Our Apartment

This is the front of our building on DestouchesStrasse. It is a quiet residential street in Schwabing-West about 3km north of the centre of Munich. Most of the inner city residential areas of Munich look like this, 5-storey buildings with shops underneath.

Our bedroom/living/dining room isn't huge but it is comfortable and it doesn't feel like we are living in our bedroom. It is nice having a separate kitchen and entrance hall (through the door on the right, bathroom is there too).

You can see more of the bed in this one.

From the kitchen door.

 Our little kitchen including a tiny washing machine. It has everything we need and not a single inch of space is wasted.

Here is our view from our balcony into the internal courtyard. Probably only another week or 2 until it will be covered with snow.

- Joe

Exploring the Most Westerly Part of Denmark

Our day started at 4:30am to get ready for the train to Denmark. It is only 3 blocks to the closest underground station so the -3 degree weather didn't have time to chill us to the bone on the short walk. We must be getting used to the cold.

Although Germany to Denmark might not seem very far, it was still about 1100km from Munich to Varde so the total train trip including changes was about 11 hours. Of course the train was also delayed in Hamburg so that added another hour onto the trip. The trains are very roomy and comfortable so the trip wasn't quite as horrendous as it sounds. The further north we went the more wet and miserable the weather got (although slightly warmer).

Varde is a small village in the Western part of Denmark (Copenhagen is situated in the East and some distance from this town). Near where we were staying was a nature reserve with shortcuts into the city. It was pretty, even given the weather you can see how these places must spring to life in the summer. Late one night we ventured into the town centre and stayed for a beer or three. The atmosphere in the town was quiet but it was buzzing in the little pub. It's tradition to drink Christmas Schnapps this time of year. I was told that you have to finish your shot before it can be topped up. I went from very sober to very drunk, very quickly.

These stones are known as Viking Runestones. The inscriptions mention the Scandinavians who took part in viking expeditions. The language inscribed is called Old Norse and is an old Swedish and Danish dialect.

This picture of the north sea looks quite peaceful but trust me it was very cold and windy. In the background they are making oil drilling platforms to tow offshore.

We were really fortunate to have a guided tour by one of the neighbours. Jens spent some time in America and had a crazy southern accent and the most addictive laugh. He knew so much about the local history having grown up in this part of Denmark. This is one of many German bunkers that were built along a beach just north of Esbjerg in anticipation of an attack from England on the German forces.

It took two jackets to protect my person from the crazy wind. It was so strong you could lean into the wind and be supported. We stood up on a platform, but had to get down. It would have taken a wrong step to lose your balance and fall.

The next day we headed to Fano Island which is pronounced in Danish as (fa-noo). It was really lovely. The houses typically date back to the 17-1800's. Many Germans holiday to this Island. We took the car over by ferry. Sadly, many of the restaurants were closed. It's apparently difficult to get around in the Summer with so many people coming over here. Not so popular in the winter. We did find a really nice cafe-bar and had a 'traditional coffee.' A traditional coffee is just coffee (with or without milk) with a shot of schnapps - my tummy hurts just thinking about it.

The houses all had thatched roofs and were low set. If any new houses are built on the island they have to be built to meet the old style. So many tiny houses and tiny streets. We were fortunate to have an afternoon tea inside one of these houses with some of the local residents. We were told that actually the houses are built close together with narrow streets to protect from the wind.

Joe can never live here.

- Kate

The City of Nuremberg

It's still surreal that we have nothing but time. It was a longer trip to Nuremburg today, but well worth it. The City was bustling with people weaving in and out of the pop-up stalls at yet another Christmas Market. I'm really going to miss the atmosphere that comes with Christmas time over here. People huddling together in the middle of the city to have a drink, fairy lights everywhere and the smell of roasting nuts and sausages and all sorts of wonderful things filling the air. 

Nuremberg is the second largest city in Bavaria after Munich. Nuremberg Castle rests on top of a hill to the north of the city and dates back to the year 1000. You walk up a long, steep pebble stone street from the city to the castle. At this point I realised that all those sausages and all those beers have not been kind to my fitness level. 

While we didn't explore much of the Nazi history that sadly destroyed much of this city during the war, it was interesting to see many before and after photos from the viewing platform. The castle was heavily damaged during many of the bombings and most of the historical monuments around the City had to be completely rebuilt. 

A lovely face and a lovely view.

This pebble stone street took my breath away, literally. The downhill was a nice walk though and was much kinder than the walk up.

The architecture of the buildings resembling different eras was pretty cool. There are three separate sections and include the imperial castle, buildings of the Burgraves of Nuremburg and the municipal buildings of the imperial City. The image below of the two headed eagle represents the reign of one of the Kings that ruled here and can also be seen on the entrance door. I liked how different it was to traditional royal 'stamps'.

 I had another too much beer and sausages moment walking up these stairs. On catching our breath we took some arty photos of the stair case... because it was pretty amazing and very medieval looking.

- Kate

Day Trip to the Alps

The weather forecast was good again so we decided to take another Bavarian day trip. This time we headed south to Garmisch-Partenkirchen near the Austrian border which is the main winter sports town in Germany, the winter Olympics were held here in 1936. The weather forecast was right and there wasn't a cloud in the sky, although it was a bit colder than the city and there is a lot more snow around down here.

It's only 1.5 hours on the train using the Bavaria Ticket which allows 2 of us to travel anywhere in Bavaria all day for €26. The town was fairly quiet as it was a weekday, so we just wandered around and made our way to the Partnachklamm which is a narrow gorge just out of town.

Ice crystals on a pile of timber.

As we moved up the valley into the shade it got colder and colder and I was wishing I had my thermals on under my jeans. We didn't really have any expectations on what it would be like because I'd read that it's much more popular in summer. I've no idea why though because the gorge was filled with ice waterfalls and ice crystals and was fairly spectacular.

The narrow path is cut through the rock with lots of little dark tunnels. The ceiling is very low in places as the cut on my forehead will attest to (I have to wear a beanie for a few days until it heals....). Sure, the sign said "ACHTUNG! 175cm!" with a diagram but i'll blame it on a translation problem.

Ice waterfall

It was absolutely freezing in the gorge, our fingers could barely operate the camera by the end. We were glad when it opened up to bright sunshine at the end so we could thaw out a bit.

Just for a change we had a sausage from the local Christmas market for lunch. Every town we have been to has a Christmas market and they are all supposedly "famous". It's a bit like every second bakery at home says "best pie in QLD!".

-Joe

Trip to Salzburg: Fortress Hohensalzburg

On one side of the river in Salzburg is the new town and on the other is the old town. Although we stayed in the new town, The Fortress can be seen from almost anywhere in the city. After we finished our cereal bowl sized coffees for breakfast we headed towards the funicular railway that runs almost vertically to the top of the mountain and into the Fortress.  

The river is such a beautiful colour under the clear sky. We were really lucky to arrive on a perfectly clear day. On our visit to the castle the clouds broke up the perfect blue skies. We were lucky though. By the time we came down from Mountain the clouds had taken over completely and fog covered the mountains including much of the spectacular view. 

The Fortress is very grand. You don't wander aimlessly through its many rooms, rather there is a strict guided tour that takes a maximum of about 30 people at a time. We made our way into a torture room that looks down into a dungeon. Although they held prisoners at the castle, torture wasn't necessarily carried out here. I was glad of it. Some of the contraptions were pretty brutal. As we carried on into the museum we were then allowed to look around more. The architecture is so different from room to room. In fact they uncovered some hallways as recently as 1998 that they had no idea previously existed. I guess that isn't surprising, The Fortress dates back to 1077 and is one of the largest medieval castles in Europe.

The sun is always a welcome visitor in these colder months. This is the warmest we've been since we arrived in Europe. The temperature reached a balmy 8 degrees Celsius today!

The Fortress is enormous. It's fun to imagine what this place might have been like in medieval times. Pretty much anywhere you go has 360 degree views of Salzburg City.  

Joe and a tiny door! 

There were many treasures from The Fortress reconstructed (glued back together) and on display in the museum. It's amazing to see how the decor changes across the centuries. My favourite was much of the intricate timber carving in furniture that dates back to roughly the 1500's.

and this is just a photograph... It was pretty spectacular in real life too. You follow a spiral staircase up to the top of an old tower and stand on a platform with 360 degree views of the city from The Fortress. This place is truly amazing (I'm running out of expressive vocabulary to describe these places)...

- Kate

Trip to Salzburg: Exploring the Old Town

The weather looked good today so we decided to head to Salzburg for an overnight trip. It's only 2 hours away on the train. We were trapped for a short time in a carriage with loud Americans. They fit the stereotype. They were the loudest, most annoying tourists we've come across thus far. The guy was telling the whole carriage in a booming voice what a ditz his wife was and proceeded to list her less finer qualities to anyone willing to listen. Such a charmer. Luckily we were made to change trains due to trackwork and found a somewhat quieter carriage. Being a nice day it seemed every pensioner in Bavaria had decided to go to Salzburg too, so it was packed.

It really was a perfect day with great views of the Alps surrounding the city, and the fortress on the hill. We just spent the day wandering around the old city checking out churches, squares, and the obligatory Christmas markets. Luckily we haven't lost our appetite for sausages on bread yet so we were well catered for. We also had some apple fritter sort of things which were a bit like cinnamon doughnuts at home but with stewed apple inside - they are delicious!

 Joe sees a strange person off camera........

This bridge is covered in padlocks that couples write their names on and presumably throw the key into the river. We saw a similar thing in Munich too, but on a smaller scale. Many are professionally engraved. We saw one the size of your hand in the shape of a heart for a 50th anniversary.

St. Peters church has a cemetery built into the cliff which dates back to the 1500's. Many buildings in Salzburg that run along a rock face are built into cliffs. Pretty excellent. Many of the graves were decorated with Christmas baubles and the like. Around the graves the gardens are beautifully kept making it quite a tourist attraction.

Most of the old town is narrow cobblestone streets with ritzy shops and restaurants on the bottom floor of the stately looking buildings. As nice as it is, I can imagine it being a bit of a nightmare in summer when it is clogged full of tourists.

- Joe

Dachau Concentration Camp

It was a pretty fitting day to go and see the concentration camp at Dachau. Probably our coldest day yet, and it was snowing (I'm still excited about snow)! Dachau is known for being the first Nazi concentration camp, and was a model for all others. On our way here we heard a girl on the bus telling her friend she'd found 'his prison number.' They had booths where you could look up prisoners held here by their number. To the best of my knowledge there were a lot of prisoners unaccounted for.

 "Work will make you free."

While there is a gas chamber here masked as a shower room, it wasn't really used at Dachau. The slogan, 'Work will make you free,' is a more accurate account of how people died. They were worked to death. Some of the photographs on the information boards were pretty confronting. You begin to understand that during this period it was normal to see death... everywhere. The Nazi's would spread propaganda and make it appear as though their prisoners were happy to be here. Many photos are of the prisoners smiling. There was even a photo where the prisoners were 'building a swimming pool!' Which of course was a complete lie.

The building in the distance is a watch tower where prisoners were shot if they tried to escape. Many prisoners would intentionally run towards the watch towers to commit suicide.

The museum is set up in one of the original buildings (an old administration building). There are a collection of artifacts, photographs and information panels that you follow in a specific order. It would take hours to get through everything. The information is so detailed and brutally honest about everything that happened here. The personal accounts were the most interesting, along with the Nazi propaganda posters.

Joe the Eskimo.

As we made our way through the camp, there is this eerie kind of silence. I momentarily broke that silence when I giggled loudly after squishing a small mound of snow. I couldn't help it.

This building is the crematorium. It was built because the original one (further down the path) was running beyond capacity. This is also where the gas chamber is. There are shoots on the outside of the building where they would throw the poison into the chamber and lock it from the outside.

This contraption is I guess what you would call the oven? There was three in this room. As you move through the building there a number of rooms where the bodies to be cremated were stored.

This corridor goes for an age. Below is the what the cells look like where the prisoners to be punished were held. There was once rows and rows of barracks where the prisoners stayed that have since been burnt down. There were 32,000 documented deaths at the camp at Dachau, and many thousands more that are unaccounted for.

- Kate