Our apartment in Immenstaad and a visit to Munich

Thanks to Raytheon, Mike and I have been fortunate to live in Europe a few times.  We have not very often taken weekends off and just vegged...we tend to want to explore and see as much of the area as possible.  This last weekend was no exception.  Even though we have already been to Munich, I wanted to go back and visit something we had not seen before, Nymphenburg Palace. 

I guess I had better start off with a few pictures of where we landed after our 2 night stay at the Grape on the Lake.  We moved out of the Grape on Saturday morning, and dropped our bags off at the apartment Raytheon rented for Mike while he is here.  Here are a few shots of our new home. Immenstaad is a summer resort village, it sits right on the shores of the Bodensee. 

Our apartment sits a few streets back from the lake.  There are three apartments in the building below, ours sits over the garage.

Here are a few shots of the inside:

Yes, I hit my head on the ceiling when I got out of bed.  More than once. 

 

After we dropped our bags off on Saturday morning, we took off for Munich with two guys that Mike works with.  The first place we stopped was Nymphemburg Palace, built in 1675 as a summer residence for the ruling families of Bavaria, starting with Ferdinand Maria and Henriette Adelaide of Savoy.  The joke during the tour was that many men were named "Maria" back then, but why this one dressed in tights and high heels

was anyone's guess. 

We only got to see a very small portion of the palace, this shot just shows the buildings we visited.  We toured 16 rooms of the Royal apartments that were on the ground floor.  The rest of the palace complex (not visible in this picture) housed the Bavarian government during the summer months when the Royal Family was vacationing there.

Here are a few shots of the king and queen's apartments, starting with the INCREDIBLE "Great Hall":

Here is a close up of the ceiling in the Great Hall:

This is the really, really, red reception room.  The Italian table in the center was made in the 1400's.

One of the bedrooms:

Here is the "birthing room", where famous, crazy King Ludwig the 2nd was born.  In case you're a Disney fan, crazy Ludwig is the one who built the castle (Neuschwanstein) that the castle at Disneyland is designed after.

This is the "Hall of Beauties" that King Ludwig #1 had painted. He apparently was a consummate girl watcher, and would invite the beautiful girls in the village to come to the castle "for a portrait".  As the tour guide said, "If only these squeaking floors could talk!"  My guess is that this is why the king and queen slept in separate apartments!

They say Ludwig was a bit, what's the word? Flamboyant?  He loved the Baroque style, as displayed here in his "Dress Coach".  It is hard to tell in this picture, but it was coated in gold leaf.  I think it needs just a bit more flair, don't you?

On the grounds of Nymphenburg is another, smaller palace called Amalienburg, built in 1734.  It was used as a hunting lodge.  When I think of a hunting lodge, I imagine something rustic.  Here are some pics so you can decide if it fits YOUR idea of a hunting lodge!

Mike and I on our way to the "hunting lodge".  I'll say it again, it is COLD here.

Schloss Amalienburg, the hunting lodge:

Even the dogs lived in luxury, they had heated dog houses under the gun cabinets:

Here is the beautiful dining room at the lodge; it is "Oh, SO Rococo!"

The kitchen was big, but very primitive!

The bedroom at the lodge:

I would love to come back sometime in the summer, the gardens and grounds here at Nymphenburg are supposed to be amazing!

After we left the palace, we drove to the center of Munich so we could go to the Hofbrauhaus (HOFE-broy-howse) for some good German beer. 

It is incredibly toursity ( it is said that locals come here to watch all the tourists attempt to chug beer and sing "Country Roads"), but is also stuffed with history.  The Hofbräuhaus was one of the beer halls used by the Nazi Party to declare policies and hold functions: On February 24, 1920, Adolf Hitler proclaimed the twenty-five theses of the National Socialist program here.  We had lunch and enjoyed the craziness of the local soccer team that had apparently won their game.  If I can figure out how to post a video (things look different on the editing bar, for some reason) I will put it up so you can hear the team singing!

Tune in to the next post, where you'll get to see pictures from the Fasching parade in Konstanz.  It was REALLY interesting! 

WE'VE ARRIVED AT THE "GRAPE ON THE LAKE"!

Mike and I drove to LAX Wednesday afternoon to begin our trip to Germany. Mike is working in Friedrichshafen for a little more than a month, and I am here for 2 1/2 weeks for vacation! Yahoo!

We were surprised to see a lot of news vans from various TV stations parked outside the international terminal and wondered what was going on inside. We saw some news teams setting up cameras but never found out what was going on.

Mike had a 5:30 pm flight on American, and I had a 7:30 pm flight on Swiss. Mike's flight left on time, and he flew to London. I left on time as well, and flew directly to Zurich. We both got in late, due to the weather systems over the east coast. Didn't matter for me, but Mike almost missed his connecting flight to Zurich. He made it, but his bags didn't. We met up in Zurich, and were greeted by some COLD weather, which was certainly expected for February in Europe. The "schnee" was falling, and it was -4C, about 24 degrees farenheit. Cold for a California girl! After Mike filled out all the necessary paperwork for his missing bags, we got in his rental car and headed for Germany. It was about 6:00 pm Zurich time, and we hit a lot of rush hour traffic. The highway was packed. It took us quite a long time to get to Konstanz to catch the ferry across the Bodensee into Germany.

When we finally got to Konstanz we were surprised to see people wandering all over the town in nightshirts and various costumes. I remembered then, that it was the beginning of "Fasching", the German equivalent of Mardi Gras: wild partying before Lent begins! It is a celebration of two things, the ceremonial driving out of the "evil spirits of winter", and the beginning of Lent and the fasting time. According to tradition, 3 and 1/2 weeks before Ash Wednesday the townspeople gather at night in their nightshirts to "wake up the Schalk". He is kind of a court jester type of person that begins and ends the Fasching celebrations. We are planning to go to Munich this weekend, so will no doubt see more of the Fasching festivities.

We stopped at a McDonalds (a quick alternative to a long, delicious German dinner) for some food, and then got lost trying to find the ferry in Konstanz. We drove around quite awhile following a few widely spaced signs that showed a picture of a car riding on a boat.   We finally found the terminal, and the ferry.  It was loading when we arrived, so we didn't have a long wait.

From the other side of the pond we drove fairly quicky into Friedrichshafen to our hotel:   The Traube am See. Translated, this means Grape on the Lake. I thought that was pretty funny, hence the name of this post.

I was cold, so immediately bundled up in the comforter from the bed to get warm. I have a feeling I may be shivering for the next 2 1/2 weeks. There is a very good reason that I live in the desert! 

This morning I slept until 9 am (heaven!) and then had breakfast in the hotel. Mike was at work already, so I decided to keep myself busy by taking a walk.  Here is the beginning of the "Wanderweg".

Oh, doesn't the Bodensee look cold?  I can't imagine how the swans and ducks that were sitting in the water could stand it!!

I took this last picture for my  daughter-in-law, Stacy; and also for my cousin, Marcia!  They both love wandering around old cemeteries as much as I do!

When Mike gets home tonight, I imagine that we'll go out for dinner with his friends from work, and then get a good night's sleep.  For now, I think I'll read a book all afternoon and then take a nap!  Wow, I could get used to this laziness quite quickly!  Tune in again tomorrow for the Munich adventures, and the move to our apartment, Mike's home for the next 4 1/2 weeks.

The Resurrected Blog!

Well, after a few requests, I have decided to resurrect my long neglected blog. I do most of my day to day posts on Facebook now, but since we have a couple trips coming up, I thought it would be nice to do more detailed journaling and post more pictues here, instead. Look for my first travel post in a few days! Mike and I are leaving Wednesday for a trip to Germany. He is going to Friedrichshafen again for another extended business trip. This time, I am going to go with him for the first 2 1/2 weeks. Hooray! We plan to visit Munich and Vienna, Austria while I am there. Check back soon!