On the way to Munich, we stopped in Nuremberg to explore the town center, grab some lunch and catch a glimpse of the imperial castle known as Kaiserburg.
The St. Lorenz church was badly damaged in WWII and later rebuilt
St Lorenz from outside
Hiking up to the Kaiserburg
View of Nuremberg from the castle
We spent one night and two days in Munich. The first night we met Lars, Bettima (wife) and Sonja (daughter) and Julia (Sonja's friend) out for dinner at the famous Augustiner Beer Garden. Lars is a colleague of Jason's working in Freescale Munich. Lars and his family were so kind to speak with us in English and explain life in Germany, the city hotspots and best of all the menu. The food and the beer garden were really a treat. Ella loved playing with the 7-year-old girls on the playscape, coloring and learning new games.
Yes, she finished it all!
Augustiner Beer Garden with Lars and his family
Our last day in Germany was spent hitting every Munich highlight possible including the Englitsch Garden, Marienplatz and the Children's Museum.
I liked the storefront McDonald's in four different languages
The gang at the Marienplatz
A famous parade ground where Hitler gave speeches
Catholic church in Munich called St. Kajetan's Church
Ella and Sonja displaying their creative ideas from the Children's Museum
One highlight was seeing the river surfing on the Isar. Here's a quick video of our favorite surfer.
Thanks so much to Lars for the world wind tour of Munich. It definitely made all of us want to come back.
We loved Germany and everything that we saw, but most of all we loved spending time with Jason, Heidi, Elliot and Christie who traveled with us from Denmark and all through Germany making our trip a once in a lifetime experience. They promised to come see us in Texas and I sure hope we get to return the hospitality soon.
At 9p on Sunday night, we managed to hop on the City Night Line train to Rome which is where I'm writing this blog. Happy 4th of July to us from Italy. Stay tuned ..
We spent 2 days in the city of Bamberg. Bamberg is known for being one of the few cities that was relatively undamaged during WWII. The town center is filled with character and romance. The roads are narrow and like every other German town we have visited bikes are the primary method of transportation. Some of the buildings are so old that they lean in different directions. This is the town where Heidi went to University and Jason Stege met his future bride.
During our stay, we toured the most beautiful cathedral (Dom). The church dates back to the 1004 and really is incredible to see the amount of detail accomplished during that time. We loved the local restaurants, bakeries and shops. We managed to enjoy a summer festival filled with music, laughter and local brew in between summer rain storms. Unfortunately, the days were a little cold during our stay but this didn't take away any of the charm of Bamberg.
Here is a glimpse of our visit:
Jason testing out the local smoke-flavored beer. There are 8 breweries in the city.
I don't think I've ever seen a purple rose.
Many rose gardens found throughout Germany
The local market was beautiful ..especially those artichokes (took this one for you Mindy)
Drew couldn't resist the cranberries and strawberries
Thursday morning we took our Hertz rental on the Autobahn. Jason's lead foot had no problems keeping up with the traffic flow, new German rules and funny looking signs. I was truly impressed.
Our next 2 nights will be in Bamberg which is a 5 1/2 hour drive from Berlin (including stops).
Along the way, we stopped at the Konigstein Fortress. This castle is built into a huge rock and has a history which can be tracked back 750 years. It originally was owned by Bohemian and then Saxony families. Over the years starting back as early as 1563 the castle was used as a Saxony fortress, Wine cask, prison and was used to hold prisoners of war in WWI and WWII as well as a military hospital towards the end of WWII. It has been a museum since 1952.
We enjoyed the hike, the scenery and as always the sweets. This beautiful area is a clear reminder that we're a long way from home.
Arriving in Berlin on Monday we found the Schoenhouse Apartments to be a wonderful surprise. The apartment was big, spacious and the staff were so welcoming. Ella and Drew were so excited to have a room to themselves. The apartment is located just off Alexanderplatz which is a great location for restaurants, bars, shopping, metro really everything. I would definitely recommend.
Berlin is a very modern city full of energy, not what I was expecting. Lots of new looking high rise apartments and offices surrounding old (rebuilt)German flare. It is fun to see so many different eclectic out door restaurants, music and fashion. - Anji
Jason here, taking on some of the blog work. Day 5 of the Greene European Vacation and we are off and running. The first rule of navigating Berlin...
Stay out of the bike lane!!! All the sidewalks have a red path just next to the street where bikers ride at 100 miles an hour and we managed to nearly get hit at least a dozen times.
Having managed to not get run over by the endless stream of bikes, our first stop was some site seeing from 500 feet up in the air.
The balloon is located just down the street from Checkpoint Charlie and is tethered to the ground. It runs you up 150 meters (outside the US so need to use the measurements the rest of the world uses) The views are breathtaking if not a little unsettling and make for some great picture opportunities.
Next we were off to see the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie and the Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand (Museum/Memorial to German Resistance)
The wall came down in our (well, my and Anji's) lifetime (1989), but it's hard to imagine what it would have been like living in a city where your friends and family live across town but you are not allowed to see them.
In the afternoon, we went to the Berlin zoo. This zoo has the largest number of species in the world with over 1500 different animals to see. Here are a few of our favorites.
We also got to see a lion roaring up close and personal, this video does not really capture the impact of that roar.
Wednesday
We toured the Charlottenburg Palace which was very high on Ella's list of todos, she gets excited to see thrones, crowns, jewels and paintings and Charlottenburg did not disappoint. The headphone tour guide is perfect for the non-German speakers.
Jason and I tried schnitzel which we found to be great. Reminds me of chicken fried steak with cream gravy, only the steak is pork and the gravy is a mushroom bernais sauce. OK, so that probably didn't sound that good but it was definitely tasty (pictures to come).
In the afternoon, Drew and I hit Kurfürstendamm, one of the longest shopping streets in Europe. We were amazed to see 4 different H&M stores and yes, we hit every single one. Prices in Berlin are comparable to US, maybe a little more expensive, but still so much better than Copenhagen. We saw some very interesting German department stores but really a large number of the shops are what you find in every American city - Sony, Adidas, Mac, etc.
By the way, before our trip I had decided to cut back on coffee. (When you wake up dreaming about your next cup that's probably a clue that you drink too much). Anyways, on arriving in Europe I could not resist the wonderful lattes that are sold on every corner. And I have to say I have not regretted falling off the coffee wagon! Best coffee ever for sure. Since I'm on the bad habit topic, I have managed to get up and run only one time this trip. My excuse in Denmark was the weather but Berlin has been perfect. So perfect in fact that the coffee downstairs prevented me from running all but one day :-)
Both days in Berlin we did a lot of walking. Even taking trains and buses there are still just a lot of things to see and do which involves walking. I have resorted to tennis shoes, there's just so far that my sandals can go. Jason and Ella have found soaking your feet in the tub helps. Usually around 6-7p we are ready to sit down and unwind. The Steges have 14-month-old Elliot who is also usually ready for dinner and bedtime around the same time so we typically say goodnight to them fairly early and venture out on our own for dinner.
