We travelled to the town of Wasserburg last night. This is the hometown of Ralf, one of our hosts in the office. We were not disappointed. It's wrapped in the Inn river and there is only one bridge entering (there's another road through the mountains). The town is rich with history, with shops and cafes and great cobblestone roads. As usual for Bavaria it has a large historic catholic church.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Sunday, June 22, 2008
English Garden in Munich
Today we headed into Munich and stumbled onto, as they say locally, Englisher Garten. We had been told that it was worth visiting but due to language barriers were having trouble figuring out how to get there. We headed to the general direction and found ourselves there. It was worth the trip - a totally awesome park. Largest in Europe, it's massive. We really didn't walk the whole park but we saw most of it.
One of the first sights was the river. We saw it from the road as we entered the park. It was very soothing after walking through the hot Munich streets. The water exited a tunnel through the road into a nice waterfall.
The river was very relaxing as we walked along under the trees. There was a proud mama (I assume) with curious babies. As she swam over to me she puffed up her wings. Karl thought she was expecting food. I wondered if she expected to peck my eyes out. I backed off since I had no food and like eyesight.
This little baby was much more brave than I - well, ok, the little ducklings were quite harmless.
One of the most unique and surprising things was the local surfing scene - yes, Surf Munich.
The river is very impressive - the speed and the volume of water was both peaceful and (ask Karl - he jumped in) invigorating. There is also these massive open areas that as the day went along filled with people. The park is described as having as many people during a good day as a medium sized village - it's true.
Overall, a very impressive park. Yes, we saw other parts of Munich but spent most of the day here. I think Karl wanted to just camp out... I'll post some video later.
One of the first sights was the river. We saw it from the road as we entered the park. It was very soothing after walking through the hot Munich streets. The water exited a tunnel through the road into a nice waterfall.
The river was very relaxing as we walked along under the trees. There was a proud mama (I assume) with curious babies. As she swam over to me she puffed up her wings. Karl thought she was expecting food. I wondered if she expected to peck my eyes out. I backed off since I had no food and like eyesight.
This little baby was much more brave than I - well, ok, the little ducklings were quite harmless.
One of the most unique and surprising things was the local surfing scene - yes, Surf Munich.
The river is very impressive - the speed and the volume of water was both peaceful and (ask Karl - he jumped in) invigorating. There is also these massive open areas that as the day went along filled with people. The park is described as having as many people during a good day as a medium sized village - it's true.
Overall, a very impressive park. Yes, we saw other parts of Munich but spent most of the day here. I think Karl wanted to just camp out... I'll post some video later.
Ludwig's Tribute to Louis XIV
We visited a pretty impressive Castle yesterday. On an island in Chiemsee there was this enormous clearing hosting this castle, Herrenchiemsee Palace. King Ludwig II was pretty infactuated with King Louis XIV and with absolute monarchy so he built this castle as a tribute. The courtyard and the castle are a replica of the Palace of Versailles. While we were in the courtyard the fountains came on, which was very impressive.
As impressive as the Castle was, I couldn't help wondering WTF. I guess Ludwig spent a whole 10 days there and that's it. The project was never completed due to lack of funds. Ya think? Hauling all those materials out to an island? Ah well, as Mel Brooks quipped: "It's good to be the King".
As impressive as the Castle was, I couldn't help wondering WTF. I guess Ludwig spent a whole 10 days there and that's it. The project was never completed due to lack of funds. Ya think? Hauling all those materials out to an island? Ah well, as Mel Brooks quipped: "It's good to be the King".
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
No Business like Milk Business
Every morning we have our breakfast in the hotel overlooking the street. Our hotel is right in the center of this farming village. There are at least three working farms withing nostril distance from the hotel.
This ole boy drives his tractor out every morning around 8am, disconnects the trailer, leaving two large canisters that are filled with raw milk - I assume cream and all. Around 8:30 a very large milk truck pulls up and the guy pulls out a large hose and "vacuums" up the milk into the truck. He pulls off and sometime soon after Farmer Dell backs up his tracker and returns the canisters to the ready position for the next morning.
There are a lot of these smaller district operations - from mills, to bakeries and the many farms. All around us are fields with wheat, oats and hay. Very nice community. Very slow pace of living. Still dangerous to cross the road because slow translates differently with the drivers here.
This ole boy drives his tractor out every morning around 8am, disconnects the trailer, leaving two large canisters that are filled with raw milk - I assume cream and all. Around 8:30 a very large milk truck pulls up and the guy pulls out a large hose and "vacuums" up the milk into the truck. He pulls off and sometime soon after Farmer Dell backs up his tracker and returns the canisters to the ready position for the next morning.
There are a lot of these smaller district operations - from mills, to bakeries and the many farms. All around us are fields with wheat, oats and hay. Very nice community. Very slow pace of living. Still dangerous to cross the road because slow translates differently with the drivers here.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Dinner in Haag
Dinner in Haag last night was great. I ordered a Pesto spagetti and Karl a pizza with some dead animal, an egg in the center, and creatively partitioned with cheese. As the 2nd picture reveals - he liked it. We've eaten very well here so far, which is exactly what we expected. The Italian restaurant we had lunch at today was great. The owner was a total character. No one could figure out how to translate a German word for something that was with tomatoes on a salad. He dashed off to the kitchen and returned with a half a cucumber: "Gerken" he declared. Ah, replied I: "Cucumber". After slaughtering the English word he resorted to insulting it and returning to the German. Seems it sounded just too silly to him. As well it does... Gerke
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Germany or Bust
I arrived to the Airport in Atlanta to find Karl already hard at work. Well, ok, maybe charging up the new camera.
On the plane, Puggie and I are all ready for the long flight across the pond.
Ah, arrival at the hotel. Charming and set in the country. This is a view toward the front of the office across a nice garden...
Turn just a little to the right and the garden turns into the farm.
The weather is very pleasant. It's cooler than Atlanta by far. All in all very beautiful. It's fortunate that Karl had the forethought to order GPS/Navigation with our little Mercedes B170 rental. Yes, iPhone plotted a correct trip, but the roads were not marked well enough to follow the directions.
Update: Pictures
The weather is very pleasant. It's cooler than Atlanta by far. All in all very beautiful. It's fortunate that Karl had the forethought to order GPS/Navigation with our little Mercedes B170 rental. Yes, iPhone plotted a correct trip, but the roads were not marked well enough to follow the directions.
Update: Pictures
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