(posted by John)
Every year all Dutch students receive a week long “fall break” where they do not have school for an entire week. Although not officially part of the Dutch school system, luckily ISA follows this fall break practice as well. Given that there are so many expat families at ISA who want to explore Europe during their European stay, most everyone takes advantage of this week long break to travel throughout Europe. This year we had friends travel to the following places: St. Petersburg, Russia; Paris, France; Rome, Italy; Auschwitz, Poland; Stockholm, Sweden…you get the idea!
Inspired by our friends the Pemantell’s, we decided to tour the
Bavaria region of
Germany and
Salzburg, Austria.
Another road trip!
We will be staying in four separate locations, two days at each site.
We departed home on Saturday morning, October 15
th.
We had about a five hour drive to our first destination, Rothenburg ob der Tauber. The drive was extended due to road construction (just like
Minnesota!).
On the way to Rotrhenburg we stopped in the town of
St. Goar in the
Rhine river valley.
St. Goar is home to the Rheinfels castle
http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/destinations/germany/rheinfels.htm.
Built in the 13
th century, today it sits in ruins following its destruction at the hands of the French revolutionary army in the late 18
th century.
This was the first real castle we toured as a family and it was quite exciting.
 |
| Rheinfels Castle |
After eating dinner in
St. Goar (pork and weiner schnitzel), we arrived in Rothenburg quite late.
We went to bed right away to get ready for a full day on Sunday.
Although very touristy, Rothenburg op der Tauber certainly lived up to its billing as an authentic medieval town
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rothenburg_ob_der_Tauber.
A business hub in the 13
th and 14
th century, Rothenburg experienced a decline in the 17
th century after being sacked by an army that otherwise was just passing through.
Following this event, the town was stricken by poverty until it discovered tourism (or tourism discovered it) in the late 19th century.
Ever since, tourism has proved to be a boon for the town as most of the locals earn an income by supporting tourism.
 |
| The streets of Rothenburg op der Tauber |
We started our morning with a quick breakfast at our hotel the Hotel Golden Grifener which is located in the house of Rothernburg’s former mayor Toppler.
We stepped out of the hotel and walked 30m to the main market square.
We climbed to the top of the clock tower of the town hall built in 1681 to get a bird’s eye view of this medieval walled town.
 |
| Jen and Ryan at the top of the clock tower |
After climbing the tower we discovered the best apple juice we’ve ever had, made fresh on the spot by a local street vendor.
Matthew wants an apple juice machine of his own :)
 |
| Fresh squeezed apple juice |
We followed this by walking a section of the wall that protected the town in the middle ages. The wall is still intact so you get a genuine feel for what it must have been like 600 years ago. Windows designed for shooting arrows and canon turrets dot the wall as you walk. Following our walk of about half a mile of the city wall, we meandered through the well restored town, stopping for snacks and a little shopping. While shopping, we made friends with a very knowledgeable shopkeeper who told us more about the history of the town along with recommended restaurants. We ate at one of those restaurants for dinner where Matthew coined the song, “one schnitzel a day, and everything is going to be okay.” I guess he likes German food.
 |
| Market Square in Rothenburg op der Tauber |
Our day ended with the Rothenburg “night watchman’s tour.”
http://www.nightwatchman.de/index.php?&sprache=ENG.
The tour starts at 8pm (after dark) and the Rothenburg night watchman (in full costume) told us an abridged, dark comedy version of the city's history.
Ryan loved it.
He’s always had a well developed sense of humor.
I enjoyed it as well.
 |
| The Night Watchman |
One last dessert was necessary before we headed to bed for the night. A good night’s sleep was necessary because Monday proved to be a BIG day…
Legoland Monday!
 |
| Legoland Germany |
About 100km west of
Munich sits Legoland
Germany.
A very well done amusement park and mini lego village
http://www.legoland.de/en/.
It felt a lot like a Lego Disneyland.
We all had a great time, especially the boys :)
Matthew wants to live in Legoland
Germany…
 |
| Happy Boys... |
After finishing legoland, we drove to
Munich where we would be staying for the next two nights.
Munich is the historical capital of
Bavaria http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich.
Bavaria is the land of beer halls, sausage and sauerkraut.
Is your mouth watering?
A quick trip to a beer hall close to our hotel for dinner (which included sausage, schnitzel and large beers…for Jen and I) was exactly what we needed to conclude a great day.
 |
| Mmmmm... |
We needed a slower start to our Tuesday morning and I needed a run!
Between my run and the kids watching German cartoons, we all got exactly what we needed to recharge our batteries for the day.
Following this leisurely morning, we arrived at the
Munich town hall just in time to hear the noon bells ring and see the famous Glockenspiel performance
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rathaus-Glockenspiel.
Like many European cities,
Munich is a mix of the old and new.
High end shopping, next to historic buildings.
What makes
Munich a bit unique is it was leveled during WWII.
Following the war, the Munichers decided to rebuild the city to its former look.
Today, it is difficult to find any visible remnant of the past destruction.
Next we walked a few hundred meters to the Viktualienmarkt, an open-air market serving all sorts of food and beer. Throw is a beautiful sunny day, and I think this was the highlight of the day for Jen and I…enjoying good food & beer, basking in the sun, talking a little Bavarian history with our kids. Not to bad.
 |
| Bavarian Brats |
Next stop was the Frauenkirche,
Bavaria’s Catholic cathedral, and former church of the current Pope
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich_Frauenkirche.
The Bavarian region of German is historically strongly Catholic and was one of the front lines of the battle against Protestants in the 16
th and 17
th centuries.
The church itself was simple but impressive, made of brick vs. the typical stone churches we’ve seen thus far.
At this point we were beginning to wear down a bit.
We walked by the Residenz, the home of the Bavarian royal family (the Wittelsbach’s) until 1918.
The Wittelsbachs ruled
Bavaria for nearly 700 years
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Wittelsbach.
More about them later in our trip…
Just north of the Residenz we relaxed in the Hofgarden, a simple but very nice garden/park.
In the middle of the garden was a large stone gazebo.
A four-piece ensemble was playing an impromptu concert, mostly of Mozart classics.
We relaxed and enjoyed the music…
 |
| Mozart in the park |
As evening was upon us, Jen and I needed to recharge so we stopped at the world-famous Hofbrauhus beer hall
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hofbr%C3%A4uhaus.
We enjoyed a couple beers and some umpah music.
Matthew and Jen even polka’d a bit!
 |
| Jen and John at the Hofbrauhaus |
 |
| Polka time! |
At this point, we were spent, and needed some non-Bavarian food.
We took the train back to our hotel and ate at a nice Italian restaurant.
I think Italian food is our family’s true comfort food.
What a day!
Wednesday was a transition day.
We took a few more photo’s and played in a nearby park before departing
Munich for the
Bavarian Alps.
On our trip to the
Alps, we hoped to stop and play at an Alpine slide (summer luge), but the track was closed due to rain.
Instead, we played at the park on the site and drove to our hotel for a couple hours of down time.
Our hotel is a great lodge on the Austrian side of the border.
We found a great Tirolian restaurant (this region of
Austria is called
Tirol http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrol_(state) ) and got to bed early.
This was a good rest day before ramping up the sightseeing on Thursday.
It rained a bit Wednesday evening so we were concerned that our plans could be dampened for Thursday.
Thursday morning we awoke to clouds, but no rain.
In fact, if felt more like it could snow!
Thursday was our day to tour the famous castles of “Mad” King Ludvig II of
Bavaria http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_II_of_Bavaria.
Both castles (his boyhood home of Hohenschwangau and his dream
castle of Neuschwanstein) we within about a 6km hike from our Gasthof.
With the fall colors and the crisp mountain air, it felt like the perfect day for a hike.
 |
| Great day for a hike! |
The hike took about an hour and a half.
Roughly halfway we crossed from
Austria to
Germany.
The border crossing is pictured below:
 |
| The Germany/Austria border crossing |
The approach was great as the castle peaked out behind the trees as we decended down the path.
Once we arrived in the
village of Hohenschwangau, it became a bit touristy, but still amazing.
Hohenschwangau castle was where King Ludvig II lived most of his life
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hohenschwangau_Castle.
Once he became King in 1864 at the age of 18, he began planning to build his dream castle, Neuschwanstein
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuschwanstein_Castle.
King Ludvig II died in 1886 at the age of 40.
Upon his death, construction of Neuschwanstein was halted immediately and never completed.
The state began admitting tourists to the castle only six weeks after Ludvig’s death.
It has been said that Neuschwanstein was the inspiration for Cinderella’s castle at Disney World.
 |
| Neuschwanstein Castle |
As we finished our castle tour, it began to snow! Not any accumulation, but enough to remind us of how cold it was outside. We hiked back to the hotel and enjoyed a great meal at our hotel. Jen and I were even able to have an extra drink together after the kids went to bed :).
A high exercise hiking day is just what we needed. The kids did great and we had a great time.
Friday morning was our day to depart the Bavarian Alps for
Salzburg, home of the Sound of Music
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sound_of_Music_(film).
The day consisted of a quick stop at the “church in the meadow” called Weiskirche
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wies_Church.
This very ornate church was built in 1749 to house a wood carved statue of Jesus that was said to weep.
Many people traveled great distances to see the weeping Jesus and thus a great church was built to house the carving and welcome visitors.
The rest of the day consisted of driving and dinner. As usual we found a great place to eat and had a wonderful dinner together as a family. We got to bed early in preparation for our last touring day of this trip.
 |
| Fall colors in Austria |
Saturday was
Salzburg, Austria day
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salzburg.
Salzburg was first established by missionaries around 700 AD.
We stayed at the Villa Trapp…for you Sound of Music fans, yes, THE Villa Trapp, original home of the von Trapp family singers portrayed in the movie The Sound of Music.
This was not the movie home of the family, but the actual home they lived in until they fled
Austria in 1938.
 |
| Villa Trapp |
 |
| Villa Trapp residence in the Sound of Music (from the back) |
 |
| The Gazebo from the Sound of Music |
We sang (ok, Allison sang) all the songs from the movie and had a great time.
 |
| Do, a deer, a female deer.... |
On Sunday we drove across all of
Germany (
Salzburg to
Amsterdam) to arrive home Sunday evening.
What a great trip!
Take care,
John
