Pilgrimage to Krakow

My Grandmother (Grammy) is Polish. Her parents arrived in the US around the turn of the century from the countryside around Krakow. My great great grandfather was the sheriff of a town named Pilzno a little east of Krakow, so visiting Krakow felt like I was uncovering my Polish roots.

Poland has had a history of foreign occupation and was hit hard in world war II, only to be followed by 45 years of soviet communist rule. My parents and Grammy visited Poland in the 1980s and found the country run down. Since the end of Soviet rule in 1989, the country has made huge strides. Krakow has a beautiful old town, with great architecture, a walled castle overlooking the city, and a town square bustling not just with tourists, but residents as well. The city is proud of their most famous former resident, Pope John Paul II. We visited the church where he presided as Archbishop before heading to the Vatican.

In Poland, it seemed as if everything was marked down by 50%. Meals were incredibly cheap and our hostel was a bargain as well. We tried glumkis (cabbage stuffed with meat), perogies, and plenty of other local specialties. The glumkis couldn't quite match up to Grammy's recipe, but were pretty good nonetheless.

Prague

The eastern European cities all have very similar characteristics. There is a river typically running through the city, with a castle normally at the top of a hill adjacent to the river. Add in an 'old town', some old city walls, and poof you've got your city. Prague seems to be the most popular of these cities for tourists. It reminded me a lot of Budapest.

Prague was a little over three weeks into the trip, and all the traveling caught up with us a bit. Turns out traveling like this is exhausting. As Americans, I think we are accustomed to two weeks being a really long vacation (as compared to Kiwis who might go for a month or more). Even with slowing down the pace, we found some great spots in Prague. Couple of things we saw:

An astrological tower that has fantastic views of the city.

A classic castle on top of the hill with a towering church and a medieval street with tiny houses (golden lane).

A walking tour of the Jewish quarter were we learned all about Czech Jewish history, especially around WW II.

A museum on communism and a walk through the huge boulevard where the Czech people would protest against Soviet communist rule.

A stop by the Lenin wall where Czechs would graffiti Beatles quotes on the wall to peacefully protest the communist rule. The tradition continues today with new artists leading the way.

Mad Ludwig's Castle

We escaped Munich's city life for a day and took a journey to the Neuschwanstein Castle. This is no ordinary castle. Built in the medieval style in the mid 1800s by "mad" German king Ludwig, the interior was only partially finished when he was deemed insane and unfit to rule. Shortly after having his crown taken away, he was found dead along with his psychiatrist in the nearby lake. To this day, it's still a mystery as to what exactly happened. Ludwig II didn't like spending time in Munich and apparently the people of Munich didn't like him very much. Even through all this tragedy, we are left with a great castle to view in an unbelievably beautiful setting.

The castle is incredibly well preserved. The view from a nearby bridge is breathtaking. This us the castle Disney modeled Sleeping Beauty after. Photos weren't allowed inside, but it was impressive as well. Ludwig went over the top in every facet, with plenty of gold plating and intricate wood carving. Completely over the top....but I guess that is what you get from a "mad" King.

Munich - Here Comes the Rain

Unfortunately our string of sunny weather came to an end in Munich. Right as September rolled in, the searing heat we felt in the first half of our trip melted away, but rain accompanied the cooler weather. Without clear skies, the camera didn't make it out of the bag often so I'm sorry for the paucity of photos.

We did however make it to a few sites indoors that kept us occupied. As Munich was home to the Wittlebachs, rulers of Bavarian Germany for seven hundred years, there was another palace to tour. While the treasury wasn't quite up to the Hapsburgs, the living quarters were more impressive. How would I look in one of those crowns? Pretty good right? Afterwards I sighed relief as I wouldn't be touring any more palaces until....London in two weeks. That's enough recovery time.

Munich is also famous for their beer halls. You might be contractually obligated to visit a beer hall as a tourist in Munich, so we followed along (this is the home of Oktoberfest after all). The beer halls were packed with people. You could spot the serious locals by their old school feathered green caps, lederhosen, and leather shoes. They serve beer in 1 liter mugs- Yes, a full liter! There is also a band playing classic Bavarian tunes. It's basically one big party. You search to find an empty seat at one of the large picnic style tables. We ended up sitting with a Brazilian couple and a Japanese couple (like I said, you're practically obligated to go as a tourist) and "enjoyed" a classic meal of bratwurst and sauerkraut.

At this point in the trip, we had hit a wall with the meat and potato-heavy menus (see Bratislava post about where this really started). Austrians and Germans love their sausages, schnitzel, and any other heavy foods. Craving salad, we found a quick service Italian chain called Vapiano's. If you are living around DC, they have a few there. Great food that's made right in front of you and fairly quickly. We went three times in three days in Munich to get away from all the meat and potatoes!