Honeymoon
The first 2 days were spent in Munich, Germany. We walked downtown, to some gardens, lots of window shopping, attempted to visit the Augustiner brewery. The most exciting night of the trip was right off the bat with a trip to the Hofbräuhaus (restaurant). They have picnic tables inside the large hall where everyone sits next to each other and drinks beer, eats pretzels, and talks while listening to the old German band playing.
We met Jörg, pronounced 'Yoo-rg' [the policeman from Stuttgart], Leza [blonde cutie from Denmark] and her boyfriend Patrick [from Hambug] and his mom Angelique [I think]. Cleck told Patrick he couldn't understand why he wouldn't just marry Leza already!!! Afterward, we had some Norwegians take our picture on the lions.
Cleck's uncle Vernon lives in Vienna - so of course we planned to see him and his wife Monika. He picked us up from the train station in Vienna. It was so nice for them to let us stay with them for a couple days and to have some locals show us Vienna. We visited some major sites, including but not limited to, Schönbrunn (Austrian equivalent of Versailles); loads and loads of beautiful buildings, statues, and fountains; Prater (like the state fair); and fun restaurants and cafe's.
After consuming the big cities for almost a week, we wanted to relax in the countryside - so off we were to Graz (still the 3rd largest city in Austria). The train ride to Graz was absolutely incredible. It was more like a sightseeing trip than just a means to a new destination. We stayed at a beautiful American hotel with their helpful employees - the Courtyard Marriot! The town was very, very cute and seemed quite ancient to me. For some reason, my favorite memories of the place were walking for about 1.5 hours back to our hotel (we mis-read and thought it would take 20 minutes), walking clear around the airport, and also chilling in our hotel room reading Harry Potter. We also found out that Arnold the Governor is from near Graz.
After hearing about the popular bike trail along the Danube from Uncle Vernon, and after deciding I still wanted to stay active on the honeymoon, we thought it would be a good idea to try it out! Our original goal was to go from Passau, Germany to Budapest, Hungary. However, we heard from too many people how dangerous the trail was after passing Vienna. So we rented bikes in Vienna and decided stayed until the next morning. We spent the night playing chess at our hotel. Not the board game - on the patio! It was my first time so Cleck taught me how to play. :)
So early in the morning, we loaded our bikes on the train that would take us to Passau. Passau must be beautiful but we only stayed about two minutes. I say it must be beautiful because I have never seen so many old tourists in my life, and Cleck taught me that old people know where the best stuff is! We rode the remainder of the afternoon to a village called Engelhartszell, our favorite part of the bike ride. We stayed at a 'zimmer', a common place where the bikers stay the night. A nice old Captain and his wife were our hosts. They had such an amazing home, with a nautical theme. But this was real nautical with pipes on the walls and everything, not at all try-hard. We stayed up that night talking and laughing with another group of cyclists.
Overall, Cleck and I both agreed that the beginning of the trail was BEAUTIFUL and the end was too hot and a little boring. At least I got a tan! And by the way, riding straight through the city on bikes in the middle of the day was a BLAST! Although Cleck might disagree...
After dropping off our bikes in Vienna, we headed straightway to Munich, our beloved second home. However, it was getting late by the time the train was getting to Salzburg, so we decided to hop off and stay there one night. We got a room near the dumpy train station at another American hotel, the Ramada. The best hotel room ever! After staying there one night we decided it was just so nice that it would be better to stay another night. And then it turned into three nights! We just hung out in our room and ventured out for only a couple hours per day.
After arriving in Munich, we knew we'd only have two days until going home, and boy were we ready to come home. However, our favorite things about the trip were in Munich - the food, the beer, the beergardens, the people, and the clean city. We loved it.
It was fun learning some of the German language. After I learn Spanish again, and then after Chinese (Mandarin), I'd like to learn German. I'm sure Cleck would like the same thing. One thing they do is combine words (nouns). So the main train station in the south of the city would be one word, Sudbahnhof. Sud = South. Bahn = Train. Hof = yard (station). The longest word in the German language is Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellscha
Our favorite thing to eat was sausage, sauerkraut, with mustard; pretzels and cheese; and sandwiches with yummy meat and cheeses. Actually, I fell in LOVE with almost all the German food. One time we had curry sausage - YUM! And the sauerkraut there is completely different than here - night and day... And the mustard! Ohhh, the mustard. We bought a bunch to bring back because there is just no equivalent here. And no, you can’t have any.
The reputation for German beer couldn't be more accurate. It tastes so good, not the typical "beer" taste like we Americans think. For instance, the weisse beer (wheat beer), holy cow, tasted like heaven - like bread and bananas and cloves. The dunkel (dark) beer was also great. On a side note, I also got my first taste of a porter (english), I am now in love...
posted by Family Blog @ 7:54 PM
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