Neuschwanstein and Munich

Last Friday Michelle, Steffen and I hopped back in the car and headed towards Neuschwantstein which is the castle that inspired Walt Disney's 'Disney Castle'. It was pouring the whole time we were driving in our little Fiat. We crossed into Austria, 3 minutes later we were back in Germany. Austria is immediatly so much prettier. The area that we were in was so beautiful, just how you imagine the stereotypical Germany to be which the green fields, mountains, lakes, castles shalala. It was all there, in Bavaria.
We reached our destination and after a while of contemplating we took a horse and carriage ride up the mountain to the castle. There was no way I was walking up there. Steffen found it amusing that the horse kept farting all the time in our faces. We made it up there and it really made a great impression. We couldn't go inside the castle because we didn't want to line up in the rain but the views were great and there's a bridge on one side of the castle where you can get the best photo. If you go make sure you get to this bridge, if I remember right it's called the marinebrucke.

After we caught the bus down the mountain and looked around the lake, brought some things then drove onto Munich.

I would have rathered to go to Salzburg, where The Sound of Music was filmed but it was rainy with low clouds so it wouldn't have been any good anyway. In Munich it had taken us forever to find parking, Steffen became extremely frustrated with the driving situation and I was growing tired and unexcited of walking in the rain again. We did it anyway and Munich was just okay though I can imagine it would be much better given the heavens weren't opening up on you. We didn't spend too long here and were all basically happy to start driving home. In the end it was just a simple day really, so that's all I can think of to write and hopefully some pictures can be up soon. Believe me, no one is more annoyed than I am that I've forgotten this golden appliance or whatever it is.
Just a note, the next posts will have a different style of writing. Ive been keeping a diary here and updating it pretty frequently so I'm just going to copy it onto this blog so instead of a boring recount it will be fresh words of how I felt in the moment and as things happened. That will all start in 2 days, see you then.

12 hours

It's 12 more hours round about till THE trip begins. I'm almost packed and stumbled across this not long ago.

http://niemann.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/03/red-eye/

During the trip we have 6 flights which will bring my total of flights so far on this adventure up to 12. I hate airports. The most interesting flight coming up though is the midnight flight from Barcelona to Istanbul. Midnight departure and 4:15 arrival. We will not be leaving that airport till it's light and safe. This will be Istanbul after all. So this little picture blog post in the link above could be a slight hint of whats come of the Red Eye flights...

Mainfest and Camping

Last week Steffen and I joined a few friends to visit the Mainfest which occurred down on the riverside in Frankfurt. It was fun, a bit smaller than I expected though. We went on the flying chairs 3 times (then another time when we went back with Michelle) and another ride called the break dancer which really threw you around. Steffen had to have me almost in a headlock to stop my head from moving so much. I wanted my highland cow beanie for protection.

We rode our bikes home then the next day packed up some clothes and my backpack to go camping at the lake. We took our bikes on the train then rode them to the lake which was about 20 minutes away. We really looked like travellers when Steffen had the back pack with the sleeping bags and tents joined on, it was really fun.
At the camping site we pretty much parked our tent in the middle of a group but it was the only space left. They really didn't know how to take us these 40 year olds but in the end they were louder and up later than us. Here's just some pictures from the lake.

The next day we checked out, brought some chocolate milk and croissants and went for a ride around town while we waited for the train back to Offenbach. The town was just the typical German style town. It had a MaiBaum, which would have been awesome to see all done up.
We also visited the herb garden which had a loud sheep.

I swear from outside the wall it would have sounded like we were hitting it it was so loud.
The train came and we made our way back home in time to pick Michelle up from Frankfurt. There was way too much bike riding on this day but was still fun.

Hamburg

Last Sunday Michelle arrived from Berlin and then that Monday we hired a car and travelled to Hamburg. The drive up seemed so long and it was hard to keep awake, it seemed like 2pm when it was only 11am. We made it to Hamburg and began walking around with Steffen being our tour guide. Hamburg was nice though it wasn't a pretty as I thought it was made out to be. It has been written in guide books that it's the most beautiful German city but I personally think that would be Berlin.
We walked over to where the ships use to dock, the old collector houses. It was actually really interesting as Steffen told us how they had little cranes that helped get the loads from the ships up to the level where they would be stored.
After we kept walking towards the huge harbour where all the boats are now kept. The wharf/bridge just never ended. A random fact about Hamburg - The city has more bridges than Venice, which is hard to believe but true.
Michelle and I then caught an elevator to the top on a church bell tower and got a birds eye view of Hamburg. Really we weren't sure what we were looking at but we found the Hamburg Dom which is like an amusement park which we didn't know was there.
After we made our way to an old destroyed church which reminded me of the one in Koln but it just wasn't as grand, or in one piece.
By now we were starving and looking everywhere for food. Eventually we found a food court in a large shopping centre called the Europa passage. There were so much better shops in here than in Frankfurt. After eating we had no time for shopping but went for a walk around a large lake. Once again I was reminded of Copenhagen with all the copper roofs.

It was kind of gross to look down at the water though because it was green. A really bright green, all along the edges which was weird. Eventually I got the feeling it was going to rain soon so we headed back to the car and as soon as we were out of the car park it began to rain. Michelle was amazed at how I knew, I just said I've been in Germany for too long. The drive home was much better than the one up as we were more awake and Michelle told us more about her past trips in Sweden and Norway. We also discovered Knopper's which are so yum. Overall it was a good day and another fun road trip.

Denmark

As soon as I woke up the next day after being back from Paris I booked my flight to Copenhagen Denmark. 3 days later I was on a plane again and heading north. The main reason for going to Denmark was to visit a friend that I had had contact with since around 2006. We met over Myspace (yep, thats how far back we go, to the Myspace days.) and have been on contact ever since. I must admit I was a bit nervous about finally meeting Stephanie and her boyfriend Alex but I knew I had nothing to worry about. Surely if something was suss I would have picked up on it in the last 4 years. After an hour long flight I arrived and met Stephanie for the first time. It was weird. To finally be able to put a voice to the person in the pictures and apparently I was once again a bit of a let down because I didn't have a true blue Aussie accent but we were so happy to finally meet each other. That night we just took everything easy back at their place which was really great. They had recently renovated and I for one really loved the place. I also met Chloe this night. Chloe is Stephanie dog and we became best friends really fast. I hadn't been close to a dog for almost 8 months and really missed it so Chloe was getting all my attention and hugs.

The next day we went into Copenhagen via bus as they lived a short way out of the city in the North Zealand area. I really loved Copenhagen. The was a certain atmosphere about the city, actually this went for most of Denmark. It was far more relaxed and more positive than Germany could ever be. Plus the TV shows were all in English rather than being dubbed, so every Dane knows their English. But back to Copenhagen. We walked down købmagergade which was the shopping street where we also found and walked up the circle tower.
This tower had a ramp instead of stairs, apparently horse and carriage up there. Because why should a King have to walk? The view from up there was pretty cool, you could see Sweden!
This bridge connects Denmark and Sweden and it takes about 10- 15 minutes to cross.
We then decided to go on a boat tour which showed us around the harbour and some canals which were all really nice. Another nice this about Copenhagen was all the copper roofs, it was a nice change to the boring black or just flat roof.

It's so great sometimes what you can find out on tours like these. For example the dome in the picture above was made out of the Danes old copper pots and pans because there was no other copper left. And I would have never spotted these old Christianborg Palaces on top of these lamps.
We then had lunch on Nyhavn which could be the most popular canal street in Denmark. It really had all the character I thought it would with the restaurants on the side of the street and all the boats in the centre.
Afterwards we slowly walked towards Amalienborg Palace where Prince Fredrick and Princess Mary just had their place renovated.
In the side of these guard boxes is a heart, it's so cute. Before checking out the new renovations we walked a little further to get an ice cream and to see where the Little Mermaid would be. Right now she is in China for a world Expo. So where she should be is a TV screen with a live viewing of her in China. Which, if you think about it is pointless because in the day in Denmark it is night in China so you can't really even see her. It was a bit depressing. Princess Mary's new house was not though. The wall painting in the palace her completely downright amazing and so modern. It was cool to see their offices and studies and where they'll have their meals. Some things also had a bit of an Australian twist so it was special in that way too. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take photos. Shock Horror as always. Slowly we made it back to where the bus would be. We also stopped at a supermarket before getting home and here I made a new discovery. In Denmark they had electronic price tags on things. So instead of someone going around and changing all the tags for specials or so on they can just do it on one computer. I thought this was super clever.
We just took things easy that night and the next day. We played some Wii, did some shopping and took Chloe for heaps of walks. Also while shopping I tried this funny dish which had mince, lasagna, corn, peas and a creamy sauce in it. So weird but actually quite nice. Then that night we went back into Copenhagen and went to the small amusment park Tivoli which the Danes pronounce as Toolee. This place was so cute it's very old. Here there are some new rides like the rollercoaster we went on. It cost about 10€ to go on and lasted for about 15 seconds but was so much fun.
Every night at Tivoli they have a little marching band of boys and a princess in a carriage go through as a tradition. I've used this word too much in the post already but it was, cute.
There was another ride there which had you in a small plane and spun you round, upside down and everything. There was no way I was going on that. Though if you do go on it when the plane reached the end there's a little ad saying that if you liked this ride you should consider joining the Danish Air Force as the ride is sponsored by them.
Whilst in Tivoli I discovered the amazing designer Lisbeth Dahl. She's a Danish actress that does mainly comedy but had come out with this line of decor which is so pretty, definitely worth a look. Tivoli is also where I bought my first Dala Horse which I'm so proud of, where I had my first BokBok. Well, this is what we called it because I couldn't pronounce the Danish name for the food but it was like waffle chips with ice cream. Here we had our dinner in a tree house too which was cool and it was all Viking inspired. We walked around a lot, fed the Koy fish and once the lights came on it felt like a completely new place.
Just before midnight there was fireworks, extremely loud ones at that. They really topped off though and straight after we headed home. The next day we went to see the beach. It wasn't as great as Australian beaches but you could see Sweden again which I still thought was downright cool.
We picked up Stephanie and Alex's other dog Bolle as well. He was crazy but cute. Later that day we went for a walk in the forest and I really realised how beautiful Denmark is. There are lakes and forests and beaches all close together and it's all so peacefull.
On my last day we just played some Wii and laid back before my flight. I really love Denmark and reccomend to anyone for just a couple of days. Also the airport in Copenhagen has the best and biggest duty free shopping area I've ever seen. I already miss Denmark as well as Stephanie, Alex and Chloe, they were the best hosts I could have had and I'm so happy that I've finally met Stephanie.