Füssen Day 2

Another rainy and very foggy day here in the mountains.  We made early reservations for a tour of the Neushcwanstein Castle.  This is one of the most famous castles in the world.  Visited by many every day.  We were lucky to get a tour with a total of only 11 people.  The bad part was - even close up you could not see the beauty of the castle setting, in the wooded mountains because of the dense fog.

 

 

The castle was started in 1874 and still not completed in 1886 when the king died.  After his death in 1886, all work stopped on the castle.  This castle is said to be the inspiration for the Disney castle.

On a Clear Day!

We decided to drive to Oberammergau and stopped at the Echelsbacher Bridge on our way.  The bridge was built in 1929 and is 250 feet above the bottom of the gorge.

Oberammergau is famous for the staging of the passion play once every 10 years and wood carving.  Here is a sample from some of the shops.

 

On the return to Füssen, we stopped at Ettal.  A Benedictine monastery  Ettal dating back to 1330.  The church was rebuilt after a fire in 1774.

 

The WeisKircke is a church in the Weis or meadow.   It was built in the mid 1700’s and is another Baroque Rococo style church like many in this part of Bavaria.

 

Füssen Day 1

Lazy day today.  A late start, but found a great breakfast/ brunch buffet at Brunner’s café in the altstadt of Füssen.

 

 

 

After breakfast we left to see the Bavarian Castles.  Along the drive we stopped at the Plansee in Austria, and walked along the beautiful mountain lake.

 

 

We made it to Schloss Linderhof, and saw King Ludwig II “hunting” castle.  King Ludwig II built three castles and they are major tourist attractions here in Bavaria.

Had dinner at a local Bavarian restaurant.  Ate like kings. Feasted on Jägerschnitzel. 

Travel Day - Florence to Munich

We are on the move again.  This time from Florence Italy to Füssen, Germany.  A long day ahead.  Steve gets prepared.

 

Florence to Munich by train, the rent a car and drive to Füssen.  We have a very tight connection on the train trip.  We are supposed to go from Florence to Bologna; connect to a train going from Bologna to Munich.  Rail Europe scheduled us to arrive in Bologna at 11:35; and depart at 11:52.  Dan contacted them and asked if 17 minutes was enough time.  They assured us it was.  However if the first train was late???  Not so sure…  So we started out. 

 

The first leg of our journey started at 9:30a. Taxi’s couldn’t be scheduled beforehand, because of a European Bike Race in Florence this weekend. We left the Florence apartment, and schlepped our way through town back to the train station.   We arrived at the station an hour before our schedule departure time at 10:00am.  We located our train on the departure board; and stood around watching the board for an indication of which platform we needed to get to board the train.  It was like watching water boil.  At 10:45 still no indication of a boarding platform (scheduled to leave at 11:00).  Then a change: the train was going to be five minutes late.  Now our connection time was down to 12 minutes.  At 11:00 our departure time, the five minutes was changed to 10 minutes, and finally a platform was indicated.  Half of the people in the train station now started moving towards platform 9. We boarded, found our seats without a problem and waited.  Finally the train left the station… at 11:15.  Now 15 minutes late, we were sweating this train ride… two minutes to connect. 

We prepared for this and got our luggage stowed so we could jump off the train and run.  At 11:45 the train arrived in Bologna.  We had lined up at the door and were waiting for the conductor to open it.  He opened the door; we jumped off, throwing the luggage onto the platform and landing ourselves close by.  Picking up all the pieces we sprinted to the escalator.  Not really sure of where we were going, just following others who we also running.  At the top of the escalator, Tracey was the first to spot our train on the departure board.  Lights were flashing next to our train number, a signal that it was departing soon. We had to get to platform 8.  We were all asking anyone who looked official how to get to platform 8?  As you might expect, we got two different answers.  Panicking, confusion, and now not knowing where to go, the crowd was running for the next set of escalators.  Bewilderment, chaos!   Now we find out that directions given to Dan are for platform 18; not 8.   Teri has the right idea and heads for the escalators going up towards platform 8.  We have to get up two more levels.  The escalators seem to take forever.  Off the first escalator, and sprint across the room the second escalator.   Mickey is unbelievable, she says she can’t run, but don’t believe that.  Up the second escalator, down the long corridor on we finally spot the arrow point to platform 8.  Up another flight of stairs… but this time - no escalator.  We have to pick up our bags and climb the steps.  We are up; there is our train; and the first car is our car… but the doors ARE CLOSED!!!  A conductor is standing on the platform pointing to his watch.  The platform is completely empty.   Tracey, then Kenny, push a button, and the doors open.   Tracey is on, Kenny is on, Teri is on, and  we can’t move any further…  There are two people in the door way who will not move.  The conductor blows his whistle…. Steve is in the door way and will not let the doors close. Mickey is telling the people to move.   Tracey picks up the women’s bag and moves it, but the woman is not happy about that, and now we have words between them (anyone surprised?).  The woman finally relents, and backs up.  We all get on the train, doors close, and it starts to move out of the station at precisely 11:52. Sweaty, but relieved we made it.  NO time to spare.

 

 

On our long train ride we happen to pass the Orient Express… and some gorgeous views of the Alps.

 

We arrived in Munich at a peak travel time through the main train station; thousands of people, coming and going to Oktoberfest at 6:30pm.   Mickey, Tracey, Steve, and Ken found a spot at the train station to settle down, and do some serious people watching.

 

Meanwhile Teri and Dan hustled out to the airport (40 minutes away) to pick up a van.  Teri reserved a van through her nephew at Enterprise, and Dan is the volunteer driver.  When they arrived at the airport, Enterprise was ready and had the reservation. Unfortunately they did not have the large van because it was 'damaged.  They offered two cars but Teri quickly said 'NO!!' so we decided on a smaller 7 passenger van.  Teri and Dan raced back to the train station and found the others.  Now we tried to cram all the luggage and 6 people into a van better suited for 2 parents and 4 young kids.  Parked in a taxi only zone, we were rushed and had several horns letting us know we did not belong there.  With all the luggage in the car – there was only 5 seats were left for six people.  Four (Teri, Tracey, Mickey and Ken) packed themselves into three tiny seats.  On our way from the taxi parking spot, and in a hurry to get out of town, we got out of the train station… sort of.  After a few turns, the driver (Dan) found himself on the street car rails and along side a street car going in one direction, while another was coming at us head on… Quick reactions and hitting the gas got us out of the tight spot; we weaved our way onto the proper part of the road.  Then brail driving… drive in one direction for a while and see if we find the signs that we like; if not, then we turn and drive in another direction.  With no going back, (because we couldn’t retrace our steps if we had to), we spot the highway we need to take us to Füssen.  About 90 minutes later, we are close to the town.  We stop three times and ask for directions; each time getting a little closer.   At a Gasthaus in Hopferau, we find a cook who tells us in excruciating detail - exactly how to get to the house. We arrive and find a note form the owner explaining he is out for the night.   He goes on to say where we can find keys for the house.   Inside we discover a great apartment (up two flights of stairs), that we are all very happy with.  Wonderful way to end our day!  

Florence Day 3 (updated)

Visited the Duomo. The third largest Cathedral (After St. Peters, Rome; St. Paul’s, London).  We started early today and climbed to the cupola at the top of the dome.  Beautiful view of the entire city of Florence.

Looked around inside the church and at the excavations under the church.  The church’s exterior is very ornate; the interior much more plain.  This is the ceiling in the transept of the church (the dome). 

In the 1966, excavations under the church found the remains of the previous church located here St. Reparata’s from the 1200’s and 1300’s centuries.  Much of this is now open to the public.  The mosaic floors here are from the 400’s AD.

Visited the Galileo museum.  Mathematical tools, nautical tools and astronomy tools and our favorite, a reliquary of Galileo's fingers and tooth.

 

 

Visited the Baptistery next to the Duomo.  The ceiling is a beautiful mosaic of many scenes from the bible.  The tiles glisten and after a few minutes of looking at the scenes and interpreting them, you neck is stiff and sore.

 

Shopped in the street markets.

 

 

Florence at night!

 

Florence Day 2

We started off at the Uffizi Museum including famous Renaissance era paintings by Leonardo DeVinici, Raphaelo and Michelangelo.

Next we went to Santa Croce and saw the tombs of Galileo, Dante and Michelangelo.

Michelangelo's Tomb

 

We made a stop at the Misuri Leather Store owned by a nice couple we met the night before while having drinks.  Here is Tracey modeling a beautiful leather jacket with the designer Daniel.

 

Steve learns how to take creative color pictures

 

Took a short bus ride to see the view of the city from Piazza Michelangelo.

 

Back to meet Nancy at Colin’s place for a very nice dinner and a walk around town to see the artist's chalk drawing on the street.  It will be gone in the morning after the street sweeper goes by.