Hello Paris

We arrived in Paris Sunday evening and went right to our hostel from the airport. Genna and I got up early on Monday ready for a full day of sight seeing. We started our day with a walking tour. 

On the way to the meeting place we got our first look of the Eifel Tower. When I first saw it, it was a bit like finding the prize in a box of cereal. I knew it would happen eventually, but it still took me by surprise and was exciting.

The tour was great. By the end we saw many of the main attractions of Paris including The New Bridge (the oldest bridge in Paris), The Luve, and Tuileries Garden. See the sea gull on top of the statue's head? I thought it was funny!

After the tour we ate lunch at a cute café. I had an omelet and Genna had French Onion Soup. We thought it was all pretty good, but about an hour later we didn’t feel the same. Unfortunately, something we ate there didn’t agree with us and we both ended up getting sick.

Our marathon of a day continued with a trip to the Orangeria Art Museum. It’s located on the edge of the Tuileris Garden. There were a lot of beautiful paintings, most from the Impressionalist era. The most amazing was Monet’s Water Lillies. They were as big as the room. Looking at them I instantly felt calm amongst hundreds of people and an upset stomach. I wish I could share pictures with you, but photography wasn’t allowed in that gallery.

Our big day continued with another walking tour and a trip to my favorite restaurant! I’ll get that post up soon. 

Munich Museums and More!

We started our day by rubbing some lucky lions! I think the one I rubbed was for prosperity, but I'm not sure.

We went to Englischer Garten. It's really big and I hear very popular in the summer months. In the winter... not so much. As we were walking though the park was saw a bunch of people surfing.   The forceful current and a cement slab create a wave for the surfers. It was fun to watch them. 

After exploring the garden we went to the Neue Pinakothek art museum.   We got there just as it was opening.  Since it was Sunday the entrance fee was only 1 Euro. By the time we left it PACKED!  We got to see Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers, Claude Monet’s Water Lilies. Very cool! There was some other impressionist paintings I enjoyed everything else was just like any other art museum to me.

Next we went to the top of St. Peter's Church. There were what seemed like a million stairs and they were really narrow so only one person could be going up or down at a time. The view from the top was AMAZING! It was so clear we could see the Alps. On one side it was super windy and scary so I kind of hurried down after that. 

Last stop on the busy day was Deutsches Museum. It is a very large science museum. It reminded me a lot of the Smithsonian.  It was pretty cool. I was getting tired by then and mostly just wanted to sit down the whole time we were there. 

Then we said so long to the clear sky and clean air and made our way back to Poland. 

Regensburg

Top 5 Highlights of Regensburg: 

5. AMAZING Caprice Pizza at the mall attached to the train station. 

4. Walking out of the mall on the wrong side and completely missing The Old Town Square. Resulting in us buying a HUGE road map at a gas station (that wasn't helpful) and walking aimlessly around Regensburg for at least an hour.

 3. St. Peter's Cathedral. Huge and cool. 

2. Blue sky, fresh air, and the Danube river.

1. Awesome view of the moon as we waited to catch the train back to Munich. 

Augustiner Brew Hall

 Rather than going to Hofbrauhaus for the Beer Hall experience we decided to go to Augustiner. We were told by locals that their beer and food was superior. 

Walking into Augustiner we were instantly intimidated by the long tables filled with people. We were told to just sit down, but there weren't any empty tables and we didn't know who to join. 

We sat down next to an Italian couple. They sat at one end and we sat at the other. We introduced ourselves and that was about as far as our conversation went. 

After we had ordered our drinks, three more people joined our table. They were talking and we overheard them mention Minnesota! We introduced ourselves and learned that they were students at the UMD. It was really fun to talk to them and share our travel stories. It ended up being a fun night!

Our food was good, but honestly the beer was better! I am not sure what it was but Joel, I'll do some research and maybe we can make a batch when I get home : )

The Neuschwanstein Castle

Hands down, the highlight of Munich was going to The Neuschwanstein Castle. It is famous for being the inspiration for The Disney Castle and is about 2 hours south of Munich by train.  The day we went the weather was crazy! It snowed, it rained, it sleeted, it was foggy and it was sunny! 

There are 2 castles. First you see The Hohenschwangau Castle. It is where Ludwig II grew up. Then you hike up a curvy road and see The Neuschwanstein Castle nestled up in the mountain. 

Along the way are beautiful views of the  mountains and the villages below. 

We took TONS of pictures and I am happy to report we have at least 10 pictures from each side of the castle. 

We also took a tour of the inside. Unfortunately, photography was not allowed, but you can see several of pictures on Wikipedia.  Everything was very ornate and impressive. My favorite was King Ludwig's hand carved bed. Fourteen people worked more than four years to construct it. 

It was an amazing experience. I would highly recommend visiting if you have the opportunity.