Gimmelwald, Switzerland: "I'm so Proud of Myself that I Made it!"

July 8^th – 11^th

The Jungfrau: best view ever seen from a bathroom window

                It took six trains, two buses, twelve hours of traveling, and a gondola to get to Gimmelwald, a small village of 140 inhabitants in the Swiss Alps.  Despite not having any reservations (you don’t have too, with Eurail passes), we managed to get seats on each train—we even managed to sit in a private compartment without getting kicked out!  Our second-to-last train stopped early due to an accident, and so we were packed onto a very full bus, and shipped off to Interlaken Ost.  (Johanna adds: Anneliese was getting cranky from lack of hot food again, so we went looking for dinner, but it was after 19:00 on a Sunday, and almost everything was closed. 

Isabella's favorite: the cows

Eventually, we came upon the Bamboo Restaurant, where we bought a warm and somewhat spicy (we didn’t know about the spicy part beforehand), chicken-curry soup.  Chinese places are always open!  Back to Anneliese.)  Then we caught our last train to Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland, and from there we rode a Gondola up to Gimmelwald.  On the way up we got our first glimpse of the Jungfrau, a mountain peak across from the Schilthorn, the mountain Gimmelwald resides upon.  It was a cloudy day, so when suddenly the clouds cleared for a moment, it was quite awe-striking. 



Reaching Gimmelwald, we lugged all our bags (one hiking pack, two suitcases, one camera bag, one back pack, one school bag, and one purse, plus three jackets) up to the Mountain Hostel, and after checking in, hung out in the common room for a bit.  The next table played a boisterous game of Uno and drank beer cheerfully—we exhaustedly played a few games of solitaire, and then went up to bed in the girls dorm room.

                Things proven in Gimmelwald:

1. The Mountain Hostel is home to the super hikers of the world.

2. Johanna, Isabella, and I do not qualify as super hikers.  Zip, zero, nada, nope.

3. (Not really proven, but still deserves to be in here): we blame it on the altitude, but we can’t even climb 20 steps without having to stop for a breather.  Yup, it’s sad, we know.

                So anyway, on Monday (July 9^th) we climbed up to Mürren, which looks easy, but really you have to zigzag about for a whole hour before ever reaching the village you can easily see from the hostel.  (Let me add that the sign said it would take that long, so it wasn’t just us).  In Mürren we wandered about, admired the view, Johanna and I bought some apfelstrudel, and bought some essential foods: apples, bread, and butter.  (Food in Switzerland is super expensive!  Then we wandered back down to Gimmelwald (it is always easier to go downhill), and, exhausted by our expedition, spent the rest of the day relaxing in the Mountain Hostel.  That night, while Isabella ate cereal with rice milk, Johanna and I had a rather unique soup consisting of barley and fresh weeds, which to my delight, Johanna decided to pick outside the hostel (Johanna note: they were really dandelions, and I knew for sure that they were edible. A:  Yeah, sure.).  She fried garlic in butter, added the washed dandelions, then putting those aside, boiled water for barley, with herbs, and salt, and then mixed it all together!  Also, if you have smoked sausage from the local butter, cheese, and sausage seller, like we did when we remade this soup the next night, you can also add it.  It tasted good, but… bitter.  On the bright side, the only thing that we bought in the whole entire soup was the sausage!  We skyped the family, and at about 11:30 (just before quiet time!) Johanna struck up a conversation with this guy named Mike from New Zealand.  Unfortunately he was leaving the next day, as he seemed like an interesting person, and he had an afro that even rivaled FT’s at its best. 

Isabella and I giving Johanna the "we hate you" look

                Tuesday (July 10^th) we just barely made it out of the Hostel before the lock in at 9:30.  While eating breakfast of bars en route, we began our first hike of the day on a path that some fellow Mountain Hostellers told us about.  After traveling on this path for an hour, we decided return the Hostel for lunch, and then take an even longer hike.  While washing hands in the sink of the co-ed bathroom, a cool-looking guy (we later learned his name was Dylan) at the hostel asked where we’d been that day.  Johanna told him, and then asked if he knew the way to the waterfall we’d hiked to with our cousin Leslie in 2002.  Luckily, he knew what she was talking about, and was able to explain the way, so we ate lunch and began to hike our way up the mountain and through the fields, despite the threat of rain (not even to mention our issues with the altitude!).  After finally making it up to the top of the fields, we stopped for a chocolate break, before continuing on what seemed like an endless muddy “staircase” up through the woods.  Soon it began to rain, but though we all were questioning Johanna’s sanity, by this time we were all so determined to make it.  Besides, if we did it when we were kids, how hard could it be?  Eventually we heard the sound of the waterfall, and after taking a couple of wrong turns, we made it down to the waterfall, only to find our path washed out, wet, and very dangerous.  Deciding not to go further, we ate some more chocolate and watched a young man come our way up the path we’d just decided was too dangerous to cross, with the idea of running for help if he fell off the cliff.  However he did not fall, and so we ran off so that he would not think that we were watching him.  Once we finally made it back to the Hostel, we made soup again (dandelions!), and Johanna and a couple other girls went on a mad fly killer spree—Johanna’s swatter alone bringing down 53 of the unfortunate creatures.  Isabella caught much of it on video, including when Dylan opened the front door, only to be confronted by Johanna and flyswatter.  “Are you ok?” he asked with a rather puzzled look on his face, “you better not let any flies in.” Johanna replied glaring at him.  “Ok,” he said nervously as he shut the door.  After dinner we played Pit and Liar (the nicer term for B.S.; Isabella and I refrained from calling anyone B.S. just in case) with two Andrews and a girl named Cody, which was lots of fun. 

Wednesday (July 11^th) arrived, the day we must leave. So after a quick last hike up to Mürren for more Haribo, we left Gimmelwald, took the gondola down, and began the long journey up to Bühl, in the Baden-Baden region, where we would stay in Kloster Maria Hilf. More on that later!

     Tchuss!  Anneliese, Johanna, and Isabella

Tutzing and visit to Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial

July 4th-7th

       After our exhausting past three days of sightseeing in Salzburg, we had an enjoyably lazy three days with our friends in Tutzing.  We slept in embarrassingly late, got the blog up and running, filled in our journals, and called the family on Skype.  It was also great to have home-cooked food again, especially for Isabella, as Conny had many gluten-free foods stocked for her son Semmy.  One of the days we met an American au pair from Florida who’d taken an American Government class at Valencia with the same professor as I had—the world is smaller than you might think!  

On Friday evening, we paid a surprise visit to the Friesenegger family on their farm (where our family stayed for a week in 2002).  It was great seeing them again, though the Bayrish dialect of German is nearly impossible to understand, and I especially enjoyed petting the young calves and letting them suckle on our hands.  Anneliese said she doubted I would be any happier on my wedding day than I was with those calves—I  hope that’s not true, but if it is, that wouldn’t be so bad either!     

Dachau Prison Courtyard: site of several firing squad executions

     Conny’s oldest son Timmy came home on Friday night, and since Conny would be out the next day, he kindly offered to drive us about in his new car.  So on Saturday morning, which was grey and rainy, we decided to go see Dachau.  Dachau was the first concentration camp of the Nazi regime, built in 1933, and was the model for other camps throughout Germany and Poland.  As you can imagine, it was a somber visit, but we decided it was something we ought to see.  (Anneliese takes over writing, with thoughts from her journal of that day): 

        It is necessary to see the pain and suffering caused by such a regime, so that it will not happen again.  Though Dachau was ostensibly a men’s work camp, and not specifically an extermination camp, over 30,000 Jews, political opponents, priests and pastors, Jehovah Witnesses, homosexuals, and other innocent men died there.  The entrance gate into the camp states “Arbeit Macht Frei (Work Makes Free)”, but it was a lie.  Each room was meant to hold 50 people, but eventually held 200.  So tight was it that there was not even enough space to lie on one’s back on the floor.  The hours were long, and the food was scarce.  Everything done there was done to strip away the men’s identity, pride, and willpower to live.  Every man was assigned a number, their heads were shaved, and their cloths were the same.  Every day they worked long hours doing useless work, such as one day digging a large hole, and the next filling it, so that they could not even have pride in accomplishment.  In the punishment chambers there was always a rope, so that they could take their life whenever they chose.  The prisoners were daily ordered, goaded, or pushed into the dead zone, where they were declared to have been shot while trying to escape.  Dachau also has a furnace and gas chamber, although it is believed to have never been used, but no one knows why.  Walking into the gas chamber was awful.  Above the door it says “Brausebad (The Shower Bath)”, but inside all it has are grates, where the gas would have come in.  Next to the gas chamber is the room where the bodies would wait to be burned in the furnace, for it took too much time to bury them.  The first thing the American soldiers saw in 1945 when Dachau was finally liberated was thousands of dead bodies, waiting to be burned.  Needless to say, it was tough.  Throughout it all, survivors of the camp survived, and after liberation had only one message for the world.  It was not revenge, or a demand for recompense; it was simply this: “Never Again.”
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Where the Barracks use to stand, only two remain

                  After our emotionally draining day, however, we had a very fun and very fast ride home on the famously speed-limit free Autobahn, and then headed to a Biergarten for dinner (for some of us), and Apfelschorle (for all of us!) on the Stannberger See.  (That’s right—those drinks in the steins are apple juice and mineral water mixtures, not beer!)  Then we went home, played some card games together, and packed for Sunday.

       



 On Sunday morning we got up early, ate breakfast, and said goodbye to Conny and a not-so-awake Timmy, before heading to the train station in Tutzing. 
From there we began a wild day of train hopping which we will write about later!

            Bis bald (Until Soon)! 
Anneliese, Johanna, and Isabella

Messe Mit Monchs:

In which we celebrate Morning Mass with a group of Capuchin Monks

                It was our last morning in Salzburg, and there was something I really wanted to do before we left.  While on the Kaputzinerberg two days before, I'd noticed that the Monastery had their church service schedule posted for every day of the week, and thought it would be a very neat experience to attend one.  The only problem was, during the week the service was held at 7:30 a.m.  There was only one thing to do... 

              I kicked Isabella and Anneliese out of bed at about 6:45, and we were dressed and had climbed up the hill to the monastery by 7:25.  They were interested in going, but not so excited about the hour, and a little nervous that we'd be the only people in attendance.  ("Well, if there are two or three other people there, I'll be happy," I'd told them reassuringly the night before").  No one was in sight when we reached the church.  We waited outside for a few minutes, unsure if we should go in or if it was even open.  The door was open, though, and at about two minutes ‘till, we went inside.  The vaulted white church was empty and still, and the ironwork gate into the nave locked, though occasionally faint rustling came from the direction of the altar.  We decided to sit down on the wooden chairs in front of the gate and wait to see what would happen.   

                At about a minute before the Mass was due to start at 7:30, there was a slight sound, and a young monk wearing a crisp brown robe opened a door in the wall of the Maria chapel to our left.  He whispered something which I didn’t catch.  “Hmm??”  “Messe?” [“Mass?’] he whispered, cupping his hands to his mouth.  “Ja,” I said, and he held the door open wider and gestured us to come.  In awe of the privilege of being let into the monastery, but also in a trepidation verging on fear, we wordlessly followed him down a short, brown-tiled passage along a courtyard, through a door on our right, and into a small, private chapel hidden behind the altar of the church.  He gestured for us to sit down on the padded bench nearest to the door, and then crossed to the other side—we sunk to it with almost shaking knees, stealing glimpses upwards to see three other monks, one younger, two older, sitting quietly against the wooden paneled benches praying.  We sat in silence, terrified that our unfed stomachs would grumble or that we would breathe too loudly.  Another older monk, wearing a white collar and glasses came in the door, and gave us a questioning, but not really unwelcoming, look. 

       A few minutes later, a tall priest with glasses, wearing a white vestment over his brown monastic robes came in, and we stood and began the service.  The richness of the hymn singing, the sound and sincerity of the chant, was amazing.  At first I couldn’t even recognize the hymn as the page I had in front of me, and only joined in on the last verse, but it was a beautiful  sound.  All the prayers, readings (Amos and Isaiah, about the worthlessness of insincere offerings; Matthew, about the driving out of the demons into the pigs), and hymns were in German.   I started whisper-translating the readings, but Isabella quickly and very shortly breathed, “Don’t translate!” out of fear that they would hear.

                 Then it came time for Holy Communion.  Isabella couldn’t go, because of the gluten, and I couldn’t remember the word for blessing, otherwise I would have explained and asked it for her, but she told us to go ahead, although she whispered “They’re going to think I’m a horrible person!”  She stayed seated, but the rest of us stood in a loose circle around the altar, said the Lord’s prayer (in English, for Anneliese and I), and passed the peace (“Danke,” said Anneliese in response, I whispered “Peace be with you.”)  Then they passed out the bread, and brought the cup to each to drink.  Afterwards we went back to our seats, prayed, and sang another hymn.  The priest ended with something like, “Des Friedens Gottes sei mit dir.” “Und mit deinen Geist,” we answered, and the priest quietly exited.  We waited a moment while they went to the door, and hesitated uncertain as to whether we should follow.  Through a complicate sequence of looks, the monk in charge of the novices signaled the young monk to signal us to follow him, so we did, down the passage, and to the door into the church.  We said a quiet “Thank you,” in German, and stepped through into the church, and then out of the church into the morning sun.    

(This is the main church at the Monastery; the Chapel is behind the Altarpiece.)

Cemetary at St. Sebastian's

       After the service we swung by St. Sebastian's to pick up our luggage, explored their famous Friedhof ("Cemetary" where Mozart's wife and father are buried) for half an hour, trudged to the train station, and caught a train back to Munchen.  From there we rode the S-Bahn to Ottobrunn, repacked our luggage to include all the stuff we'd left there, and said goodbye to our Cousins Klaus and Heidemarie before taking yet another train to our friend Conny's house in Tutzing, by the Stanberger See.  

           Bis bald!  Johanna (and Anneliese and Isabella)   

Salzburg: A Room with a View

Ah, Salzburg, the city where The Sound of Music was filmed, and where we people watched.  We arrived Sunday night, June 30th, and after wandering about the city a wee bit lost, we finally found St. Sebastian’s Kirche (Church), but then we couldn’t find St. Sebastian’s Institute, where we were to stay.  However, we soon found it, and were taken up to our rooms, 210A & 210B.  Isabella and I got a room to ourselves, while Johanna shared with three other Asian girls.  (Johanna's correction: make that “three Asian girls”).  We went out for an evening stroll, crossed the river, and wandered around the mainstreet for a bit, passing Mozart’s birthhouse, and exploring St. Blasius Church, a very dark stone church built in the 1300’s against the cliff face.  After standing outside a McDonalds trying (in vain) to siphon off their free wifi for a bit, we headed home and continued our Star Wars marathon with the first half of Star Wars IV. 

                Monday morning (July 1st) we started our Salzburg visit in earnest with a tour of the Mirabell Palace gardens and their famous “Dwarf Garden,” every statue of which was supposedly modeled after a real person.  I (Anneliese) hugged them all.  On the way there we stopped in a St. Andra Kirche, which we all really liked.  The building was old, but due to WWII bombing, the stained glass windows and alter pieces were quite new, which gave it a lovely mixture and a dynamic feel.  Then we headed back to St. Sebastian’s for lunch, and afterwards climbed up the nearby Kaputzinerberg, which is crowned by monastery of capuchin monks.  After an impromptu walk around the Kloster (monastery or convent) walks, we went into the church and listened to the silence for a few minutes.   It was a grey, rainy day, so after walking down the Kaputzinerberg we went to our rooms and people-watched passersby from our window for a few hours.  I (Johanna) also really wanted to hear some good singing and organ music, so we decided to attend an evening mass at St. Sebastian’s Kirche, just next door.  (Back to Anneliese).  Boy, was that a mistake!  First off, there was no organ music, only a cantor who started everything on the same note, secondly, the was entirely in Latin (we even chanted the entire Misse Brevis), thirdly, we somehow managed to pick the CREAKIEST row there was in the entire church, so that every mistake we made (and we made quite a few between sitting when we should be kneeling, standing when we should be sitting, and kneeling when we should be standing) was painfully obvious.  All in all, it was mortifying.  Following the service, we went to McDonald’s, ordered a hamburger and fish burger, plus French fries and ketchup (an extra €1 for ketchup!), and tried to contact our family, with limited success.  Then we got me an Eis (Ice cream), and headed home for an epic night of people watching.  While watching people, we were soon joined by a young man across the way, who was obviously an American.  So after waving hello once, we continued watching people, but just for fun we only spoke German (it is really annoying when you go to a country to practice German, and find that everyone there is speaking English!).  The other boy was having fun also.  He kept calling his friends to the window to watch people.  At one time, he was calling for his friend on the floor below, but his friend was not coming, so trying to be funny, he grabbed a handful of water, and started flicking water into the open window below.  Since it wasn’t working, he was just starting to give up when suddenly a hand flew out of the window below, and with perfect aim, threw a cup full of water straight into the face of the young man.  SPLASH!  It was so incredibly funny!  Also that night we had several couples kissing right under our window.  Johanna took photos while Isabella and I hid under the windowsill. 

Tuesday, July 2nd (according to Isabella).     

             

      We started our second full day in Salzburg by visiting the Salzburg Dome, the church where Mozart was baptized and served as organist.   An interesting feature on the outside of the church is that if you stand in the right place (the middle of the street), the statue of Mary in front of the church appears to being crowned by the cherubs on the church who are holding a crown of gold.  Inside the Salzburg Dome is equally impressive, complete with 5 organs (four below the dome and a large one in the gallery).  After staring at the ornate ceiling attempting to do the impossible and observe every detail, we went below into the dark and chilly crypt.  I personally don’t consider staring at tombs (be they empty or in use) to be one of my favorite pastimes but I suppose if you’re going to see such a church I suppose you may as well see it all.  Also, since the acoustics down in the crypt were quite good, Johanna and Anneliese took this opportunity to practice some and serenaded the dead Catholic archbishops (and any living tourists who happened to venture into the crypt) with protestant hymns.  Gladly leaving the archbishops to mull over the hymns, we exited the church and wandered on through the city.  Along the way we passed the oldest bakery in Salzburg, which smelled delicious.

       From the bakery we made our way to St. Peter’s Kirche Monastery Cemetery, and stared at more flowers and graves, including that of Mozart’s sister.  We continued ambling around the city, passing by the oldest restaurant in Europe which has been there since 803 and has served everyone from Charlemagne to modern-day tourists toting cameras and guidebooks.  It did not, however, have the pleasure of having us as guests; we very economically ate our lunches on the steps of a fountain while listening to the tolling church bells.  Our next stop was the old riding school where in the Sound of Music the Von Trapp family performs a few songs before their escape.  While searching for it, we climbed up the side of the mountain via several flights of stairs, only to find that the riding school was closed.   We continued a little further up before stopping to consult the map and figure out the next logical destination.  We decided to continue up the mountain to the Hohensalzburg since we were already about half way up, even though our original plan had to been see it later in the day.  The climb was quite steep and the sky threatened rain but we made it to the castle without incident (but not without some sweat).  This was the first time on this trip I was truly grateful for my hiking boots and their good traction – poor Anneliese’s shoes do not have much grip so climbing up was quite challenging!  Admission into the castle also provided us with an audio guide which was really nice because now we could know what we were looking at instead of simply walking by.  Our audio guide even told us funny stories about the castle, including this one:  Once the castle was under siege and all they had left for food was one cow. Not wanting their attackers to know this, they took the cow and paraded it down the wall, then brought it back and painted it black.  The next day they paraded the cow (which was now black) down the wall, brought it back in and painted it another color.  They continued this day after day until finally their attackers, assuming that they had an endless supply of provisions, left.  After touring the castle, the staterooms, and a marionette exhibit, we paused to decide where to go next. 

Our admission tickets included a one way ride on the funicular to the bottom of the mountain, but as we all wanted to see Stift Nonnberg (the convent Maria is at in the Sound of Music) which was just a few meters over on the mountain, we decided to skip the funicular and rely on gravity and our ever-strengthening muscles to get us back down the mountain.  After spending some time inside the dimly lit church at Stift Nonnberg, we were about to go searching for the famous gate in the Sound of Music movie when we heard some loud dance music.  Joking that the nuns must be having a dance party, we peered around the corner and saw a large group of about 50 people in neon green shirts doing some form of exercise that faintly resembled Zumba.  It was hilarious!!!  After taking a few pictures of them, we headed down the mountain and back to our rooms at St. Sebastian.  We stopped for some Eis on the way and found that the entire selection of fruit flavored Eis was dairy-free, so I was able to have some!  It was so creamy that after a few bites we turned around to ask (yet again!) if it was dairy-free, which they assured us it was.  As we were leisurely eating our Eis, the green shirt exercise group passed us, this time running through the streets of Salzburg.  We all took naps in our room (the one Anneliese and I were sharing), Johanna on Anneliese’s bunk, I in mine, and Anneliese on the floor with two blankets beneath her.  I alternated between napping and reading Dreaming in French, the book I need to read for Smith this fall.  After about an hour, Anneliese woke up, listened for a minute, and remarked, “That sounds beautiful!” and glanced out the window to see where the sound was coming from.  I put my book down and listened as well.  The faint strains of music reaching us were coming from St. Sebastian’s Kirche.  We quickly slipped on our shoes and ran over to St. Sebastian’s Kirche and saw that a high school String Orchestra from Australia (yes, Australia, not Austria) was giving a free concert.  We ran back and woke Johanna up, telling her she had to come hear them play.  The orchestra was fantastic!  They ended the concert with Plink, Plank, Plunk (Here’s a link to it, not the same group, but they are also good http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vy7KFVRYK6M ), which is full of little musical jokes and seems quite difficult.  The ever-growing crowd gave the orchestra a huge round of applause at the end and kept them bowing for quite a long time!  Then we returned to our room, ate a little something for dinner, and finished unwinding from our long day by watching the rest of Star Wars V.  

We hope to get another post up in the next few days!  Anneliese, Johanna, and Isabella

I am very sorry about the lameness of our posting, but we have had very little WiFi (pronounced VeFeeeee) over the last couple of days.  So, here is a quick summary of our trip in Munich (in Germany it is called München).

Summary:  We have visited just about every Catholic Church worthy of note.  Why?  Minus their amazing architecture, and being a house of worship, they are also free.

Real Summary:

             On Thursday (June 28^th) afternoon, we took the SB (SchnellBahn – Fast Train) into the middle of town, called the Marienplatz, and walked over to St. Peter’s Kirche.  What amazing detail people use to put into their work!  Unfortunately, much of the architecture, and many of the stained glass windows in many old Churches were ruined during World War II bombings.  Then we visited Munich’s Open Market, which is open every day, and  just inhaled all of the amazing smells coming from all the different stands, but bought nothing for now at least (darn tight pursed sister).  Then we returned to the Marienplatz, and watched the world famous Glockenspiel, which depicts two stories.  The first is of a 16^th Century joust in celebration of a Bavarian King’s wedding, and the second is of a cooper’s dance during the Black Plague.  Once it ended, we continued on our way over to the Frauenkirche, where the Orlando Deanery Girls and Boychoir performed in 2006, and ended up attending an evening mass.  Speaking of church echoes (which we weren’t), the Frauenkirche has a three second echo, which means that when you don’t know the German Catholic hymns, and are sitting in the very back pew, the lead singer and the organ sound very off.  However, we will assume that they were not.  After the service, we went into a food store where they had THE BIGGEST JAR OF NUTELLA EVER!!!!!!  IT WAS HUGE!!!!  We stared at it for a few minutes before reluctantly moving on.  From there we found Isabella a Reformhaus (home to gluten and sometimes milk free products), and after she got her dinner, Johanna and I got ours (Pretzles!).  Then we fought the flood of Soccer fans pouring out of the DB (Deutschebahn – German Train), and headed home.  Not, however, before witnessing some of the excitement before the game.  For example, five young guys came out of the station shouting “Deutsch – land!  Deutsch – land!  Deutsch – land!”, and were quickly joined by several other guys and a whistle.  Deutschland shirts were everywhere, as were dresses, mohawks, and extended eyelashes with the German flag on them.  Too bad they lost, because it would have been fun to see everyone’s reaction.

                On Friday (June 29^th), we traveled to Schloss Nymphenburg, which was the Bavarian King’s outside of Munich Summer residence, and which basically looks like a much larger version of Pemberly (Mr. Darcy’s house).  After wandering about the gardens, we bought our tickets, and entered the Schloss.  Wow, as you can see from the pictures posted below, it was amazing.  The Main room was such a beautiful mixture of blue and gold, which was being lit up by light pouring in from at least ten foot tall windows.  It was simply stunning.  After admiring the Schloss for a couple of hours (including the hall of Beauties, a collection of 54 paintings or so, which King Ludwig the 1^st commissioned of woman from all over Europe), we left the Schloss, and walked towards The Tent.

  Ah, the Tent.  If you not a member of my family, then you may not know what the Tent is.  Let me tell you.  The Tent is one very large tent hostel, which can sleep over 100 people.  It is also very cheap (perhaps that is because it has no heating for when it is cold), and supposedly has great food for only €4.  The con?  It’s mixed dorms.  I know, I know, that’s not so bad, but still, I didn’t want to sleep in mixed dorms, in a tent.  Why am I bringing this up?  Because we almost had to stay there for the first four nights of our trip when my cousin Heidemarie was in a bad biking accident a week before we arrived.  However, to make a long story short, to my relief, we did not have to stay there, but Johanna did want to see it.  So we went, and all in all it wasn’t that bad, minus the fact that just about every guy there was shirtless (Johanna liked that, Isabella and I eh, not so much)!  They even had a Cherry Tree loaded with fruit (Johanna wants me to add that the Cherry Tree was more interesting to her than the shirtless guys) in the middle of the camp.  Anyway, after visiting the Tent, we found ourselves a Starbucks, bought the cheapest thing there (tea), contacted our family, and were given free Frappecienos.  From there we went to the Reformhaus, bought pasta, and went home to make it.  Actually, it wasn’t that bad.

                                  

                On Saturday (June 30^th) we got up “early”, and hopping on the SB, made our way up to Munich’s Soccer Stadium, where the 2006 World Cup was played.  As Johanna put it, it looked rather futuristic, because there was the big stadium, and the only things around it were fields of flowers.  After taking some photos of it, we caught the SB back into Munich, and walked into the Englisch Gartens.  German gartens and not like our gardens.  When we say garden, we mean a plot of land where row after row of planted things grow.  When Germans say garten, they generally mean a forested park with paths for walking, and streams for swimming.  This is what the Englisch Gartens looks like. 
                                
It is a beautiful place for students to study, children to play, and families to eat.  It is also where people go to go swimming (there is even a place to go surfing!).  After wandering through here for some time, we eventually stepped out right by a museum, which had in front of it a war memorial to the men lost in the World Wars.  On the front of the memorial it reads “Sie Werden Auferstehen”, which means “They will arise.”  From there we walked past the Hofgartens and old Residenz (which had a fence shaped like treble notes!), went through a festival into the stunning white baroque Theatinerkirche, and stopped in a Starbucks to phone home, and then hiked over to the overly ornate Asam's Kirche, which was built by two brothers in thanksgiving after they survived a storm at sea.  We zipped back into Ottobrun on the SB, and then went out to a scenic biergarten with Klaus and Heidemarie, before going home to pack for our departure to Salzburg the next day. 

Alright!  We've finally gotten through Munich!  Hope you enjoy the pictures, and please forgive us for taking incredibly long to get this to you.  Anneliese (bearing most of the burden of blog posting for Johanna and Isabella)

More Munich Pictures

The Marienplatz Neue Rathaus, where the Glockenspiel takes place.

St. Peter's Kirche

Schloss Nymphenburg, the summer residence of the Bavarian dynasty

In the Schloss Gardens: Muse No. 1 mimicking Ceres

Muse No. 2 mimicking Hera

Muse no. 3 mimicking Athena

The Ceiling of the Festival Hall where Ludwig the II was baptised



The Festival Hall

The Beginning of the Trip: Journey to Munich

 About to depart from the Fort Lauderdale Airport

 In front of the Marienplatz Neue Rathaus (famous for its Gloeckenspiel)

 Cousins Klaus and Heidemarie

Breakfast at our apartment

After a late night of packing and a sleepover, we headed off to Ft. Lauderdale on Tuesday, June 26th, at about 3:30 p.m., with plenty of spare time built in for driving and security.  Isabella was pulled aside for a extra screening, but laughed it off good naturedly with "They foiled my plan!!" upon her return.  Our flight out at 10:10 was fairly uneventful, except that Anneliese could see Tropical Depression Debbie outside her window, and that the stewardesses kept the lights on until about 2 a.m..  (Ugh!) 

With the help of directions from about 11 different people, we made our way through the Frankfort Airport Wednesday afternoon, and caught our connecting flight to Munich without too much trouble (Anneliese:  Johanna forgets to mention that we all had to sit in different rows, and that some of us were rather nervious about this.  However, Johanna asured me that I would sit next to the hansomest man on the plane and have lots of fun.  Guess who ended up sitting next to the good looking German just returning from studying in Oviedo, while the rest of us sat next to a sleeping women?  You guessed it, Johanna and Janik were having so much fun that they could be heard laughing throughout the plane.  Isabella and I say grrr. ).  Our cousin Klaus met us at the airport, and we took the tram to Ottobrunn and very thankfully dragged all our luggage downstairs to the basement apartment we had all to ourselves for the next three days.  Johanna