Salzburg Photos, a set on Flickr.
Wednesday, 28 March 2012
Salzburg Blog
I've only spent two days in this lovely city but it's been wonderful. It's my birthday today and I wanted to spend it somewhere memorable and what better than the home of The Sound of Music!
I spent yesterday afternoon walking the city. Again, lots and lots of churches but also the home of Mozart. Everywhere you walked, you could hear his music being played, just fabulous. I had a bit of energy so negotiated lots of stairs and hiked up to the fortress at the top where you got a wonderful view over the historic centre.
The hostel plays The Sound of Music every night so, in preparation for the tour that I did today, I felt it necessary to watch it again (for about the 20th time!), just so that I was ready for all the songs! It's funny how unbelievably corny the movie is when you watch it today. The tour was fantastic, loved it! We travelled to all of the locations that they used here - I think my favorite was seeing the lake that was used in the rowboat scene, with the lovely mansion behind it. When you check my pictures you'll see me posing there.
I'm off again tomorrow, heading to Vienna for five days. Lots of classical music and the Vienna Boys Choir. Bliss!
I spent yesterday afternoon walking the city. Again, lots and lots of churches but also the home of Mozart. Everywhere you walked, you could hear his music being played, just fabulous. I had a bit of energy so negotiated lots of stairs and hiked up to the fortress at the top where you got a wonderful view over the historic centre.
The hostel plays The Sound of Music every night so, in preparation for the tour that I did today, I felt it necessary to watch it again (for about the 20th time!), just so that I was ready for all the songs! It's funny how unbelievably corny the movie is when you watch it today. The tour was fantastic, loved it! We travelled to all of the locations that they used here - I think my favorite was seeing the lake that was used in the rowboat scene, with the lovely mansion behind it. When you check my pictures you'll see me posing there.
I'm off again tomorrow, heading to Vienna for five days. Lots of classical music and the Vienna Boys Choir. Bliss!
Tuesday, 27 March 2012
Munich Blog
Leaving Bamberg behind, I had a quick two hour train trip to Munich. I'm loving how easy it is to travel by train! No hanging around at airports, no checking in of bags or going through long security lines, simply turn up 5 minutes before, hop on and you're away.
I found my hostel without any problem (it was literally across the road from the train station!). However, upon presenting myself at the front desk, I was told that I was too old to stay there! Apparently, in the small print on their website, it says under 35s only. Talk about discrimination! And, with a birthday coming up, it doesn't exactly make you feel great. All was good though. I went into the hostel next door and they were delighted to have me. It was a once hostel and much, much quieter than the one in Frankfurt.
I stayed in Munich for 4 days, although got out of the city for 2 of those. The city itself actually managed to retain an almost village feel to it, very relaxed and, with the pedestrian only malls, very pleasant to wander around. I'd downloaded a self-guided walkig tour of the historical part of the city so set about doing that in the afternoon. The first stop was to the place that probably everyone heads to - the glockenspiel playing puppets up the top of the spire on the Town Hall. There I was, along with about 2,000 other tourists, all gazing upwards at the puppets dancing around to the tune being banged out on the glockenspiel. This main event happens twice a day and lasts for 15 minutes. Whilst slightly entertaining, it probably went on for 10 minutes too long!
During the rest of the afternoon, I passed by quite a few churches (I'm churched out now so limited myself to just 2 of them). I also stood on the plaza where Hitler delivered a number of speeches before he became the chancellor. There aren't many green spaces in the city so it was a welcome relief to come across an area called Hofgarten, a lovely garden where you can sit and relax for a bit. Actually, there are hardly any free seated areas at all, if you want to sit, you need to buy a coffee or something. Unlike other places in the world, there are not many fat people here, lack of seats encourages walking!
The main garden here is called The English Garden. It's a lovely space and, being a Sunday, there were a lot of people here. The first area that I came to, on my right, was called the nude beach. There's no actual beach, it's just a large bit of lawn with a river running along one side. And a lot of nude bodies sunning themselves! Not really my scene so I turned left and attempted to find the large beer garden. Somehow (and I swear it was an accident!), I took a wrong turning and found myself at the far end of the nude beach. Nothing for it but to take the path that ran alongside. I was relieved to see that the sun worshippers favored the lawn right in the middle of the beach so, although you could see lots of pink skin, you couldn't actually see the bits. That is, until I came across a sight that may well have done me permanent damage! The bloke could only be called an exhibitionist. He was spread eagled, on his back, right next to the path! Before I could avert my eyes, the sight that greeted me was a very large appendage that must have been pierced half a dozen times. Aaahhh! I quickened my pace, found the beer garden and downed a pint in record time!
On one of the days that I got out of town, I went on a tour to Dachau concentration camp. It was a very sombre visit but I'm glad that I went. The tour guide was an Irish bloke called Gordon. He's lived as a struggling artist in Munich for the last 14 years and is a specialist on the history of this camp. He was excellent. I learnt a lot and have a much better understanding of how the camps came to be. I took a few photos but, after a while, it just didn't feel right so I put my camera away.
On my other day out, I hopped on a train and went south to a town called Fussen. This was in order to visit two castles owned by King Ludwig II. Fussen was a pretty little town, right on the border of Austria. I just walked around the outside of one of the castles but splashed out and did a tour of the other one, called Neuschwanstein - in English, this means new swan castle. The swan was an obsession with the king so you see it everywhere. The king wanted the castle to be a real fantasy place so he spent money like it was going out of fashion. His family, and the government, got very concerned about this spending and didn't know how to stop it. They came up with the idea of hiring a psychiatrist who proclaimed the king to be insane so he was dethroned. Mysteriously, two days later, he and the psychiatrist are found dead in the bottom of a lake. To this day, no one has said how it happened. At the time, they said that he committed suicide but, of course, most people know that this was probably not true. Interesting that he happened to have two bullet holes in his back! Anyway, because of his death, the castle was never finished. Just two weeks after his death, the family opened the castle up as a tourist attraction. It was an interesting visit and the castle was certainly opulent. I was so cold by the end of the day (I hadn't banked on it snowing while I was there!) that I had to call in at a restaurant in the town and have sausages, mashed potatoes and sauerkraut - delicious!
At that brings me to the end of my time in Munich. Next stop - Salzburg, Austria.
I found my hostel without any problem (it was literally across the road from the train station!). However, upon presenting myself at the front desk, I was told that I was too old to stay there! Apparently, in the small print on their website, it says under 35s only. Talk about discrimination! And, with a birthday coming up, it doesn't exactly make you feel great. All was good though. I went into the hostel next door and they were delighted to have me. It was a once hostel and much, much quieter than the one in Frankfurt.
I stayed in Munich for 4 days, although got out of the city for 2 of those. The city itself actually managed to retain an almost village feel to it, very relaxed and, with the pedestrian only malls, very pleasant to wander around. I'd downloaded a self-guided walkig tour of the historical part of the city so set about doing that in the afternoon. The first stop was to the place that probably everyone heads to - the glockenspiel playing puppets up the top of the spire on the Town Hall. There I was, along with about 2,000 other tourists, all gazing upwards at the puppets dancing around to the tune being banged out on the glockenspiel. This main event happens twice a day and lasts for 15 minutes. Whilst slightly entertaining, it probably went on for 10 minutes too long!
During the rest of the afternoon, I passed by quite a few churches (I'm churched out now so limited myself to just 2 of them). I also stood on the plaza where Hitler delivered a number of speeches before he became the chancellor. There aren't many green spaces in the city so it was a welcome relief to come across an area called Hofgarten, a lovely garden where you can sit and relax for a bit. Actually, there are hardly any free seated areas at all, if you want to sit, you need to buy a coffee or something. Unlike other places in the world, there are not many fat people here, lack of seats encourages walking!
The main garden here is called The English Garden. It's a lovely space and, being a Sunday, there were a lot of people here. The first area that I came to, on my right, was called the nude beach. There's no actual beach, it's just a large bit of lawn with a river running along one side. And a lot of nude bodies sunning themselves! Not really my scene so I turned left and attempted to find the large beer garden. Somehow (and I swear it was an accident!), I took a wrong turning and found myself at the far end of the nude beach. Nothing for it but to take the path that ran alongside. I was relieved to see that the sun worshippers favored the lawn right in the middle of the beach so, although you could see lots of pink skin, you couldn't actually see the bits. That is, until I came across a sight that may well have done me permanent damage! The bloke could only be called an exhibitionist. He was spread eagled, on his back, right next to the path! Before I could avert my eyes, the sight that greeted me was a very large appendage that must have been pierced half a dozen times. Aaahhh! I quickened my pace, found the beer garden and downed a pint in record time!
On one of the days that I got out of town, I went on a tour to Dachau concentration camp. It was a very sombre visit but I'm glad that I went. The tour guide was an Irish bloke called Gordon. He's lived as a struggling artist in Munich for the last 14 years and is a specialist on the history of this camp. He was excellent. I learnt a lot and have a much better understanding of how the camps came to be. I took a few photos but, after a while, it just didn't feel right so I put my camera away.
On my other day out, I hopped on a train and went south to a town called Fussen. This was in order to visit two castles owned by King Ludwig II. Fussen was a pretty little town, right on the border of Austria. I just walked around the outside of one of the castles but splashed out and did a tour of the other one, called Neuschwanstein - in English, this means new swan castle. The swan was an obsession with the king so you see it everywhere. The king wanted the castle to be a real fantasy place so he spent money like it was going out of fashion. His family, and the government, got very concerned about this spending and didn't know how to stop it. They came up with the idea of hiring a psychiatrist who proclaimed the king to be insane so he was dethroned. Mysteriously, two days later, he and the psychiatrist are found dead in the bottom of a lake. To this day, no one has said how it happened. At the time, they said that he committed suicide but, of course, most people know that this was probably not true. Interesting that he happened to have two bullet holes in his back! Anyway, because of his death, the castle was never finished. Just two weeks after his death, the family opened the castle up as a tourist attraction. It was an interesting visit and the castle was certainly opulent. I was so cold by the end of the day (I hadn't banked on it snowing while I was there!) that I had to call in at a restaurant in the town and have sausages, mashed potatoes and sauerkraut - delicious!
At that brings me to the end of my time in Munich. Next stop - Salzburg, Austria.
Wednesday, 21 March 2012
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