Vacation to Bavaria & Austria

As a 30th anniversary gift to each other, my wife and I took a trip to Bavaria and Austria; Munich, Honhenschwangau (where the castle Neuschwanstein is) and Salzburg. Boy was it fun. Pictures are going to be posted on my Picasa site here - the beer, food, people, sites, nature - everything was just wonderful.

We flew into Munich and stayed there for 2 days. The first day is always the zombie day due to the overnight flight, but we still managed to get out and wander the streets and various Platz's of town. Eating was the key objective and we visited the Hofbrauhaus - a very famous beer hall in Munich. The food & beer was so very good.

The next day, after a good nights rest, we headed to the English Garden or Englischer Garten as it's known there. A massive, beautiful (can't use that work too much here) park that rivals Central Park or other large public parks. It was in partial bloom and although the weather was overcast and drizzly, lots of people were wandering about with their children or pets.

On the third day we rented a nice Audi A5 and drove to Hohenschwangau - the small village where King Ludwig II build his romantic palace Castle Neuschwangau - the basis for Walt Disney's castle at his theme park in California. We stayed at a family owned hotel, Muller and had a wonderful room on the second floor with a huge outdoor patio on the roof of the gift shop.

We hiked up to the older castle just behind the hotel and tour it - the build dates back to the middle ages and was a hunting lodge for knights before it was remodeled by King Ludwig's father in the early 1800's. But just a small place compared to the larger castle Neuschwangau.

We drove from Germany through Austria and back into Germany to a smaller town - Oberammergau - an exquisite Bavarian village with many fresco's painted on the buildings. Check out the pictures on the Picasa site.

One of the interesting things about this region, aside from the natural beauty is the fact it is so neat and tidy. Sure you can find some trash and the German kids love their graffiti - but you just don't see sloppy yards, businesses or junk - when you do see some odd bits & pieces, they are always stacked or organized very neatly.

After a drive back to the lovely Hotel Muller, we had one of many exceptional meals. Then off to bed for an early departure back to Munich to drop off the car and catch a train to... Salzburg, Austria.

What an awesome city Salzburg is. So very old and so very lovely at the same time. The weather was nice & hot when we arrived and a front promptly came through and dumped some hard rain - but we would not be deterred! We had a great time walking all the little connecting passages between streets on the old side of town. All the people were friendly and we had no issues communicating with them.

After two days here, it was time to board the train and travel the 1.5 hours back to Munich. Once back in town, we stayed at a Hilton that was just above the S-Bahn station and were able to get back downtown to check out a few more stores and the Paulaner Brauhaus!

I must say what wonderful beer culture that is prevalent everywhere in Munich and the smaller villages we visited. You did not find that so much in Salzburg, it was more about style and grace and Mozart!

Overall, we had a tremendous time and will return as soon as we can to explore more of the sites and towns in the area. We highly recommend it to anyone that would like a relaxing, romantic vacation.