Deutsches Museum Highlights

We just arrived in Prague! Here in Hotel Hastal where internet is limitless, and the private bathroom is within our room--we are in heaven.

Now back to the Deutsches Museum. My favorite was the glass harmonica invented by Benjamin Franklin.

Many of the interactive exhibits in chemistry, physics and optics looked really cool, but the descriptions were only in German, so they did not work for us too well. We also spent a long time in the Mining section of the museum and went out to the Sundial Garden for some great views of the city.

More From Munich

Yesterday we left Munich for the day to visit Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein castles. Hohenschwangau castle was built in the first half of the 19th century by King Maximilian II of Bavaria, and for many years served as the summer and hunting residence for the Kings of Bavaria. Yet it is the Neuschwanstein castle that is most famous, and apparently is the most visited tourist attraction in Germany.

It was Ludwig II, sometimes referred to as the “Swan King” and “Mad King Ludwig,” who envisioned and began building Neuschwanstein in the second half of the 19th century. Ludwig II died a mysterious death, and the castle was never completed. Ludwig himself spent less then 200 days living in the castle. Curiously it was open to the public only 6 weeks after his death. Of the two castles, Newschwanstein, which served as the inspiration for the Disney’s Sleepy Beauty castle, is certainly the most exuberant in its interior decoration. Unfortunately, photos inside are not allowed.
However interesting the castles may be, the experience of visiting Germany’s busiest tourist attraction at the height of the tourist season can be quite stressful. From the train station of the little town, called Fussen (about two and a half hours train ride from Munich), we literally had to squeeze our way onto the bus that took us 5km up into the hills to the castles.

Today we headed up to the top of Frauenkirche for excellent views of the city. We managed to avoid any sausage for lunch. Instead I had a some sort of a herring sandwich and Nick also had some sort of a fish sandwich at Viktualienmarkt. We then spent the afternoon at the Deutsches Museum, a place Nick has talked about ever since we met. He has been there before when he was in Munich 10 years ago.

We then returned to Viktualienmarkt for some fruit. After a brief rest we headed to the Englischen Garten for dinner.

Chinese Tower Biergarten, where we had dinner tonight.



P.S. Online again today, because Nick had to do something online for work.

Let the Vacation Begin

We arrived in Munich last night and started out by having some "wurst" and beer for dinner at the Viktualienmarket Beer Garden.

This morning we took a walking tour around the Old Center. We ate lunch at the "world's most famous beer hall," the Hofbrauhaus.

Nick is having a Weiss beer, which is a wheat beer, and I am having a Radler, which is half lemon-lime soda, half beer.

In the afternoon we went to the Alte Pinakothek ("Old Art Gallery")--the main attractions for me were paintings by Albrecht Durer, Raphael, and Rubens.

The ice cream in Munich is DIVINE and relatively cheap at 1 Euro/scoop.

Hotel Atlanta offers an excellent location for an excellent price. However, our very private bathroom is across the hall from our room.

Tomorrow we are traveling to Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles.

There likely will be no more posts until we make it to Prague on Thursday night, as internet here is neither free nor consistent.