Monday, October 11, 2010

We're out!

Stopped in Starbucks for a quick email/flight check and we're heading to the airport. We'll check in one last time when we get home, but we just wanted to say thanks for coming on our trip with us!

See you Stateside!
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Sunday, October 10, 2010

Neuschwanstein, et fin.

We met our apartment host, Sandra, for tea last night at the local vegan cafe near her apartment, Cafe Kopfeck. We intended to order dinner there as well, but we could only find a seat outside, it was freezing cold, and our waitress wasn't really interested in us. She brought us our drinks readily enough, but refused to make eye contact or otherwise acknowledge that we might be interested in food or another round of drinks at the very least. Allen had to track her down to ask for the check, but when she still hadn't appeared with it 15 minutes later - she was busy sitting at a table nearby smoking a cigarette - we left the approximate amount of money on the table and left. We were briefly tempted to just walk away, but we would have felt bad about it afterwards. Chalk it up to good karma. It's the only time we've gotten downright bad service this trip, so all in all it's been pretty good.

You have to get up pret-ty early in the morning to go to Neuschwanstein. We hustled out of the apartment to catch our bus at 8am. The tour bus left from Hauptbahnhof at 8:30. It was a double decker tour bus and we luckily found seats on the top deck. The day was cold (40 degrees when we set out), and foggy. There were times driving through the mountains that you couldn't see anything out the windows at all. It gave the impression of driving up the mountain and through the clouds.

Our first stop was Linderhof Castle, about an hour and a half south of Munich. This was Ludwig's first "fairy tale castle" - he had it built when he was 24, according to our tour guide. The castle is small, but the grounds are vast and beautiful.

(The photo isn't blurry. That's how foggy is was all day.)

The inside of the castle is almost sensory overload with the French roccocco design. Gold leaf, mirrors, crystal and porcelain chandeliers, and paintings cover literally every surface. The building itself is fairly small - well, small for royal standards - and extremely richly decorated. The grounds outside have manicured gardens and streams and fountains. There is also a grotto that the king had built to be his private opera house. We couldn't go in, though. We had only a short time in Linderhof before we swept off to the next stop in our journey.

Next up was Oberammergau, a little Alpine village. We had only 30 minutes to take in the small central square and gift shop. There was some kind of bike race going on today, so much of the center of town was closed to foot traffic. The little shop was beautiful, and given the temperatures outside, combined with the Alpine style of the town and the shop, it almost felt like Christmas. I bought two little incense smokers, similar to some that my grandparents sent to the family when they lived in Zweibrucken years ago. The ones I bought are much smaller, but adorable, nonetheless. If we had more time, I might have gotten an Advent calender too. They had several versions that were very sweet.

Finally, we made our way through the fog to Neuschwanstein. The bus dropped us off next to the ticket shop at the base of the mountain. We walked up throught the building dotting the road and found a place to grab a quick lunch before the trek up the mountain for our tour. Our lunch cafe was in the Hotel Lisl, and we were joined at the table by a trio of young Germans. Seating in Germany is very informal - you sit wherever there is room - and it's such a friendly way to enjoy a meal. We ordered krautschupfnudel mit salate - potato noodles with sauerkraut and a salad and a beer each (of course!). No photos of the food, though. We were too hungry to bother!

I'm not ashamed to say we wolfed that meal down. After our brief repast, we faced the long trek up to the castle itself. Fortunately, at the bottom, I didn't realize just *how* long this trek was, otherwise I might have wimped out! I remembered that my parents said they drove up, but the reality of the statement didn't sink in until my knees wwere aching halfway up the mountain. I have read that it's a 25 minute uphill climb, but that is such a dry description for what is actually a torturous forced march. I'm being a bit melodramatic, I realize, but seriously! That climb was *so* hard! It's a mile up the mountain! You have to share the road with tourists walking down, buses driving up and horse-drawn carriages ferrying people up and down. On a clear day, I gather that you can see the castle as you approach, but the whole mountain was shrouded in mist, so we saw nothing but white a ghostly outlines.

It was still kind of magical to look up and suddenly realize you can see the outline of a turret in the mist. Neuschwanstein is an impressive bit of architecture.


It was under construction for 17 years, and all work on the building stopped when Ludwig drowned in 1886. The entire second floor is bare, for example. It was intended to be a Moorish style hall with guest rooms, but was never completed. The first floor are servants quarters and the third floor are the king's apartments. The castle was dedicated by Ludwig to Richard Wagner, and was intended to be a physical representation of Wagner's musical compositions and operas. The bedroom is decorated with scenes depicting the tale of Tristan and Isolde, for example. Apparently, the king only lived in Neuschwanstein for half a year, and only got to use his personal (and ornately carved) bedroom for 10 days before he was deposed (by reason of insanity) and died. It seems like such a shame that he bankrupted himself for something so beautiful and never really got to enjoy it. But that seemed to be the theme of Ludwig's life, according to the tour guides today - a man who resented his status as a figurehead and longed to rule as a powerful king from the past. Since he couldn't, he built "fairy tale" castles where he could pretend.

The climb down the hill was just as unforgiving as the climb up, but mercifully, we discovered a "short cut". We also discovered the several fun food and drink stalls that we missed in the hustle up the mountain. There was a cafe that served gluhwein (hot, mulled wine), and a stand that sold apple pretzels - pretzels with apple chunks baked in! Sadly, they were out of apple pretzels, and the gluhwein did not come in "to go" cups. ::Sigh:: Next time...

The short cut was considerably steeper than the regular route, but got us to the bottom faster. We did have a few moments of fear as we recalled taking a similar "short cut" in Japan while touring the torii gates at Fushimi Inari... That "short cut" lead us down the other side of the mountain, literally miles from where we started. Thankfully, this short cut dumped us out in the parking lot a few short (and flat) blocks to our tour bus. By the time we boarded the bus, the sun had finally come out and burned off the fog... Just in time for us to leave. We got some impressive photos of Neuschwanstein, finally... Out the window of the bus.

Not ideal, but at least we could appreciate the way the castle sits above the valley floor. It's just magic the way you can look up at a mouontain and see a huge, beautiful castle sitting on an outcropping, watching over the valley below. The drive back through the Alps and the southern part of Bavaria was breathtaking, aided by the fact that we could now fully appreciate our surroundings, given that the fog had finally disappeared. This part of Bavaria is rural and agricultural, from what we could see out the window of the bus. Idyllic. If we ever come back this way, I think we will definitely rent a car and spend more time in this area. We definitely regret not taking my parents advice to stay overnight in Fussen. It gives us a reason to come back, though!

Our time in Germany is almost complete. We have a few short hours left to have dinner and pack before we head to the airport in the morning for our long flight home. We have a layover in London, but not long enough to leave the airport. Maybe next time...! Auf wiedersehen!

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Saturday, October 9, 2010

No, seriously. Sore feet.

Today was our last day of touring Munich. When I booked this trip, it seemed like we'd have tons of time to try to fill. As it turns out, time flies when you are having fun!

We started the day (leisurely) with a trip to Starbucks (sigh) to post our blog from last night. We then headed over to the University area in the Schwabing district for lunch at a vegan cafe called Cafe Ignaz. It's such a relief to find fresh vegan food that isn't a pretzel! We had a potato gratin and a cheeseless pizza and enjoyed every last bite. The smoked tofu on top of each was especially delicious.

As it turns out, at this particular cafe, if you order an entree, you get a slice of cake for free. And, as luck would have it, they had vegan cake! The waiter chose our pieces for us and I got a raspberry cream layer cake and Allen got a blueberry torte, of sorts. He said it reminded him of his Mom's rhubarb pie in Minnesota, so it may have been blueberry rhubarb... We ate every last crumb. Goodbye sugar fast! Hello sugar high!

We then headed to the University to see the memorial to the White Rose resistance movement. Hans and Sophie Scholl, along with several other students and one professor, started the movement as a resistance to the Nazi party and to the war in general. Hans and Sophie and one other member, Christoph Probst, were executed by the Nazis in 1943.

The memorial is fairly stark, consisting of stones made to look like blowing pamphlets laid in to the tiles in front of the main building, as well as a stone bust of Sophie and a stone monument to the White Rose group inside the building. Unfortunately, the little memorial museum is closed on weekends, so we didn't get to see the rest of the story, but it was still a moving reminder of the cost of resisting tyranny.

After visiting the University, we walked to the Englischer Garten. It's a huge green zone in the middle of Munich - kind of like Central Park. there are huge lawns where people sit out on blankets or have picnics or play with kids or dogs. It's a beautiful park. We walked to the center to the Chinese Tower to the biergarten there (natch) and had a beer while enjoying the Oompah band.

We then caught the tram to the Viktualienmarkt again for some last minute souvenirs and walked to the Hofbrauhaus for a beer before dinner. We got a table by the door and enjoyed the respite.

We have been walking so much these past two days that my feet are crazy sore. Allen seems to be fine, so I guess commuting every day in Vibrams has paid off. Probably doesn't hurt that he can jog four miles in them too. We're going to Cafe Kopfeck again for dinner and meeting our host, Sandra, there for a drink. Tomorrow we're off to Neuschwanstein!
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Friday, October 8, 2010

Sore feet.

We toured our feet off today. Seriously. We got up early and hit the trail around 9am, give or take. Our first stop was Schloss Nymphenburg on the northwest side of Munich. We took the U-bahn up to Rotzkruezplatz and enjoyed a lovely, if chilly, stroll along a canal up to the Schloss.

I think it was a summer palace for the royal family, but don't quote me on that. For 8 euro a piece, we got to tour the royal apartments, including the "Hall of Beauties", which is a portrait gallery of beautiful women. I'm not sure who commissioned this gallery, or why, but there were, indeed, some lovely young women depicted. We also toured the Marstallmuseum, which houses the collection of royal sleighs and carriages and porcelain.

All I can say is: these people rode in *style*. (And did not believe in hand-me-downs.)

There is an absolutely gorgeous, and huge, garden surrounding the Schloss, so we took a lengthy stroll and stopped at the Amalienburg to see the hunting/entertaining mini-castle. The first room had several doghouses for the hunting dogs to rest and gun cabinets.

The kitchen was also really interesting. We spent several hours in the grounds around Nymphenburg. There were many more buildings to see, but our feet were getting tired and we were getting pretty hungry.

We have been debating what to do for our last 2 days in Germany, but we definitely want to see Neuschwanstein Castle. The castle is about 2 hours south of Munich, so we have to book a tour bus to get there. We could take the train and go without a tour, but it's cheaper and easier to do the pre-packaged tour. We got some info on the tours available at the Hauptbahnhof and then headed over to Marienplatz to find a yarn store and a Birkenstock shoe store (both for Autumn...). We were also starving at this point so we strolled the shops in hope of finding something that might gives us a meal that didn't include a pretzel. As luck would have it we came across a chinese food place that had a vegetarian menu with such exotic German delicacies as tofu and rice noodles. We ducked in there, ordered to lunches and destroyed them in no time at
all. Seriously. We stopped all communication for 10 solid minutes as we inhaled our food. Classy, I know. It hit the spot though. We've been having such small meals during the day - mainly consisting of snacks - that an honest-to-god stir fry was like a miracle.

After a late lunch, we went to the yarn store near Marienplatz. There was a ton of yarn, but not really anything spectacular. The yarn was arranged prettily, but there was mostly wool or things that I could have found in the US. The buttons, however... I told Allen that I sepnt an obnoxious amount on buttons. I didn't want to tell him how much and he didn't want to guess. We'll leave it at that. I will have you know, however, that I am now the proud owner of several eidelweiss buttons, some buttons with hedgehogs on them (!) and four - count them, four - sheep buttons with yarn legs. Totally worth it.

After the yarn store, we headed down the street to Tretter - the largest shoe store in Munich, according to the lady in the yarn store. As we hit the center of Marienplatz, we noticed a big crowd standing around, facing the Rathaus. We realized that it was 10 minutes to 5pm, and everyone was waiting to watch the world famous Glockenspiel. It's a big clock tower on the Rathaus with dancing (and jousting!!) figures, and it goes off only three times per day, including 5pm. We were hesitant to wait the 10 minutes in the huge crowd to watch it, but how many times in your life are you going to be standing in Marienplatz 10 minutes before the Glockenspiel chimes? We decided to wait. There was an American couple next to us, and the husband was helpfully counting down the time until the clock struck 5pm. "45 seconds... 30 seconds... 20...." At least Allen knew when to start recording the video. Allen took a rather lengthy video of the whole thing - close to 10 minutes of chimes and dancing figures. It's a neat sight to see, but a bit anti-climatic for being "world famous". The jousting knights were pretty fun though. We'll try to get the video uploaded, but it's huge, and long, and hi-def videos are hard to take. It looks like a squirrel on crack has hold of the camera most of the time. The Glockenspiel video is better as Allen has learned from our previous attempts to keep the camera fairly still, but it's kinda jumpy.

Once the Glockenspiel show finished, we kept walking until we saw a sign for Tretter. We ducked in and found the Birkenstock section fairly quickly. They didn't have the exact shoes I was looking for, but I still found a perfect pair. They're a bit eye-rollingly stereotypical, as you can see below. But I don't care. Know why? Because I have KITTY FEET!

After dropping some swag off at the apt we're staying in, we went over to the Augustiner-Keller Biergarten. With an unassuming appearance on the outside, this Biergarten can apparently seat 5,000 people. When we went in there were so many different rooms with different feels to them (i.e. level of formality) we were pretty confused as to where to go. There's a basement section where you walk down this pretty precarious spiral staircase into a cellar that turns out to seat a vast number of people.

There was a private function room where we almost sat down in the middle of some reserved meeting, a formal dining area, a couple of pub-esque rooms, and I'm sure we didn't even see it all. We took a seat outside among the chestnut trees where they had free standing gas heaters to make the seats more comfortable again. We had some beers and more pretzels but it was a nice time.

We then got to so far as to make to Starbucks for the nightly blog post but unbeknownst to us, they closed at 9pm and we got there around 8:45. This was exacerbated by the fact Allen went across the street to buy tickets to tour the Neushwanstein and Linderhorf for our trip Sunday. Then, exacerbated by the fact they only accepted cash such that another trip to the EC cash was needed (or at least decided upon). And lastly exacerbated by the fact Allen got totally turned around within the Hauptbahnhof station such that he didn't surface again to our world until closer to 9:30; made for a difficult 45 minutes. We fortunately rendevoused at the next closest coffee shop which theoretically had internet too, but by this point we just wanted dinner and didn't want to go inside to buy more coffee so we could ask them how to access their internet.

So we finally head to dinner at a cute little Indian place by the apt. We had some Dal and Chana Aloo and it too was a comforting taset of "home". We had a good laugh by the end of the night that our "comfort food" has become international cuisine that we know we can (at least generally) trust.

Exhausted after another long day with lots of walking we packed it in for the night and prepared to plan the excursions for the next day.

But wait... What's that on my feet, you ask? Why, yes! Those *are* limited edition, made-special-for-the-200th-anniversary-of-Oktoberfest, Birkenstocks! Complete with gingerbread hearts, eidelwiess, mushrooms (!) and lederhosen (on the side)!

(Turns out there was *another* Tretter - a HUGE one - that had the limited edition Birki's in my size!)
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Thursday, October 7, 2010

I'm pretty sure we just ran the rails...

We started the day with the discovery that somewhere in our travels yesterday Allen lost the Boston Red Sox hat. The Red Sox organization should hire us as PR at this point. Not only do we advertize for them worldwide, but we also leave their merchandise all over the globe. I lost a BoSox hat in Mexico in 2006, and this is the third BoSox hat that Allen has lost. I don't even remeber where the other ones have gone. Somewhere between Columbia and Clemson, SC and Japan, I think. Well, it's not really a vacation until one of us loses a BoSox hat, so now our holiday is complete. P.S. Kiran: Can you get us another blue BoSox hat? We promise not to lose this one. Really.

We had a leisurely morning and got to the Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof early for our train. We passed the time with scrabble (on Allen's netbook) and spent an easy and enjoyable 2 hours on the train back to Munich. Once we arrived at the Munich Hauptbahnhof, we stored our luggage in a locker at the station and boarded the S1 train to Freising. Freising is essentially a suburb of Munich so the S-bahn train goes out there and back. We got to Freising around 2:45pm and got directions to the bus that would take us to Weihenstephan Staadtbraurei. The bus dropped us off at the base of the hill, and the brewery/restaurant is at the top with a beautiful view of the mountains and valleys surrounding. Yesterday was probably 70-75 degrees and sunny. Today was probably closer to 60 and foggy. It went from summer to fall overnight, literally, so we couldn't sit outside and enjoy the view over a beer.

When we got up to the brewery, we discovered that they only do tours on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, so we weren't able to tour the brewery. But we could definitely smell the malt and wort as we walked through the building.

On the back side of the building is the Weihenstephan Brewpub. I visited this pub in 2005 with my grad school advisor, Dieter, and two friends from Clemson, Anna and Christina. When we visited, it was night and Dieter drove, so I didn't really remember the area until we walked in to the building. There are a few small dining rooms and a bar area, so we sat in the main dining room and ordered a beer, a salad and a pretzel each. I had the weissbier dunkel and Allen had the Korbinian.

The Korbinian was deee-lish! A dark, malty beer - it was heavier and thicker than we expected. I had a small one for my second beer while Allen moved on to the Original Hell. Gotta love beer fresh from the brewery. We picked up a few fun souvenirs and took lots of pictures. We noticed a Weihenstephan getrankeshop (drink shop) next door, but it closed at 5pm, and we didn't finish with dinner and drinks until 5:30pm. We probably wouldn't have wanted to haul beer all the way back to Munich anyway.

We took the bus back, but got off one stop before the train station to walk in the downtown area. Let me tell you - Freising is adorable. There is a sweet little pedestrian zone lined with shops and little pubs and such. Most things close around 6pm, so we missed most of the shops, but I did find one little clothes shop - Tally Weijl - that was open. It's kind of like a Forever 21 or American Eagle or something. But this shop also sells shoes... Specifically, boots. Gray boots. To go over leggings. That are inexpensive and *not* made of leather. Super score! I will be showing these off in subsequent photos, I'm sure. Okay - all boys who stopped reading at the word "shoes" can come back now.

We had a lovely stroll back to the train station - there is a little creek running through the town that we passed, plus some fun buildings and green areas.

When we got to the train station, I saw that the train to the Munich Hauptbahnhof left in 3 minutes... We hustled to the appropriate track and got there right as the train pulled up. The train didn't look like the train we took down to Freising, but the next train to Munich was not for 22 more minutes, so on we got.

Here's the part where we may have run the rails.

Once on board, looking for a seat, we realize that this is not an S-bahn train. The metro trains in Munich are either U-bahn or S-bahn. This was neither. The ticket we bought to go to Freising was a metro card, good for two people for the whole day. Before we could discuss whether we should get off or not, the train pulled out of the station.

We found two seats and saw that the train was an "Alex" train. We still have no idea what that means. We also discovered that it was an express of some kind as it was not stopping at any other station. We watched them all go flying by in the dark. We also realized that the train may or may not stop at Munich Hauptbahnhof at all. As we are sitting there pondering what may have been a massive stupidty leak, the ticket clerk walks into the car. She stops at the couple closest to the door and has a long exchange with them regarding their tickets - or lack thereof. Allen handed me his wallet, since he had the metor ticket and the cash and I have more German at my disposal. The ticket clerk spoke with this other couple for 5 minutes or so, and then...

Walked right past us and out of the car.

What?!

We were mystified as to why she stopped to talk to that couple and check their paperwork and skipped right past us. And we were definitely acting squirrelly. We had money out, we were speaking English, and we looked like we clearly did not belong. For whatever reason, she passed us by. We were on pins and needles until the train pulled into the Munich main station. We jumped off the train with the crush of passengers disembarking and counted ourselves lucky. Plus, the ride back was significantly shorter than the ride out - around 20 minutes, rather than about 45 minutes. We may have totally scammed a free ride off the German railway system, but we aren't too fussed about it. We're spending plenty of tourist money... :-)

So today? Total success!

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While we are away...

I got this email from Leon this morning... (He's watching the cats for us while we are out of town.) Apparently the cats are taking full advantage of our absence...

The story you are about to read is true. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.

This afternoon after you went to bed, I biked home and then got in the car and got some food and groceries from the Mediterranean bakery and came over to give the cats their food and eat.

I went downstairs, got the bowls, shook the coins, and was surrounded by furry meowing bodies. Then it hit me like a 1956 Cadillac: there were only four cats there for the drop. Jog, Mimi, Ave, and Fa-Fa: Their eight keen eyes bored into my back as I left up the stairs. I shook the coins again.

And then I saw them, the eyes under the desk. Vega. Under the desk, with the shredded remains between her paws. There was not a hint of regret in her eyes. As I picked her up to examine the scene, I whispered something to her that perhaps she will recall as she spends time in the box: "Bad Kitty"

I am attaching the photographic evidence of the mauling. It is not for the faint of heart. Additionally attached is the culprit caught later attempting to purloin my dinner. Shameless.

(yeah, I accidentally left the greenies tucked away on the desk when I left, fortunately there was no ingestion of bag material, just shredding)
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Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Ein Prosit!

Today was a perfect day. Apparently there is some kind of travel advisory for Americans in Europe, but we haven't heard anything about it here, and we haven't had any trouble with trains or public transportation. (Only hotels...) And before we left Munich, Sandra (our apartment host) told us about a protest going on in Stuttgart. From what I gather, they are building a new train station in Stuttgart and are cutting down 21 trees to do so, and there is a huge protest over it. We saw a big fence by the main train station covered with protest signs, and everyone seems to have a sticker that says "Stuttgart 21" with a red line across it. Other than that, though, we've seen no protests or violence.

We had a leisurely breakfast and headed out to the Volksfest around 10:30am. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, but a bit warmer than we were expecting. Not a problem really, but we both spent the day with rolled up sleeves. The plan was to spend half the day at Volksfest and half the day exploring the city - likely at the Carl Zeiss Planetarium. That was the plan.
From Germany-Stuttgart-2


The Volksfest is similar to Oktoberfest, but more German tourists and fewer non-German tourists. And, Wednesdays are designated as family days. Since Wednesdays are also work days, it was fairly empty when we arrived after 11 am. The fairgrounds are near the Mercedes Benz Museum outside the city center, across the Neckar River. There are still many people in lederhosen and dirndl, but there seems to be some variation based on locale in Southern Germany. Most of the lederhosen we saw today had vests rather than the suspenders we saw in Munich. And the men wore a wooden soled shoe - kind of like Birkenstocks, but wood and hide. There were many more women in lederhosen as well. We saw a few women in Munich in lederhosen, but it seemed to be more of a fashion statement. Here it seems more like an acceptable norm. I'll say this though, you have to have nice legs to pull those things off. No lie.

We took a walk down the length of the fair before we decided on a beerhall. Our first stop was Schwaben Welt.

We sat on the top deck and watched the band and the spattering of people in the hall. Our waiter was kind enough to pose for a photo - his only request was that I not cut off his head. :-) The rafters were festooned with heart-shaped pretzels and hops. Fitting. We decided to "bar hop" since there were several other beer tents to explore and the fairgrounds were still fairly empty.

Our next stop was Sonja Merz. Or Sonja Renz, depending on which beer glass you got. We're still not sure of the distinction. We spent the most time here - mainly because of the band. Let me be the first to tell you: you haven't lived until you've heard an Oompah band cover Tom Jones ("Help Yourself"). The band covered quite a few American songs including "Take me home, Country roads" (John Denver, I'm not kidding) and "YMCA" (Village People). That band was hilarious. There was a table full of American tourists nearby that danced to YMCA as well as a table of European kids who were hamming it up, even though they apparently didn't know the Y-M-C-A arm movements. The whole thing was brilliant.

Once the band took an extended break, and we finished our second beer and radler (respectively), we decided to meander over to our last stop, Furstenberg Festzelt. The beer tent was mostly empty, except for a knot of people around the band stand, but most of the tables were reserved. We finally found a free table a bit behind and to the right of the band. We couldn't see the band so well, but we *could* see the people dancing to the music, which is all you really need... A personal highlight for me was when the band started a medley of music with "Highway to Hell". Worth the price of admission, alone. (It's actually free to get in, but still.) Allen ordered his third volksfest bier, while I ordered the local specialty: a wine spritzer. I know you are thinking wine cooler, but it isn't that. It's a dry red (or white or rose) wine with seltzer, and it's extremely popular in Stuttgart, apparently. It was a welcome break from beer. I think I might make these for myself when I get home, actually. It was quite good and not sweet at all. Radlers are half lemonade and very sweet. Particularly for someone who has been avoiding sugar for 3 months. I'm going to have quite a sugar detox ahead of me when we get home...


After our beer hall tour was complete, we thought we should complete the outing with a few carnival rides. There are some truly terrifying rides at the Volksfest - like those chair things that swing all the way around in a giant circle (upside down). They look like death traps to me, so we settled on the relatively tame ferris wheel and bumper cars. We both banged our knees pretty badly in the bumper cars, but had a blast doing it. And the ferris wheel provided a beautiful view of both the fair and the city. I found a euro coin in the bumper car Allen and I drove, making my total for found money 51 euro. Allen now makes jokes about looking only at the ground when we are out in public. :-)



Last night, at a wine tasting in a local supermarket, a local woman suggested we try a restaurant called "Kiste" in Charlottenplatz for "typical" Schwabian food and drink. We had dinner at Vegi Voodoo (again), first, as we were fairly sure the "typical Schwabian food" was *not* vegetarian. (FYI, it's not.)

We found Kiste easily - right at the exit of the U-bahn in Charlottenplatz, behind a large building with "Die Media" on the side. This restaurant is everything you'd want in a local hangout. It's tiny. And when I say tiny, I mean it - the seating area, including the bar, is about the size of our basement. Maybe a bit smaller, actually. There were 4 tables, total, that sat about 4-6 people each. Allen and I sat at the free table, but were joined in short order by two more couples. Everybody was doing their own thing, so we didn't really converse with anyone else, but it was still a pretty friendly atmosphere. We ordered drinks - a pils bier for Allen and a weinschorle rot (red wine spritzer) for Autumn, and a small kirsch (cherry?) schnapps. Kirsch schnapps is *not* sweet. At all. Allen had to drink most of that as I am not much for hard liquor. It smelled wonderful, though. The waitress seemed confused that we didn't want to eat, so we ordered salads so as to not seem rude. We had already eaten dinner, but being vegan in Germany is much more difficult than being vegan in the US, or even in Japan. We've been eating a metric ton of carbs (literally), so I was craving some vegetables, anyway. Those salads. Were. Delicious! They had an oil and vinegar dressing and had potatoes and pickled radishes on top. Heaven. I snarfed mine down and stole some off of Allen's plate too. We felt a little awkward taking photos in there, as it was so, so small, but we managed to snap a few surreptitiously.

Our waitress was also kind enough to take a photo of us, but I don't think the pictures can convey just how small and cozy that place was. There was the cutest little dumbwaiter from the kitchen (upstairs) to the bar downstairs, which delivered our food. As we left, I ventured upstairs to the ladies room and saw another tiny dining room with maybe 2 or 3 more tables, but they only sat 2 or 4 people each. Even though we were both tired from a day of walking and drinking in the sun, we were both so glad to have stopped in to Kiste. It was definitely worth it.
(The waitress is standing almost in the entrance to the dining room to take this shot. Seriously.)

We made our way back to the hotel for a well earned rest, and are planning our adventures for our remaining days in Munich. Our time in Stuttgart was short, but Stuttgart isn't really touristy like Munich. There are plenty of things to do and see, don't get me wrong, but it just feels more business-like here. We had an absolutely perfect day, though, and will remember our time here fondly. Once we get back to Munich, we are planning a trip to Neuschwanstein castle, and hopefully a trip to the huge thermal spa at Bad Reichenhall (near the Austrian border and Berchtesgaden). We will also try to take a half-day trip out to Freising to tour the "oldest brewery in the world" - Weinstephan. We have a lot left to do, and a very short time left to do it!

We're working on getting some of the videos up on Youtube, but our camera takes *huge* files, so we need to resize them first. But here are the rest of the photos from today!

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