Feringapark Hotels Munich

... castle is one of the most visited in Europe. So we were able to bypass the main line for tickets and go straight to the reservations line, which was empty. Plus, they upgraded us to the next tour time available.

We first toured Hohenschwanstein castle. It was a very pretty yellow castle, built on top of a small hill. And the interiors were very interesting, different from anything I’ve seen before. There were very interesting and lively paintings on the walls ...

... was on a hot date with Moto Moto). We saw tigers, jaguars, lions and pengiuns being fed (not with one another) We saw cheetahs, zebras, kangaroos, every member of the ape family, camels, lizards, fish, alligators, lemars, elephants, giraffe and even a rhino sans horn. Very few cages apart from for sleeping and eating in....honestly the best zoo I have been to. It was wet, but the animals seemed to like it and it just felt a ...

... another town that Carolin suggested), but I was wet, cold and miserable and hopped on the train back to Munich. It was funny that as soon as the train left the mountain range the sky opened up and was clear and sunny. However looking back towards the Alps, the dark sky still loomed overhead so I didn't feel like I was cheated.

Went back to the Augustiner Keller for dinner and my last few beers of the trip. Had pork AGAIN. I think I will be done with that for awhile! Talked ...

... of some 50 miles (or was it kilometers?) to Izmir they would not take euros or a Visa card. But they let me go, with the promise of Turkish Lira from an ATM at the Izmir otogar. And, thus it was. In Izmir I was walked from the bus to the ATM, got the cash, and we walked back to the bus. I paid and went downstairs to where I had seen the ticket counters for departures. There are in Turkish otogars a plethora of bus companies. I saw one I recognized
pretty much straight ...

... is that Rick never gave up hope of something better and Chuck continued to supply us with unending puns. We connected with Jacqui like clock work and together we toured the museums, brauhauses, neighborhoods, and sights of Munich and the surrounding area. We also had two of our best meals (with accompanying beer) while we strolled, walked, and subwayed around the city. The first at the Alpen Hotel where we should have stayed and the second at IM Blauen Haus, an innovative bistro ...

... out analogy as Munich itself has been reminding me of childhood. Some of you may have experienced occasionally wanting a Christmas present that exceeded budgetary limitations and would cross into the realm of the combined Christmas-and-birthday present: i.e. you can have this, but then nothing for a while, OK? Munich seems to have whined for the Olympics in the same way: they got a whole array of new stuff for the 1972 Olympics, and then not a ...

This is my second trip to Germany and Munich in a week. Both trips were work related, and this second one not actually planned, but necessary. Before we start talking about carbon footprint I mean... I have been many times to Munich over the last ten years or so, and it is a city I actually quite enjoy. Germany is maybe not the most exotic thing out there, but this part of Germany, being so ...

... on the backdrop. Speaking of violent rides, some of the attractions there were absolutely jaw-dropping in their ferocity and total lack of mercy for spinal cords and brain pan fluids and what-not. One ride was whipping riders one way on an outstretched limb of the ride while the entire branch spun another way. Unbelievable. But the thing there that floored me most of all -- and I'm talkin' "oh... my... God" -- was the bumper cars. Along the bottom steps were ...

I ran over my download limit on Sunday night, AIM worked for two more days but it was shut off eventually. I went to buy a train ticket to Munich on Monday and I'll be leaving on Friday the 24th! What I have been doing these past couple of days weren't really that interesting, but I thought it still deserves its own journal entry. Hamburg still stands as my least visited city in terms of tourist sites, which really is a shame. If you recall, my semester ticket isn't ...

... anymore. There was a summerfest going on though which helped improve the status of the town. They had a little carnival and biergarten. I saw a bit of a puppet show in the biergarten during the day and a really bad live band that evening. Had to get a big 'ol beer too...one was enough. They had fireworks at 10:30pm to celebrate the end of the 'fest. I guess that will have to do as pre-July4 fireworks for me. Rothenburg From Rothenburg I did a ...