Deutschland, Austria, and a Wee Bit of Italy
Just got back from Europe and I thought I should inform everyone of how it went and such. (So of course writer's block hits instantly.)
I suppose I will begin at the beginning... We flew into Vienna where
we stayed for a couple of days. It was so pretty there. I loved the architecture and how it all matched. The one thing that Europe seems to get that America doesn't is that matching buildings just look nicer. The most interesting parts of the towns were the Altstadts. In Vienna the Altstadt wasn't very distinguishable from the rest of the city except that the streets were a little bit more narrow and curvy. My favorite building there was the Stadtoper which was just beautiful... the type of building that makes one drool a little upon seeing it. Some day I will blow my life savings to see an opera there if not just to see what the inside looks like. Saw the Danube River, which was not blue but a rather fine shade of sage green. I don't think it was ever blue because the limestone in it made it green... so, Strauss?.. poor advertisement. And there were the lovely palaces there where the Kaisers stayed and whatnot. Most of them were museums. We saw the royal painting, ivory, and armor collections as well as the crown jewel collection which also included some royal clothing (those austrian kings were shorties!) Oh! and they had a collection of old musical instruments that was really cool.
Then we headed to Salzburg. It was interesting that even though this was where Mozart was born, they rubbed him in one's face much less than they did in Vienna... although I suppose that's because Vienna was where he did most of his composing. The Altstadt of Salzburg was really cool. I will post pics of everything later so I won't describe much of it. We went to see a large fortress that overlooked the city and spent half of the day there. Also saw the convent where the Sound of Music was filmed a bit (ooh-ahh... yawn). Had my stepmother not made such a deal about the fact that Salzburg was where that was filmed, I would not even have known. I don't think anyone there cares. The coolest part about Salzburg, though, was the Salzburger Marionettentheater which was pretty much a theater where they put on puppet shows of all sorts of operas. We went to see Die Zauberfloete and it was lots of fun. I was glad it was in German so I could get most of the dialogue, but after a while my brain just stopped being willing to translate so I am really not sure what happened the entire last half of the opera. Got the main points but nothing else. Papageno completely stole the show, if its possible for a puppet to do so. I will have to see that with human beings performing it sometime, but the Magic Flute did seem to be the perfect opera to be done with puppets.
Then it was off to Koblenz which was a significant city because it was where the Rhine and Mosel rivers met. The mountains there were very pretty and sometimes they were devoid enough of vegitation that one could see the layers of stone and wonder how old they were at the bottom (thank you geology class, thank you).
Then we headed to Garmisch-Partenkirchen which was in Bavaria. The best part of this piece of the trip was seeing King Ludwig II's castle and palaces. Neuschwanstein was breath-taking... and a little bit overwhelming. I have to admit that I got a little bit teary when I saw it first... probably just because I am a big sap. It was just so beautiful and the way we drove into the city, it wasn't visible through the trees, but suddenly I could see it and we were very close to it at that point so it looked nearer than expected... and blah blah blah... Anyway, I had to go and touch the wall just to make sure I was there once we got up next to it. The inside was absolutely stunning. I will try to find some pics of it and post 'em but it'll have to be off the internet since the entire castle on the inside was copyrighted by the Bavarian government.
We also saw Herrenchiemsee which was modeled after Versailles, and Linderhof which was the only palace that was completed. This one was interesting because the king had been able to live there for eight years before he was killed as opposed to the one year at Neuschwanstein and two weeks at Herrenchiemsee. It was cool because it had a grotto that had been built solely for one scene in one of Wagner's operas and it had a lake, boat, and wave making machines as well as a complete cave and stage located behind a large painting of Venus's garden.
The best thing about traveling is learning history by visiting different places. Ludwig's history was most interesting... He was one of those historical figures that is fascinating to learn about but it would have sucked to be him. I guess what makes me most sympathetic to him is that he was truly a genius in the construction of the castle and palaces as he ultimately designed them all himself. And before their construction, the state had been in a tight spot with the economy and unemployment, but the projects provided jobs and since he only used local resources, he boosted the economy. Then, partly because he no longer signed papers the gov. needed signed and partly because his family was pissed that he had spent their fortune, he was pronounced insane without any medical evidence. They captured him from Neuschwanstein and took him to a lake where he was supposed to stay for quite a long time... but he died the next evening and the doctor who was with him was found dead as well. Interestingly enough, I guess the two went on a walk and when they were found, the king had different clothes on than when he left and everyone in the surrounding area had been told the night he died that they would be arrested if they had left their houses. Supposedly the clothing he had been wearing was found with three bullet holes in the back. Of all the theories that I heard on the trip, this one was the most airtight (and still it was a little bit dodgy in spots, but I think that may have been because I couldn't understand the tourguide when he was talking sometimes and didn't get the whole story).
We went for a bike ride in the alps one day as well. We wanted to get to the Eibsee, but when we asked for directions both times the people sent us on a longer route than we wanted because it was more pleasant. The first guy we asked told us to take a gravel road instead of the main one because there was less traffic, but it ended up going eight kilometers out of the way when the place we had turned onto that gravel road had been about 1 km from the entrance to the Eibsee.... needless to say the eight km route was all uphill (well, so was the other, but it was much shorter). Then we got to a path that went around the lake. Just seeing the emerald lake was worth the entire gruelling bike ride. Then we turned the wrong way and went the long way around the lake to get to the restaurants on the other side, but there were some great views. It'll be a while before I get pictures of that on here because I took my 35mm with me and Dad wasn't with us so I have no digital images. Any pics I post are my Dad's or Bro's because I will have to scan my own in once I get to school.
We also took a day trip to Italy because we were too close not to. It was interesting and the mountains were very picturesque- especially with all the vinyards on them. We saw a castle there that was much older than the Bavarian ones. It was funny because we saw a suit of armor in Vienna that was owned by the owner of the castle and it had been the most beautiful of the entire collection... and yet his castle is not nearly so impressive. Perhaps it was just not very well preserved so we didn't get to see it in all of its glory.
After Bavaria, we headed to Munich where we would be flying out the next morning. Saw the Glockenspiel, but it didn't ring because it was being renovated. It still moved though.
Flying into the US was a pain in the butt. Security out of the country is nothing compared to coming in... which is kind of rediculous. It was strange seeing the landscape, especially. We were driving past the bluffs to dad's and we were all fascinated by how very small they looked in comparison to the Alps.
I've decided that I need to live in Europe some time... Everything makes more sense there. They have smaller cars because they don't need big gas guzzlers; anywhere one needs to go can be reached by railroad; renewable energy is everywhere (Austria is a huge producer of hydroelectric power and something like 90 % of the power of surrounding countries comes from Austria's hydroelectric and there are also numerous windmills AND many of the houses in the country have solar panels on the roofs... some have the entire roof covered by them); and it would have completely amazing skiing. Cascade is alright for what we have around here... but give me mountains any day.
Hmm... I suppose that is it. You'd think I wrote a lot here, but it is nothing compared to the short novel I wrote while over there. Couldn't help it since there is so much interesting stuff to write about. Usually I am the one left behind in the whole Journal-of-the-Vacation-Experience thing but this time nobody else in my family kept one. Lame. Anyhoo... I shall post pictures soon.
In other news... my ipod is officially a pile of junk. It will look nicer as a sculpture. Have ordered a new one. WEEEEEEEEE!!!!
I suppose I will begin at the beginning... We flew into Vienna where
we stayed for a couple of days. It was so pretty there. I loved the architecture and how it all matched. The one thing that Europe seems to get that America doesn't is that matching buildings just look nicer. The most interesting parts of the towns were the Altstadts. In Vienna the Altstadt wasn't very distinguishable from the rest of the city except that the streets were a little bit more narrow and curvy. My favorite building there was the Stadtoper which was just beautiful... the type of building that makes one drool a little upon seeing it. Some day I will blow my life savings to see an opera there if not just to see what the inside looks like. Saw the Danube River, which was not blue but a rather fine shade of sage green. I don't think it was ever blue because the limestone in it made it green... so, Strauss?.. poor advertisement. And there were the lovely palaces there where the Kaisers stayed and whatnot. Most of them were museums. We saw the royal painting, ivory, and armor collections as well as the crown jewel collection which also included some royal clothing (those austrian kings were shorties!) Oh! and they had a collection of old musical instruments that was really cool.
Then we headed to Salzburg. It was interesting that even though this was where Mozart was born, they rubbed him in one's face much less than they did in Vienna... although I suppose that's because Vienna was where he did most of his composing. The Altstadt of Salzburg was really cool. I will post pics of everything later so I won't describe much of it. We went to see a large fortress that overlooked the city and spent half of the day there. Also saw the convent where the Sound of Music was filmed a bit (ooh-ahh... yawn). Had my stepmother not made such a deal about the fact that Salzburg was where that was filmed, I would not even have known. I don't think anyone there cares. The coolest part about Salzburg, though, was the Salzburger Marionettentheater which was pretty much a theater where they put on puppet shows of all sorts of operas. We went to see Die Zauberfloete and it was lots of fun. I was glad it was in German so I could get most of the dialogue, but after a while my brain just stopped being willing to translate so I am really not sure what happened the entire last half of the opera. Got the main points but nothing else. Papageno completely stole the show, if its possible for a puppet to do so. I will have to see that with human beings performing it sometime, but the Magic Flute did seem to be the perfect opera to be done with puppets.
Then it was off to Koblenz which was a significant city because it was where the Rhine and Mosel rivers met. The mountains there were very pretty and sometimes they were devoid enough of vegitation that one could see the layers of stone and wonder how old they were at the bottom (thank you geology class, thank you).
Then we headed to Garmisch-Partenkirchen which was in Bavaria. The best part of this piece of the trip was seeing King Ludwig II's castle and palaces. Neuschwanstein was breath-taking... and a little bit overwhelming. I have to admit that I got a little bit teary when I saw it first... probably just because I am a big sap. It was just so beautiful and the way we drove into the city, it wasn't visible through the trees, but suddenly I could see it and we were very close to it at that point so it looked nearer than expected... and blah blah blah... Anyway, I had to go and touch the wall just to make sure I was there once we got up next to it. The inside was absolutely stunning. I will try to find some pics of it and post 'em but it'll have to be off the internet since the entire castle on the inside was copyrighted by the Bavarian government.
We also saw Herrenchiemsee which was modeled after Versailles, and Linderhof which was the only palace that was completed. This one was interesting because the king had been able to live there for eight years before he was killed as opposed to the one year at Neuschwanstein and two weeks at Herrenchiemsee. It was cool because it had a grotto that had been built solely for one scene in one of Wagner's operas and it had a lake, boat, and wave making machines as well as a complete cave and stage located behind a large painting of Venus's garden.
The best thing about traveling is learning history by visiting different places. Ludwig's history was most interesting... He was one of those historical figures that is fascinating to learn about but it would have sucked to be him. I guess what makes me most sympathetic to him is that he was truly a genius in the construction of the castle and palaces as he ultimately designed them all himself. And before their construction, the state had been in a tight spot with the economy and unemployment, but the projects provided jobs and since he only used local resources, he boosted the economy. Then, partly because he no longer signed papers the gov. needed signed and partly because his family was pissed that he had spent their fortune, he was pronounced insane without any medical evidence. They captured him from Neuschwanstein and took him to a lake where he was supposed to stay for quite a long time... but he died the next evening and the doctor who was with him was found dead as well. Interestingly enough, I guess the two went on a walk and when they were found, the king had different clothes on than when he left and everyone in the surrounding area had been told the night he died that they would be arrested if they had left their houses. Supposedly the clothing he had been wearing was found with three bullet holes in the back. Of all the theories that I heard on the trip, this one was the most airtight (and still it was a little bit dodgy in spots, but I think that may have been because I couldn't understand the tourguide when he was talking sometimes and didn't get the whole story).
We went for a bike ride in the alps one day as well. We wanted to get to the Eibsee, but when we asked for directions both times the people sent us on a longer route than we wanted because it was more pleasant. The first guy we asked told us to take a gravel road instead of the main one because there was less traffic, but it ended up going eight kilometers out of the way when the place we had turned onto that gravel road had been about 1 km from the entrance to the Eibsee.... needless to say the eight km route was all uphill (well, so was the other, but it was much shorter). Then we got to a path that went around the lake. Just seeing the emerald lake was worth the entire gruelling bike ride. Then we turned the wrong way and went the long way around the lake to get to the restaurants on the other side, but there were some great views. It'll be a while before I get pictures of that on here because I took my 35mm with me and Dad wasn't with us so I have no digital images. Any pics I post are my Dad's or Bro's because I will have to scan my own in once I get to school.
We also took a day trip to Italy because we were too close not to. It was interesting and the mountains were very picturesque- especially with all the vinyards on them. We saw a castle there that was much older than the Bavarian ones. It was funny because we saw a suit of armor in Vienna that was owned by the owner of the castle and it had been the most beautiful of the entire collection... and yet his castle is not nearly so impressive. Perhaps it was just not very well preserved so we didn't get to see it in all of its glory.
After Bavaria, we headed to Munich where we would be flying out the next morning. Saw the Glockenspiel, but it didn't ring because it was being renovated. It still moved though.
Flying into the US was a pain in the butt. Security out of the country is nothing compared to coming in... which is kind of rediculous. It was strange seeing the landscape, especially. We were driving past the bluffs to dad's and we were all fascinated by how very small they looked in comparison to the Alps.
I've decided that I need to live in Europe some time... Everything makes more sense there. They have smaller cars because they don't need big gas guzzlers; anywhere one needs to go can be reached by railroad; renewable energy is everywhere (Austria is a huge producer of hydroelectric power and something like 90 % of the power of surrounding countries comes from Austria's hydroelectric and there are also numerous windmills AND many of the houses in the country have solar panels on the roofs... some have the entire roof covered by them); and it would have completely amazing skiing. Cascade is alright for what we have around here... but give me mountains any day.
Hmm... I suppose that is it. You'd think I wrote a lot here, but it is nothing compared to the short novel I wrote while over there. Couldn't help it since there is so much interesting stuff to write about. Usually I am the one left behind in the whole Journal-of-the-Vacation-Experience thing but this time nobody else in my family kept one. Lame. Anyhoo... I shall post pictures soon.
In other news... my ipod is officially a pile of junk. It will look nicer as a sculpture. Have ordered a new one. WEEEEEEEEE!!!!