion Plays.  

What a treat to walk around this village...my only regret is that we only had an hour here.

Many homes, shops and buildings had fresco paintings on the outside walls, like in the pictures above and below.

The home above is known as the "Hansel and Gretel" home.
(The pictures above and below aren't clear because of the reflection from the window of the bus we were riding in.)

Above is the "Little Red Riding Hood" home. 

The theatre above is the where the Villagers perform "Passion Plays" every 10 years. 

The shops were fabulous with many kinds of traditional German creations...

wooden carvings, clocks, pewter, etc. 

Mark and I went exploring...I went to see the shops and Mark went to look for food! 

As we traveled in this southern area of Germany, we consistently saw many sheds (like in the picture above) filled with chopped wood. After seeing so many of these, we wondered what they did with all of the wood?  After all, winter is almost over.  It made us wonder if they had indoor heating at all.  

Next stop...and our final destination...the area of the Neuschwanstein Castle.

The yellow castle above and below is Hohenschwangau castle, the home of King Ludwig I, the grandfather of Ludwig II who built Linderhof and Neuschwanstein. 

We were told this is a traditional maypole...we saw these in a number of villages.

After a delicious lunch, we began our hike up to the castle.
The ground was clear and the hike was a good one for us...

We could have ridden in a carriage...but I told Mark the ride was not worth the money and the exercise would be so much better for us....he agreed!

How happy we were...30-40 minutes later when we arrived at the top.

This castle...Neuschwanstein...is the castle that Walt Disney used as a model for the Sleeping Beauty castles at Disneyland and DisneyWorld.

 Our only disappointment was that there was scaffolding around most of the tall towers and spires.

 Though quite beautiful, this castle has a sad story...it was built but never finished inside.

The King's life was one of solitude and he was eventually declared insane and dethroned, and died mysteriously the next day. 

At the top of the castle, we could see this view below...overlooking the surrounding valley and other villages in the distance. Such a beautiful sight to see on a clear winter day!

 Below is the castle as we were hiking back down to our bus.
The scaffolding hides the magnificence of the castle...but we were still glad we were there to see it.

We enjoyed learning about the eccentric King Ludwig II who built this magnificent palace...and to see and learn about the beautiful decor...and stories behind them. King Ludwig was a great admirer of the arts and revered Wagner, his music and stories. Throughout the palace there are murals, swans, and decor to honor this great musician/artist.

Here is a  picture of the castle in the fall...we would love to actually return to see it sans scaffolding. 

The bus ride back to Munich was quiet, with no stops. 

We enjoyed seeing the beautiful countryside once again in the southernmost part of Germany.

When we returned to Munich, we thought we would check out the main square, eat dinner and see what we were in store for on Friday. As we came up out of the Metro station...we saw this huge

building...the clock tower with the Glokenspiel in the center. This is a major tourist attraction in the heart of Munich!

We ate dinner at a the German restaurant Donisl...it was a fun atmosphere...though I was not too fond of my food selection.

Though tired, we had such a great time seeing Germany on Friday....away from the busy city and learning so much about one of Poland's neighboring countries! 

You're Never Too Old...

Saturday....a day for Shopping, Smacznego....and Snowman building.

This week it was my turn to plan our weekly date...so we went to IKEA, grocery shopping at REAL and then....built a snowman!

It's a snow woman really...it's hard to see her hair sticking out from under the hat, but it's there!

When the temperatures got back up into the 20s and 30s this week, Mark joked that winter was over.  That's because for the previous three weeks, temperatures had been about 30 degrees colder....between -8F and +10F.

There had not been any snow with those very cold temperatures, but after it "warmed up" earlier in the week, snow fell all day on Wednesday and Friday.  We have a lot of snow in our backyard so I thought it would be fun to build a snowman together...and we did! 

But first we had gone shopping at IKEA...looking for rugs for the bedrooms, a chair for my scrapbooking desk, a lighter blanket (since winter is over ;-), and other miscellaneous items.  We were in and out of IKEA in one hour - a new record!

Before leaving, we decided to have lunch in IKEA's cafeteria.  So we loaded the car with our purchases and returned inside for lunch...we enjoyed a tasty or "Smacznego" meal! 

This is like saying "tasty" or Bon appetite...Enjoy your meal!

We had two meals for only 25 zl (or just $8).  So inexpensive...but so smacznego!


As we were about to leave we saw these vending machines and thought that food was purchased and dispensed from the machines instead of the counter. 

Silly us.  The machines are where the customer makes a selection and pays for the order.  The machine dispenses a receipt, which the customer takes to the counter to pick up the food or drink....very efficient!

Here is a couple deciding what they want to purchase.

After grocery shopping at REAL (a store similar to a Super Wal-mart, pronounced "ray-all'")....we came home and got ready to build a snowman in our backyard!

Though we haven't built a snowman in 15 years...it is something you just do not forget how to do!  

I rolled the snowball base...I was amazed at how easily it rolled in our yard.

 Mark soon joined in and added the midsection.

 Mark added the head also...and began to create our snow woman using odds and ends from in and outside of our home...a hat, scarf, mittens, red peppers, carrots, sticks, etc.

We added two flags from the U.S. and Poland...and thought our little snow woman looked pretty cute! 

I asked Mark if he had ever been in our backyard when it had snowed and he said "no"...not even last year when he was here by himself.  So we took a winter picture of ourselves in the back of our very own yard!

Here's the view of our back yard and the snow woman from our 2nd floor window after we went back inside....

with a closer view of the snow woman from the 2nd floor window.

Now we're wondering how long will it take for this girl to melt.
Maybe not long since winter is over!  ;-)