June 11, 2015 GERMANY
Quite a bit of bus time today. First stop today was actually the tiny country of Lichstenstein. This country had an appropriately tiny castle to go with it. The prince is also in residence just now, but I looked him up. He's too old for Catherine.
Neuschwanstein was next. One of the things she remembered from 12 years ago was that the water was exceptionally good. The water is gone, but on the bright side the hike was much easier than she remembered. The chandelier in the throne room was a wow.
Less so was the angry man who yelled at her for taking a picture. Not sure if she was taking pictures illegally. I asked if he yelled at her in German. No, but he was plenty scary in English.
They didn't get to go to the other castle, Hohenschwangau, it was never on the itinerary, but even if it had been they would have had to skip it because the bus driver backed into a pole and broke the back windshield, so they had to leave to take care of that. oops.
She's waited 12 years, but at last got some spaghetti eis. Her life is now complete.
June 12, 2015 GERMANY
Heading toward Munich, first stop, BMW world. Not Catherine's thing. She said it was really boring, but managed to find a motorcycle and a really good chair.
Next was the Pinakothek der Moderne, a modern art museum.
The vote here is "crazy but cool Grapic and Industrial design as well as architecture." For a small fortune she could have taken a class to better understand the modern art. She decided to save her fortune.
They saw the famous Glockenspiel.
Then walked to Asam's church. This church was built in the 1700 by the brothers Asam. It must have cost a fortune; it remains one of the most important examples of the style of that period.
The group dinner looks interesting. Look how big the radishes are.
June 13, 2015 MUNICH to SALZBERG
A good day to be in Munich. Munich was celebrating it's birthday (857 or so years old). There were tables set up in the Marionplatz and lots of food and music.
Later they rode the bus to Salzburg, had a little free time and then saw The Magic Flute at the famous puppet theater.
The show included the following dialogue:
"I am the princess"
"You are the princess"
"You must be the princess"
"yes, I am the princess"
"you have a white nose; you must be the princess."
"Yes, I am the princess."
June 14, 2015 Salzberg
Salzburg and all things Mozart. This includes Mozart kugeln and Mozart Eis (the kugel is a ball of chocolate and marzipan and Eis is ice-cream). They saw his birth house.
And really got into the spirit of things. Left: Catherine, Center: Zoe, Right: India
No doubt the day included plenty of music. For sure it included a showing of the Sound of Music.
They saw Hohensalzburg castle which was begun in 1077.
And also Salzburg Cathedral which was first built in 774 and then rebuilt in 1181. This Cathedral has the font where Mozart was baptized. But it is NOT the Cathedral where Maria got married in the Sound of Music. That was filmed in Mondsee Cathedral.
June 15, 2015 Salzberg
Before starting on today's trip, I must post the best souvenir ever. Catherine got this for me at the Rijks museum in Amsterdam. I put it up in my office today and it makes me smile every time I see it.
After breakfast, which included a kiwi--aber naturlich! The group went to the Berchtesgarden salt mines.
I'm sure when it was built 2,500 years ago the miners saw scenes like this.
Boy oh boy, not anymore! Now it's a full-blown over the top tourist attraction. I love being a tourist--how fun! There are various tours--the regular tour.
The BOAT tour---this strikes me as odd---since salt dissolves in water, I would think a boat would be a really bad idea, but what do I know?
This is the first group picture I've seen of this study abroad group.
And of course there was a gift shop. Looks like fancy salts will be coming my way soon.
There was also a movie, and all kinds of scenic wonders. But I saved the best picture for last. the SLIDES. Catherine's favorite. She's in front and if that smile isn't pure joy, I don't know what is.
Then to end the day a truly weird dinner of Chinese food and Kase wurst.
June 16, 2015 Vienna
The only word for today is Palatial. The first visit was to Belvedere Palace. Built in the early 1700 for the fun of it by Prince Eugene.
Next stop was the art history museum, which judging by google images, looks exactly the same as a palace.
Catherine did manage to find
some artwork though in the form of another Eygptian hippo! Meet Jens, the Viennese hippo.
Catherine bought a little Jens to keep William company.
After some Wienerschnitzel, the group went to the Vienna Opera house, to see Mozart's Don Giovanni.
She was in one of the boxes and couldn't see very well. We told her to pretend she was a gorgeously dressed member of high-society. She told us that there were still two hours to go. This pretty well sums up my feelings about opera as well.
Happily, there are always friends to come home to.
From left to right, Catherine, Susan Duncan, Kayla Sylvester, India Sherman, Madison Stewart, Amy Grant.
June 17, 2015 Vienna
Europe is starting to affect her brain. This morning she deliberately ordered sparkly water. She knows mineral water is horrible, but her brain wanted it anyway. Looks like her body still thinks it's awful.
The group spent the whole day at Prater amusement park, the oldest amusement park in the world. Horrors, one of the other students, Claire Woodward, wore the same shirt as Catherine AND then wore the same jumpsuit.
Not sure which ride required the jumpsuit, but Catherine wrote the following about this ride:
"The seats rotate and then the entire thing goes back and forth until you go all the way around. I just sat on the ground laughing and trying not to puke for a good five minutes after. I'm still shaking."
I'll include some mystery pictures here. They're great, but I have no idea what they are or where they were taken. Looks like something that could be in Vienna though.
Winner of strange vacation picture?
Or maybe this one should win? Story here for sure.
Impressive fish. I hope it wasn't for lunch.
A happy place.
Claire and Catherine.
Nice dress! I like it!
