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As a small contrast to last year's february trip to Egypt, Tobias and I are now heading for the southern parts of Germany. We will also visit Salzburg in Austria.

Keywords for the trip:
Neuschwanstein, Munich, Garmisch-partenkirchen, Salzburg, "The Great Escape", "The Eagle's Nest", Mozart, Adolf, Castles, Fortress, Snow, Mountains, Cable cars, Trains, Skiing.

WHEN

19 February - 1 March, 2006 (11 days)

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30 ENTRIES (chronological ordered)

 
 

Saturday January 21st, 2006

Map of Germany and Austria

Category: Bavaria, 2006
Map of Germany and Austria - I've marked out three cities in the southern parts of Germany (München,[...]
I've marked out three cities in the southern parts of Germany (München, Füssen och Garmisch-Partenkirchen). One city is marked out in Austria (Salzburg). This is the area that we will visit.
Tags » map
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Sunday February 19th, 2006

Europe > Germany > Munich

(travel diary) Arrival: Munich

Category: Bavaria, 2006
Landed in Munich at 17:30. Two hours later than planned because of "technical problems" (a broken relay somewhere on the plane). Then we took the train to Munich Hauptbahnof (central station, price about 8 Euro). There we checked prices at some of the hostels close to the train station..

Since we were only going to sleep for 4 to 5 hours (before travelling down further south) our decision landed on the cheapest one: Jaegers Hostel (price: 13 Euro / night / person). There were ten beds in our room and it was half full with sleeping beings. We tried our best going to bed wíthout waking someone. I got a top bed in the left side of the room. Tobias got a bottom bed in the right side of the room.

I didn't sleep much that night: a bed (or something..) squeeked constantly. A korean snored loudly.

Tobias had to change bed in the middle of the night. Two germans woke him up and told him that "You've taken our bed!". For me, this was a funny moment. I laughed at the situation from my "eagle nest" bed.
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Sunday February 19th, 2006

Europe > Germany > Munich

The terribly annoying sound (sound)

Category: Bavaria, 2006
This entry has one or more files attached:
Listen to the sound online (streaming)
Download the sound file (82 kb)
Here is the sound I wrote about in my travel diaryNew window.
Tags » sound
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Monday February 20th, 2006

Europe > Germany > Füssen

(travel diary) Fussen and the castles

Category: Bavaria, 2006
At 04:57 we took the train down south from Munich to the village Füssen (about 23 Euro). The trip took about 2 1/2 hours. We found our way to the DJH-hostel which we had read should be a pretty good one. We got a 6-bed room with good beds. Three guys from japan shared the room wth us. They didn't snore! ;)

The reason why we took the early train was that we wanted to have time to see the world famous castles Schloss Neuschwanstein and Schloss Hohenschwangau.

We walked to the castles by foot (about 5km).

17 Euro was the price for a combination ticket for both the castles. You're not allowed to walk around in the castles by yourself, you have to follow a guide for about 40 minutes.
Both the castles were very impressing! They contained incredible tree carvings which had taken several years for lots of full-time workers (and that was one room only). One thing that is interesting about Schloss Neuschwanstein is that the toilets are flushable and there's running water in the hand-basins. All this thanks to a sea situated on a level above the castle.
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Monday February 20th, 2006

Europe > Germany > Füssen

Castle Neuschwanstein

Category: Bavaria, 2006
Castle Neuschwanstein - The work on the castle began in 1869 on orders from Ludvid II. It was never[...]
The work on the castle began in 1869 on orders from Ludvid II. It was never finnished. When Ludvig II by "mysterious circumstances" died in 1886 the progress on the castle stopped.
Tags » castle, Neuschwanstein, winter
6 COMMENTS6 RESPONSES
 

Tuesday February 21st, 2006

Europe > Germany > Füssen

(travel diary) The hunt for a good angle

Category: Bavaria, 2006
The goal this day was to get to the castles early before sunrise and get good photos.

We followed a path wich led us to Marienbrücke. This is a bridge that Ludvig II had constructed so he could look at his dream castle from a pleasent angle. About 90% of all pictures on the net of castle Neuschwanstein is taken from this bridge.. We took some photos but wasn't satisfied -- better pictures needed!
We decided to walk along a path up the mountain (leeding to the topstation of a cable car). The first couple of hours the path was easy to follow, but then it was gone! I guess it was there somewhere but it was burried in two meters of snow. In addition to that; it was now more of a climbing than walking.
We tried to climb where it was possible, always trying to have trees below us in case of losing grip. It was pretty hard, we often sank down to our waist in the snow. After about half an hour of struggling we realised that this maybe was a bad idea .We turned back. At least we got some pretty good shots of castle Neuschwanstein.

After this we returned to the foot of the mountain and had some nice chili wurst (chili sausages).

Now we had the energy to make another try for some good photos. The idea was to climb up the mountain in front of the castle, making it possible for us to have the front side of the castle directly in front of us and the Alps in background. Seemed like the mountain was private ground. We trudged up the mountain. It was hard. Same problems as last mountain hike: deep snow and steep paths. Once again the mountain forced us to give up. Soaked shoes and trousers. Next time we will bring mountain climbing equipment!

In the afternoon we took the bus to Garmisch-Partenkirchen. We checked in at the DJH-hostel.
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Tuesday February 21st, 2006

Europe > Germany > Füssen

Neuschwanstein from above

Category: Bavaria, 2006
Neuschwanstein from above - A photo from our walk in the mountains above schloss Neuschwanstein.
A photo from our walk in the mountains above schloss Neuschwanstein.
Tags » bird´s view, castle, Neuschwanstein, winter
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Tuesday February 21st, 2006

Europe > Germany > Füssen

Castle Neuschwanstein panorama

Category: Bavaria, 2006
Castle Neuschwanstein panorama - A grandiose panorama over castle Neuschwanstein and the southern bavaria.[...]
A grandiose panorama over castle Neuschwanstein and the southern bavaria.
Tags » castle, Neuschwanstein, panorama, winter
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Tuesday February 21st, 2006

Europe > Germany > Munich

Castle Hohenschwangau and the Alps

Category: Bavaria, 2006
Castle Hohenschwangau and the Alps - The yellow in the middle of the picture is Max II castle, Schloss Hohenschwangau.[...]
The yellow in the middle of the picture is Max II castle, Schloss Hohenschwangau. Ludvig II spent his childhood here. It was also here Ludvig II met Richard Wagner who gave him the inspiration to Schloss Neuschwanstein.

Castle Hohenschwangau was built in the 12th century but was renovated by Max II in the 1830's.
Tags » bird´s view, castle, winter
1 COMMENT1 RESPONSE
 

Wednesday February 22nd, 2006

Europe > Germany > Garmisch-Partenkirchen

(travel diary) Garmisch-Partenkirchen

Category: Bavaria, 2006
The hostel that we had checked in to was located very badly. About 4-5 km from the city and it also was pretty expensive so we decided to get into town to find a better place to live.

The tourist information in town found a good place for us. We landed in the basement floor in a private bed-and-breakfast style house. The little place was owned by the friendly Fischer couple. They lived here and had three rooms with one bed each for hire. I guess their children had moved out. This was perfect!

The remaining hours of the day we checked out the old town. We also visited the old Olympic Ski Jumping Arena from 1936.

Tomorrow there will be some high-altitude skiing! Tobbe has never done that before.
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