Beautiful Munich

Keegan and I arrived in Munich and were greeted by the best taxi driver in Munich--my brother-in-law Hien with his intrepid taxi.

Keegan and Hien had a great time together. Christian and Lisa helped to show us around Munich. Christian's ability to speak and translate English was beyond his 15 years. He was an excellent guide as well. So knowledgeable about Munich sights and history.

Of course the beer gardens were very popular with our group. There were many beers to try and everyone working at the gardens was so kind and helpful. Beer steins were everywhere and we couldn't help but buy several for family gifts. The last photo is of the supposed largest beer stein in the world. How could you even lift it to drink out of it? Longest straw in the world, anyone?

The city of Munich is very "green". Along with that is all the bikes. People are riding bikes day and night instead of using cars for work or shopping. Also, many people use the trains instead of cars. Keegan and I walked around Munich and above photos show some of the sights.

Christian took Keeg and me on a night time tour of Munich one night. The city lights are beautiful at night. I was impressed with not only how clean the city was, but how safe it was. We walked around sometimes in the almost dark, in a park, near the river, on near deserted streets and never felt in any danger. I saw very few police. Above is a street musician and his tipsy friend who befriended us on our night time walk and explained carefully (and several times) how to get to the nearest American bar. We decided not to go.

Above is some interesting grafitti in Munich. Keegan enjoyed recording these shots.

Castle in the Sky

It was a fairy tale sight when we rounded a corner in the road and saw Neuschwanstein Castle perched on the edge of the mountain. Keegan and I had no idea what it would look like and it seemed magical. I didn't realize there really were fairy tale castles. This is the Neuschwanstein Castle in southwestern Bavaria Germany. The translation is New Swan Stone Castle and it was comissioned in the 19th century by Ludwig II of Bavaria as a retreat and as a homage to Richard Wagner.

The palace was intended as a personal refuge for the reclusive king, but it was opened to the paying public immediately after his death in 1886.Since then over 60 million people have visited Neuschwanstein Castle. More than 1.3 million people visit annually, with up to 6,000 per day in the summer. The palace has appeared prominently in several movies and was the inspiration for Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle. [Thank you Wikipedia!] 

The first photo shows the newer castle that Ludwig II constructed  and the second photo shows the original castle that his parents lived in. It took my brother in law, Hien 1 1/2 hours to drive us all to the castles. Keegan and I stayed with Hien, my nephew Christian and my niece Lisa at their flat in Munich. Hien is a taxi driver in Munich and is used to a lot of driving. When we arrived at the castles we learned that it would be a two hour wait to get tickets to one of the castles. After getting the tickets it would be a three hour wait to get into the newer castle (the first photo) and a one and a half hour wait to get into the older castle (second photo). I was given a choice as to which castle I wanted to visit and I chose the older castle with the shorter wait.

It had rained the night before and there were so many people there to see the castle! Everyone had their outdoor clothes and hiking shoes on. I was not dressed quite as outdoorsy as I would have wished. I was not in a happy mood after the drive there and a surprise (to me) two hour wait. We went to a beer garden after the two hour wait and I was quite the complainer under my breath to Keegan. Clearly I was not as subtle with my frustration as I thought because when Keegan came to the table I was saving for our group, he brought not only beer for him (he could drink legally on Germany) but a shot of vodka for me. Turns out my brother in law suggested I might need it to improve my mood. We all laughed as I downed the shot. If you know me, you know this was very uncharacteristic of me, but I must say it did the trick!

We took the castle tour in English and were not allowed to take photos on the inside. Unusual sights on the inside were huge paintings done directly on the walls with either the frames attached to the walls or painted around the paintings themselves. There were paintings depicting Bavarian or older European history or family history all over the walls and then writing directly on the wall explaining the paintings. All in German of course. Also, Ludwig's father's bedroom had a beautiful mural of an outdoor garden with climbing vines covering the walls of the room with lights embedded in the ceiling that could be turned to the night sky. Also a hidden staircase from the husband's room to Ludwig's mother's room above. They slept separately.

Many thanks to our wonderful family for such a memorable trip!

Serendipity and a Ride on the Seine River

   Serendipity hits when you least expect it, of course. So as Keegan and I were sitting in the restaurant on the Left Bank, me raising my glass in toast to our trip we could not know what fun was in store for us that night. Sitting to our left was another mother/son duo and we were to join them for special "Tar Heel" style fun that night. Quiet me overheard them talking and knew they were Americans. But I would not have interrupted their meal, sat with them for dinner and left the restaurant with them for a fun filled night if Marsha hadn't started talking first. Thank you Marsha!

    Turns out they were from Raleigh, NC and David was a sophomore at UNC Chapel Hill in the biology department headed for medical school. How could it be that we would sit next to each other at that moment? Actually they would have gone on the Bateaux Parisenne boat cruise the night before if they could have found the right spot to get on. But they walked for about five miles, said Marsha, in their best clothes and Marsha in heels and didn't find the launch spot before it closed. Actually they were leaving the next morning for NC.

    Well, we joined them for dinner with the maitre'd's blessing (he reset our table for other customers!) and then walked to the store for wine, cheese and crackers to take on the boat. We walked to the Seine for the boat ride and had an hour wait.As we cruised along the Seine, the buildings were lit in fairy tale fashion and at 11 pm at night they are at their finest. A spot light emanates from the top of the Eiffel Tower and it is completely lit up, looking completely beautiful. Then someone flips a switch and it blinks and twinkles all over. Magic!

Paris Street Performers

 
   One of the unexpected pleasures of walking through Paris is suddenly encountering street performers. The first picture shows a performer near the Centre Georges Pompidou Museum of Modern Art. He was balancing on a series of liquor bottles while music played from his boom box. It was quite lovely to see him in costume and using such simple devices as discarded liquor bottles to do balancing tricks.

   The second and third pictures show a very impressive performer right in front of Sacre Coeur, a famous Catholic church in the Monmartre section of Paris. The church is set at the top of a very high hill and can be reached by climbing very many steps. This guy was perched on a balustrade very high up the hill and he was doing ball handling tricks with a soccer ball. There are many African men all around the church trying to sell the tourists things. This guy was obviously a man with a special skill who commanded everyone's attention. He performed while playing that Michael Jackson song with the lyrics--"there are people dying, if you care enough for living, make it a better place for you and for me . . ." I can't remember the title. But he performed for the entire song, eventually climbing the light pole and still passing the ball between his legs and all around his body. Amazing.

   The last picture shows a very lively and happy band just set up in the Marais section of Paris. Each member of the group took a solo turn and the young guy out front danced and played the trumpet. I have heard that a number of famous people got their start as street musicians. I wonder if any of these people will succeed?

When I arrived my brother-in-law and nieces picked me up along with Keegan. After Keeg and I got settled at the hotel, we started walking. Throughout the week we were in Paris we walked so much. One day we walked across the Seine River to Notre Dame and noticed that people had put locks all along the fence. We had heard people asking to buy locks at the various vendors along the streets and now we knew why. There were messages on the locks. Some had versions of "Jacques loves Jacqueline", "I was here", and one said "I'm down for anything".

Did you know you can go to the beach in Paris? It is called Paris Plage [Beach]. There are is sand, sand castles, beach chairs and umbrellas. There are mountain bike courses, air hockey and other games for children outside along the Seine River.