Hotel Tryp Munchen Today we arrived in Munich, did a little bit of sightseeing, and met up with everyone for dinner & biergartens in Viktualmarkt
Near Karlsplatz & Karlstor
Near Marienplatz
Viktualienmarkt King of cheeses baby!
Walk from Viktualmarkt back to hotel
Viktualienmarkt Biergarten Ladies, all the ladies...
Viktualienmarkt Biergarten All the fellas
Near Karlsplatz
Biergarten Viktualienmarkt
Day 2 - Oktoberfest officially starts today at 12 noon when the first keg is tapped. We didn't have any reservations today though, so we walked around and took in the grounds and the parade before heading to Hofbrauhaus in Munich proper and another biergarten in the English Garden.
Oktoberfest Grounds (pre-and post-parade)
Oktoberfest Grounds
Oktoberfest Parade
Hofbrauhaus
Hofbrauhaus There may or may not be a big beer glass hidden in that hat. You'll never know.
Walk to English Garten
English Garden
Sunday Oktober 20th - our day of Oktoberfest reservations. We spent all day, from 11AM through at least 11PM at the grounds, with 3 reservations (Kalbs Kuchl, Kafer, and Poschners)
Oktoberfest
Kalbs Kuchl
Kalbs Kuchl - our waiter
Kalbs Kuchl - glasses are heavy even when they aren't totally filled!
Colby & Josey didn't go to Kalbs Kuchl with us, but before meeting up with us at Kafer, they got this shot of the Oktoberfest grounds
Oktoberfest - walking through a big tent on the way to our second reservation (at a big tent)
Kafer
Kafer Love how everyone is distracted with cameras, postcards, or catch phrase, except Chris, who is super excited about all that beer
Walking to our 3rd reservation
Poschners (the chicken tent, incase you couldn't tell....and yes, the chicken was quite tasty!)
Poschners Group shot in Traditional Dress
Poschners
Most of the crew left today - Nick and I did a bit more sightseeing before meeting up with Megan & Chris for dinner
Views of Munich
Viktualienmarkt
Views from Peterskirche (Alter Peter)
Views from Alter Peter
Train from Munich to Prague Today Nick and I set off for Prague. We did a bit of sightseeing before meeting Colby, Josey, Sarah & Rachael for dinner
Havelska Market
Prague
Old Town Square (In & Near)
Hotel Galileo
Walk to the Dancing House Today, Colby, Josey, Nick and I wandered our way through Prague up to the castle & monestary before heading back down through the old square and getting dinner
Walk to the Dancing House
The Dancing House
View from the bridge
Walk up towards the Charles Bridge
Climbing up to the Charles Bridge
Prague peaks from & including the Charles Bridge
Lunch along Nerudova Street
Views of and near the Strahov Monestary
On & Near Castle Square
St. Vitus Cathedral in the Castle grounds
St. Vitus Cathedral
Views from Prague Castle
Park by the river
Charles Bridge from Park by the river
Prague Italian Dinner
Chodovar Today we rented a car in Prague and the 4 of us set out for Chodova Plana (Beer Wellness Spa) for spa treatments and lunch... we then took a drive through the Czech countryside to Karlovy Vary (Carlsbad)
Chodovar
Grandhotel Pupp in Karlovy Vary Karlovy Vary is known for healing mineral waters that are found in random spouts thoughtout the city The Grandhotel Pupp was featured in the Casino Royale Bond movie (it is the hotel where the casino scene is filmed)
View from our balcony at the Grandhotel Pupp
Karlovy Vary
Karlovy Vary Today we set out on the mineral water spouts early in the day ... Then drove back to Prague, stopping at a random Czech town for lunch ... in Prague, we say goodbye to Colby & Josey, and Nick and I explore Prague for a few more hours before our overnight train to Krakow
Karlovy Vary - one of the indoor springs
Karlovy Vary - Josey is not all about the mineral water
Karlovy Vary Nick is feeling the mineral water power
Flea market at random Czech town
Church in random Czech town
Pickled herring (?) in random Czech town - just like Christmas in Nebraska, I still won't touch the stuff
Letenske Sady Park Back in Prague waiting for our overnight train
Panorama from the park - though the sky colors didn't blend quite right
After Dinner Views
Overnight Train to Krakow
View from the Castle Today in Krakow we arrived early, and set out on the castle grounds which luckily opened at 6AM. We had the most random reunion with Mehul, and set out for the salt mines in the afternoon before coming back to Krakow for dinner with Mehul & Lucasz
Wawel Castle Grounds & Cathedral
Wawel Castle Grounds & Cathedral - Chakra Spot
Krakow's Sister Cities - who knew? (In retrospect, both NJ and I thought we did know this but had forgotten it.)
St. Mary's Church
Town Hall Tower
Krakow Old Town Considering Mehul was supposed to be in Warsaw today, hearing "Rutar" yelled by the Krakow old town square was really something this morning!
Cloth Hall
Old Town - Blue Roses!
Cloth Hall - opening up
Florian Gate & City Walls
Wieliczka Salt Mine
Wieliczka Salt Mine That is a long way down...and yes, we took stairs the whole way down. A random elevator experience back up.
Wieliczka Salt Mine This part is not made for tall people. Notice all the wood - wood doesn't rust like iron does in the presence of all this salt!
Wieliczka Salt Mine Salt sculptures - Kopernicus
Wieliczka Salt Mine Three people took over 40 years to create this chapel about 130m below ground...everything in here is salt, from the chandeliers to all of the sculptures, the floor, ect. The stations of the cross and other biblical references (last supper) are engraved in the walls with perspective, appearing very deep when in actuality they are only a few cm. This location is rentable for weddings; a seperate elevator will take you down, the bridal party doesn't need to descend all those stairs!
To/From/At Flea Market on Hala Targowa Our 2nd day in Poland was spent: (1) exploring a Polish flea market, which as Nick said, was like watching my dad dump his old tool box onto a blanket and trying to sell its contents to people (2) enjoying lunch in old town, complete with the closest to homemade pieroguis that I've ever had (!!!) (3) heading to a town about an hour outside of Krakow rumored to have gorgeous hiking trails and to show Polish Catholicism (4) Dinner at a Ukrainian restaurant that was in a cave (in Krakow), with Ukrainain versions of my Polish favorites (glumpkies!)
Pizzeria on Floranska Street Nick likes beet soup! And it looks like a cup of blood - sort of.
Pizzeria on Floranska Street Almost like my dad made them :D
Drozki Kalwaryjskie Trying to find these hiking paths
Aaaah, we found the Polish Catholicism! As it turns out, the hiking paths not only provided spectacular views of the Polish countryside (up and down the mountain), but it also was 'Catholic Disneyland' - you hike the full stations of the cross. We did Mary's path as it happened to coincide with the direction we were already going.
Drozki Kalwaryjskie View looking down and left from that panoramic spot
Drozki Kalwaryjskie People LOVE this place. They get millions of visitors a year it turns out. Monks chant and lead you around the paths if you so desire, though we did the walking tour on our own with the great map that Nick bought. I don't know if we'll ever see as many backpacking nuns as we saw here.
Drozki Kalwaryjskie
Drozki Kalwaryjskie I loved all of the random apple/orchards that we walked through - fall, scent of apples, gorgeous crisp day...
Drozki Kalwaryjskie That church where we started? You can see it at the top of the hill.
Drozki Kalwaryjskie Cool roof.
Smak Ukrainski Resteuracje
Auschwitz-Birkeneau Our 3rd and last day in Krakow, we went to Auschwitz.
Auschwitz-Birkeneau
St. Mary's Church Up early and walking through Krakow's main square towards the train station - today we: -Take the train to Wein (Vienna) -Grab a quick lunch & stash our bags -Take a train to Bratislava, Slovakia -Explore Bratislava
Florianska Street in Krakow
Wein Sudbanhof - tasty lunch
en route to Bratislava, Slovakia the best part is, I was not trying to get a picture of the oncoming train. I was trying to get a picture of the Slovakian countryside. Couldn't have timed it better.
en route to Bratislava, Slovakia
Bratislava Main Square & Old Town
Schoner Naci Apparently this guy used to walk around Bratislava and tip his hat to women he found attractive. He did it so much that after he died, they put a statue of him in one of the main squares.
Cumil (the Peeper)
Walk to Castle Yep, we are in Eastern Europe.
Bratislava Castle & Grounds You can't actually go in the castle right now, it's under re-construction. Loved how the color popped against the night sky though!
Bratislava Castle & Grounds
Bratislava Castle & Grounds the views were so industrial!
Vienna Tram The next day, we were again up early and: -took the train back to Wein -sightseeing in downtown Wein (Hofburg Palace Treasury, Lipizziner Stallions practice, church, Sacher tort, and of course, weiners in Wein.) -Took lots of public transport into the outskirts of town for some great views of Austrian vineyards and Vienna itself -Hiked down through all the vineyards back into Vienna and explored Vienna wine gardens -Back to Vienna proper to catch a ballet at the Opera house -Met up with Josh for dinner, who happened to be in Vienna this week for work
Lipizzaner Stallions
Hofburg Palace Treasury
Walking around Ringstrasse
Opera (Ballet)
Weiners in Wein
St Stephen's Cathedral
Sacher Cafe
Kahlenberg
Views of Vienna from the outskirts
Walk through Vienna Woods
Walk through Vienna Woods Nick is modeling his hiking/opera appropriate footwear
Walk through Vienna Woods At the bottom of the hill, we meet the Danube
Nussdorf (End of Vienna Woods Walk)
Schubel-Auer Heuriger (Vienna Wine Garden)
Steinschaden (Vienna Wine Garden)
After the Opera (Ballet)
Cafe Restaurant Palmenhaus
The experience the following morning in terms of trains was nothing short of amazing. To sum it up, from the wrong train station, we randomly selected the one commuter train that would intersect with our original train at one of it's 4 stops and would arrive at the intersection point 7 minutes before, meaning we could transfer to the train we should have taken to begin with. Yeah, this deserves a flow chart.
Big Market Hall Due to an amazing train conductor, we arrived in Budapest on schedule and cranked out a LOT of sightseeing: -Big Market Hall - shopping & paprika! & Lunch -all the big sights downtown -House of Terror museum -thermal baths (mmmmmmmm) -late night dinner
Big Market Hall
Big Market Hall I loved the wine servers.
Big Market Hall I had sauerkraut filled strudel, Nick had potato
Big Market Hall Hungarian goulash & gnocchi - YUM!
Budapest
Budapest The once palace, now museums
Budapest - Chain Bridge
Chain Bridge
Funicular
Views of Budapest (technically, views of Pest) from the top of the funicular on the Buda side
Matthias Church It was, of course, under construction, but the roof was pretty!
Matthias Church Inside was gorgeous
Views in/near Fishermens' Bastion
Fishermen's Bastion
Walking through Budapest (Buda)
Walking through Budapest (Buda) Fun statue considering the abrupt end to the hill above. :)
Hungarian Parliament
Heroes' Square
Szechenyi Baths
Zagreb Train Station We were up and out of Budapest early the next morning and spent a good 9 hours on trains and buses to get to Slovenia. We thought we'd have a good 2 hours in Zagreb, but sine the first train was actually a bus and a train, we had more like 20 minutes. Nick was superman for most of this trip, carrying his own bag and my/catchall/souvineer bag up and down stairs, without flinching. Not even once.
Zagreb Train Station
Rutar Store So - we knew that Ljubljana had a Rutar store. (Rutar.com folks!) and we expected it to be like an iKea. We got in, checked in to the hostel, and immediately found out how to get to get here. The truck was an added bonus! Passports at the ready, we were fully waiting for the Rutar store folks to realize the long lost relation and give us the behind the scenes tour. Oh and they don't say Rutar like we do. 5 simple letters, such a difference in pronunciation.
Rutar Store
Rutar Store No behind the scenes tour, unfortunately, noone even asked us why we bought 50 euros worth of RUTAR memorabilia. Rutar is like a high class iKea, with sofas exceeding 6000 euros each (ouch!)
Ljubljana Dragon on the Dragon bridge
Ljubljana After the Rutar store, we headed back to explore Ljubljana itself - very pretty at night with the river and all of the bridges - bridges are a main sight, between the tribridge, the dragon bridge, the cobblers bridge, ect. Lots of walking around, found a pizza place for dinner (similar to Croatia, Slovenia does pizza well too - Italy proximity and all)
Ljubljana - Tribridge
Pizzerija Ljubljanski Dvor
Pizzerija Ljubljanski Dvor - really awesome cheese plate
Pizzerija Ljubljanski Dvor This is the medium.
Ljubljana The next morning, we explore Ljubljana in day light before hopping a train to Salzburg. This is the big open air market area, selling everything from food to clothing to souvineers.
Ljubljana
Ljubljana No way - is that, it can't be - a fresh milk vending machine??
Ljubljana it is! it is a fresh milk vending machine!
Ljubljana and the milk is oh so tasty!!
Ljubljana i wanted to get another one for the road
Austrian Alps The train ride to Salzburg was gorgeous.
Mirabell Gardens We got to Salzburg and checked in, and found out that we happened to be there the one day a year when ALL of the museums stay open till 1AM and you can buy one ticket to go in all of them. Pretty cool eh? With that said, we went to Salzburg without doing much research, I knew I wanted to go to a restaurant and an old biergarten, but that was about it. We wandered through these gardens and into Old town, up to the fortress, ect, ect.
Mirabell Gardens
Salzburg
Salzburg - the fortress from a square below
Salzburg This dude on the ball looks MUCH smaller when you are up top.
Salzburg Fortress
Views from Salzburg Fortress
Views from Salzburg Fortress Must take the time to better blend the sky in this photo.
The mountains - view from Salzburg fortress
Salzburg Fortress Nick impressed onlookers by hitting 2 of the 3 on his first attempt.
Salzburg Fortress - Marionette Museum
Stiftskeller St. Peter This is the oldest restaurant in Europe, operating since 803 AD. At first hearing about it, was worried it would be a tourist trap, but got a hot tip that the food was good and it was worth going to (Thanks Colby!)
Stiftskeller St. Peter
Augustiner Brau Salzburg This received 5 full mugs in the Munich beergarten book that Julie gave us - and this biergarten is not even in Munich. Couldn't pass this one up, and it didn't disappoint.
Augustiner Brau Salzburg
Salzburg Late night musuems and churches - this church was beautiful. We lit candles here.
Mirabell Gardens Views walking back to our hotel.
Deutsches Museum And today, our last full day in Europe, we caught an express train back to Munich from Salzburg (it cut about 25 minutes out of the 2 hour trip). Lots of debate on what to do today. Could have stayed later in Salzburg and done the Sound of Music tour, but that would have taken much of the day. Could have gotten bikes and gone through the English garden, but we saved that for another trip. Back in Munich, we started out with the condensed tour of the Deutsches museum (condensed b/c we saw everything in about 3 hours, and it was all tech stuff we both could have spent a week looking at.) Then we headed back to the Oktoberfest grounds for the LAST day of Oktoberfest. Get it? We started the trip with Oktoberfest on the day it started, we ended the trip with Oktoberfest on the day it ended - that is called closure, folks.
Deutsches Museum
Last day of Oktoberfest
Last day of Oktoberfest Yeah ferris wheel ride!!
Panorama of the entire grounds from the ferris wheel. An amazing thing to note - this is not here year round - it is all built up for the festival and taken down afterwards, only to repeat a year later.
Last day of Oktoberfest Hofbrauhaus tent
Last day of Oktoberfest Paulaner Tent
Last day of Oktoberfest Ma(Beta) and Lebkuchenherz cookie (because it is made of ginger bread - Lebkuchen - and the shape is a heart - Herz) I had to look it up - the deal with the cookie is that it's a souvineer, or typically the guy that has a crush on you will get one for you (with a cute statement in icing), and the girl wears it like a necklace.
Last day of Oktoberfest The grounds get a bit messy as the night goes on
Last day of Oktoberfest Auf Wiedersehen! The next morning we got up and took the direct flight from Munich back to DC
