After Salzburg, we went to Nuremberg to catch our cruise boat.

That picture was taken the next day. We were late arriving after our side trip to Salzburg. Did you know it is named for salt deposits? (No, we did not see any).

Our first town is of course Nuremberg, and we discovered how great a river cruise is! A bus took us to the top of the hill (which Brian climbed when he was here before) and informative guides told us stories. We each used blue-tooth devices to hear the guides, so the sound was clear AND we did not need to hover around the guides. Also, if we were too far away from the guide, the sound cut out, and we knew to find the group again. Fantastic!

The train to Salzburg goes through a wide flat plain with small villages, farms and ranches. The Alps seem to jump out of the ground quite suddenly, although in reality we were climbing the entire ride. We had lunch on the train because we would not have much time in Mozart’s home town.

Now that the trains are electric and not polluting along the tracks, the German people use the thin slice of land adjacent to the tracks for small gardens. Some that we noticed were next to tall apartment complexes, so we wondered if people in the apartments used the space for vegetables and flowers. We saw rows of corn as well.

Brian left his Panama Hat on a train our second day here (the day we were so mixed up), so he bought a German looking one in Salzburg.

Many horse drawn carriages were in use in Salzburg!

We went over a pedestrian bridge with “locks of love” all along it. The first time we saw this feature was in the Northeastern US (also where Brian bought the Panama hat). A store in the town specialized in engraving locks for young lovers to place on the bridge.

Salzburg is an incredibly Catholic place, with a lot of churches. I thought of my mom a lot.

This one, surprisingly, had no stained glass windows, but utilized natural light and astonishing art to create beauty.

Wall dwellings in the sandstone are where monks lived. Strange.

A cemetery is in the middle of three different churches.

We forgot to tell you that yesterday when we arrived in this amazing city, it was a Bavarian State Holiday called (in English) Corpus Christi Day, about 2 months after Easter. This is not a holiday in the state of Baden, so we were not warned about it.

This meant that when we walked from public transportation to the English Garden, a lot of people were out playing in the sun. Brian wanted to show me a place where they engineer waves for people to practice surfing on the river. But the overview area was packed! So we skirted that space and followed the “river” toward our hotel. We started seeing people in the river, floating right past “no swimming” signs. Farther on, people were surfing on a standing wave farther downstream. Germans are very polite taking turns!

Today, we walked to the center of old Munich from our hotel. We went through the English Garden again, and visited three museums, mostly the Residenz Museum which was rebuilt after being bombed in WWII. The first museum we visited was the “Treasury” which displayed gold, gems, artwork, coins , crowns and crosses etc.

(Which cup do you choose?)

The second museum was the Residenz itself. The organization was mostly chronological, and a lot was built when the Wittelsbach family ruled Bavaria, beginning in 1395. This is all that was left of an outdoor site made of tuff and seashells.

The next day … I must have fallen asleep with my hands still on the keyboard last night! We probably walked 10 miles yesterday, not including wandering the museums. No wonder! Now we are on a train, and I am awake enough to write.

The rooms in the Residenz were large and extravagant.

In the Residenz, I took many pictures of chairs. Why was that?

It was difficult to know which pieces were original (not many) except through the English language tour recordings, but all the rooms were beautiful, some more ornate than others.

Finally, after lunch, we went to the third museum which was a theater, small U shaped and with 3 levels of boxes, with a special box in the center back for the king.

After the museums, we found a bar named for my sister’s family – the Kennedys. I am impressed they have a place here!😉

At 5 PM we saw the Glockenspiel clock tower, when the dolls dance out a story of love and jousting. Brian took a video of this last time he was here, so we just watched during the action.

We went into the Frauenkirche right after the tower, but a service was about to begin, so we were not able to get to the confessional. This image, from the next church, will have a to serve.

Later, Brian took me to Asam Church, which frankly reminded me of the Black’s residence in the Harry Potter series. Tall, narrow, stuck between houses, you would not notice it unless you were a wizard with the right pass key. It was built by two bothers who were architects, who used the space to sell their ideas for church buildings. It is being used as a Catholic Church today.

We must be choosing excellent restaurants, because twice now, we asked for a table and were told that we would only have an hour to eat because everything is reserved. And both places were delicious!

European trains are FAST! We got to Munich from Baden-Baden in just four hours (about 200 miles). The difference between these trains and those that go more slowly is that you don’t see as much. Scenery goes by too quickly, and many of the lines go through industrial areas or tunnels. We did pass the town where Brian was born though.

We walked to our hotel from public transportation, about a mile, toward and through (you won’t believe this) the English Garden. Yes, the English Garden is the largest city park on the continent of Europe! Bigger in area than Central Park NY. Designed by an American, called English, in the middle of the city that is the capital of Bavaria. What a (happily) mixed up world!

After dropping off our stuff (and rinsing off) we wandered again through the park. Brian noticed that the willow trees were clipped off at exactly the same height above the water:

We decided that it must be just the height the geese can reach, stretching up from the lake surface. We saw one gosling (not too young) and two chicks of (what we call) mud hens.

We went to a beer pavilion at the lake and were a bit confused as to how to acquire a beer. Finally, we went through a turnstile and found a counter with a bunch of beer glasses already poured. We each grabbed one, then a pretzel, found the cashier, and made it out of the enclosed area. Unfortunately, it was not beer, or not just beer but a mixture of beer and lemonade called radler. Not yucky, but unexpected. This mistake comes, I am sure, from not learning enough of the language before we arrived. Here is the pavilion:

Later, we wandered outside the park, noticing that the clouds were getting thicker. Yes, with all these full, green trees, we should have expected rain! Brian actually asked if we should bring umbrellas tonight, and I (unthinkingly, about how far we had travelled today) shrugged it off. Silly me!

So, we ducked into a local bar that specialized in hamburgers. When Brian went to the restroom, a painting was above the urinals. What were these women measuring?

After most of the rain was done, we walked back through the English garden toward the south, to see the Chinese Pagoda (where, earlier a live band was playing polkas) then back to the hotel.