Germany is full of wonderful, old Schloss (castles). I love them all. And want one. Except it would be ridiculously expensive to heat. And Europe is kinda cold. And I love being warm. More than living in a castle. So I only visit them.
Last weekend I visited a castle less than an hour outside of Stuttgart. Burg Hohenzollern is private property. It sits atop a hill, and you can see it well before you arrive. But like most winter days in Germany, there was no sun. Or great visibility. So no spectacular pictures this go round.
You walk up thousands of steps to visit.
Or you can take a shuttle (but not if you are me-you walk).
And then you see:
I also drove 2+ hours south, in snow, to visit Neuschwanstein Castle. This castle is different in that an artist designed it, not an architect. Which is why it looks like a fairy tale. Mad King Ludwig built the castle. He died in Lake Starnberg, with his doctor. Many think it is because he kept spending the kingdom's money on beautiful castles. But where would Germany be without them?
As you can guess, it is being renovated, and has scaffling up spring-fall. So I thought, I should visit now. This is my 2nd visit in snow. Years ago, I visited and toured the inside. To be honest, kind of a let down. This go round, I took pictures with my new camera. I will visit again in the fall, with all the beautiful leaves. Assuming it stops snowing one day.
My camera is so amazing you can see snowflakes.
Just inside the brown doors (you see above lower left corner).
Across the valley sits Hohenschwangau. Which King Ludwig built as well. This is at a slightly lower elevation, in that you do not have to walk 30 minutes straight up hill to visit it, like Neuschwanstein. (There are horse carriages that take visitors to Neuschwanstein, but that seems cruel to the poor horses.)
I still have to visit the nearby Ludwigsburg Palace (waiting for spring because of the garden there) and maybe I'll visit Schloss Solitude, which is practically on my way to work (though you cannot see it from the road or anything), to take pictures as well. I just wait for a nice, sunny day.
The 4 years of spanish Senorita Shar taught me in high school did not help me much on my recent visit to Barcelona, Spain. I couldn't even remember gracias. But that did not stop me from having a wonderful visit to Barcelona.
Picasso originally painted in Barcelona. His father took him there to apprentice, with traditional techniques. He hung out at the 4 Cats. He also designed the art frieze for the Catalan College of Architect. It's an ugly building, but his work shows Barcelona. Finally, Picasso helped establish and contributed his early paintings to the Museu (Museum) Picasso. They do not let you take pictures inside. My favorites were Woman with Mantilla painted in 1917 and some of the many Las Meninas works, painted in 1957. Not many artists will interpret another famous painting. But I think Picasso did it justice.
I contributed to the building of a basilica. Barcelona is famous for Gaudi's Sagrada Familia. And I visited there. The building has been under construction since 1882. And maybe until 2082. Well, the Spaniards hope to complete it by 2026. But given how long it has been, I think they will miss the deadline. Apparently, they get motivated to work harder/faster/finish by big events. Like the 1929 World Fair. Or the Olympics. But they are still going. (Important note: My camera broke. So I had to use my ipod for a lot of the pictures. They will not be great. This really sucked. Looking back, I should have found a shop and bought a new point and click camera in Barcelona. I didn't. I suck. But this means I should probably go back. Now that I bought a new, fancy SRL camera. Marcie want to visit? Not in July or August though. haha) What the church will one day look like:
This is the Passion facade view.
Where they are now:
This is the Nativity facade.
They still have to construct the the four towers dedicated to the evangelists, the tower dedicated to the Virgin Mary and the highest, erected at the centre of the the crossing, which will recall the figure of Jesus and the four bell towers on the Glory facade. But they are past the half way stage. In fact, once they finished the roof, in 2010, Pope Benedict XVI dedicated the basilica.
The Passion Entrance:
The Nativity facade, which Gaudi worked on and completed (so that he could obtain donations for the rest of the church):
Yes, very different styles. Gaudi did not leave direction for the Passion facade, knowing that styles change. He left it to another architecture. The inside is amazing. So different than the old Cathedrals you've seen here.
See the red columns in the picture above? Those are for the support for the Jesus tower. The other support columns look like trees to some extent. Such amazing features.
Gaudi lived at what is now Guell Park, which he designed. Originally, the park was going to be a neighborhood for the rich. Now it's a very visited park. It is kinda looks like candy land, the architecture style. And Gaudi thought of lumbar support before it was popular. Nice guy.
There is another beautiful Cathedral as well. I visited the top of this church so you could see the city. You are welcome.
On Saturday evenings, at 1800, the Spaniards dance the Sardana at the Cathedral. The musicians set up on the steps of the Cathedral. They folks pile their coats, purses, and bags in the middle of the circle. Then they entertain.
I also strolled down Ramblas Street. In addition to the street performers and vendors, there is a cool (tourist) food market.
And you end up at the Christopher Columbus monument. Which Picasso painted.
If you visit Barcelona, don't miss the Dancing Fountain:
I ate at Rias de Galicia, which Tom Seitsma, of the Washington Post recommended. He said to eat the baby eel. It cost 90 Euros. I don't mind spending money, but really? 90 Euros for one course. I have to draw the line somewhere. I suppose that's it. I did eat (I think Turo) fish.
I also tried Moo, a one star Michelin restaurant. I was not impressed. The service was lacking, once even taking a plate before I even finished chewing. And I didn't think the food was that spectacular. I wouldn't recommend it.
Garmisch, Germany hosted the Women's Ski Weltcup (World Cup). If you recall, I attended the Women's Fussball (Soccer) Weltcup in June 2011. So I decided to attend another world cup. Why didn't I think of going to a ski world cup earlier? You can watch the race from the slopes or the finish line. The downhill ran the first day. I watched from the slopes. For 2 skiers. Cause they finish in about 45 minutes. And I was on the other side of the mountain enjoying skiing. The Super G ran on day 2. This time, I went to the finish line to watch the skiers. The racers tuck the entire time they ski practically. I think I missed my racing days. There is no way I could do that. I watched about 15 of them finish the race. Then I took the gondola up the hill and skied some. I also watched a bit of the race from the slopes.
Downhill from the Gondola (men's course is the lighter lines)
The Super G race (there's a reason I'm wasn't a film major):
The Super G course does not start at the top of the mountain. Which meant I could ski the women's downhill for part of the way. Such a fun run!!! I loved skiing and would have all day. And it is steep. Interstingly, Garmisch has 2 black runs. Really, they are the only runs worth doing. One of the black runs was closed for the World Cup. So, if you are a beginner, you would love it here. If not, keep driving to Austria.
Interestingly, on day one, it was sunny on top of the mountain. And cloudy on the lower half. I skied through the clouds at one point. Clouds are cold when skiing in/through. Something I just learned.
BMW sponsored a race course. The course was connected to your ski pass. After the jump is a video of me skiing.
I won the world cup race in Kitsbuhel! Well, in my mind I totally did anyway. Kitsbuhel has a very famous, very tough, world cup ski run. The winners of the race have a Hahnenkammbahn (gondola) car named after them. For example, I saw Bode Miller's gondola. Mostly Austrians and Swiss have won the race though. This visit I actually skied the run. Well, some of it. There were parts that they do not groom ever, which led to huge snow mounds with sheets of ice around them. That did not look like a good idea.
Kitsbuhel has a lot of mountain to ski, which made it ideal for a long, holiday weekend. And the 2 peaks are connected by a gondola.
I did not make the hotel arrangements. Because it would not occur to me to stay in a Schloss (castle). That has a chapel on site. Or a witch Keller (cellar). They dropped the witches through a trap door in the ceiling. But they set up the room so if the witch survived the fall, she would not touch the floor. They believed witches got their powers back if they touched the floor.
This 12th century castle did have 2 fires. And was at one point a youth hostel, for a church. Now it is a lovely hotel. The only down side-stairs. Lots of stairs to walk, which is fine when you feel normal. Not so great when you are sick. As I picked up my key, I mentioned to the front desk I did not feel well. The hotel brought me tee (tea) to help me feel better. Then they charged me for it. Not sure about that part.
Ceiling in original room
Chapel
Witch Keller, trap door
In the future, I may try to stay in castles. It was that fun.
All the cool people hang out in Dusseldorf. You know who lived there? Elvis, when he was stationed in Germany. You know who visited there? Me, while I'm here. Well, I didn't just go because Elvis was there. I didn't learn about our connection until after I arrived. (Alas, the German guide book failed on this one.)
I rode the train up. Generally, you hear a person can set their watch to German trains. This is a lie folks. Many trains are late. Mine was no exception. We left Stuttgart on time. But then there was a medical situation on the tracks. So they slowed the train down. This caused us to be 80 minutes late. And there is no refund if the problem is outside of the Deutschbahn's prevue. On a side note, some important knowledge if you decide to ride the train: spend the 4 Euros and reserve a seat. Then you won't be one of the people standing in the aisle for over an hour.
The train route up followed Rhein river. This route also included the castles on the Rhein river. Yes, lots of castles were built along the river. You can take a boat tour and see them. I believe in July sometime, they have a fireworks evening with the boat tour. This is not on my to do list though. But it was so neat to see the castles as we were rolling by.
Cactus, loved the costumes.
I visited up north to celebrate Fasching, which if you remember from last year, is the Mardi Gras of Germany. Germans dress up in costumes for this party, much like we dress up for Halloween. Except they do themes and everyone is the same character. That part is a bit different. But if it makes them happy, it doesn't bother me any. And they were warm costumes. Actually, I remember trick or treating in snow one year, so they may be on to something up there. Dusseldorf did not have a parade, but a gathering of people, as best as I could tell. But I loved the costumes.
For unknown reasons, the Smurfs are very popular
Dusseldorf has amazing food. And not just German food. It has Portuguese food. Such delicious fish. And also, the city is the largest concentration of Japanese people in Europe. So I ate Ramen as well. Such wonderful spicy soup. People lined up outside (in the freezing cold) to wait to eat at the Ramen Noodle place. It was that good. I had a reservation. And Dunkin Donuts. Don't judge me. I don't eat many donuts. But then you go to a city that has an American food you haven't eaten in years. And you don't care. You just want your donut. And are so happy to see them, you don't even book breakfast at the hotel, because you decide to eat donuts every morning. So people don't think you are one of those Americans that travels to Europe and then finds American food on day 2, you explain that you live in Stuttgart for 2 years now, and no, we have no Dunkin Donuts. So it's ok to eat them.
Ramen Soup
St. Lambertus is the Catholic Church in Dusseldorf. It was built in the 13th century. It is now considered a small cathedral. It's not as amazing as some of the other churches in Germany/Europe. I don't think the Catholics spent their money on churches, as others are more gothic looking.
I went to Bruhl for an afternoon, as Dusseldorf is not a huge city to explore. Bruhl has the wonderful Augustusburg palace, on the World Heritage Site list. I didn't have the opportunity to tour the palace though; it was closed for Fasching. Note to people in charge of tourism there: you should have your biggest draws open when it's likely people will be around to visit. Just a thought. I also visited the Max-Ernst Museum. He is a surrealist artist, born in Bruhl. Besides Germany, he spent time in New York, Arizona, and Paris. I enjoyed some of his work, but not my favorite artist or museum (see Hermitage, St. Petersburg) in Europe.
I also visited Koln (Cologne) for their huge Fasching parade. It was freezing cold out. Like I should have brought my toe warmers that I wear when I ski cold out. The people in the parade give you flowers (tulips and roses) and throw candy. Sometimes it lands on you head. The Germans love their free candy. I won't even tell you the worst of it. Just trust me, they love free candy.
Float of the Dom Cathedral, under construction, like all the great churches in Europe.
Robert Burns is a famous Scottish poet. You know his work. You just don't know you know it. He wrote the famous poem (now song) that is sung on New Years Eve at midnight.
A Burns Night Supper, held in his honor, is traditionally on his birthday, January 25th. This was my first experience with a Burns Night Supper. The two main parts of the dinner: Scottish whiskey and haggis. I partook in both. The chef went Iron Chef with the food, and the main ingredient consisted of haggis. First, we ate haggis with mature cheese in pastry. Then we enjoyed haggis spring rolls (probably my favorite dish, besides dessert, which always wins with me). We readily finished the Cullen Skink soup (made with mashed potatoes and smoked haddock), another Scottish dish. Finally, we listened to Robert Burns poem, complete with bag pipes, toasted the haggis with Scottish whiskey and then tried it. The haggis is ceremoniously brought out during the poem. You eat tatties (mashed potatoes) and neeps (mashed turnips) with the haggis. We also had a potato casserole. For dessert, I finished Cranachan. This consists of whipped creme with honey and whiskey, raspberries, and oats, parfait layers. To finish the evening we played Cards Against Humanity. A great game. That I did not lose. But I didn't win either. Oh well, next time.
Chamonix, France is wonderful. It's around 6 or 6 1/2 hours away from Stuttgart, Germany. You can travel over the mountain pass, save some time, or around Geneva, Switzerland. On the way, we went over the mountain pass and the return trip took us through Geneva.
Brevent
There was 3 days of sunny weather and on the last day, a storm rolled in. This trip, I skied Brevent (1st day), Flegere (3rd day), and Grands Montets (2nd and 4th days). I love skiing in the sun. It doesn't seem as cold. Chamonix is nice because it actually has some harder runs, i.e. decent black runs.
I arrived at Flegere at 0900. If you are a skier, this means first tracks. These were some of my favorite runs of the trip. You can fly down groomed slopes. The snow was so soft, not the crunchy stuff. You just go and go. No reason to stop. Except that others eventually started skiing the slopes. And then there are no fresh tracks. Cause everything is skied. Not that I can actually blame anyone for this.
View from Grands Montets
Skiing on the glacier
Grands Montets has a glacier at the top of the mountain. You have to take a 2nd gondola to get to the top. A full of people, like 40 of your closest friends, gondola. I skied the glacier on the last day. You know, the day it was snowing and gray out. So no amazing view pictures. But I will try to go back for you all. It's the least I can do. It is 3275 m (10,700 feet) up to the glacier. The snow was incredible up there. Once you got to it. You had to walk a million steps down from the gondola to the snow. Or maybe it was 200 steel steps. It was a lot. And it's not like you can close your eyes and count backwards from 100, by 7, to pass the time. You have to walk them all. The hardest part. After riding the gondola up. The powder was over knee deep. I only fell 3 or maybe 4 times. The first time about 30 feet from the start of the run. Not too bad, since I haven't had the opportunity to ski as much in powder. I stayed on the marked trail. The guy I was skiing with went out of bounds and seemed happy. Yeah, he is braver than me. It's ok though, cause there were other people skiing the glacier and I stayed near them. It is 1300 m (4265 feet) to the lifts and 2500 m (8202 feet) to the bottom of the mountain, where the bus takes you back to town. And it is a decent beginner intermediate run to the bottom. I didn't ski the glacier to bus run all at once, but over the course of the day, I did go from top to bottom.
If you don't go for the skiing, go to France for the food. And wine. Well, I would have liked more scallops, delicious sauce, but I enjoyed the mushroom risotto, even if it is peasant food mom.
I had an extra 8 hours of leave because Christmas Eve was a holiday. First world problems, I know. Therefore, I took today off because the water person came to check the meter. This is actually a 50 percent decrease from last year in the number of people checking the meter. He was pleasantly on-time, at the first part of the hour window. That was my only plan for the day. So I decided to do something I haven't done in a while. Visit a Michelin restaurant. [Note to self: I need to visit them more often. Maybe monthly. We'll see how that goes. For the belly and budget.] I chose Burg Staufeneck for lunch, as it has a business lunch menu, though a bit pricey, better value than the dinner's go for. But no chocolate. How is that even possible? All fancy meals should have chocolate.
The Amuse Bouche was decent. The white cup had a delicious cheese herb spread. And I liked everything in a spoon (though you can't see the bites in them).
The first course consisted of Atlantic fishwith artichokes (though I have never had artichokes taste like this before). Not a great picture. The fish was not burned. And with any Michelin restaurant, you have foie gras. Not my favorite, but I will eat it. I prefer these little bites to other ones.
I opted for the vegetarian main course. Pumpkin was the main ingredient. Lunch included a pumpkin spring roll with pumpkin chutney. The square thing was terrible. The green thing was called a "sponge". It's texture really was sponge like. I touched it. The gnocchi was amazing. Loved it. And the "soup" around it. I could have eaten a huge bowl of those with the "soup".
Dessert was my second favorite option--ice cream. In the shape of the fruit flavor. These chefs are a creative bunch.
If it weren't a typical German weather January I believe the view would have been breathtaking. But it was gloomy outside. Maybe next time.
My favorite restaurant is still the Nuremberg place (you remember they gave me 6 chocolate bars for myself--still so hard to beat but I will continue to look for places to top it).
