We returned from Rome on the 4th of July and had
a cookout with Toni and Warren to celebrate.
We didn’t get too crazy though, because we were hitting the road in the
morning again to head to Bavaria.
Thursday night we unpacked, did laundry and packed again to
head on another trip. We drove down to
Munich and made a stop at the Neuschwanstein Castle on the way. This is the famous castle built by Ludwig II
of Bavaria and was the inspiration for the Disney castle. He lived in the castle less than a year
before he died and soon after his death the castle was opened to the public to
visit. Much of the interior of the
castle is still incomplete to this day, but we were able to see many of the
rooms that were completed before Ludwig’s death. Unfortunately, we were unable to take
pictures inside the castle, but it was beautiful. In Ludwig’s bedroom alone there were multiple
carvers that worked for years to create all of the wood carvings and
furniture. If we were inconsiderate
tourists like some of the people in our group we would have some pictures, but
we followed the rules. We did express
our discontent with the people on our tour that were taking pictures and Greg
got into a little verbal disagreement with a woman on our tour (it was pretty
awesome! J). Some people need to learn to follow the rules
instead of making a bad name for all other English speaking tourists. Oh well, there are people like that
everywhere!
The view from the balcony in the castle
Along with this tour, we were able to tour the
Hohenschwangau Castle as well. This was
the home of other Bavarian kings before Ludwig II and he spent some of his childhood
in this castle (which is why he loved the area and ended up building his castle
nearby).
After our castle tours we drove to Munich, checked into our
hotel and got some sleep for the next few days.
On Saturday, we took a guided tour to the Dachau concentration
camp. I don’t even know how to explain
this experience. Visiting a
concentration camp is something I don’t know if I want to do again, but I’m
very glad I did once. It was so surreal
and emotionally painful to stand in the place where thousands were killed and
to actually see the ovens where human remains were burned. Dachau wasn’t an extermination camp (I didn’t
know there was a difference) so people weren’t sent there specifically to be
killed like many of the other camps, but thousands were still killed and/or
died due to conditions at Dachau. It was
the first and model concentration camp for the Nazis and officers were trained
at Dachau to work at camps all over Europe.
Definitely an experience to remember. Our tour guide was wonderful and we definitely learned a lot about life
in the camp and this sad portion of history.
The gate to Dachau reading "labor makes you free" - All of the people at this camp entered through this gate.
Sculpture at Dachau in the main square
This memorial contains the ashes of unknown people that were killed or died at Dachau
The main square at Dachau where roll call was taken every day
I don't even know how to caption this picture.....
The bunks where people were packed in like sardines
We tried to pick up our spirits a bit and after Dachau we
went to the Augustiner beer garden to enjoy the beautiful weather and have a
beer and giant pretzel. After
Augustiner, we headed back to the center of town and went to Hofbrauhaus for
some more great Munich brew.
Our plan on Sunday was initially to visit Hitler’s Eagles
Nest in Berchtesgaden, but it was supposed to be cloudy there all day with a
chance of rain, so we cancelled this tour.
We ended up visiting the Munich Residenz which is the former royal
palace of the Bavarian monarchs. The
rooms in this building were amazing (we were able to take pictures this
time). We also got to see the royal
treasury and feast our eyes on some amazing jewelry, crowns, art, etc.
We spent the afternoon in the Englischer Garten walking
around the pretty paths and having some traditional Bavarian food and beer by
the Chinesischer Turm (Chinese tower).
Since this day (Sunday) was Greg and Kristin’s anniversary
we went back to the hotel to freshen up a bit and went out to a nice dinner at
the Andechser am Dom restaurant. This
place serves our favorite Munich beer, Andechs.
The food was very yummy as well!
Happy 6 years of marriage to Greg and Kristin!! J
Instead of going to the Eagles nest, we decided to leave
early on Monday morning and swing by one of our favorite little towns in
Germany, Rothenburg ob de Tauber. We
have been to this town multiple times (we took Ron and Connie there as well),
but we love to visit and it is a great place to take visitors to show them a
traditional walled city in Germany. We
enjoyed a few hours walking around this town and headed home. We relaxed the rest of the evening and Greg
and Kristin got ready to head back to the airport on Tuesday morning for their
early flight back to the US.
The streets of Rothenburg
City hall in Rothenburg
The view at the edge of town
One of the original city gates of Rothenburg
The view from the tower at city hall
There were high school band students from Ohio playing in the city square
It was a whirlwind trip, but we saw some wonderful things
and it was SO GREAT to see Greg and Kristin.
We love having visitors and can’t wait for other friends and family to
visit as well!
Phew! Sorry for the
huge posts, but I know people (well, family J
) were curious as to what we were up to and interested in pictures.
Stay posted for our Summer adventures! We are going canoeing, camping and white
water rafting in Germany and Austria in the next few weeks!
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