How great is that? It was on a t-shirt I saw the other day. When I blogged last, we had just done the day part of Salzburg. The night part was a blast. We went to the town and had dinner at an authentic Austrian restaurant where we, once again, sat at a table with four Austrian strangers. The restaurant had had the same owners for 50 years and they were retiring, so they had a band (a tuba and an accordion) and just like the stereotype, were drinking liters of beer and locking arms and rocking back and forth singing Austrian folk songs.
Loved getting a chunk of this authenticity. So, we of course joined in! We got Spiezl (a local brew) and raised our steins and sang away. It is times like those that we wish we had a video camera to take it back to our friends and family to prove it actually happened. Gotta run and make hotel reservations in London. We went to the world famous opera, Madame Butterfly. More on Vienna later.
Germany: Munich proved to be our toughest place to find anywhere to sleep. We ended up dashing to a TI to get help and someone who spoke German. We had the most interesting train-ride from Zurich to Munich with a highly-educated couple whose sons were all at Ivy League schools. (They screamed spies to me!) Also, the other 82-year-old fraline in our compartment was meeting her pals in Munich for spa. The American gentleman spoke perfect German and engaged this older fraline many times in conversation, so much so that when they got off the train they had a drink together. Who knew this German lady liked her Johnny Walker?
The couple we made friends with were kind and because of their German we got to where we needed to be and were able to drop our backpacks off. Funny thing though, we headed to the beer gardens a few hours later and lo-and-behold, there they were. We ate with them and drank with them. They kindly treated us to dinner and so we treated them to dessert at some sassy place down the road and our dinky desserts cost as much as all of our sausages and drinks at the beer garden. Chalk that one up to inexperience for sure!
Rothenburg: I had been told that Rothenburg was almost identical in architectural period and preservation as Tallinn. This we have found true. It is beautiful and medieval. We took the Nightwatchman's Tour because we couldn't help ourselves. It was actually really packed full of historical tidbits and laughs, which were at no extra cost. We took the Old Town Historic Walk. We walked the Market Square and the Tower. I finally convinced Christian to stop in the Kathe Wohlfahrt Christmas Village store, despite the name that caused him a chuckle. SO fourth grade!
We stayed at Pension Elke which is actually above a family grocery store. It was clean and quaint, and handy, too! Besides the runniest "boiled" egg I've ever encountered, the food and service were top. If I went back, I'd stay there. Erich & Klaus (father and son) were friendly, professional and down-right pleasant.
We ate at this Bohemian-looking 600 year old smoky pub and the food was heavy. So was the drink. We saw our share of pork and potatoes in Germany. We catch our bus for the Romantische Strasse tour early the next day.
We saw Frankfurt, Wurzburg, Herrgottskapelle (an old church) Dinkelsbuhl, Wieskirche and Rothenburg. German countryside is gorgeous. There were all these quaint villages and the view from the bus was stunning.
Loved getting a chunk of this authenticity. So, we of course joined in! We got Spiezl (a local brew) and raised our steins and sang away. It is times like those that we wish we had a video camera to take it back to our friends and family to prove it actually happened. Gotta run and make hotel reservations in London. We went to the world famous opera, Madame Butterfly. More on Vienna later.
Germany: Munich proved to be our toughest place to find anywhere to sleep. We ended up dashing to a TI to get help and someone who spoke German. We had the most interesting train-ride from Zurich to Munich with a highly-educated couple whose sons were all at Ivy League schools. (They screamed spies to me!) Also, the other 82-year-old fraline in our compartment was meeting her pals in Munich for spa. The American gentleman spoke perfect German and engaged this older fraline many times in conversation, so much so that when they got off the train they had a drink together. Who knew this German lady liked her Johnny Walker?
The couple we made friends with were kind and because of their German we got to where we needed to be and were able to drop our backpacks off. Funny thing though, we headed to the beer gardens a few hours later and lo-and-behold, there they were. We ate with them and drank with them. They kindly treated us to dinner and so we treated them to dessert at some sassy place down the road and our dinky desserts cost as much as all of our sausages and drinks at the beer garden. Chalk that one up to inexperience for sure!
Rothenburg: I had been told that Rothenburg was almost identical in architectural period and preservation as Tallinn. This we have found true. It is beautiful and medieval. We took the Nightwatchman's Tour because we couldn't help ourselves. It was actually really packed full of historical tidbits and laughs, which were at no extra cost. We took the Old Town Historic Walk. We walked the Market Square and the Tower. I finally convinced Christian to stop in the Kathe Wohlfahrt Christmas Village store, despite the name that caused him a chuckle. SO fourth grade!
We stayed at Pension Elke which is actually above a family grocery store. It was clean and quaint, and handy, too! Besides the runniest "boiled" egg I've ever encountered, the food and service were top. If I went back, I'd stay there. Erich & Klaus (father and son) were friendly, professional and down-right pleasant.
We ate at this Bohemian-looking 600 year old smoky pub and the food was heavy. So was the drink. We saw our share of pork and potatoes in Germany. We catch our bus for the Romantische Strasse tour early the next day.
We saw Frankfurt, Wurzburg, Herrgottskapelle (an old church) Dinkelsbuhl, Wieskirche and Rothenburg. German countryside is gorgeous. There were all these quaint villages and the view from the bus was stunning.
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