Munich and Salzburg!

It's been a while since my last post (almost 3 months!) but I have lots to report! I had two weeks off at the end of February and used that time to take two trips The first trip was a solo trip to Munich, Salzburg, and Krakow and the second was a trip to Prague with my good friend Jaelyn.

You're probably going to read this about every city I visited but I loved Munich! First up on the agenda was the Bayern Munich game. It was so much fun to see my favorite team and it was such a great atmosphere in the stadium.

Too bad those aren't the actual players...

I went on a free walking tour of the city and learned a lot about the city. Even though much of the city was destroyed from bombs during WWII the large towers (some of which are seen here) were not. The bomber pilots didn't target them because they were such good landmarks to locate the city.

After the war many buildings had to be rebuilt and great attention was taken to rebuild the buildings back to their pre-war state. This is a church that was rebuilt and they even put an Austrian cannon ball that had been there for hundreds of years back in it's place. It's the black ball at the top right of the window. 

These gold bricks are a memorial to Germans who resisted the Nazis. In the 1930s a memorial commemorating the Beer Hall Putsch  had been erected on the street perpendicular to this alley and whenever you passed it you had to salute. Some people would take the long way around and go down this alley so that they did not have to pass the memorial. Members of the SS would stand in the doorway on the right and as people passed, they would question or beat them. But that didn't stop people from taking the alley to bypass the memorial and some were even sent to concentration camps for their actions. The gold colored bricks stop at the doorway to commemorate the Germans that were stopped by the                                                      Nazis. 

Neuschwanstein

I took a bus trip to see Neuschwanstein and Linderhof castles which were built by King Ludwig II in the 19th century. Ludwig was more interested in the arts and architecture than in carrying out government duties. He used his personal fortune to build several castles. The most famous is, of course, Neuschwanstein. It was the inspiration for Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle and was in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. It did not disappoint! It was absolutely stunning. It also had some very modern technology for its time: a telephone, flush toilet, central heating, and warm running water.

Linderhof

The snow covered courtyard at Linderhof

The altar

Asam's Church is small church in Munich. It is just on an unassuming street of row houses but when you walk in it is quite stunning. It's a small space but the inside is very ornate and extravagant. It was built in the 18th century by two brothers as their own private church.

A creepy skull

I took a day trip to Salzburg from Munich and it was so much fun! Much of The Sound of Music was filmed there and I had a great time seeing the locations from the film. I also got to have some fun in the snow atop the mountain Untersberg!

Atop the very snowy mountain Untersberg.

At Mirabell Gardens where much of Do Re Mi was filmed. They look much nicer in the summer with the flowers blooming!

 

Nonnberg Abbey is where the real Maria was a novice and scenes from the movie were shot there. Didn't realize when taking this picture that it's the same angle from the movie!

The iconic red top of Nonnberg Abbey

Stay tuned for my next post about Krakow including a visit to Auschwitz and some incredible salt mines.