My Last Day

Work was pretty uneventful today after having worked some pretty long days in the past three weeks, and that was nice because it gave me time to come back to the hotel, get some room service (it was raining so I didn't go out), pack my suitcase, and reflect on my trip.  I'm very excited to be leaving tomorrow morning, but it's not without a little bit of that bittersweet feeling.  I've really enjoyed my time here in Munich, even though it was four weeks longer than originally planned.  Munich is a great city with so many things to offer that I didn't even get to do nearly as many things as I would have liked.  Looking back though, I have no regrets about any of it.  I saw a lot, ate a lot, went to a lot of new places, and just generally enjoyed all of the time I've spent in Bavaria.  I could easily see this being a place I could live and feel comfortable in, if I learn a little bit more German, of course.  Don't worry though.  It's a bit too far away from family for me to really want to do that, but it's nice to think about in case candidate X, Y, or Z gets elected.  I'd much rather go here than Canada like what everyone else says.

Also, I probably haven't mentioned this very much, if at all, but I really liked all of the people I got to work with at MTU.  Everyone was super friendly and had such a different, more positive attitude about their work that really made me happy to work with them.  On top of that, everyone always loved to strike up conversations that didn't have to do with work.  Most of the time it was asking me what I had done that past weekend and what my plans were for the next one.  They were full of tips and suggestions for where to go next, and all of those suggestions turned out really great for me.  I will miss all of them, especially their very great, accented, and sometimes goofy English.  One of my favorite phrases is when they tell me "we'll see us later" instead of "we'll see you later."  I love it because it's the literal word-for-word translation of the German phrase of the same meaning ("Wir sehen uns später") and almost every single person said it to me the same way.  Of course, I can't knock them too hard because my German skills were terrible, but let's not dwell on that.  They were also very amused that one time I did the Arnold Schwarzenegger impression ("I'll be back" and "Hasta la vista, baby").  Glad I could make them laugh.

Anyway, enough rambling.  This was the best business trip I've been on yet and could have even qualified as a vacation with the amount of sight-seeing I was able to do on the weekends.  I had a great time, but I'm so glad to be going home.

If you made it through to the end of my trip with me, I really appreciate you reading and hope you enjoyed.  I'll leave you with one parting quote from the great Sheriff Bart:  "Auf Wiedersehen, baby."

Final Weekend

I think it’s safe to say that mountains are my favorite geological feature.  It’s no contest really.  The ocean?  Ordinary.  The desert?  Drab.  The plains?  Plain, really.  But mountains, oh how they take my breath away!  Rising up out of the Earth and towering thousands of feet over you; mountains make you feel small and truly appreciate nature.  That is why my final weekend in Germany was so incredible.

I started off the weekend with a two-hour drive across the Austrian border to Salzburg.  I had been told by many people of Salzburg’s beauty and history, so I had been wanting to check it out for a while.  I also wanted to tick a third European country off of my travel list, so Austria was the easy choice.  The drive was beautiful, once again through the Bavarian countryside towards the Alps.  The nicest part about Salzburg, in my opinion, is the scenery.  The city is nestled right into the edge of the Alps, so it has mountains all around.  This was, of course, a strategic decision during the city’s formation because the mountains provided natural fortification against ruthless invaders.  In fact, within the city limits are two big hills (I would only call them mountains if I were from Kansas) that have the remains of the old city wall and an old fortress.  These fortifications allowed Salzburg to withstand armies many times the size of their own with just a minimal fighting force.  My first goal of the day was to hike up one of the hills, called Kapuzinerberg, to get the full 360 degree view of the city.  This particular hill was not the one with the fortress on it, because that one has been heavily touristized and is not as tall.  The hike was nice and fairly easy, and the view at the top was gorgeous.  Up and down only took me about an hour and a half, so that left me with plenty of time to explore the rest of the city.

Part of downtown Salzburg from part-way up Kapuzinerberg

Looking south from Kapuzinerberg over Salzburg

The downtown area of Salzburg lies in between the two city hills with the Salzach river cutting it nearly evenly in two.  This layout makes the city feel very small and cozy.  Many of the old buildings and streets are still standing too, so the streets are not even wide enough for two cars, adding to the small and cozy feeling.  The coolest part is that most of these streets and plazas have been made into pedestrian zones.  I love when cities do this!  It creates areas where pedestrians can roam and not worry constantly about their safety.  This draws people to those areas, helping to support businesses, restaurants, and museums, and it results in a much quieter, more relaxing visit.  So, I walked around here for a few hours, had some ice cream and a bratwurst, took some pictures, and enjoyed the sunshine.  Along the way I stopped into Mozart’s Birthplace Museum, the house in which he was born and raised.  That was pretty cool and worth the visit.  I also went inside the Dom zu Salzburg (Salzburg Cathedral), which was gorgeous.  I love visiting churches in the cities I visit, especially the Roman Catholic churches.  They’re always so different from one another but also so similar in many ways since, well, they’re all churches.  After wandering back through the flowery Mirabellgarten, I hopped back in my car and drove back to Munich for the night.

The Salzach

Salzberg

Mirabellgarten

The next day I drove all the way back to Berchtesgaden, where I had toured the salt mine, to visit Königssee (King’s Lake).  This lake is the only way into the Berchtesgaden National Park, an 81 square mile park located just south of the town.  Several mountains are prominently located within the park, the most famous being Watzmann, the third tallest mountain in Germany at 8901 feet.  There are several lodges located within the mountains, so this is a popular location for backpackers to plan multiple day trips across the peaks.  However, if you do want to do this, you need to buy a ticket for a boat ride out to a stop halfway down the lake to start your hike because the shores are really just cliffs with no way around.  It truly is a secluded area barely touched by mankind.  The lake itself is so closely surrounded by the mountains that you can barely see any of it from the northern end, where you have to park your car.  You don’t realize how beautiful the area really is until you’re on that boat and turn the first corner to see the length of the lake open up in front of you with the mountains rising up out of the pristine water on either side.  Part of the way down the lake, the boat stops and the driver plays a trumpet, using the echoes from the cliffs to create a nice song in the form of a round, before continuing the journey once again.  The boat took me, and several hundred other tourists that day, to our stop at the St. Bartholomä (Bartholomew) church that is located on a small peninsula about three quarters of the way down the length of the lake.  Kirche St. Bartholomä is a Roman Catholic pilgrimage church that was built in 1697 on the site of another chapel that had been there since 1134.  The church has two onion dome towers, a red domed roof, and a view that’s to die for.  Next to the church is an old hunting lodge that is now a restaurant and biergarten.  Thankfully, the weather was warm and sunny, so I got to sit outside with a couple of beers and a plate of Wiener schnitzel.  After my meal, I walked around some of the hiking paths on the peninsula, but didn’t go very far because I didn’t have proper hiking shoes.  My only regret about the trip was that the sky was very hazy, so my pictures didn’t turn out super clear.  Thankfully they’re good enough to portray the beauty of the place, but I’ll have to come back again to get some better ones!

View of Watzmann from Königssee

Kirche St. Bartholomä

Kirche St. Bartholomä

Me getting in the way of an otherwise beautiful view of Königssee

Sunday was one of the most relaxing days of my trip and was definitely my favorite day so far.  I also believe that Königssee is the most beautiful place that I’ve ever been to and is the most beautiful place on Earth, though I would love for you to prove me wrong.

Link to Flickr album for so many more pictures!

Andescher am Dom

I haven't tried any new restaurants lately, but I noticed a new one the other day that piqued my interest.  As I was going past Frauenkirche on Saturday I spotted a familiar Andechs beer sign, the same monastery brewery I had visited back in February.  The food and beer there were excellent.  I had the lamb fillet with thyme sauce, green beans, and roasted fingerling potatoes.  Es var wunderbar!  I think I'll have to try going back there in the last 10 days I have in Munich.  Did you read that carefully?  10 DAYS LEFT!

Salzbergwerk Berchtesgaden

The town of Berchtesgaden is nestled way in the southeast corner of Germany right on the border with Austria.  Closer to the city of Salzburg, Austria than Munich, Berchtesgaden is perhaps most famous for being the site of Hitler's Alpine retreat the Eagle's Nest (Das Kehlsteinhaus).  You may know of Berchtesgaden and the Eagle's Nest from the final episode in HBO's Band of Brothers series when Easy Company captures the town and takes advantage of the large stores of wine the German officers had collected.  The Eagle's Nest has been one thing on my list that I most wanted to see while in Germany, but it is, unfortunately, closed till the middle of May for renovations.  Not to be deterred with at least visiting the town, I found that the main industry in the area is the Salzbergwerk, a salt mine, and they do tours!

The two-hour drive to get there was an experience in and of itself.  The first half was on the autobahn (speed!) and the second half was along some of the most scenic roads I've ever driven (gorgeous!).  In fact, I'm pretty sure that if I'd driven these scenic roads in the summer that I would have crashed from not paying enough attention to actually driving.  Thankfully, it's still winter, so the trees were bare, the grass was brown, and there were no flowers.  I can just imagine it though, and it makes me want to come back when it's warmer!  These roads were basically the picturesque roads you see in pictures of the Alps.  They wove up, over, and through the mountains, making hairpin turns with steep drop-offs, and then meandered lazily through the stereotypical Alpine villages.  I couldn't get any pictures for you because I was driving, so you'll have to come on your own sometime!

I did make it to the salt mine just before the doors opened for the first tour, so I got my ticket and English audio guide (basically a little phone you hold up to your ear that speaks to you in English), pulled on my complimentary coveralls, and boarded the miner's train.  One small aside, I had my first experience of having to take a picture of a large family with their phone.  I knew what they were asking me just from context clues, but once I started counting down from three in German, I realized that I had no idea what Germans usually said for pictures!  "Do they say 'cheese' too?  I know that word in German, but would it be really weird for me to say that?  Maybe I should just say 'zero.'  Crap, I don't know how to say that.  What about 'go'?  Nope, don't know that one either."  I settled with saying nothing.  I said "3, 2, 1" and then took the picture.  They were all smiling by 1 anyway, so I think it went okay.

Anyway, back on the train.  It took us deep into the mountain to what is known as the Salt Cathedral.  This was a huge room that was once filled to the brim with water, which dissolved the salt in the rock walls, leaving a salty brine which could be pumped out and evaporated, leaving behind pure white table salt.  This, if you didn't already know, is the standard technique for salt mining.  Huge shafts, some are 400 meters deep, are drilled into the earth and then pumped full of water.  The filling process takes 1 year (1 YEAR!) because the water dissolves the salt in the rocks and seeps outward to create large cavities, much like the Salt Cathedral.  Once each hole is filled, the brine extraction process takes another 30 years (30 YEARS!) because they are constantly pumping out brine and pumping in new fresh water to dissolve more salt.  It's a very impressive process, especially considering it all used to be done by hand.

The from the Salt Cathedral we took a miner's slide down to the next floor level.  The slide is apparently a standard way for the miners to move down floors.  They use elevators to go up, and maybe some of them actually do use elevators to go down.  All I know is that if I had slides at work, I would use those every single day because that was a ton of fun.  After checking out some of the mining equipment and walking through old tunnels, we emerged at Mirror Lake.  This is a shallow, yet long cavity filled approximately half-way to the ceiling with clear, salty brine.  The water was as still as glass, and you could see the lake bed perfectly.  We technically weren't supposed to take any pictures on the tour, but I snuck one in before the tour guide made it into the room.  Don't tell!

Mirror Lake at Salzbergwerk Berchtesgaden

One quick boat ride across the lake with some sort of laser light show (yeah, this is a tourist attraction) and the tour was nearly finished.  We hopped back on the train and got dropped off at, you guessed it, the gift shop.  Really fun tour, definitely glad I did it, but I'm still bummed I didn't get to go to the Eagle's Nest.

Bonus:  I went for a run in the Englischer Garten today and stopped by the Eisbachwelle, which is a standing wave in the river caused by a low dam.  People surf on it year round (burr) while spectators watch from above.  Looks fun!

Surfing the Eisbachwelle in the Englischer Garten

Residenz Museum

Today was a laundry day, which isn't as bad as it sounds.  My typical laundry day involves me sleeping in, having a nice breakfast at the hotel, catching the tram to the laundromat, dropping off my clothes for someone else to wash because they won't let me use the machines, and then heading out into the city to do some sightseeing till my laundry is done.  Today I went into Viktualienmarkt to buy some souveniers and then decided to peek into Peterskirche and Frauenkirche, two of the biggest Roman Catholic churches in the city.  Each time I've tried to go into them previously there has been some sort of mass going on, and I feel bad walking in right in the middle.  Today I was able to catch both of them just minutes before masses started.  I don't understand why they have masses every night of the week and right in the middle of the day on a Saturday, but they do.  Both churches, by the way, were very pretty inside, but I didn't get any pictures.  Sorry.

After the churches, I visited the Residenz Museum.  The Residenz was the home of the Wittelsbach dynasty up until 1918.  The first buildings in the palace were built back in 1385 and were added to in the 16th, 17th, and 19th centuries.  The museum audio tour brings you through about 100 rooms full of old paintings, furniture, family treasures, and classical sculptures.  I was a little tired from my long week of work, so I wasn't super interested in listening to everything the audio guide had to say about each of the paintings of old rich people, but it was still cool to wander through and see them.  One of the most impressive rooms is the Antiquarium, a hall built in 1571 to house the royal family's sculptures.  This room is the largest Renaissance ceremonial hall north of the Alps and is the oldest surviving part of the Residenz (most of the original buildings were bombed in WWII and restored after).  The elector, or emperor, or kind, or whatever he called himself used to host meals and ceremonies in this hall, so that must have been a sight to behold.  One impressive piece of art at the Residenz is the grotto made out of volcanic crystals, colorful seashells, and a bronze sculpture of Mercury.  It was really cool to see all of the details made out of shells, and that's all I have to say about that.

Once out of the Residenz I went back to the Viktualienmarkt to get some lunch.  I grabbed a bratwurst and a beer and sat down in the biergarten to relax and people watch.  A few minutes later it started to drizzle, so I finished my beer, quickly picked up my laundry, and made it back to the hotel just before the heavens opened.  Phew!

The Antiquarium in the Residenz

The grotto at the Residenz

More Sightseeing

Last weekend, Timothy, a friend of Nell and me, visited from London, so I took him around to some of the highlights of the city.  We walked around the city center, went up into the St. Peter's Church tower, meandered through Viktualienmarkt, and then made our way over to the Museum District.  I hadn't been over there before, but Timothy (an architect) wanted to see a few of the museums because he has learned about them in school and used them as influences in some of his projects.  It was pretty cool going from the old part of the city with classical architecture into the Museum District with much more modern buildings.  We didn't actually go into into any of the exhibits in the museums because of the limited time frame, but maybe that would be something to do in the future.  One of my favorite sights was the Lenbachhaus museum.  Nell's great-great-grandfather used to be the groundskeeper for the garden, which is pretty in the winter and probably gorgeous in the summer.  It was pretty cool to be connected to Nell from such a long distance!

Lenbachhaus garden

On Sunday, Timothy wanted to see the Alps, so I took him down to the Neuschwanstein Castle.  A few inches of snow had fallen overnight, so the drive and view from the castle were beautiful.  That definitely made my second trip worth it.  Later in the day we visited the BMW museum because Timothy's a huge fan and used to own a couple.  Even though the weekend was filled with things I've mostly done before, it was really fun to take someone else around who'd never been there before.

Zum Brünnstein

Tonight, a couple co-workers and I went to a new place for me called Zum Brünnstein.  This place is a traditional Bavarian restaurant with quality food and a lot of local regulars sitting around playing cards.  My eyes were a little bigger than my stomach, so I ordered a bowl of goulash and a Wiener schnitzel.  I don't regret it though because both were delicious!  The place was also decked out for Easter.  They had Easter bunnies, Easter eggs, and lambs everywhere.  I also saw an Easter bush (decorated with eggs) and an Easter nativity scene, where Jesus was replaced with an Easter bunny baby.  It was great.