Micah and I were lucky to be able to meet his parents in Europe for a fun 16 day trip around Europe. We met in Frankfurt, Germany at the airport where we promptly rented a car and headed on our way to Prague. We decided to drive through Nuremberg on our way and stop at the Nazi Documentation Center. This museum basically showed the start to finish of the Nazi party and explained how everything came about. Also, Nuremberg was a major rallying place for the Nazi party and Hitler had a stadium type thing built in the city.
After our brief stop we continued on our way to Prague, Czech Republic. Prague is probably the most beautiful city we visited on our entire trip. Most of the other cities we visited were destroyed during WWII and subsequently were rebuilt. However, Prague is the only Central European capital to escape the bombings and therefore is a well preserved city. Which as we learned= Beautiful! Prague also had the best and cheapest food we experienced the entire trip. While in Prague we visited the Old Town Square with the Astronomical Clock, the Jewish Quarter with synagogues and a haunting graveyard. Our hotel was across the river from the Old Town so we crossed the wonderful St. Charles Bridge every day. We had the best little B&B where the owner cooked our eggs every morning made-to-order. It was a great way to begin our vacation.
Before we left Prague we made the journey up to the Prague Castle. Inside the castle was the most gorgeous cathedral, St. Vitus Cathedral. It holds the tombs and relics of important saints and kings and had the best stained glass we saw on the entire trip.
As you may have read from my previous post, the day we arrived in Prague was also Micah and I's 4 year anniversary. We had a cute dinner at a sidewalk cafe and I was given my very own bottle of wine. I was one happy girl.
After a few days in Prague we left to head out to Vienna, Austria. It rained on our car ride and continued to rain for the rest of that day but it didn't slow us down too much. After we checked in to our hotel and changed into weather appropriate clothing we headed out to see the sights. Our first stop was the Stephansdom in the main square. It was again another beautiful old church. Outside the church we were sold tickets to the "Royal Orchester Wien"- a Mozart and Strauss concert- by a guy in a strange costume. After buying the tickets we took a leisurely stroll down the famous shopping district. If I had someone else's money to play with it would have been a lot of fun. Before the play we ate a traditional Austrian dinner at....TGI Fridays. Ha.
Our second day in Vienna was still partly cloudy and eventually it did rain on us but again it didn't slow us down (well only a little). That morning we had tickets to the "Spanish Riding School" performance. The show was at a very old indoor theater where horses perform all sorts of tricks and dances. I enjoyed watching the tricks the horses could do and was very impressed. They would "skip", run sideways, jump and kick all 4 legs out, etc (and of course these are my highly technical description of the skills). Sadly, they wouldn't let us take pictures during the show because it would "irritate" the horses.
Once the horse show was over, we headed out to the Schonbrunn Palace. The palace had a very interesting audio tour through the rooms and the most beautiful gardens. Again, it rained on us while we were walking through the gardens but we still were able to get some great pictures.
The next morning we made another move. Now we were headed to Salzburg. Micah and I had planned a scenic route to get there by going through the Salzkammergut or the Lake District. Driving was entertainment in itself because the scenery was so beautiful. Once again, the sun didn't want to shine for us so the pictures don't really capture the beauty of the lakes.
Finally we arrived in Salzburg!! If you don't know me well, I'm obsessed with "The Sound of Music". I have been as long as I can remember. I owned it on VHS, DVD, and now bluray, I even have the soundtrack. Needless to say, I was very excited just to be in the town of Salzburg. It was a lifelong dream come true :) Our first night in Salzburg we visited the Domplatz (Cathedral square), and old time car wash- a fountain/pool where people used to wash their horses, the graveyard the one in "The Sound of Music" was modeled after, and a couple of cute shops.
To continue my dream-come-true, the next day we toured the Salzburg Castle and then headed off on a "Sound of Music" tour. I was so excited to see all the sights, hear all the stories, and occasionally pretend I was in the movie. Micah and his parents were very kind to humor me in my obsession.
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| Salzburg Castle |
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| Palace that they used as the back of the house in SOM and the pond where the Maria and the kids fell in the water |
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| The lane Maria runs down while singing "I Have Confidence" |
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| The Gazebo! Yes, it has been moved. |
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| One of the lakes used in the opening scenes. |
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| The church where the Van Trapps were married (in the movie) |
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| Area where they sing "Do Re Mi" |
With my lifelong dream fulfilled, we head off to Munich, Germany. Before we actually made it to Munich, we made a couple of stops. Our first stop was at Hitlers Eagle's Nest. His "nest" was built in the tops of the mountains for his 50th birthday. Funnily, Hitler only went to the nest 14 times because he was afraid of heights. It was saved after WWII and opened as a museum type location. There really wasn't much to see or do on the inside but it had some amazing views. It was also strange knowing that you were walking the very ground that Hitler once walked.
After the nest, we headed off to Dachau concentration camp. This was the most humbling, sobering stop of our entire trip. It is so unreal to be in a place where so many were murdered and so much hate ran rampant. Dachau was the first concentration camp and was the model for all subsequent camps. It is hard to wrap your mind around how something like the Holocaust could have possibly happened. As we walked around I had many moments when I teared up or cried and I never can understand how. How did this happen?
On to less depressing things (although I'm very glad we went to Dachau)... At last we made it to Munich! As usual, we set right out to see all the sights starting with the main square "Marienplatz" with the old town hall, new town hall, St. Peter's Church, and ending of course with a beer garden.
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| Sad my beer is gone :( |
Micah was finally feeling better for our last day in Munich so we did the main things Micah had wanted to do. We ate at the "Hofbrauhaus" beer garden and took a bike ride through the English Gardens. I really enjoyed the fun scenic ride. There is a river that runs through the gardens that people actually surf on which was fun to watch. We even saw a "naked man" sun bathing nude...trust me, he was not attractive.
Stay tuned for what happens after Munich :)
