Old Friends, The Von Trapps and More

When You Know You Are Old

You know you are old when you visit the girl who came to be your au pair at 18 and she has four kids with one on the brink of the teenage years.  PLUS, we had our kids late so we are REALLY old.  We couldn't wait to see Freddy and her family.  Justin, Alex and I had seen Freddy and met her husband Steffen 14 years ago when we backpacked through Europe but Michael hadn't seen her since she left us over 20 years ago.  It was one of those wonderful things.  It was like we'd seen her yesterday.  In an effort to win the hearts of her boys I had brought Lucha Libre masks assuming, correctly, that such things were not available in Germany. And for Sophie a Mardi Gras mask.  Philip was particularly excited to get Ironman who is his favorite Super Hero.  So, they will be pummeling each other and wrestling throughout the house while I peaceably travel on.  My work is done.  We also got to have dinner with her parents Jurgen and Petra.  We drank wine and talked long into the night about politics, travel and family.  It was just great.

Sophie gets my vote for Mardi Gras Queen

Who are these masked men....?

I wish I could remember who got which mask but Max, Constantine and Philip-- you are all are Super to us.

This is the Zaiser family home.  Steffen and Freddie renovated the whole thing -- including an additional house on the property.  The boys and I saw the "before" and now we see the "after" -- truly a beautiful job.

After a long evening of great food, abundant wine and animated conversation.  From left to right:  Jurgen, Freddy, Steffen, me and Petra.  You know where Michael is.

Freddy lives in Ludwigsburg which is near Stuttgart.  We stayed at an apartment nearby that had been, at one time, a sawmill.  It was very cool in that they had left the giant saw in the middle of the living room.  The photo will tell the tale.  Each of the places we stayed this time were really interesting and different.

Freddy took us to the Ludwigsburg Residential Palace one day and explained it all to us.  This place had the most amazing gardens I've seen in ages-- maybe ever.  It was so over the top in all regards that I asked Freddy how they made their money -- I mean this was not a King we are talking about.  "Well," said Freddy, " He sold the male children of his villagers off as mercenaries."  I think it was the 30 Years War.  There was a lot of that going on all over Europe.  Take a look at the photos.  Either there were a LOT of males in the village or he had another game going too.

Even in Ludwigsburg the colored cow craze has caught on.

One facade of the Residential Palace.

Another view of one of the gardens with the Residential Palace in the background.

This castle tower was added on the grounds to make it appear more ancient.

The flora & fauna on the grounds was astounding.

A wood stork --- legendary deliverer of babies.

Spoonbills

Pheasant

A Sacred Ibis

The Residential Palace had it own private carousel.

More flowers from the garden.

It also had its own private swing in a covered gazebo (given the weather when we were there it is no wonder it was covered.

The garden also had some of the most unusual plants such as this...

and this carnivorous pitcher plant.

The sculptor who made the statue on the right obviously had children.

An Egyptian Goose

Another facade of the Residential Palace.

An interior ceiling in the palace.

To give you an idea of the size, this is a view from one end of the palace looking across the courtyard to the other end. All of the buildings of the palace were connected and surrounded the courtyard.

I forgot to mention that through this all, Europe had been drenched with rain and there was devastating flooding in Bavaria (our next stop) and Air France (our carrier) was threatening to strike and most of France (our future stop) was striking in general so it was shaping up to be a typical Searles holiday but we are just so PAST that.  "Hey," said Michael. "We're retired.  They strike, we just stay until they figure it out.  Damned if I'm paying for a change ticket.  Oh, maybe we should buy an umbrella."

While staying near Ludwigsburg, we took a day trip to Rothenburg ob der Tauber which is on the Romantic Road so called for its many charming towns and also to lure tour buses and people toting Rick Steve books.  However, we beat the crowds and it is charming as all get out.  The boys and I had stayed there and I wanted to show Michael some of the things we'd seen that he had missed.

More 30 Years War Stuff

All you need to know is that it was between Catholics and Protestants and lasted, well, 30 years and caused massive death and destruction as war is so wont to do.  Well, Rothenburg was Protestant  and the Catholics stormed the town and the Rothenburgians killed 300 of the invaders.  Which really annoyed them so they began to destroy the town.  However, the draught master, Meistertrunk, challenged the head invader to a challenge to drink a giant stein of beer in one quaff.  When he failed to do it, Meistertrunk went right at it, chugged it down, and saved (what was left of) the town.  Now they have an elaborate clock that depicts that epic moment at regularly scheduled intervals. History is FUN.

A tower with clock forming part of the wall that completely surrounds Rothenburg.

The designs created on the facades were particularly photographic. Each facade is unique as can be seen from this series of photos.

This is the Rothenburg town hall...

which dates from 1681.

This series of photos shows the clock tower referenced in Deirdre's narrative above.

The beggar bowl reveals that this is not a real statue.

The town even featured a covered bridge.

This is the hostel where Deirdre stayed with our boys on their trip fourteen years ago.

Walking through the town Deirdre spotted this wood stork's nest...

with four wood stork chicks in the nest.

Munchen Our Way Through Munich

The only site that we didn't see due to the inundations was Dachau.  Well, we made it to the parking lot, paid the fee but then the heavens opened in a serious way. Even the parking lot was a sobering experience.  I pictured Dachau as this remote facility far from any city where these evil things could happen with few people's knowledge.  Wrong.  Dachau is right next to Dachau the town.  Now, Dachau the town has probably grown since WWII but STILL. Makes you wonder about the nature of humans.  Perhaps particularly now.  But I won't go there....

On a happier note, we stopped in this little town called Esslingen which was excruciatingly cute and fun.  They had a market (we love markets) so we stopped by, had breakfast and picked up some stuff to stock the Munich apartment with.   We also stopped by the champagne brewery (well, it's not a brewery and you can't call it champagne since it's not in Champagne but you get the idea) at 10:30 in the morning at the suggestion of a local we met at breakfast who had begun drinking well before 10. They do that there. You'll see how cute  this town is in the photos.

Another Egyptian Goose in Esslingen.

Despite the dreary day, another cute town...

with amazing old buildings,...

a great market,

another amazing clock tower,...

and steeple.

Everyone raves about Munich and it is interesting but probably doesn't hit my top 10 cities.  We did the Residence and THAT was interesting.  My favorite part was when the guide was showing photos of the various palaces that the Wittelsbach family had.  He said, "You can visit many of them today. Oh, but not that one (showing this phenomenal palace).  We have turned it into a rehabilitation facility for our citizens who are struggling with addiction."  Sign me up! I can't wait for the U.S. to turn the Newport Cottages into rehabs.  Well, I'll probably have to wait....

This entryway into the palace was made entirely of seashells.

This hallway was grand and imposing.

The palace also had some very elaborately decorated furnaces in many of the rooms.

The furniture was definitely "over the top" in the Baroque style, ...

as were the furnaces,...

the decorated panels,...

another furnace,...

an even more elaborate furnace,...

all designed to impress and overwhelm.

Even the bedchambers, as can be seen in this one example, were very ornate.

This room clearly demonstrates the ornate nature of the palace. Each Wedgewood vase has its won golden perch,...

and the gold decorations even extend to the ceiling.

This was the most intriguing Meissen porcelain figurine on display.  I mean REALLY.  What is that about?

Outside the palace while roaming the streets of Munich we encountered this zodiac clock,...

this awesome structure,...

and this statue where they didn't stint on the gold leaf.

St Johann Nepomuk in what is better know as the Asam Church. This Baroque church was built as a private chapel by the Asam brothers & measures only 22 by 8 meters.

This may be one of the only theaters left that paints the billboards for their coming attractions.

Back to the exterior of the "Asam" church, with its Baroque exterior as an be seen in this series, with the final photo of the Asam brothers residence to the left of the church.

Its hard not to be tempted by all of these "goodies" on display.

A sign that should probably be more common in a lot of places.

This is the Cuvillies Theater, which was in another section of the palace.

The human corbel in the theater.

Another interesting feature of traveling in Europe are all of the elaborate fountains. These photos show some detail from different sections of the fountain.

Michael wanted to see Salzburg so we day tripped from Munich.  To get him in the mood I sang the entire score from the Sound of Music which really DID put him in a mood.  Not much to say.  Will give you a couple of photos.  Favorite was the dwarf garden at Mirabell Palace just because it was so weird.  They pointed out that they had used "actual dwarfs" as the model for each statue. OK.....

Oh, one more thing in Salzburg.  They had these really cool horse baths called Pferdeschwemme -- honestly who can pronounce these words. They are beautiful and you lead the horse in one side, soap him up, spray him off in the fountain, walk him out the other side and voila! sparkling, clean horse.  I'm sure Michael has pictures.

Salzburg had more elaborate floral displays,...

as well as the dwarf statues mentioned above. Here are but a few of the dwarf statues.

This statue was obviously not of a dwarf & was at the Mozarteum, a university specializing in music and the dramatic arts.

This "lock as a sign of my love" has gotten seriously out of hand. It must be a conspiracy by the lock manufacturers.

This elevator was one method of getting atop the Festengsberg, upon which is perched the Hohensalzburg Castle. Deirdre declined to take this.

This was a horse bath, originally built in the 1700's and now a fountain. For you "Sound of Music" fans, this was the filming location for "My Favorite Things".

The skies above this building give you an idea of how threatening it could be at times in our travels.

So we took the funicular (and not the elevator) to go see Hohensalzburg Castle.

From the viewpoint of the castle you could see the ancient walls surrounding Salzburg, some of which date from 1280.

Construction of the castle began in 1077 and was expanded in the late 14 & early 1500's.

This was definitely the most elaborately & ornately decorated furnace we encountered.

While not as over the top as the Munich Palace,...

it was still very lavishly decorated for its time.

The castle had displays of weapons and armaments from over the years. This portable gas machine from WW I was most intriguing.

A view of Salzburg and the Salzach River from the Castle.

Well, that's it for this installment.  We'll move from here to Mad Ludwig's Castle, the Bodensee, Burgundy and the Rhine.  Hope you all (well Americans) had a great 4th.  

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