The Brennens...

Time Traveling

June 26th, 2015

Another travel day – this time it was a travel day through time!

First things first – we checked out of our AirBnB and drove just a few miles to Nymphenburg Palace, another of, yep, you guessed it, Ludwig’s! This time it was where he was born – so cool! We saw a very small portion of the building itself but what we saw was nothing short of gorgeous. If you’re keeping score, we’ve seen his burial place, fantasy castle, only completed castle, childhood home…and now, the actual room where he was born! I feel like we’re buds with him now! Seriously, it’s been really interesting to follow one king around to lots of places to learn all about him. Now to find out what happened to him in the end…maybe next trip!

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Surprises Around Every Corner

June 25th, 2015

What a great day!

We started this morning at the Residenz, Munich’s royal palace. There’s lots of construction going on so we did miss a few things, but we also saw a lot. If you’ve been following our trip, you’ve seen a trend in who’s been featured at specific museums. Part of the reason that we really wanted to see the Residenz is that we wanted to follow King Ludwig II around some more! 🙂 Nine years ago when Emmy and I saw this palace last, it was so difficult to enjoy or appreciate anything because everything was in German with no translation. This time, everything is written twice and there was an English audio guide – much better!! This certainly isn’t my favorite palace, but it is definitely grand! The rooms were fancy, the halls were beautiful, and the royal chapel was exquisite. While we were visiting that room, the guard, who was also American, shared a tip with us for the English Garden. He suggested that, rather than visiting the Chinese Tower for lunch, that we walk further into the park to the Seehaus for a better experience. And so we did!

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Tour Guides Barbie and Ken

June 24th, 2015

Today we had the best tour guides – Tour Guide Barbie and Tour Guide Ken, though sometimes he went by his other alias, Hasselhof!

Emily and Shane took turns leading us around Munich today via Rick Steves’ self-guided tour. It was an awesome day! We started out with our first tram ride through the city to the pedestrian zone and did some shopping. Chris’ raincoat wasn’t cutting it so we went into a sporting goods store and spent some time shopping and exploring. Daily “chores” are always so interesting in other places – so similar and yet so different.

Then Tour Guide Barbie took over the itinerary and lead us all over. We saw so much it’s hard to recall all of it! I loved seeing the Viktualienmarkt and all of the churches. We saw four today – St. Peter’s, St. Michael’s, Frauenkirche, and Asamkirche. All so beautiful in completely different ways. The Frauenkirche may be Munich’s iconic symbol, but it’s dull looking in comparison to the Baroque explosion of Asamkirche! St. Michael’s was really nice…but way cool because it’s also the family church of King Ludwig II, the Bavarian king we’ve been chasing all over for a week! (More to come tomorrow!!) This church is also his final resting place – the family crypt was beautiful in its creepy way.

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Munching in Munich

June 23rd, 2015

When we left Grödig today, we decided to check out the gondola included in the price of our Salzburg card. The Salzburg card, by the way, is similar to the London Pass we used last summer – pay once and see nearly everything for free! So we headed over there and had a fantastic view of the clouds…the rain and clouds prevented our view, but we did enjoy being on a gondola again!

After that, we made our way to Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial.

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A Little Mozart, a Little Julie, and a Little Trickery

June 22nd, 2015

Today had a difficult start. Chris woke up with a stomach ache that we hoped would be better enough for him to tour the city but that was not to be. He stayed in bed and Em read and we set out for the town.

Shane and I started at Hellbrun Palace, home of the trick fountains and the Sound of Music gazebo! The trick fountains were installed by one of the trickier residents of the palace to impress his guests. The tour guides are now the beneficiaries of his advanced hydrotechnology as they prey on tourists. Water comes out of everywhere, out of nowhere! It also powered bird sounds in a grotto and a pretty awesome spinning gold crown.

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Salzburg Greetings!

June 21st, 2015

The hills are alive, people. Run!

I crack myself up. Anyway! We rolled into Salzburg after a failed toboggan attempt near Neuschwanstein (apparently they don’t run in the rain!) and a pretty easy drive. Our hotel is Hotel Sallerhof right outside of the city in a suburb called Grödig. It’s a fabulous hotel – Em and I stayed here nine years ago – with fabulous prices! Four stars to be exact! We love it here!

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A Royal Affair

June 20th, 2015

What a great day! First, let me say that we were soggy today. All day. Super soggy. Not enjoyable but so far, it’s been my favorite day!

We had a fabulous breakfast at the hotel complete with what Shane and Emily are calling the best eggs ever! and set out for a day with Mad King Ludwig II of Bavaria.

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Cruising the Countryside

June 19th, 2015

We spent today making our way from Murren to Fussen, Germany, but first my crew indulged me and let me take a stroll through Gimmelwald, one of Rick Steves’ favorite spots. It was beautiful and peaceful and I was super glad we chose Murren. There wasn’t much happening in the village (which can, of course, be a good thing!) but I really enjoyed the quiet tourism of Murren.

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High in the Alps!

June 18th, 2015

Our arrival in Murren took many legs – get the rental car, find the correct highway, drive to the Jungfrau valley get some groceries, drive to Stechelburg… And that’s where we struggled. It was a long day of driving up and around mountain roads (gorgeous!!) and we were super thrilled (…) to see that there was no one in the ticket booth and no cable car to take us up the mountain. After some detective work, we found someone to sell us a ticket, the gondola arrived and we sailed up the mountain, first to Gimmelwald then on to Murren. Our hotel, Hotel Blumental, is lovely! Our room is large and has a stunning view of the Jungfrau. Emmy and Chris are in the chalet behind the hotel – also beautiful and cozy!

Today has been quite the adventure! We had an early breakfast here at the hotel (yum!) then flew even higher – 10,000 feet to be exact! – to the Piz Gloria at top of the Schilthorn. Wow what a view! There aren’t actually words for it – it’s too astounding! The buding and observation decks were positioned so that you could see nearly everything. The clouds covered the very top of a couple of the peaks, but generally we could see it all.

The brave ones, Chris and Shane, enjoyed their jaunts out on the outpost decks, while Emmy and I stayed in the safer areas. (more…)
Ready for the Alps!

June 17th, 2015

We are ready for Switzerland! The overnight flight was long, as is expected…unfortunately, Emmy and I ended up in the middle seats…as in, the middle of the plane! The very small woman next to me took up as much space as a very large man, so that was fun. No amount of hints got her to close her legs or give up the arm rest… Emily’s experience was similar – why can’t peeps take pity on the middle person??

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