Deutschland!
It's been a few days since I've had a chance to post, but it hasn't been for a lack of adventures!
Earlier this week we spent a few days in Fussen, a quaint little mountain town in the German Alps. The town itself was nice, but our real reason for being there was its proximity to one of my all time favourite buildings, the Schloss Neuschwanstein. It's a huge, multi-turreted castle perched in the foothills above Fussen that was commissioned by King Ludwig II in the mid-late 19th century. It was actually designed by a theatrical set designer instead of an architect, which explains the fact that it looks like something out of a fairy tale. The interior is pretty nice too, with tons of intricate wood carvings and one chandelier in particular that weighs over two and a half tonnes. Unfortunately, Ludwig died before the interior was finished, so there are still whole floors that sit completely empty and inaccessible to the average tourist (me). That's fine by me though, the castle looks cool enough from the outside to make up for any shortcomings in interior decorating.
After the castle, we tracked down a nearby lake and, after devouring a picnic lunch consisting of bread, cheese, salami, chocolate and strawberries (I don't know why, but German strawberries are crazy delicious), hopped in for a swim. Aside from the fact that the lake is fed by meltwater from the snowy mountains (making it a wee bit chilly), it was a great place for a swim. It's hard to beat the scenery of swimming in a lake surrounded by mountains, without a motorboat to be seen. Oh yeah, there were swans too. I swam with swans.
Next was Munich, where I'm writing this post right now. Yesterday we pursued an intellectual and highly refined study of Munich's most famous product: beer. The verdict: Germans know their beer. We also got a chance to watch the Germany/Italy game amongst Germans, which was a great time. Unfortunately, the home team lost. However, that didn't stop thousands of Germans from pouring into the streets following the game for a huge spontaneous street party in Schwaben, Munich's student ghetto. For those of you from Kingston, it reminded me of Aberdeen on a much larger scale, but minus any flipped cars and with more flags. I was talking with a local guy about it, and I remarked that it was really surprising that so many Germans were in a seemingly great mood and willing to party the night away despite having been eliminated from the World Cup. He shrugged, then informed me that there is a saying in German that goes (roughly translated): "You have to take your parties as they come".
Earlier this week we spent a few days in Fussen, a quaint little mountain town in the German Alps. The town itself was nice, but our real reason for being there was its proximity to one of my all time favourite buildings, the Schloss Neuschwanstein. It's a huge, multi-turreted castle perched in the foothills above Fussen that was commissioned by King Ludwig II in the mid-late 19th century. It was actually designed by a theatrical set designer instead of an architect, which explains the fact that it looks like something out of a fairy tale. The interior is pretty nice too, with tons of intricate wood carvings and one chandelier in particular that weighs over two and a half tonnes. Unfortunately, Ludwig died before the interior was finished, so there are still whole floors that sit completely empty and inaccessible to the average tourist (me). That's fine by me though, the castle looks cool enough from the outside to make up for any shortcomings in interior decorating.
After the castle, we tracked down a nearby lake and, after devouring a picnic lunch consisting of bread, cheese, salami, chocolate and strawberries (I don't know why, but German strawberries are crazy delicious), hopped in for a swim. Aside from the fact that the lake is fed by meltwater from the snowy mountains (making it a wee bit chilly), it was a great place for a swim. It's hard to beat the scenery of swimming in a lake surrounded by mountains, without a motorboat to be seen. Oh yeah, there were swans too. I swam with swans.
Next was Munich, where I'm writing this post right now. Yesterday we pursued an intellectual and highly refined study of Munich's most famous product: beer. The verdict: Germans know their beer. We also got a chance to watch the Germany/Italy game amongst Germans, which was a great time. Unfortunately, the home team lost. However, that didn't stop thousands of Germans from pouring into the streets following the game for a huge spontaneous street party in Schwaben, Munich's student ghetto. For those of you from Kingston, it reminded me of Aberdeen on a much larger scale, but minus any flipped cars and with more flags. I was talking with a local guy about it, and I remarked that it was really surprising that so many Germans were in a seemingly great mood and willing to party the night away despite having been eliminated from the World Cup. He shrugged, then informed me that there is a saying in German that goes (roughly translated): "You have to take your parties as they come".
posted by Bryce at
5:42 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home