Neuschwanstein or The Cinderella Castle

The weather finally cleared up today, which made it the perfect day for a trip to Neuschwanstein.

The view of Neuschwanstein after getting off the bus.  I knew it was going to be a good day!

Neuschwanstein was built upon the ruins of an old castle in the late 1800s by King Ludwig II, also known as the Mad King.  The story behind the castle and the Mad King started long before the castle was ever constructed.

Ludwig II had a very tough childhood.  First off, him and his brother were constantly being clothed in dresses and other articles that were considered for little girls in the 1800.  The practice centered around the belief that the Devil would try and bring harm to the young male royalty.  In order to deceive the Devil, many young princes were clothed in dresses and blouses.  To add to the plight of young royalty and Ludwig, it was believed that children should never be full in order to promote resilience and self reliance.  As was the case, many young royalty would go to bed hungry even though there was plenty to eat.  The final piece of this complex childhood were the regular beatings that Ludwig and his brother would endure.  Ludwig's father, Maximilian II, believed the best way to raise his two princes was constant beatings.

Ludwig II's childhood residence, where his father would beat him.  However, Ludwig still loved the place, especially the surrounding nature-scapes [See below].

Just a brief glimpse to the natural beauty of the surrounding area.

Maybe it was due to this tough childhood that young Ludwig became obsessed with the fairytale of the swan prince. This obsession was prominent throughout his life, especially during the construction of Neuschwanstein, which roughly translates into New Swan castle.  However, there were other odd things about Ludwig during his 20s.  As a very athletic, young man, he was a very eligible bachelor.  However, he seemed to have no interest in his royal duties of getting married.  At one point, he was arranged to marry his first cousin, but after several marriage postponements by the prince, the marriage was called off.  Also in his late 20's, most of his teeth were rotting away; the result of a fondness for sweets.  This caused him excruciating pain and so he started taking opium.  Addiction quickly developed and Ludwig started to other drugs such morphine.  Addicted to morphine and opium, Ludwig became withdrawn and spent all his time at Neuschwanstein, away from the common people, whom he despised.

View of the ceremonial gatehouse and main entrance to the castle.

 The royal family and dignitaries within the government could put up with Ludwig II's habits no longer.  They conspired to have him proven clinically insane and thereby unfit to rule.  His personal servants recounted strange stories of dinner parties filled with imaginary guests, where Ludwig was the only one in the room, and his strange nocturnal habits.  A diagnosis by psychologists was passed down without ever meeting Ludwig II.  Upon his diagnosis, Ludwig II was removed from his retreat at Neuschwanestein and sent to a psychiatric hospital where he died the next day under mysterious circumstances.

The building in the back is where Ludwig II spent many of his days on morphine and opium.

The castle itself was built for purely aesthetic purposes and was designed in part by a set designer.  While the outside was finished, the interior was never finished due to the death of Ludwig II.  Only two interiors of the eight floors were completed, but these floors are quite spectacular and extravagant.  It is important to note that Ludwig II deeply admired Richard Wagner, especially his opera the Swan Prince and built the Neuschwanestein as a tribute to Richard Wagner.  As such, the interior designs all contain motifs from Alfred Wagner's operas.  Unfortunately, pictures were not allowed.

I actually took the photo above with my iPhone.  There are only so many places where you can't take a bad picture.  This is one of them.

Off to Zurich, Switzerland tomorrow.  I plan to basically relax in Zurich, so probably very limited posts about Zurich.

Munich: Liquid Gold

This post will be wholly devoted to beer.

The beer culture here in Bavaria is mostly just lagers and Hefeweizen beer.  Due to the strict German Purity Law, there is little variation among the different beers here in Germany and not a lot of experimentation.  However, German beer is by and far the most consistently good beer.  You know exactly what you are getting into when you order.

An elaborate restaurant front featuring the label of my favorite beer: Franziskaner.

There are 6 major local brews in Germany: Spaten, Hofbrau, Lowenbrau, Paulaner, Augustiner, and Hacker-Pschorr.  Each of them have their own beer gardens located around the city of Munich and it is a neat activity to find all of them.

Augustiner

Paulaner

Hofbrau
Unfortunately, I didn't have time to get some Lowenbrau, Spaten, or Hacker-Pschorr.

Everybody will tell you to go to the world famous Hofbrau Beer Garden.  It is fun if you like a packed, loud, tourist attraction.  Go once for the experience and a checkmark.  Also note that in the evenings, this is where a lot of pub crawls end up and so it tends to get pretty rowdy.  

Can you imagine the large barrels of beer?

The large, noisy Hofbrau Haus!  Plenty of lederhosens, dirndls, and beer!

Personally, I recommend the Augustiner Keller Beer Garden and the Chinese Pagoda Beer Garden.  The Augustiner Keller restaurant has a great beer cellar seating area, but get there before 2000 if you want to get a seat.  The Chinese Pagoda Beer Garden is a bit of a trek, but completely worth the trip on a sunny day.

The Chinese Pagoda Beer Garden

Typically the pilsners, lagers, are the ones you can order in the large 1 liter beer mugs.  Hefeweizen are usually served in tall 750 mL glasses, to allow optimal aromas to reach your nose.

My all time favorite Weissbier!

The beer garden associated with my all time favorite Weissbier.  The beer garden is located in an interior courtyard.

Also two stories about the beer in Munich.  The first involves its role during the Thirty Years War.  When the Swedes invaded Munich, the city was so pretty they didn't want to raze it.  However, they wanted a financial sum from the city to pay their army.  When the city of Munich scraped together all the wealth in the city; it was not enough.  To make up the difference, the citizens of Munich offered their entire store if beer.  The Prussians gladly accepted the "liquid gold" and left the city intact.

The other story involves the Munich Opera House.  During the construction of the opera house in 1818, the designers put in a safeguard against fires in the all wood interior.  They designed a sprinkler system based off of rainwater collection and the shape of the ceiling.  A basin would collect rainwater and distribute the water along canals in the roof in the event of a fire.  However, they didn't plan on fires during the winter.  During a cold night in Munich, a fire broke out in the opera house.  The theater manager went to turn on the sprinkler system, but unfortunately the rainwater was now completely frozen.  To try and put out the fire, beer was brought from the Hofbrau House in a firefighter line.  Unfortunately, people cared more about free beer than a burning opera house and so buckets of beer started at the beginning of the line full and were empty by the time the bucket reached the fire.  Needless to say the opera house burnt down.  However, there is now an agreement between the Hofbrau House and the opera house to provide beer in case of fire at the opera house.

Also remember two phrases when you are in Munich: "Ich mochten (pronounced merc-tan) ein bier, bitte" and "Prolst!"  (Translation: "I would like one beer" and "Cheers!", respectively)

Munich: History is in the details

Today, I went with some travel companions on a walking tour of Munich.  This was definitely worth having the guide for Munich, especially since Munich has a different approach to tourist attractions, which I'll talk about later. 

The tour started in Marienplatz, marked by a column with the Virgin Mary.  This column is situated in front of the Old Rathaus, town hall.  Here you can view the clock tower put on a show at 1100, 1200, and 1700.  The clock tower has two prominent scenes that playout.  The first scene marks the victorious jousting triumph of the knight representing Bayern over the knight of a rival kingdom.

Marien Column, which was erected after the Swedish occupation during the Thirty Years War.

  

The Old Town Hall, with the Glockenspiel near the very top.

It is of note that Munich has great pride in the Bavarian region of Germany.  It is common to have the blue and white colors displayed prominently next to the German Flag or just displayed all by itself.

Bavarian pride!  It is really reminiscent of the pride that people from Texas have in their state.

The next scene on display is the dance of guildsmen.  During the dark ages, the plague hit Munich multiple times.  Due to its frequency, healthy people got used to locking themselves in their houses during the plague.  The healthy wouldn't go out for any reason, not even beer.  This practice led to the suffering of the local economy, which definitely affected the trade guilds.  As such, the trade guilds would commission guild members to announce the end of the plague to get people out of their homes again.

The two scenes of the Glockenspiel

Next up was the main cathedral of Munich.  Unlike traditional cathedrals, this was built of local materials (mainly red brick) and only took 20 years to complete.  According to legend, the reason for the short construction period was the work of the Devil.  During initial construction, the Devil walked in the front of the cathedral.  The dimly lit cathedral delighted the Devil, as he thought it was really a tribute to him.  To expedite the process, the Devil made a deal with the architect, Jorg von Halsbach; don't place any more windows during construction and I, the Devil, will help to complete the building in a very short time.  The architect thought about this very carefully, then accepted the offer.  When the cathedral was completed, the Devil came to admire the building he thought was for him.  This time, he came in the side entrance and saw a wall of windows.  Feeling slighted, the Devil approached the architect proclaiming the architect did not hold up his end of the bargain.  The architect smiled and told the Devil that there were just as many windows as when they started construction, the Devil just didn't see them because when you enter in the front of the cathedral all the windows are blocked by the columns.  The Devil, furious that he was outwitted, stamped the ground so hard he left his footprint in the floor.  In reality, it is actually the architect's footprint, but the legend is always more fun.

From this picture it is apparent that every column is perfectly aligned with the windows.

The Devil's/architect's footprint
Can you make out the flames from the heel of the foot?

This cathedral also holds special significance because of its close ties to the Jewish community.  During WWII and the persecution of the Jewish community, catholic priests helped the Jewish Rabbis  preserve their sacred texts by storing them under the cathedral floor.  In gratitude, the Jewish community raised over half of the funds needed to restore the badly bombed cathedral after the war.  As a testament to this event, the Star of David was placed in the ceiling of the cathedral and a Cross is displayed in the ceiling of a local Jewish synagogue.

Afterwards, we walked along the path of Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch.  This event, led to the Hitler's imprisonment and the spreading of his ideas during his trial and Mein Kempf.  Although Munich experienced heavy bombing, you can still walk along the same route.  This was due in part to the local community of Munich.  Community members suspected war was imminent after the Nazi occupation of Czechloslovakia and knew Munich would probably be heavily bombed.  In order to preserve their city after the war, local artists took detailed sketches of the roads, buildings, and fountains prior to WWII.  As such, you can walk the path of the Beer Hall Putsch took in 1923.

During the Beer Hall Putsch, a total of 20 people died; 4 policemen and 16 Nazi party members.  The Nazi party commemorates this event by placing a plaque where the Nazi mob encountered police resistance.  In addition, they posted guards near the plaque and required all persons passing by the plaque to give the Nazi salute.  It is important to note that even though the Nazi party started in Munich and Hitler often claimed it the city of the movement, only a small percentage of people in Munich supported the Nazi party.  In small acts of defiance, citizens would go down a parallel street and thereby not salute the plaque.  This side street became known as Dodger's Alley.  

Dodger's Alley, as indicated by the gold cobblestones.

As you can see, Dodger's Alley, given its significance, is only plainly marked.  This is not an attempt to downplay its significance, but an effort to keep locals aware of this dark time in German history.  The argument is that high presence and in your face landmarks will make locals jaded to the landmarks and thereby the landmarks lose their significance in the minds of the locals.  Thus in Munich, landmarks and places of significance are only marked by a small blue placard instead of large billboards and prominent signs.  In fact, there are 122 landmarks in Munich, which are scattered throughout the city.  Munich encourages its citizens to hunt for all 122 landmarks.  It is also fun for tourists looking for a scavenger hunt.

After stopping by Dodger's Alley, the guide stopped by the Munich Opera House and the plaza in front.  The plaza in front is where the famous Oktoberfest takes place.  The tradition dates back to the wedding party of Crown Prince Ludwig.  In the next year, the Munich townspeople wanted another big celebration and this Oktoberfest was born.  A few interesting facts about Oktoberfest:

1) The majority of participants in Oktoberfest are from Australia

2) Australia also has the most lost passports during Oktoberfest.  As a result, Australia sets up a temporary embassy in the British embassy to help Australian tourist deal with lost passports.

3) Last year 33 children were "lost" as Oktoberfest.  Lost meaning that when the tents closed during Oktoberfest, there were 33 kids whose parents were nowhere to be seen.

The site of Oktoberfest
Currently it is very calm, but in about a month this placed will be packed with 1 L beers.

On the topic of beer, I will devote one whole post to beer in Munich.

Dachau Concentration Camp

Now for a much somber topic.  The day after I arrived in Munich I visited Dachau, the first concentration camp built by the Nazis and the model for subsequent concentration camps.  This camp was built in 1933 and originally housed political prisoners, but soon swelled to house Sinta and Roma, Jews, and other enemies of the Nazi Party.

The former gatehouse of Dachau.  This is what prisoners saw upon entering the camp.

The former gate to the Dachau prison.  The translation is "Work makes (you) free" and was installed in the entrances to many concentration camps.

With the mass influx of prisoners, the camp became overcrowded with inhuman living conditions.  The barracks that were built to house 200 prisoners, became cramped spaces for 2000.  The overcrowded and unclean conditions, led to multiple epidemics of typhus throughout the camps history.

The former prisoner processing center, which has been converted into a museum detailing the dark history of the Dachau Concentration Camp. 

Two prison barracks that were recreated to inform visitors of the terrible prison conditions.  The large empty space was the former prisoner assembly area.

In Dachau, Nazi scientists performed inhumane experiments on prisoners and devised terrible torture and interrogation techniques.  To handle the dead from the experiments, torture, and mass executions; bodies were burned in 4 large incineration chambers.  Although gas chambers were also built at Dachau, they were never used on a mass execution level.

This building housed the 4 large incineration chambers and the gas chambers.

It was a truly sobering experience, and lead to the introspective question: Do all humans have an innate darkness that enables us to feel no empathy for our fellow man?

Tomorrow, a walking tour will guide us through the historic streets of Munich.

Kutna Hora: The Bone Church City

Today I took a day trip to Kutna Hora, best known for its Bone Cathedral.

Kutna Hora is a small town that was known for its silver mining industry during the 1400's.  Currently, it is still a small town where local Czech's spend their time running tourist services to the thee UNESCO World Heritage Sites: the Bone Church, the oldest cathedral in Central Europe, and its preserved 1400 silver mining museum.  However, this post will only focus on the Bone Church, due to time constraints there were only a couple things my traveling companions and I could view.

The Bone Church looks pretty inconspicuous.

However, the inside is much more interesting!

 

The initials of the original monk who created the odd art pieces.

The Bone Church was the result of an overcrowded graveyard and the manifestation of devout religious beliefs.  During the crusades, places consecrated with soil from the Holy Land became extensions of the Holy Land and thus held a special place in the minds of the devout.  The Bone Church was consecrated in this manner and soon rumors started to swirl about the speedy decomposition of the bodies buried near in the Bone Church graveyard.  It was said the bodies buried in the graveyard took three days to decompose and leave blanched bones.  Due to these two reasons, people from all over the region wanted their final resting place to be the Bone Church.

It was also during this time that both the Hussite Wars and the Black Death occurred, creating a large amount of remains near the Bone Church.  In order to alleviate this problem, the Bone Church priests started to exhume the bodies of the dead.  The bones were cleaned, blanched, and placed in huge large pyramid altars in the basement of the church.  In this manner, the collection of bones underneath the church were symbolic of the underworld.  As more bodies were exhumed the bone creations became more elaborate; chandeliers, candle stands, and the regional crest were created from human remains.  In addition, they added crowns above the bone pyramid altars to represent the goal of every devout Christian: reach heaven.  An interesting fact about the Bone Church: all structures were completely constructed from human remains except for the crest, there is one complete set of Raven remains.

One of four bone pyramids erected in the ossuary of the Bone Church.

An elaborate crest made of human remains and one raven.  Can you spot the raven remains in this picture?

After concluding the visit to the Bone Church, a long walk to the middle of town yielded a less traveled tourist route. The sleepy town of Kutna Hora had winding cobblestone streets that spilled out into traditional European plazas.  Overall I found the locals to be very friendly and pleasant, especially when you attempted to use short Czech phrases.

Not everything in Kutna Hora is as sinister looking as the Bone Church.

We stumbled upon an active movie set.  I guess they were in between takes.

The extras were super friendly and allowed us to take some pictures during their down time.

A view of the quiet town of Kutna Hora.

The trip to Kutna Hora is definitely worth the visit for someone looking to get away from the busy tourist sections of Prague. Tomorrow I head to Munich, the heart of Bavaria.

Local Czech Flavor

After hitting the huge attractions in Prague and rubbing shoulders with so many tourists, it was time to get off the beaten path.

Today, my new friend and I wandered to the outskirts of the city center.  Traveling South of the city center along the riverside, we happened upon the dance building.  This interesting looking building was designed by Frank Gehry and Vlado Milunic.  It was built to resemble Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, two post war dancers, and was the birth of the modern architecture movement in Prague.  Currently, the dance building houses a museum of modern art.

Can you see the two dancers?  I had a difficult time, but it is definitely an abstract image.

After walking a little further, we walked up  to an old castle overlooking the river.  At the center of the castle is a quaint cathedral surrounded by the Czech National Cemetery.  The cemetery is the final resting place of Czech political, artisan, and cultural figures.  All the headstones are ornately decorate and some date back to the 1400s.  Walking through the ivy laden garden of headstones, I felt a strange connection with the Czech Republic and their rich and tumultuous history.

National Cemetery of the Czech Republic.

A different view of Prague that still overlooks Vltava River.  Still gorgeous, still Prague.

Ultimately, we walked back up to Petrin Hill and proceeded to the St. Norbert monastery.  The monastery gave is further picturesque views of Prague, but is most famous for their beer.  The St. Norbert Amber Ale, brewed by the monastery monks, was so delicious and the the best beer I have ever drank.

St. Norbert Monastery
I didn't see many monks.  They must be busy brewing ALL the beer.

All the beers they serve at the monastery.

Nearby is a preserved 15th Century section of the city, which has narrow, winding cobblestone streets connecting to the more modern parts of the city.

Take a stroll through 15th streets of Prague.

As my friend and I made our way back to the hostel, we were able to take some gorgeous pictures of Prague at night, which was one of most beautiful nighttime cityscapes!

Tomorrow, I head to Kutna Hora and its famous Bone Cathedral.

A Walk Through Prague

Prague has so many sights, I felt it was best to get a guide.

On the first stop of the tour was the Prague Museum Building.  Two significant events occurred at this location.

Prague Museum Building

After the communists took over government control of the former Czechloslovakia, the leaders of the communist party in Czechloslovakia started to have more liberal policies toward the economy.  This upset Moscow who sent trips and tanks to occupy the capital Prague.  With little resistance the Red Army occupied Prague.  One student, Jan Palach, was appalled at the apparent passive nature of the Czechloslovakian people and so to try and galvanize the people into action he set himself on fire on the steps of the Museum Building.  Some citizens put out the fire, but Jan suffered three further days of agony in the hospital before dying.  Tragically, the Jan's sacrifice was in vain as it was another 20 years before Czechloslovakia was free from communism.

The second event happened during the fall of communism in Czechloslovakia, also known as the Velvet Revolution.  Upon hearing news that communism in Czechloslovakia was coming to an end, leaders and citizens held up keys on the steps of the museum to signify being free from communism.

After admiring the historical significance of the Prague Museum Building, the tour headed into the heart of the town center. There we were shown the Astronomical Clock Tower and the Town Center Church.

Church of Our Lady in Prague

The world famous Astronomical Clock; still ticking since 1490.

The Astronomical Clock is an iconic monument in Prague and a source of great pride for the cty of Prague.  It was built in 1490 and has a modern clock face, a clock face that tells the position of the sun and the moon, and a show every hour.  Although the show is given the dubious honor of the second most overrated European site, given its construction in 1490 it is quite impressive.

There are many legends associated with the city of Prague.  I think the most tragic and possibly the closest to the truth is the legend surrounding the maker of the Astronomical Clock.  After completion of the clock, city leaders were very happy with its renown throughout the country.  However, their happiness turned to worry.  The city leaders were worried the clock maker might go to another town and make an even grander clock.  To prevent this possibility, city leaders gouged out the clockmaker's eyes and cut out his tongue to prevent him from indicting anyone.  The clockmaker got his revenge a couple years later when he convinced his assistants to guide him to the top of the clock tower.  When the clockmaker reached the top, he threw himself into the gears of the clock and broke it.  For 100 years the city of Prague had a broken clock and bemoaned their decision to mutilate the clockmaker.

The tour proceeded through the Jewish Quarter, which was where the Jewish community resided during the 18th and 19th century in utter poverty and dismal living conditions.  However, in the 19th Century the Jewish community was allowed outside the sector and the whole section was demolished and rebuilt.  It is interesting to view the Moorish architectural influence on the synagogues in the rebuilt Jewish Quarter.  Due to the openness of the Moors to the Jewish, the Jewish community built their synagogues in the Moorish style to honor the Moorish religious tolerance.

An example of how the Jewish community incorporated Moorish style into their synagogues.

After viewing the historical synagogues of the Jewish Quarter, the guided tour ended just across the bridge from the Prague castle.  At this point, the hunger set in and the tour guide suggested a traditional Czech restaurant.  Traditional Czech food consists mainly of a meat stew, potato pancakes, and some bread.  It was delicious!!!

My mouth is watering just looking at it!  Yummmm!

The day ended with a hike up to Prague castle where from the church clock tower one could see gorgeous views of the Prague town center.

The church clock tower of Prague Castle.  The quality was not that great because of rainy weather.

However, this picture from the top of the tower turned out great!

A view of the area below the old ramparts of Prague Castle.

What is the statue fountain doing?

Oh!  Just killing a lion.

Tomorrow will be a day of wandering outside the city center and hopefully get a more local flavor of Prague.