Germany

This post via Brian.  We arrived in Munich on Friday at noon vis Montreal, Paris.  We took the train into the city and traveled to our hotel by way of a great subway system.  Our hotel was a very well appointed and comfortable European style hotel.  We met Amy's, and our, friend Theressa in Marieplatz on Friday afternoon with her friend Lisa, after which we toured the city and had dinner at a fabulous beer garden.

Saturday morning, early, Amy arrived from Fierenze and met us at our hotel on Saturday morning. After a fabulous European breakfast, we toured many parts of the city, some of which we had already seen, climbed to a high church steeple for a view of the city, then went to a beer garden for lunch.  We then toured an historic palace for the afternoon.  Lastly on Saturday we went to a beer, craft and music festival at the Olympic Park.  It was a great time getting to eat many new foods and getting to see a great variety of new crafts.

Sunday we took the train to Theressa's home town of Erharting in Bavaria.  Once there we went to Burghausen on the Salz river and toured the castle.  It was a long, 1 KM, castle of great historic value and mostly untouched by the second world war.  This is significant because many structures in Bavarian cities and towns were damaged by American bombs.  That evening we joined Theressa's family, all of us dressed in traditional Bavarian clothing, and went to a local fair.  It was very much like a Vermont country fair, except for the food and the beer, and a very entertaining and unique experience.

Monday, we rose early to drive to Nieswanstein, a 3 hr drive, to see the classic castle of new origin(1800's) that was the prototype for the Disney castle.  It is the castle that you have all seen with the Bavarian Alps in the background.  It was a beautiful day with weather and views to do the site justice.  We did extensive hiking around the site and saw the castle from many different points of view.Lastly, we drove home through the Austrian Alps and the rolling farm land of southern Bavaria.  What beautiful country, with tidey farms, well kept houses, and great roads. Once we returned to Erharting we joined Theressa's family at the local beer garden for local beer and gastronomic delicasies.

Today, we drove to Salzberg, toured the city.  Nothing of great import, but a none the less beautiful city located at the base of the Austrian Alps.  On the way home we did a quick tour of Hanger 7 the collection of aircraft and automobiles(Formula 1 and NASCAR) autos of the owner of Red Bull. We finished our trip with a swim in a local lake to cool us off from the hot weather.We ended the day with a family dinner at Theressa's home with her family, with the best chicken that I have ever had. It was  harvested earlier in the day and cooked on the spot.

Wednesday, we are off to Erlangen, where Theressa's attends school.  We will let you know what we find there.