Viktualien Market, Munich, Germany

Happy Halloween Everyone! Yesterday we visited the Viktuallien Market in the Munich City Centre. What a treat! (no pun intended) Upon entering the market you see a huge maypole that displays what merchants and crafts are doing business that day. As we walked around we saw fresh produce, wines, cheeses, spices, crafts, and other colorful items. We took some great pictures and will attempt to download them later. Julie found some truffle Brie and some Switzerland cheese that was a year and a half old. One of them was pretty stinky so we got quite a few looks carrying them around all day, especially in the elevator. Turns out Trudy, (Melissa's Mom) picked out the "swankiest" hotel in Munich for us to stay in. It's decorated in red and purple and gold, with beautiful fabrics everywhere. It's kind of Jetsony, and upon arrival we felt like we needed to get a good old bloody Mary and admire the view. They even have a spoon for the coffee cup that fits over the lip of the cup. How cool is that? We are about two blocks from the main train station and ten blocks from the Marienplatz (Mary's square) which is the heart of the city. We rode the S-bahn train in yesterday and heard the 11 am playing of the Glockenspiel and saw them joust. We then rode the elevator up to the top of the New Town Hall Spire built in 1867 and got a fantastic city view. Munich is really hip. Lots of great fashion (very hard not to buy some!), neat cars, pedestrian friendly and pretty in the fall. The great and very unusually warm weather remains. Aren't we lucky? Today we are heading to the Deutsches Museum, "the Smithsonian of Germany." Melissa's parents head back to Nashville tomorrow and then we are off to Slovenia. We can't even pronounce the name of the city we are going to - it's the capitol. From there, we plan to venture down the Adriatic coast into Croatia, a place we are really looking forward to seeing. As many of you know, Julie is addicted to the Today Show, and when "Where in the World is Matt Lauer" was aired from Dubrovnik, she was set on going. So, thanks Matt. We are off to breakfast, it's an unbelievable buffet, fresh squeezed juices, salmon lox, eggs, exotic breads, jams and more! Trick or Treat!

The Hills Are Alive With the Sound of...

Just a little hike.

Well, today we decided to take advantage of the beautiful fall weather and go for a "hike." We had dinner at a German gasthaus last night and shared a table with a lady who was born in Nashville. She and her husband are avid trekkers and recommended that we ride up the Alpspitze and hike down. We figured, no big deal, just a quick little hike, "we'll be right back." Off we go, a 20 minute walk to the Alpspitze cable car, http://www.zugspitze.de/alpspitze/index_en.php. We got on the car, and began to ride up. Our first clue was the length of this little trip. It took a good 20 minutes to get up the mountain, and the car was swaying big time. So what to do? Get off at the top, and eat your lunch, the only food you have. Lunch always makes you feel better. We walked over to the sign and realized that we were starting our descent from 2050 meters. ( second clue) We really don't know the metric system that well, but it seemed pretty high. We were amazed at the views, and the bright white mountain rocks. (see photo) Down we went, and down, and down, and down. We passed a couple of beer huts, ( third clue) kept going, and finally 2.5 hours later we ended up in the middle of the ski slope at the bottom. (fourth clue, a ski slope at the bottom!) Needless to say our toes were killing us because you literally push them into the end of your shoes all the way down. We don't exactly have our hiking boots stowed in our one bag we brought over, so you can imagine how our feet feel now. No food for a snackie on the way down, no time for beer at a hut, just pure downhill trekking. We even ran down quite a bit of the trail, knocking the average 4 hour hiking time down to 2.5. Good think the Edelweiss has a hot tub. We need it.

Goodbye Bavaria!

Goodbye Bavaria, All good things must come to an end and so----- We prepare to leave Bavaria; the mountains are ready to receive their first snow, the leaves are falling from the trees and the locals are waxing their skis and looking forward to many hours on the slopes. We journey to the big city of Munich (Munchen) tomorrow to seek out the sights there for a couple of days. I am looking forward to, once again, seeing the Glockenspiel clock in the Marienplatz Square. Being an old glockenspiel player myself, it will have special meaning for me. Melissa and Julie decided that the hang gliding experience was much too expensive so they opted to ride the cable car up the mountain and hike down. Ask them why they wore the toes out of their socks and are now trying to soak some of the soreness out of their bodies in the hot tub and sauna. Dennis and I, being old experienced mountain climbers, decided against participating in this adventure. Melissa was stunned to see a woman pushing a baby stroller "up" the mountain while they were being tortured with the downhill trek. The Bavarians start the hiking hobby very early in life and take it all in stride. We all have enjoyed our visit in the "southern" part of Germany. The people here are friendly and helpful much as the folks in our adopted state of Tennesse. The food is great. Dennis had his Coupe Denmark (vanilla ice cream with hot fudge sauce), I had my favorite weiner schnitzel, and Melissa and Julie tried several new foods to add to their eating experiences. There is no cottage cheese or cream of chicken soup here, so Melissa has resorted to salami and cheese for breakfast which is really what the locals have for their own first meal of the day. Julie, however, has discovered the pastry shop, and it has become her favorite stop. Our trips to Austria and Italy, the beautiful castles of Bavaria, the speeding trip on the autobahn, the colorful countryside and the many other sights and sounds shall always be a cherished memory. We share all of this with you via the blogsite. Hope you enjoyed the ride. Guten tag. Trudy (the guest post person)

Biking in Bavaria

Yesterday we had a wonderful day in Garmisch. We spent part of the day shopping and exploring the center of Garmisch with Melissa's Mom. Of course, we hit a cafe. It was so pleasant out that we didn't need a coat and sat outside. Wonderful. This afternoon we went on a bike ride with Melissa's Dad. We rode through the cows, over streams, and through a small village where we stopped for a cold beverage. The views were spectacular!

How fast is 180 km?

That's how faaaassssttttt we were going yesterday on the autobahn. Whew. Melissa(I'm sure you guessed who was driving) had our little VW Polo(rabbit) going as fast as she could. "The pedal is to the metal" is what she told us as we wizzed up the autobahn. And the unbelievable part, people were still blowing by us. Not many people, but the fastest was a Maseratti. If we would have blinked we would have missed it. As you can imagine, Melissa LOVES driving on the autobahn. "Next time we're getting a V6."

More Bavaria Pictures

If you are interested in receiving all our photos please post a comment and we will send you our link to Kodak to see them. We have many! We want to give you a sample of what we have seen the last few days. Life is good, see for yourself. For my sister Shirley, Mom says this is the "little red riding hood house" you liked when you lived here. Do you recognize it? Also, Janice Brooks, if you are out there would you mind sending your email address to Melissa at melissa.jones3@gmail.com? Thanks.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Castle

Here are some pictures from the famed "Neuschwanstein" castle, in the Bavarian Alps in Southern Germany. Mad Kind Ludwig started to build this castle but died before it was completed. It remains the top tourist destination in this area. Julie and Melissa hiked up to the castle and back down to the parking area. We got the best view from Marys' Bridge, just above the castle. With the fall leaves in full color, it sure was something to see! After visiting the castle we drove to the nearby town of Fussen and sat outside in near 70 degree weather and had lunch. Unheard of temperature for this time of year. We feel very fortunate as we have had one day of rain on our trip so far. (knock on wood)

Green Acres is not the place for me!

Upon arrival in Germany, Julie decided to go out "for a walk by myself." Well, just like Zsa Zsa Gabor found out, farming is not her thing. Here is a picture of her new best friend. He offered to help with Julie's farmhand training by letting her get really close, and then relieving himself. In her words, "it sounded like a fire hose and I had to move really fast." After that lesson, he then moved on to advanced farming, and offered to give her a birdseye view of the cow reproduction process. "They're awful big to do that," she said. Hmm. Do we let her go on any more walks alone?

Austrian Stud

Three Countries....

Guest Post By Trudy Jones

THREE COUNTRIES IN EIGHT HOURS. Think about it: Driving from Garmisch, Germany, to Innsbruck, Austria, and on through the Brenner Pass to Vipiteno, Italy, and back to Germany in a typical eight hour work day. Breakfast in Germany, lunch in Austria, pastries in Italy and dinner in Garmisch. What a great day. Innsbruck is a beautiful town nestled in a valley between two mountains. It provided a shopping and sightseeing opportunity and a traditional Austrian lunch at Weinhaus Sapp im Herzen der Altstadt. The drive over the autobahn through Brenner Pass to Italy was a fast one. Anyone care to guess who was driving at 120 kilometers per hour in a 4 cylinder VW Polo (Golf in USA)? We blew by Audis, Mercedes, double semi trucks and even a few smart cars. For those of you not familiar with a smart car, it is a tiny two seater which Chrysler will export to the USA as soon as they figure out how to meet all safety standards. The funniest road sign among many strange varieties (to us) was the "watch out for frogs" one which had a picture of a panicked frog. We looked for them, but alas, no frogs out today although it is a rainy and foggy day with perfect conditions for them. Vipiteno is an old walled town with spectacular buildings, cobblestone streets, breathtaking architecture and children in boots jumping in every available puddle. Melissa was kindly asked by a five year old to move over as she was walking in the "puddle lane". We are constantly looking in every direction to see the colorful stucco buildings. There hasn't been a hard freeze so the balconies are colorful with blooming plants of every description. Around every corner is another beautiful carved wooden door hiding small passageways to secret places. Town clocks chime a reminder that we must hurry on to the next scenic vista. The countryside is heavily forested with every color imaginable and each green meadow is closely mown with sheep, cattle and horses grazing among the small huts that provide their winter shelter. Everyone has gathered their winter wood in precisely stacked bundles to see them through the six months of cold and snow that will surely come soon. We rejoice in the beauty of it all. Wish you all were here to share it with us. For now, Auf wiedersehen.

Straight to the TOP!

We've made it to the Edelweiss Lodge and Resort in Garmisch, Germany. On the way to Garmisch we stayed in Linz, Austria with yet another great Servas family, Walter, Birgit, and Felix who fixed us homemade apple struedel, and wiener schnitzel. We then hopped on a train for a five hour ride to Germany. The train ride was wonderful as the leaves are in full color this fall! On our first day we rode the train and cable car to the highest peak in Germany, the Zugspitz. Here are some pictures. From the top you can see four different countries, we think they are Germany, Austria, Italy and Switzerland. Melissa's parents arrived safely and we are staying at US Army military housing as their guests. It is truly luxurious. We have our first bathtub and we have ice cubes! Yipee. We will not however put the ice cubes in the bathtub.

Fall in the Czech Republic

Cseky Krumlov, Czech Republic

We spent 4 days and 3 nights in the small, riverside village of Cesky Krumlov in the southern part of the Czech Republic. www.pensiondanny.cz Here we found a simpler life and were able to settle down and unwind a bit. Reading books, playing gin rummy and scrabble and hiking through the village have been our main activities. Americans actually liberated Krumlov during WWIIl, and we saw an American soldier walking the streets. 75% of the population here used to be German, but after WWII they were forced out. Recently, since the communist rule is over, many have moved back in. This town remains undisturbed by tourism. A huge castle overlooks the river. Tomorrow we head to Linz, Austria where we will stay with yet another Servas host. After a night there, we will catch the train to Garmisch, Germany where we meet Melissa's parents. They arrive Saturday am and will stay for ten days. We will let the pictures do the talking on Krumlov. For those of you who want to see more pictures, post your email in the comments section - say "more pics" and we will include you on the list to receive notice when we update our Kodak Easy Share site. And if you really miss us you can even print out a picture of us and put it on your fridge!

Want all the pictures?

We are downloading all our pictures to Kodak EasyShare Gallery. So far we've been sharing them with our parents. If you'd like us to send them to you post your e-mail address to our blog and we'll get you added. Warning -- there are LOTS of pictures!!!

more Prague photos

Feast for the Eyes - Praha

Whoever commented that Prague was a "Feast for the Eyes" on our blog was right. From Vienna we took a 5 hour train ride to this beautiful city. We found a flat on www.craigslist.org, take a peek: http://www.prague-flat.net/Apartment-information.html. We love craigslist. The flat was very cute, and large enough for our Hungarian friends to join us for 2 of our 4 nights. Zsuzsa, Lina(cookie man's girlfriend), Krisztina(veggie man's wife) arrived early evening, each with a bottle of plum schnapps tucked in their suitcase. You'll now be happy to know, that we have proof, no hangovers from plum schnapps, we're certain. In fact, we are considering shipping back cartons of this stuff. It's amazing. That evening we found a Czech beer hall, filled with two things, smoke and men. Czech's have pilsner beer and it's great, the best beer in all of Europe according to Rick Steves. We tend to agree. That night we laughed alot, sang along with a group of German boys, and had a great meal. Zsuzsa speaks very good English and German and Lina and Krisztina know enough words for us to all roll with laughter. It becomes quite fun to learn the German, Hungarian, English, and Czech word for intoxicated. The next day was Julie's birthday and the Hungarian girls headed out for some sightseeing, it was their first time in Prague and they only had two days. What did we do? What every girl likes to do on her birthday -- Shop! Many of you won't believe this but so far we haven't bought much. In addition to Prague being beautiful, it's a shoppers paradise. Bohemian Crystal was on our list, and we succeeded getting some leaded crystal candlesticks and oil and vinegar bottles. Now to answer your question, no we are not packing 100 lbs of crystal around on our backs -- we have our rolling carts! Just kidding. It is on the slow boat home from the post office in Prague. Julie's parents, make a little room for the first souvenir box. It's a heavy one. Wade, your birthday present is enclosed. Not crystal - don't worry! A little about Prague's beauty. Everywhere you look is magical and you feel as if you are in the middle of a fairytale. The old world main stuare, with dozens of colorful facades, a gothic church, and a fancy astronomical clock makes you want to stand in the middle and spin around and around to take it all in. Saturday night we had a blast celebrating Julie's birthday. We treated the Hungarian girls to their first Happy Hour experience. More schnapps plus wine. The least we could do after the "Hungarian BBQ." After a rather long happy "hour" we headed to dinner. A very fun evening concluded with a chocolate souffle birthday dessert. Sunday we all headed for the Castle Quarter, walking over the famous Charles Bridge and up the steep steps with great city views. Up at the castle we ended up in the middle of the changing of the guards, we mean in the middle. Melissa almost was run over by the incoming guard. We had loads of fun touring that area and it seemed that every 10 feet we were stopping to take a picture. That afternoon we said goodbye to the Hungarian girls. It was very special that they were able to join us and we'd love for them to visit us in the states, or for that matter Munich next week. Girls? Since we had a kitchen in our flat we headed to the grocery store and cooked. We weren't exactly sure of the contents of a couple things. No English, only Czech. A bit worried about a dip purchase, but after tasting we think cucumber? Regardless, the meals were great. The following day we relaxed and explored. Rick Steves says that no other place in Europe has become so popular so quickly. Prague was the only Central European Capital to escape the bombs of the last century's wars, so it's one of Europe's best preserved cities. If you come to Europe put it on your list! It's a definite must see. 4 nights was perfect and on Tuesday morning we took a bus to Cesky Krumlov in the south of the Czech Republic. On the bus ride we both agreed that being on a bus on a beautiful sunny day heading to a small village in the Czecg Republic would never have entered our imaginations as even a remote possibility, yet here we are. As we arrived and walked down the cobblestone streets and into the very old square before our eyes was....

Prague Photos

The flat we stayed in with the Hungarian girls...the birthday celebration, old town square, the castle district and the old jewish cemetary.

Birthday in Praha

Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes. Very nice of you! Well, here we are in Praha and we think it's an amazing city. I don't think there is a more beautiful place to have spent my birthday. I did just find out that the Huskies lost to the Beavs yesterday and I'm trying to recover from that. What happened?

More Cars!

the vehicles in Eastern Europe get more and more interesting...take a look.

Auf Wiedersehen Austria!

Hello all - We are a bit behind on our posts. The Hungarian girls arrived and we had a blast with them and I must say that celebrating my birthday here in Prague was a once in a lifetime experience. Thank you for the birthday wishes! More on 4 blondes and 1 brunette gone wild later.... Now for Austria. We spent 4 days and 3 nights in Vienna, Austria, truly a beautiful city. We were very fortunate and were able to stay with two Servas hosts- Rita and Ilse for the entire time. This made Vienna(who uses the Euro) affordable. The Austrians are very proud of their history, in it's glory days the Austrian empire aka the Hapsburg Empire was the most powerful European entity since Rome. The waltz is still the rage here, they speak German, and the mood is mellow and relaxed. On our arrival the first day we traveled out to the 17th district via the tram. The city is sectioned by districts, with one being the city center. Districts 1-9 are inside the first ring and 1-19 are in the second. We stayed at Rita's flat in a separate living area with a bedroom, sitting area and bathroom. Her daughter in law from Thailand and Rita's two cock a toos were also there. Our first night we went out for a traditional Austrian dinner and had Wiener Schnitzel - yummy. We then walked over and picked up Rita's pregnant daughter in law from driving school. Three interesting lessons from this. 1-Rita loved calling her unborn grandchild "Franz" after the Austrian Emperor. Very proud of their history. 2-Getting a drivers license in Austria or Europe for that matter, is expensive, about 2000 Euros and two weeks of intensive classes. Rita says this is because of all the deaths on the highway caused by young, inexperienced drivers. 3-We are the only Servas members she's had who drink wine. (2 bottles with Rita) On our second day we moved from Rita's to Ilse's flat in the 19th district. This is when we came to the conclusion that we'd made a packing mistake. All of the research we did said to not bring bags with wheels, well, phooey, bring wheels. Carrying a bulging, heavy backpack around works for about a block. Anyway, Ilse's was beautiful, located on a quiet street near a park. We ventured out to the first district where we traveled the Ringstrasse by tram, hopping on and off seeing the city hall, the Emperors Palace, the Opera House, St Stevens and most enjoyable, coffee and tea at Cafe Dremel on the famous Kohlmarket Street. I love my coffee and know my(Julie) Mom will understand how much I enjoyed Vienna's cafe culture. Kohlmarket Street is where the who's who of Vienna shows their stuff, people and dogs! As you saw on the blog -- Melissa was going crazy over the cute dogs. We then spent the evening with Ilse, a German teacher at an international school. She prepared for us a home cooked meal of pasta, salad, wine(yipee) and strudel. Very pleasant evening. The next day we took in Schonbrunn Palace, the spectacular summer residence of the Hapsburgs. Julie now insists on being called - sissy, pampered wife of Emperor Franz. Oh brother. The gardens at Schonbrunn are similar in grandeur to Versailles our travel book says. Neither of us have been there. From here we began a mad search for "wheels." Our goal was to find two luggage carts and bungee cords to secure our packs on. So we rode the u-bahn train until we saw shops and off we went. Finally, after many wild goose chases we found a small luggage shop with 3 resident dogs and a very Austrian man who spoke no English. Unfortunately, Rick Steves doesn't provide the word luggage cart in his travel book. So after a very healthy round of charades, I'm sure you can imagine how funny that was, we got our luggage carts AND bungee cords. Even the dogs were howling from all the excitement. From here we had yet more coffee and tea at another cafe, visited the local farmers market and headed back to meet Ilse. Our last night was a treat. Ilse took us to a "Heurigen" or a wine garden. A Heurigen is uniquely Viennese. It's wine and a place to drink it. You order wine, fill your plate at the buffet, more like a deli counter where they dish up for you, and drink great cab sav merlot blend. More wiener schnitzel for us. Yum again! The next morning we boarded the train to Prague at 6 AM. Early to get there before our new friends from Hungary arrive. Prague is located in the heart of the Czech Republic. Off to Praha(as they call it over here)

Dealer Finance, this ones for you!

All of the cars are tiny, have fun finding the blue book value! Miss you guys!

The dogs of Vienna!

While having coffee at Cafe Dremel on the main drag in Vienna, Kohlmarkt, we saw these dogs and thought you might enjoy them. The white guy in the basket was shopping at Armani, Sex Machine was strolling the street looking for his next victim, and the chihuahuas were having some wine at the cafe.