Last week my norwegian friend Eirik (which I met in Sevilla two years before) toured around Germany with a tiny stop at my place. As a typical tourist he wanted to see Munich and Neuschwanstein Castle - "because it's so famous". So we divided our little time for Neuschwanstein and Augsburg on the first day and Munich for the second day. The third day he went back to Oslo, after having a typical Weißwurstfrühstück (Breakfast with white sausages, sweet mustard, bretzels and white beer). He luckily got his flight home, just half a day before
Eyjafjallajökull erupted and stopped the complete
European air travel.But let's continue with some nice sightseeing, recommendations and let's hope everyone can go on with their travelling as fast as possible and our flight on Sunday won't be postponed...
Neuschwanstein Castle and WieskircheWe were lucky with the weather as we arrived at Neuschwanstein, there was sun, bright, blue sky and still some snow for the glisterin effect on the trees. Moreover the bridge behind the castle was open so we could enjoy the great view of the castle from there. The last times I was always out of luck, as the bridge is closed when it's too icy. And as you have to wait at least for an hour to be able to enter the castle via the modern and remorselessly timed gates, the best thing you can do, is have a stroll around the castle. Meanwhile I explained some facts about
the crazy king Ludwig, the
Wagner-addict, Peter-Pan-like, friend of
Sissi, who spent so much money on castles, that the officials declared him mentally ill and disposed him of his duties. The king then grabbed his psychiatrist and drowned himself and his doctor in the lake near to his asylum. And never met his favourite artist Richar Wagner...
But even if he wasn't that good in reigning, through his
castles he made himself and Bavaria immortal. Therefor the tour is a must do, even if there are only eight finished rooms - unbelievable fine woodcuts, wallpaintings of the famous operas of Wagner, another grotto inside the hall, a throne room like an romanic church and - especially important - the legend of
Siegfried (a.k.a my Dad or Sigurd of the Nibelungenlied) all over the rooms.
As part of the Unesco World Heritage, we visited the
Wieschurch on our way back to Augsburg. Another very Bavarian story led to the building. A farmer's wife had a statue of Jesus, which started to cry blood tears. So the neighbours came to visit, to pray and ask for help. As many of them were cured of illness or bad harvest, they build the church to render homage to good. Still there are votiv offerings from all over the world around the altar. The church itself is a nice baroque one with a clear ordering and some whith walls so you can rest your eyes from the overloaded plasterings and colorful fake marmor.
AugsburgBack in Augburg we took the very fast tour, from the Königsplatz to the
weavers' house around the
city hall, up the
Perlach tower to enjoy the view (which is much easier to orientate yourself and find the buildings to explain, than in Munich). We were (un)lucky that the chimes were playing while we were up there :)
And as it's the worlds oldest social settlement sightseeing in Augsburg always includes the
Fuggerei. Build by Jakob Fugger, the famous merchant from Augsburg. Still the people there just pay 88 cents (one Gulden) a year for the housing (sure water and electricity not included). Even the great-grandpa of Mozart was living there. Besides the apartment museum you can visit the original Bunker, which saved the inhabitants from the
bombing of Augsburg during the Second World War. The only one who didn't survive inside the Fuggerei was the one in charge of the Bunker - like the captain of the sinking ship...
While I wasn't paying attention, now we were really encircled by Italians. Maybe they're having vacation time, but anyway, they'll be there the day after as well :)
Still good weather and mood we went past the Hilter buildings (the theater) to the fairground and the
Plärrer. But the fair was almost empty, everyone was gatherin inside the beertents. That was also how we ended a typical Bavarian day.
MunichThe next day in Munich we took the ideal route in my opinion after some sightseeing tours there :) From the train station we started where we ended the day before, with the triumph street of Hilter, in which the he let reorganised the
Königsplatz, the arch/Propyläen, the Glyptothek (the museum of greek statues) and the Führerbau, which is now the University of theater and music. Further we went past the three
arts museums (the old, the new and the modern pinakothek), back to the obelisk and finally downtown. Passing the Karlsplatz or
Stachus and the shoppind district we finally reached the
Frauenkirche. Former cathedral of Pope Benedetto. The first time I went up the tower - it's an easy climb with the elevator and an easy walk around, as everything is indoors. Up there we could plan the next part of the tour.
First stop was the neogothic city hall. And for another time, we were in time for the chimes^^Afterwards we went around the market to buy some chees and honeywine as souvenirs, followed by a visit to
Dallmayr's for wine and coffee. Now we were ready to get some food at the
Hofbräuhaus - as it's so famous. It was my first visit there (Eirik was already suspecting, that he was touring me around) and I have to say, its big, nice service and good food (we even had some dessert - you could say
crazy king's nonsens). On the way to the residence we passed Alfons Schuhbeck's restaurant and the TV-chef himself as well^^ Time for some spicy souvenirs!
At the
residence the friendly ticketvendor told us to hurry up (we only had two hours left...) so we could enjoy the whole tour through the city castle and treasury. The treasury was nice, but if you're not interested in gold and ancient tableware you could skip it - but after all they had some artscraft from goldsmiths of Augsburg. The residence itself was far more impressive, especially the long halls with statues, paintings, mirrors and the portraits of the bavarian kings, the fake perspektive ceiling and the grotto of shells - totally illegal these days.
Another quick step to the victory hall and the lucky lions and with the metro right to the
olympic park. The
BMW-World and the Olympic ceiling and tower are a nice view for the upcoming evening.
And that's how you can try to visit Bavaria in two days^^
