Apparently, the dirty little secret about Salzburg is that the reason it is so beautiful is because it rains so much. A local told me that they have had two days of rain for ever day of not rain (as she put it) so far this year. But it takes a lot more than a little precipitation to derail my plans!
The day started out with the Sound of Music tour! A number of tour companies had sketched together the various sights that Hollywood used to film the Sound of Music and made it into a guided tour. While I had booked my tour online, I never received a confirmation email and my follow up email to the office remained unanswered. I showed up at the appointed time anyway hoping for the best, and thankfully it was just their fault for not sending a confirmation email.
We launched off on our tour by seeing the Von Trapp house. Well, actually, for the movie, they used two different houses (one for the front and one for the back), neither of which was the Von Trapp's actual house. This house is also where they filmed the lake scene where all the children and Maria fell into the water. Apparently, the actress that played Gretal hated the water and they were afraid of her drowning, so they had to put scuba divers in the water under the boat!
Other stops included the church where Maria and the captain got married, the famous gazebo (an important part for me after the duet I had in the Free Speech Musical), the hills where Maria ran through, the convent, the trees where the children were playing in, and various other bit scenes. On the way back to Salzburg (after a struedel break!), our guide popped in the movie soundtrack and we do, re, mi'd our way back to town.
The tour took most of the morning, so it was afternoon by the time I got to the next stop on my itinerary: Mozart's house. Mozart lived in Salzburg for much of the young part of his life. Of course, much of that time was spent touring Europe with his father and sister, wowing the courts and nobles of various European capitals with his prodigious talent. Maybe some of that trotting around Europe had an effect, because the museum mentioned how much Mozart disliked Salzburg and how he couldn't wait to get out! Which is especially ironic because if you go to Salzburg today, you can't swing a stick without touching some sort of Mozart paraphinelia. The town does not seem to mind Mozart's sentiments, they will profit off his memory nonetheless. Ah capitalism.
After Mozart's House, it was a quick hike up to the Hofburg fortress that overlooks the city of Salzburg. The views were spectacular although the castle itself was not all that great, compared to some of the ones I've seen. As with Neuschwanstein, you could get to the top with a little train, but I opted for the hike!
I finished the day with a Mozart Dinner Concert. One restrauant has a deal set up where you sit in a Baroque style room, have a three course meal featuring dishes that were popular in Mozart's day, and in between courses, you get a sample of Mozart's work from a string quartet and two opera singers. The performances were outstanding and the dinner was great. I especially enjoyed the intriguing cream soup with lemon flavoring and a dumpling. The maitre d sat me at a table with five Brits and two Aussies. They were great dinner companions and we had a lively conversation in between performances.
At one point, they were talking about BBC tv shows and then realized I was clueless. So one bloke from England told me, "You know the best show America's put on? Frasier." The rest of the table heartily agreed. I knew there was a reason I liked these people! One woman said how her favorite character was Eddie and I was able to put to use my vast Frasier knowledge and tell her that Eddie received the most fan mail out of any actor on the show!
Well, after a day like that, I was just able to drag myself into my bed and fall asleep! But not for too long, I had to catch an early morning train to Vienna the next day.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Day #19: Dachau
Well, it wasn't a trip I was especially keen on taking. Concentration camps are never fun to go visit. But you feel compelled to go. As if you still can't comprehen how man could be so cruel as to slaughter his fellow man unless you see the place where it happened. That, and several other reasons, was why I spent a half day tour out to Dachau Concentration Camp.
Aushwitz and several others beat out Dachau in terms of sheer numbers of people murdered within their camps, but Dachau is important for a variety of other reasons, as I soon learned. Dachau was one of the first concentration camps opened in 1933, not long after Hitler assumed dictatorial powers. And what I did not know is that it was not intended as an extermination camp per se. The Nazis placed Dachau at the site of an old munitions factory and used the "prisoners" to help the war effort. The idea was to work them relentlessly under such inhumane conditions, that the workers would eventually die. You see in the gate to Dachau, the phrase "Freedom through Work." Considering the conditions they put people through, that phrase is both haunting and chilling.
Beyond being one of the first camps, Dachau became the blueprint for how other camps were structured and run. The second commandant of Dachau experimented with a numbe rof different methods of punishment and camp structure. He eventually "perfected" a cruelly efficient system and for his reward he was appointed the Inspector General of the concentration camp system and exported his "Dachau method" to other camps. That method proved so ingrained that when the German generals complained that the amount of deaths were hindering the production of war materials, the camp commandants couldn't change. Instead, they fudged the numbers of deaths to make it look better for them.
After leaving Dachau, I went back to Munich and caught a train to Salzburg. After I arrived and dropped my bag off at the hostel, I had enough time to do a quick self-guided tour of Salzburg's old town center. Salzburg is a beautiful city that has a river running right through the center of it. I'll have more on Salzburg in tomorrow's post!
Aushwitz and several others beat out Dachau in terms of sheer numbers of people murdered within their camps, but Dachau is important for a variety of other reasons, as I soon learned. Dachau was one of the first concentration camps opened in 1933, not long after Hitler assumed dictatorial powers. And what I did not know is that it was not intended as an extermination camp per se. The Nazis placed Dachau at the site of an old munitions factory and used the "prisoners" to help the war effort. The idea was to work them relentlessly under such inhumane conditions, that the workers would eventually die. You see in the gate to Dachau, the phrase "Freedom through Work." Considering the conditions they put people through, that phrase is both haunting and chilling.
Beyond being one of the first camps, Dachau became the blueprint for how other camps were structured and run. The second commandant of Dachau experimented with a numbe rof different methods of punishment and camp structure. He eventually "perfected" a cruelly efficient system and for his reward he was appointed the Inspector General of the concentration camp system and exported his "Dachau method" to other camps. That method proved so ingrained that when the German generals complained that the amount of deaths were hindering the production of war materials, the camp commandants couldn't change. Instead, they fudged the numbers of deaths to make it look better for them.
After leaving Dachau, I went back to Munich and caught a train to Salzburg. After I arrived and dropped my bag off at the hostel, I had enough time to do a quick self-guided tour of Salzburg's old town center. Salzburg is a beautiful city that has a river running right through the center of it. I'll have more on Salzburg in tomorrow's post!
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Day #18: Neuschwanstein Castle
On Day #18, I left Munich for an all day tour of the castles of Mad King Ludwig II. Anti-social to the extreme, he was not happy with his family castle and set out an ambitious building program. He started construction on three different castles, all outside of the Bavarian capital of Munich. He finished one and mostly finished the other two before he was forced off the throne and then found dead two days later under mysterious circumstances.
We left Munich on a two level tour bus and made our way to the first castle, Lindehof castle. Carefully tucked away at the base of a mountain, Lindehof castle was on the small side (as castles go), with only two floors and about 20 or so rooms.
This was a favorite of Ludwig and he spent a great majority of his time here after he finished it. My favorite part was the cool gardens and fountain he had out front.
After that, we bundled back into the bus for a quick side trip to the small scenic town of Oberammergau, where they are known for putting on a Passion play once every decade for the past 400 or so years. (They originally started the play as a thanksgiving for sparing them from the Bubonic plague.)
Finally, it was on to the main castle, Neuschwanstein. Ludwig had this castle built not from an architect's drawing, but rather from a painter's. He had a painter conceptualize what he thought a king's castle should be and then went from there. Ludwig had it mostly completed and lived in it for only about 100 days until he died. We did a tour of the interior, which was impressive, at least the parts that were finished. He had a huge Wagner fetish and had a cave and grotto built into his castle since that was a feature in one of Wagner's operas.
Although, the tour bus could only take us up to the base of the mountain the castle sat on. We had to use on of three ways to get up to the top: (1) pay two euros and take the bus that came every 20 minutes, (2) pay six euros and take a horse drawn carriage up, or (3) pay nothing and hike the mile up at a steep angle.
I think by now you all know which option I picked. My vacations, as some of you well know, have a tendency of turning into fat camps. By that, I mean I walk everywhere to see sights and think nothing of launching up a steep hike for a good view. And when you throw in my natural thriftiness, the choice was practically pre-ordained. So, when I made the hike up (our guide told us it would take 45 minutes, I made it in 20) to the castle, I had time to kill. Then, i found out you could hike up even higher to a bridge for a great view of the castle. It was hard work, but I think you can see from the pictures that was well worth it. While it was a little cloudy and rainy, you could still see the castle quite clearly.
One interesting thing about Neuschwanstein castle is that it supposedly is the basis for the castle at Walt Disney World. What do you think?
We were warned to be at the bus by 5pm so we can get back to Munich. In the abundance of caution, I got back at 4:50pm. Well, it turns out other people were not so cautious. Out of a bus of 70 some odd people, 6 people were late. We waited until 5:20 and then, in the face of a mini-passenger revolt led by a Brazilian who had to catch a train, we left them behind. I hope they had a way of getting back to Munich!
We left Munich on a two level tour bus and made our way to the first castle, Lindehof castle. Carefully tucked away at the base of a mountain, Lindehof castle was on the small side (as castles go), with only two floors and about 20 or so rooms.
This was a favorite of Ludwig and he spent a great majority of his time here after he finished it. My favorite part was the cool gardens and fountain he had out front.
After that, we bundled back into the bus for a quick side trip to the small scenic town of Oberammergau, where they are known for putting on a Passion play once every decade for the past 400 or so years. (They originally started the play as a thanksgiving for sparing them from the Bubonic plague.)
Finally, it was on to the main castle, Neuschwanstein. Ludwig had this castle built not from an architect's drawing, but rather from a painter's. He had a painter conceptualize what he thought a king's castle should be and then went from there. Ludwig had it mostly completed and lived in it for only about 100 days until he died. We did a tour of the interior, which was impressive, at least the parts that were finished. He had a huge Wagner fetish and had a cave and grotto built into his castle since that was a feature in one of Wagner's operas.
Although, the tour bus could only take us up to the base of the mountain the castle sat on. We had to use on of three ways to get up to the top: (1) pay two euros and take the bus that came every 20 minutes, (2) pay six euros and take a horse drawn carriage up, or (3) pay nothing and hike the mile up at a steep angle.
I think by now you all know which option I picked. My vacations, as some of you well know, have a tendency of turning into fat camps. By that, I mean I walk everywhere to see sights and think nothing of launching up a steep hike for a good view. And when you throw in my natural thriftiness, the choice was practically pre-ordained. So, when I made the hike up (our guide told us it would take 45 minutes, I made it in 20) to the castle, I had time to kill. Then, i found out you could hike up even higher to a bridge for a great view of the castle. It was hard work, but I think you can see from the pictures that was well worth it. While it was a little cloudy and rainy, you could still see the castle quite clearly.
One interesting thing about Neuschwanstein castle is that it supposedly is the basis for the castle at Walt Disney World. What do you think?
We were warned to be at the bus by 5pm so we can get back to Munich. In the abundance of caution, I got back at 4:50pm. Well, it turns out other people were not so cautious. Out of a bus of 70 some odd people, 6 people were late. We waited until 5:20 and then, in the face of a mini-passenger revolt led by a Brazilian who had to catch a train, we left them behind. I hope they had a way of getting back to Munich!
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Day #17: Munich
There was a lot in store to see of Munich, and due to my schedule, I had to pack in all of what I wanted to see in Munich into one day. (The next two days were reserved for side trips.) So I started the day on a whirlwind walking tour. Advertised as a totally free tour, all you did was show up and tip the guide at the end, if you felt so inclined.
We started off in the Marienplatz, which is the home of the famous Munich Glockenspiel. Recently tabbed as the second most overrated tourist attraction in Europe, the glockenspiel pretty much lived up to that billing. After a five minute interlude of bells, the glockenspiel sprung into action. One the top part, a Bavarian knight defeated an Austrian knight. And on the bottom part, several coopers twirled around in a dance. Not much to see.
The rest of the tour was more entertaining, showing off much of the reconstructed old city, 90% of which was destroyed in World War II. Highlights included the old royal district, now an über pricey shopping district.
There was one lowlight for me though. When trying to pitch his company's other (for pay) tours, he mentioned the most important one was Dachau, the concentration camp tour. He said it was important because learning the past helps prevent making the same mistakes again. In fact, he said that after going on the Dachau tour, he was struck by how much it resembled Guantanamo Bay. In fact, he further informed us, in his opinion, Gitmo fit every part of a definition of a concentration camp. I did not feel like it be productive to argue with him right in the middle of Munich and thus derail the tour, but I did take his little diatribe into account when tip time came around... (As Michael Jordan once famously said when someone tried to urge him to be more politically active, Republicans buy shoes too.)
That tour took up most of the morning, and then it was off to the Residenz palace, home to the Wittlebach family that ruled Bavaria for over 700 years. First, they were dukes. Then after a few hundred years, they were made electors in the Holy Roman Empire. Finally, Napoleon made one a king in the 1800s. Point being, these people had money and power and their house showed it. Most impressive was the Antiquarium, a long dining hall that is lavishly decorated with busts of Roman emperors on the sides. (Hence the room name, antiques = antiquarium. It does not signify that any pet fish are involved as I was mistakenly thought as first!)
Finally, the evening was capped off by a tour of a brewery and Munich's most famous beer hall, Hofbrauhaus (Originally, the king's own private beer label and beer hall). Not bad for a day's worth of sightseeing.
We started off in the Marienplatz, which is the home of the famous Munich Glockenspiel. Recently tabbed as the second most overrated tourist attraction in Europe, the glockenspiel pretty much lived up to that billing. After a five minute interlude of bells, the glockenspiel sprung into action. One the top part, a Bavarian knight defeated an Austrian knight. And on the bottom part, several coopers twirled around in a dance. Not much to see.
The rest of the tour was more entertaining, showing off much of the reconstructed old city, 90% of which was destroyed in World War II. Highlights included the old royal district, now an über pricey shopping district.
There was one lowlight for me though. When trying to pitch his company's other (for pay) tours, he mentioned the most important one was Dachau, the concentration camp tour. He said it was important because learning the past helps prevent making the same mistakes again. In fact, he said that after going on the Dachau tour, he was struck by how much it resembled Guantanamo Bay. In fact, he further informed us, in his opinion, Gitmo fit every part of a definition of a concentration camp. I did not feel like it be productive to argue with him right in the middle of Munich and thus derail the tour, but I did take his little diatribe into account when tip time came around... (As Michael Jordan once famously said when someone tried to urge him to be more politically active, Republicans buy shoes too.)
That tour took up most of the morning, and then it was off to the Residenz palace, home to the Wittlebach family that ruled Bavaria for over 700 years. First, they were dukes. Then after a few hundred years, they were made electors in the Holy Roman Empire. Finally, Napoleon made one a king in the 1800s. Point being, these people had money and power and their house showed it. Most impressive was the Antiquarium, a long dining hall that is lavishly decorated with busts of Roman emperors on the sides. (Hence the room name, antiques = antiquarium. It does not signify that any pet fish are involved as I was mistakenly thought as first!)
Finally, the evening was capped off by a tour of a brewery and Munich's most famous beer hall, Hofbrauhaus (Originally, the king's own private beer label and beer hall). Not bad for a day's worth of sightseeing.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Day #16: Rothenburg/Nuremberg
On Day #16, I started out the day by walking the wall. Rothenburg still has most of its original fortifications still up with an inner rampart you can walk. But part of the town and its wall in World War II. What the city did to rebuild was issue a call for donations. In return for a certain amount, a person could "adopt" a portion of the wall and get a brick on the wall in their honor. It was cool to see the town from a different perspective in the early morning light and seeing the bricks with people's names and places from them.
After walking the wall, I spent the rest of my time spending my money. Rothenburg is the king of quaint German souveniers and I loaded up. One shop in particular, the Friese-Shop, was quite kind to me. In addition to the 10% discount I got for having a Rick Steves book, I got my 19% value added tax refunded for immediately shipping everything, which they were happy to do for me at cost. So, all told, it cost 10 euros to ship presents for my parents, brother, and sister back to America. Not bad.
After shopping, I caught a train to Nuremberg for a quick day trip. Unfortunately, the Nuremberg courtrooms were closed for renovation, but there was still plenty to occupy me. Nuremberg was a kind of spiritual headquarters for the Nazi Party. It is where they held their yearly party rallies up until they started World War II. Each rally had a theme theat the Nazis used to communicate their message through, i.e. one year was the Rally for Unity and Strength Ironically enough, the theme for that year was slated to be a Rally for Peace, but then they invaded Poland instead.
Nuremberg was thus accorded a special place in the world of Adolph Hitler. It was slated to be one of five Führer cities that were to showcase Nazism. But Nuremberg is the only place where they built anything and even then, not much was even started, much less completed. The city is still the best place to see Nazi architecture as envisioned by Hitler and his favorite architect, Albert Speer.
Original plans for Nuremburg included a stadium that would hold 400,000 spectators and several party buildings. What we have today is the fully completed Zeppelin grounds where Hitler delivered his fiery speeches to the party faithful and the half-built Congress Hall built to house meetings of party diginitaries.
It is in one wing of Congress Hall where Germany has built a museum, documenting Nuremberg's place in Nazi folklore and tracing Hitler's rise to power, including original footage from party rallies and the propoganda film, Triumph of the Will. It was quite well done and sobering to take in. I will try to come back and post some pictures when I get to.
Nazi architecture is austere and monolithic, designed to show all who is in power. The buildings were designed to last 1000 years, which is how long Hitler imagined his Third Reich would last. Interestingly enough, the background of the podium at the Zeppelin Field was designed to look like the Pergammon Altar I saw in Berlin.
After spending several hours at the museum and wandering around the Rally Ground complex, I caught a train to Munich and used the rest of the evening to settle into my hostel.
After walking the wall, I spent the rest of my time spending my money. Rothenburg is the king of quaint German souveniers and I loaded up. One shop in particular, the Friese-Shop, was quite kind to me. In addition to the 10% discount I got for having a Rick Steves book, I got my 19% value added tax refunded for immediately shipping everything, which they were happy to do for me at cost. So, all told, it cost 10 euros to ship presents for my parents, brother, and sister back to America. Not bad.
After shopping, I caught a train to Nuremberg for a quick day trip. Unfortunately, the Nuremberg courtrooms were closed for renovation, but there was still plenty to occupy me. Nuremberg was a kind of spiritual headquarters for the Nazi Party. It is where they held their yearly party rallies up until they started World War II. Each rally had a theme theat the Nazis used to communicate their message through, i.e. one year was the Rally for Unity and Strength Ironically enough, the theme for that year was slated to be a Rally for Peace, but then they invaded Poland instead.
Nuremberg was thus accorded a special place in the world of Adolph Hitler. It was slated to be one of five Führer cities that were to showcase Nazism. But Nuremberg is the only place where they built anything and even then, not much was even started, much less completed. The city is still the best place to see Nazi architecture as envisioned by Hitler and his favorite architect, Albert Speer.
Original plans for Nuremburg included a stadium that would hold 400,000 spectators and several party buildings. What we have today is the fully completed Zeppelin grounds where Hitler delivered his fiery speeches to the party faithful and the half-built Congress Hall built to house meetings of party diginitaries.
It is in one wing of Congress Hall where Germany has built a museum, documenting Nuremberg's place in Nazi folklore and tracing Hitler's rise to power, including original footage from party rallies and the propoganda film, Triumph of the Will. It was quite well done and sobering to take in. I will try to come back and post some pictures when I get to.
Nazi architecture is austere and monolithic, designed to show all who is in power. The buildings were designed to last 1000 years, which is how long Hitler imagined his Third Reich would last. Interestingly enough, the background of the podium at the Zeppelin Field was designed to look like the Pergammon Altar I saw in Berlin.
After spending several hours at the museum and wandering around the Rally Ground complex, I caught a train to Munich and used the rest of the evening to settle into my hostel.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Announcement
I'll have my daily post up in a couple hours, but I want to say that I'm scaling back my trip a little. Two weeks over here has taught me that ten weeks is way too long to be on a trip by yourself. Especially when you are me and have a maniacal fix on seeing every sight possible before I drive myself to exhaustion. Had I stayed on the road all ten weeks, I can only imagine that I'd turn into some sort of anti-social Gollum-like creature, clutching my RIck Steves guidebook calling it my precious...
So, I changed my flight and will now be going back to my parent's place in DC on October 10th instead of November 1st. That gives me approximately seven weeks on the road instead of the original ten.
So, I changed my flight and will now be going back to my parent's place in DC on October 10th instead of November 1st. That gives me approximately seven weeks on the road instead of the original ten.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Day# 15: Rothenburg
After a nice breakfast at the B&B I was staying at, I spent most of the next five hours on a train. Here's the route:
From Bacharach, I took a regional line to Mainz. From Mainz, I hopped a bigger train to Frankfurt's main train station. In Frankfurt, I ran several tracks over to catch my connection to Steinach. From Steinach, I caught the shuttle train to Rothenburg. Whoo.
Rothenburg (and I wish I could post the pictures but the terminal is locked up, precluding access to the USB port) is a medieval walled town. Sacked several times during the 30 Years War in the 17th century, it basically has not changed since then. I spent most of the afternoon wandering around in the town, taking in the sights.
One museum to note is the Medieval Crime and Punishment Museum. It has a fascinating collection of torture devices and other instruments used as punishment through the years. My favorite were the shame masks, the ornaments of which were customized to reflect the crime you committed. The Museum also had an impressive arrray of ancient seals, papal indulgences, and other legal documents of old.
My evening ended with the Nightwatchmen's Tour. Dressed to look the part, our guide led us on a tour of Rothenburg at dusk, seamlessly intertwining historical facts with a witty turn of phrase. In a sign of the times, at the end of tour, the Nightwatchman hawked his dvd that was available for sale at all major tourist stores!
After the tour, I went back to my hostel and met a couple of Americans who had just come from Munich. I was able to pick their brain for suggestions on what to do, so I feel like I've got a good idea about how to tackle that town.
Well, that's all for today! Hope everything is going well with yall. As always, emails and/or comments are appreciated.
From Bacharach, I took a regional line to Mainz. From Mainz, I hopped a bigger train to Frankfurt's main train station. In Frankfurt, I ran several tracks over to catch my connection to Steinach. From Steinach, I caught the shuttle train to Rothenburg. Whoo.
Rothenburg (and I wish I could post the pictures but the terminal is locked up, precluding access to the USB port) is a medieval walled town. Sacked several times during the 30 Years War in the 17th century, it basically has not changed since then. I spent most of the afternoon wandering around in the town, taking in the sights.
One museum to note is the Medieval Crime and Punishment Museum. It has a fascinating collection of torture devices and other instruments used as punishment through the years. My favorite were the shame masks, the ornaments of which were customized to reflect the crime you committed. The Museum also had an impressive arrray of ancient seals, papal indulgences, and other legal documents of old.
My evening ended with the Nightwatchmen's Tour. Dressed to look the part, our guide led us on a tour of Rothenburg at dusk, seamlessly intertwining historical facts with a witty turn of phrase. In a sign of the times, at the end of tour, the Nightwatchman hawked his dvd that was available for sale at all major tourist stores!
After the tour, I went back to my hostel and met a couple of Americans who had just come from Munich. I was able to pick their brain for suggestions on what to do, so I feel like I've got a good idea about how to tackle that town.
Well, that's all for today! Hope everything is going well with yall. As always, emails and/or comments are appreciated.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Day #14: Köln and the Rhine River
Monday dawned bright and clear and it was off to see Köln's main attraction, its amazing Gothic cathedral. Construction started in the 13th century, but after the Reformation and moving trade routes, funds dried up and building halted. The cathedral wasn't completely finished until the late 19th century. The cathedral is famous not only for its size, but also for housing the bones of the Magi. The bodies were "discovered" in Jerusalem by Helen, mother of Constantine the Great in the 300s. From there, the relics lasted almost 1000 years in Milan, until Barbarrosa of Germany invaded Italy and the Archbishop of Köln transferred (to use the tour guide's word for it) the bones to Köln.
After the cathedral tour, it was off to catch a train down the Rhine River to tour Rheinfells Castle. Built high above the river and the scenic town of St. Goar, Rheinfells Castle protected this stretch of the river for hundreds of years, until the French Revolutionary Army came through and partially destroyed it. Still, what is left is an impressive sight.
After traipsing through the castle, I caught a boat for a cruise down the Rhine. The scenery, idyllic villages, and numerous castles (built to extract tolls from river floating commerce) all combined to let the river live up to its knickname of the "Romantic Rhine."
After the cathedral tour, it was off to catch a train down the Rhine River to tour Rheinfells Castle. Built high above the river and the scenic town of St. Goar, Rheinfells Castle protected this stretch of the river for hundreds of years, until the French Revolutionary Army came through and partially destroyed it. Still, what is left is an impressive sight. After traipsing through the castle, I caught a boat for a cruise down the Rhine. The scenery, idyllic villages, and numerous castles (built to extract tolls from river floating commerce) all combined to let the river live up to its knickname of the "Romantic Rhine."My boat tour ended in the town of Bacharach where I stayed the night at a small B&B. After a delicious meal of jaegerschnitzel, I headed for an evening stroll. Bacharach is world famous as a wine making town, especially for its Reisling wine. So, I at the end of my walk, I ended up at a wine garded. There, I shared a table with a retired Swedish couple. We had a great conversation (well, the wife spoke English well and translated for her husband). One interesting item she mentioned was that more and more Swedish people were buying private health insurance. It turns out that the waiting list for the government provided health care was too long, so they are turning to private sources. I thought it was interesting given the health care debate back home.
Day #13: Leaving Berlin
Today I leave Berlin, so first item of business is to find a place to drop off my backpack. I figure the best place is the main train station. I guess because the Berlin train station is so big and important, they don't have luggage lockers. Instead, they have a bag check where your luggage first has to go through an x-ray machine. Pretty high tech.
The reason I had to check my bag was my first stop of the morning was the Reichstag, and they don't allow large pieces of luggage. The Rechistag was built in the late 19th century and was rebuilt after World War II. The Rechistag building does have one modern addtion: a glass dome on top over the plenary session of the Bundestag (Germany's version of the House of Represenatives). The neat thing is that you can take an elevator up to the glass dome and walk up in, giving you great views of the city. UInsurprisingly, this is a popular attraction so I had to get their early before the crods arrived. I got there around 9am, but still had to wait about 30 minutes to get through security and up into the dome. The view was well worth it. Here's the dome:
From there, it was on to Gemäldegalerie, Berlin's museum for 14th-18th century art. The heart of the collection is 16 paintings by Rembrandt. Here's a self-portrait he did of himself as a young man.
From there, it was back to the train station to collect my bag and hope a train to Köln (or Cologne). The train ride was uneventful, but made more interesting by a young German soil scientist who sat across from me. She was on her way to a soil science convention in Bonn and was kind enough to point out interesting sights out the window.
When I got to Cologne, I checked into the hostel. After check-in, I heard someone say, "I like your shirt!" (I was wearing a long sleeved Carolina shirt). Turns out, there was another UNC grad at the hostel! Ellen graduated last December and was on her way to an orientation for the Fulbright Scholars. Small world!
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Real Day #12: Still Berlin
So I noticed my day numbering system has been a little off. Oh well, I will try to put my days in the correct order from now on.
I awoke and took a train to meet up with a walking tour. I had to scramble to find an ATM since I only had 10 euros on me and the price was advertised as 15 euros. I finally found one, fot my money, and made it to assembly place just before they left. After an unadvertised student discount, my walking tour cost me . . . 10 euros. Sigh.
I thought that the price was a little high for a walking tour, but I went along with it as my guidebook gave this particular company its highest rating. The walk was billed as "Discover Berlin," containing all of Berlin's essentials. And boy did it ever. I originally thought the tour would last two hours, but it instead lasted 4.5 hours! At two euros per hour for all of Berlin's essentials, I felt like I had underpaid!
Our tour was led by an energetic Scot named Kenny. We kicked off the main part of the tour at Museum Island, where the kaiser and his family had their own private art gallery and cathedral. From there, we hit all the big sights: where the Nazis had the book burnings, Checkpoint Charlie, what's left of the Berlin Wall, Brandenburg Gate, and the Reichstag.
I did commit a little faux pas on the tour though. While at Brandenburg Gate, Kenny pointed out the historic Hotel Adlon and listed many of the famous people who had stayed there: President Bush, then Senator Barack Obama, Madonna, etc. And then, in a burst of realization and enthusiasm, I blurted out, "Isn't that where Michael jackson dangled his kid?" "Yes, Jeff," Kenny replied, "thanks for ruining the punchline." Whoops.
After the tour was over, I returned to Museum Island to visit the two famous antiquities museums. The Altes Gallery had an impressive display of Greek and Roman artifacts, including several statues and a plethora of amphoras. But the highlight was an Egyptian piece, the bust of Quen Nefertiti. Used by the royal builder for all of her likenesses in public buildings, the bust is a model. Nefertiti is called the most beautiful woman in Berlin and after a close look, I might have to agree!
The next stop was the Pergamon Museum, named for its most famous piece, the Pergamon alter. Built to commemorate a Pergamese (sp?) military victory, the altar is surrounded by a tremendous freize that depicts the Greek gods in battle against the giant children of the earth goddess Gaia. While only 1/3 of the freize survived, they managed to put together some pretty good streches of it, including this one of a victorious Athena.
The Pergamon Museum also includes the Ischtar Gate of babylonian fame. Built by King Nebukadnezzar, I'm told the gate is mentioned in the Bible.
The last stop of the day was the Museum of the House at Checkpoint Charlie. While the museum did have some interesting displas of ways people used to get over the wall, it was cluttered and unorganized and I would not recommend it. Signs announced they were renovating, so maybe it well be more clear after that. Of course, it was late after a long day of sight-sightseeing, so I'm sure that affected my judgment of it as well!
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