Time in Germany

Time for a more thorough update on week one of the trip: Germany. We got to Berlin about 5:00PM and got to meet up with Marie. We ate at a cute square and I had a great German meal, sauerbrauten. I also discovered that I liked one type of German beer: berlinerweisse. It is flavored with a berry taste and is a lot like a wine cooler. Yum. We walked around quite a bit that night and got a great feel for the city.

The next day we climbed up the top of Berlin's capital building, the reichstag. It was neat how architectually they blended old with the new, and the top had great views of the city. The Berlin Cathedral is one of the prettiest spots and on the banks of a river. We went to church here on Sunday morning and listened to an English translation with a complimentary headpiece they give you.

In my opinion, the western section of Berlin is much prettier than the eastern section. Instead of having box like and uninteresting buildings the streets are tree lined and facades look more 19th century quaint.

We drove the next few days and saw lots of German countryside. One thing that surprised us was the number of nuclear power plants we saw-at least five! The towns on the romantic road, of which we saw five, were nice and parts of each town were very picturesque, but if I was head of the tourism department I would encourage true pedestrian only old towns. Seeing these spots and then having the modern cars lined up on the roads takes away from the experience of being transported into the 14th century. Rothenburg was neat because of its size and extensive intact old walls that surround the city. Heidelburg was pretty because of the dominating castle remains looking over the old town. Likewise, Wurzburg's castle was very unique in that you could walk all over the ancient monestary and see exactly how their defense system worked. The views from the top were also gorgeous.

One of the trip highlights for me so far was seeing Neuschwaunstein Castle. Truly seeing the outside of it perched high on a hill with beautiful mountains surrouding it and a lake with swans at the base is breathtaking. The interior tour is short (35 minutes) and makes you realize how crazy this king really was to build this thing. He even has a fake cave inside of the castle walls and everything inside is meant to look medieval but is mearly a facade. Nothing-not the jewels, not the gold trim, not the furniture is truly authentic. Our room had a balcany which we could look at the castle from. I told Jon to pinch me it was so surreal.

Munich, much like Berlin, is a big city with a small old town which is reconstructed after being demolished in WW2. The marienplatz square is pretty, but the glockenspiel is not as neat because of my skewed 21st century perspective. It doesn't do much but slowly move in a large circle. The Englisher Garden was larger than I expected, but also very risque. Who knew nudity was so accepted outside of the beaches of southern France? We also got to see some surfers on the fast moving river that goes through the park. Very unique.

Next we are off to Switzerland and Austria. This was the part of the trip I have been looking forward to most. I can't wait to see the Matterhorn, get to the trop of the Jungfrau, see Hallstat, and get some gelato in Lugano.

Auf wiedersehen!