Celebrating the New Year at Neuschwanstein

We didn’t waste any time in 2015 before heading out to do something new. We set out for Schloss Neuschwanstein with our guests on January 2^nd – and this time actually went inside!  We had visited the castle in the fall of 2013 but we weren’t in the mood to fight the crowds to take a tour.  Instead we had opted for the more relaxed (in terms of crowds) Hohenschwangau Castle tour across the way. Aunt Ellen and Uncle Rüdiger were more than disappointed in our decision and have made fun of our cultural blindness for the better part of a year.   How could anyone visit the world’s most famous castle and not go inside!?  Well in 2015 we redeemed ourselves! 

Julie’s uncanny planning skills came in handy on January 2^nd.  She motivated us to get out of the house by 7am so we could beat the crowds and the forecasted bad weather.  Upon arriving we found a front row parking spot and already the parking attendant warned us to hurry to the ticket office and secure our castle tour.  They were expecting double the number of visitors because Neuschwanstein is closed New Year’s Eve and Day, and there were plenty of tourists visiting Munich/Bavaria for the holidays (including our 3 guests). 

The drive in wasn't too shabby

After securing tickets for a 12:45 tour and making the 15 minute ‘hike’ up the hill to Neuschwanstein’s entrance, we were initially disappointed to see the trail to the Marienbrücke (Mary’s bridge) was blocked off due to the snow.  This bridge is where you can get photos of the castle in its entirety – and the main reason Julie wanted to come that day (to photograph the castle in snow).  After about 5 minutes of deliberating if we should ignore the fence, we saw a couple come through the barricade from the bridge’s direction.  When they said the path was just fine, we made the decision to duck through the railings and make our way down the trail. 

It ended up being an easy walk to the bridge, even in the snow, and we were able to capture some really great shots of Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau in the winter elements.  And we were not the only ones that had ignored the warning signs/gone around the fences – there were a handful of other people with their cameras enjoying the views. 

The castles weren’t the only things looking beautiful under a blanket of snow – the Bavarian countryside wasn’t too shabby either. 

After an early lunch it was time to take the castle tour.  The tour itself was quick and dirty and involved too many people to really absorb much information.  However we were all stunned by how amazingly beautiful the castle was on the inside.  We had expected that because it was technically not finished that the interior would not be very lavish.  Instead the level of detail in all of the architectural elements is incredible and there are some wildly unique decorations including a rainbow, some vibrant blue tiles, and the most detailed woodcarvings I have ever seen.  I guess you will have to see it for yourself because you are not allowed to take photos inside. 

Ok, we took a selfie in the gift shop as proof we went inside.  I think this photo is ok - the only 'artwork' we put at risk were those plastic placemats behind us.

At the end of the tour, we passed by some windows facing the valley.  As we looked out in the distance we were all shocked to see the incredibly long line of cars sitting in traffic all headed to where we were. 

And they weren't even close to the parking areas.

Upon exiting the castle we observed the trend of jumping the fence to go to the bridge had only increased 10 fold.   The crowds were so thick and intense it was quite entertaining to watch people pushing their way forward and essentially falling through to the other side of the fencing.  And when we saw the Marienbrücke from the castle, we could see it was packed full of people. 

The weather had turned cold and rainy (as forecasted) while we were taking the tour, which meant it was time to leave the massive crowds at the castle and make our way down the trail.  We finished up by taking some photos at the lake and then piled into the car for road trip cupcakes and our journey back to the apartment. 

So now we are proud (and relieved) to be able to visit with our aunt and uncle without feeling shame that we have been to Neuschwanstein but haven’t gone in.  This time we took the tour and can honestly say we were thoroughly impressed!  So what is the secret to having nice weather and minimal crowds when visiting Germany’s biggest tourist destinations?  Make sure you have Julie in your group to make the plans. 

Our 3rd Germanniversary

Today marks our 3^rd Germanniversary!  This means we are continuing our annual tradition of looking back and reflecting on the top and bottom moments of our 3^rd year in Germany.

Here are the top moments of our 3^rd year in no particular order:

• Noah finally checking off ‘Go to the World Cup’ from his bucket list 
• Celebrating 10 years together (our first date was back in Austin, TX in September 2003)
• Making our 2nd trip back to the US in February, this time to see Julie’s brother get married
• All of our European travels, with our trip to Norway topping the list
• Noah perfecting his flour tortilla recipe so we have fresh flour tortillas regardless if anyone has visited from Texas recently
• All of the guests we hosted / family and friends we met in Europe this year (as we reached our 3^rd year, the amount of visitors decreased as most people came the first 2 years – so those who came, we really appreciated it!!!
• Discovering the photo app Foap, and selling over 80 photos for $5 each between both of us – one photo (pictured) even won a mission/$150!! 
• Finally spotting the bird (an owl) that we always knew was in Nymphenburg Park. For 3 years we always saw people looking at this one tree in the park/pointing binoculars or telephoto lenses at the tree.  We would always stop and look up too, but we never saw what they were looking at.  And we never cared enough to ask someone.  On January 1^st Julie finally spotted an owl – that was it!!!
• Julie discovering the American Burger Bar that is close to her work – a food truck selling cheap burgers ran by a guy from Philly 
  

And now the low moments (also in no particular order):

• Noah coming home from the World Cup with Traveler’s Tummy - it took him over a month to be back to 100%, but he doesn’t regret a single meal.
• Julie being sick over Thanksgiving, meaning she couldn’t eat any of the pies made to take to work
• Shortly after this, Rita got sick – meaning 4 days in a row we came home to diarrhea all over the rug (I had photos of the poo, but Noah said I should keep it classy)
• To continue the poo theme – there was a 2 week span where we stepped in dog poo 3 times (once Noah, once with shoes for Julie, once BAREFOOT on the beach for Julie)
• Having a few uptight folks around the neighborhood be jerks about the dogs.  As we HATE stepping in poo, we pick every last one up from our dogs.  But this doesn’t stop a few grumps from yelling at us to ‘pick it up’ – when they are peeing!  I just ask if they have a cup and walk away.
• The time Julie screwed up two different neighbors’ dogs…  Julie was walking Sadie and Rita before work and saw a little white dog wandering around the street and no one around.  She thought she recognized the dog from a certain house and picked it up and put it in their front yard.  A few houses down she noticed a front gate wide open, but just went home to leave for work.  The next day she realized that the 2^nd house had the same white dog in the front yard…. It was just the same breed as the neighbor down the street.  So instead of helping out, she 1) freaked a neighbor out when they opened their door to find their dog’s doppelganger out front and 2) freaked a neighbor out when they couldn’t find their dog in the front yard.  At least they sorted it out.
• Noah couldn’t repeat his Roche Tennis Tournament victory from 2013 – he dropped from 2^nd place to 20^th (out of 25).  To be fair to Noah – his prior year’s success made them seed him in the top tier (where last year he was in the middle tier).  This meant that he was the worst of the best, but that the middle and bottom tier players had more wins in their sections, leading them to be ranked higher than Noah.  Or so he says…. 
• Julie had a guy at Oktoberfest try to flick up her skirt to see up it when she stood on a table to dance (we were at Oktoberfest with Intel).  Julie immediately spun around to the jerk, and tore him a new asshole by demanding an apology, lecturing him on women’s rights, and kicking him out of the table behind her.  The rest of the night he came over 5 additional times to apologize again, and Julie’s coworkers were now a bit scared of her.  Noah thinks he peed himself a little.  And the joke’s on him: Julie always has shorts on under her dress, so he didn’t even get a peep.
• Julie discovering the American Burger Bar – a YEAR after it opened!  So many missed burger opportunities. 

Here’s to less shit and more good times for our 4^th year in Germany!

Another Munich New Year

We have enjoyed a wonderful two-week break from work with no responsibilities but the dogs.  Almost every day we have slept in and then decided how lazy we want the day to be.  Mostly we have been watching movies, doing lots of jigsaw puzzles, and eating good food.  I’m sure there were a few days we would not have made it outside if it were not for the dogs (thanks girls!).  Just when our laziness streak was beginning to violate social acceptableness, we had visitors come and pull us up off of our butts for Silvester/New Year’s Eve. 

As a side note, this year marks the 3^rd Christmas in Munich without snow.  However, as mentioned before, the day after Christmas it started snowing and didn’t stop for the rest of the year.  This was probably the most snow we have experienced since moving to Munich.  Therefore, this is the first time we’ve captured Munich so detailed in the snow, aka there are plenty of snowy pictures coming up! 

Our new friend Jason, who is a Houston-native now living in Mannheim, came into town with two of his friends, Jorge and Carolina.  We met up first on New Year’s Eve, and I joined our guests on a free, guided walking tour through downtown. 

Odeonsplatz in the snow

I learned a lot of incredible new stories about Munich, although it was no real surprise that most of them involve beer in one way or another.  For instance, many years ago the opera house had once caught on fire and the relatively modern gravity fed sprinkler system was put to the test.  Unfortunately, it was winter and the water for the sprinklers was all frozen which called for a plan B.  Because of the proximity to the Hofbräuhaus the officials called on the locals to form an assembly line and pass mugs of beer down to the Opera house to put out the fire.  Well unfortunately, most of the locals started drinking the beer as it came down the line, which meant not enough beer made it in time to save the Opera house.  I don’t know if it is true and I don’t really care, this story is just too funny.

After the tour, we warmed up at our apartment before going out for a lovely Indian dinner.  Our upstairs Colombian neighbors joined us as well, who shortly after New Year’s moved back to Colombia.  This meant Julie and I were the only pathetic ones who could not speak Spanish (seeing as Jorge is Cuban, Carolina is in fact Colombian herself, and Jason just happens to speak Spanish too).  It made for a lively mixed language conversation with hints of German, Spanish, and English mixed in.  As usual, the food at Taj Mahal was incredible.

We continued on our tradition of doing the German custom of “Bleigießen” fortune telling, where we melt lead trinkets and recast them into randomly formed shapes via cool water.  The new shape reveals what is in store for the following year.  Just like previous years there was plenty of arguing about the interpretation of the shape.  Where I was certain my new shape was a golf club, other people were dead set that it was a sperm.  Since neither option was on the list of interpretations, the group settled on a frog (tadpole), so my fortune for 2015 is that I will win a lot of money in the lottery.  Julie’s snake meant she is due for some haters this year (“people are envious of your success”). 

Before and After shots of Julie's Bleigiessen

We finally made it to Hirschgarten about 11:30 with our fireworks and alcohol in tow.  Thanks to the snow, we were able to pull our cargo down to the park via a sled, although we were missing the rope to properly secure things to keep them from falling off every 20 feet.  Soon the cargo was carried by hand, and replaced by Julie looking for a free ride. 

Due to the foot+ of snow on the ground, we couldn’t post up in the field.  Instead we had to keep to the groomed walking paths to start our fireworks show.  We rang in the New Year with prosecco, homemade cupcakes, and 12 grapes each to go along with the war zone of fireworks surrounding us.  

Between the two group shots, both of us are captured

By 1am we ran out of drinks and fireworks, so it was time to return to the apartment.  Our party had only just gotten started because we all stayed up and celebrated until 3:30am, when Julie was the first to throw in the towel.  Go us!  Lucky for us, we had rested up plenty the prior weeks and were actually able to properly party. 

All in all it was a really great way to start off the new year – surrounded by friends (new and old), fireworks, and family (Julie and the pups).  Here’s to 2015 and everything it will bring! 

PS - Here are a few more snowy Munich photos just because. 

Snowing in Nymphenburg park

Across from our apartment

Hirschgarten aglow from smoke and fireworks