One Night in Venice

Alan and I stopped over one night in Venice. We ate some wonderful pasta and got lost winding through the streets and over the bridges. We visited the Palazzo Ducale and the Basilica of St. Mark in the Piazza San Marco. On our way to the train station, we rode a ferry through the Grand Canal.

Here are some of my favorite photos!

Salzburg: The Sound of Music

On one of our mornings in Salzbug, Austria, we took a tour of the city called Fraulein Maria's Bike Tour. This, of course, is a tour to see parts of the city used in filming The Sound of Music. I grew up watching this film over and over. Plus, Alan and I are staying at a hostel that shows this movie every night, so I have also seen it recently. But let me say, of the nerds doing this nerdy tour, I was the nerdiest of all.  I suppose I found "my people," -- folks that happily cycle around in public singing along to the soundtrack, to see beautiful places all over Salzburg.

So, here it is. I am going to give you the tour :) I also took pictures of the guides we had, to remind us of scenes from the film. 

First, gates and doors near the stone theater where the group sings in the Salzburg Festival near the end of the movie.

Then, the Residenz palace that is hung with the Nazi flag in the film, the fountains in and around this square. We had to flick the water in the fountain "for confidence."

Next, we cycled up a steep hill to Nonnberg Abbey, what our guide called "Climb Every Mountain," Most of us had to walk and push our bikes. All except Alan, who got a prize for reaching the top first. Then I got a prize for naming the Clockman Monastery across the way, and identifying its scene in the movie. Huge nerd here. Our guide said he had never had anyone answer that quesion correctly.

At Nonnberg, the chapel doors and the road that the children walk up to visit Maria. Also, the lovely view of the Alps in the distance.

We cycled away from the Old Town at this point, heading to one of the houses used for the Von Trapp ;home in the film. One house was used for the back, which abuts the lovely lake. Another was used for the front. Alan was a very good sport while I skipped down the way and clicked my heels.

Then the gazebo, which was moved from the property. It was filmed on a set, anyways.

Finally, we wrapped up at Mirabell Gardens, used for the Do-Re-Mi song with the children.

You could know nothing about this movie and still enjoy cycling around this lovely city. Of course, when the rest of the group is belting out "The hills are alive...," it is fun to join in!

Munich: It's All About the Beer

We arrived in Munich in the evening on April 8, a Wednesday. We ate dinner at a classic German beer hall serving Augustiner, the most popular of the 6 Munich beers. Augustiner is not exported, so we wanted to give it a try while in Bavaria.

On our first full day, we explored Marienplatz, the old town square with its Old Town Hall and New Town Hall (older than the Old Town Hall due to reconstruction after WWII). We had a look inside the Frauenkirche, with its two dome-topped towers. This church was not bombed during the war, as it was used as the landmark by which to identify Munich from the air.

After lunch (Signs advertising items like "Burger and Beer -- $$9.90" draw us in like flies...), we visited the Bier and Oktoberfest Museum. Very few of the signs were in English, but we still enjoyed the Oktoberfest memorabilia.

Then we visited the Residenz Museum, home of the Wittelsbach dynasty until 1918. This was a walk through the house (which has been restored since WWII) with an audio guide. Several of the rooms, like the Antiquarium and the Ancestors Gallery, were absolutely stunning halls. Others were living quarters or sitting rooms, equally elegant and lavish.

For dinner, we enjoyed traditional German fare (meat and taters) at a brewpub called Schneider Weisses', then visited the grand-daddy of the beer halls, Hofbrauhaus. This place sees something like 30,000+ people every day. It is enormous. Alan and I shared this enormous beer and matching enormous pretzel, shouting above the din and enjoying the brass band.

The next day, we caught a morning walking tour through the city, starting with an underwhelming display from the glockenspiel on the New Town Hall. A lot of the tour then focused on the development of the Nazi Party and the conditions in Munich in WWII. We also learned other bits of fantastic trivia, like how the Theater fire was extinguished by, yes, beer. It was winter, and no other liquid was available in sufficient, non-iced quantity.

We spent the afternoon in the Englisher Gardens, a city park larger than Central Park in New York. It was pack with people, all enjoyed that spring has sprung. On the edge of the park, a most unusual activity was taking place: surfing. An artifial wave was set up in this spot, and surfer after surfer was taking their turn to practice their moves.

We finally say farewell to Germany, and move next door to Austria.

Zurich...it's expensive

We only had a couple of days to spend in Zurich, but we made the most of it. To begin our time, we met up with a friend of Shawn and Sarah Cothran's named Daniel Hofer. He was kind enough to take a train to Zurich, even though he doesn't live there, and show us around a bit. A highlight of our afternoon was our time at the Grossmunster church which sits on Zwingliplatz. Don't forget about the great reformer Huldrych Zwingli, everybody. The church was beautiful, and the stained glass windows were particularly amazing. There were no photos allowed inside, but these are online.

I was particularly struck by this one, as it features silhouettes of faces and chalices in between the faces. We enjoyed reading the information material about all the windows. Daniel was so gracious to walk around the city with us to help us get our bearings, and he even bought our afternoon coffees.

We convinced him to allow us to buy his dinner at a Lonely Planet recommendation that didn't disappoint. As we were finishing dinner and getting ready to walk back to the main train station (HBF) where he would catch a train home and we would catch a city train to our apartment, he gave us an Easter basket full of Lindt chocolate. Talk about a wonderful act of hospitality.

The next day, Gracyn was feeling a bit under the weather, so we decided to spend the morning resting. In the afternoon, we explored the city some more and eventually made our way to the National Museum, which is an really interesting building in and of itself. Our favorite exhibit centered around paper cutting. The intricate designs and beautiful scenes were amazing. We also spent some quality time looking at a painting and a tapestry that were supplemented with audio narration and coordinated lighting that highlighted various sections as they were described. I want an entire museum featuring that technology.

In the evening, we went to a fondue place, as Daniel said that's a favorite local dish. For something that's basically melted cheese, bread, and potatoes, it sure did take a long time to arrive at the table, and then when the bill came, we learned that the price in the menu is per person. No worries, though, as it was quite tasty.

The following morning, we had planned to go to the Kunsthaus museum, because it was free on Wednesdays. Once we were in there, with our included audioguides, we decided to stay longer than we had planned and catch a later train to Munich (the joy of the Eurail pass). The museum had works of art by Van Goch, Andy Warhol, Monet, Manet, and a bunch of other artists I'm sure we should know about. Alan's favorite piece was the one that's made of black dice.

This was the point in our trip when spring seemed to arrive, and for that we are extremely thankful. Hopefully you'll be seeing more short sleeves and less Smartwool from now on.