And it Rained...

Mmm...Sacher in Vienna!

Neuschanstein (Sleeping Beauty's) Castle

Buongiorno e mi dispiace, my adoring fans, but I have been a bad blogger and not updated! Let me recount some trials and tribulations in Germany and Austria (and excuse any blatant errors, I had to help Joy finish a delicious bottle of house white wine in Manarola...):

Fritzlar - Jul 18-21: "Delicious awkwardness" as Joy has calledour stay in the cute little medieval town of Fritzlar, in west central Germany. We saw many hilltop castle ruins, were fed too much food by her relatives, and pretended we understood some German...hmm...The family was very hospitable and attentive and took excellent care of us. In fact, Joy's 93-year-old great aunt didn't even want me to go running one morning for fear I would get lost or kidnapped or something. I finally made it out the door, but our hostess (the great aunt's daughter) was very concerned - "is something wrong? Did she feel that she ate too much? - it was incumbent upon Joy to explain that I often go running in the morning! This is only one of the many awkward culture and language clash moments, hehe.

Munich - Jul 22-25: The city that we did not actually visit...well, our three days there were spent everywhere but. We went to Salzburg (home of Mozart, The Sound of Music, and the giant chocolate covered pretzel that got away); Neuschwanstein (Sleeping Beauty and Mad King Ludwig's castle); and Dachau (a contemplative morning at the first concentration camp). Plus, we managed to get trapped in the evening thunderstorm and downpour on a daily basis!

Vienna - Jul 25-27: The city of decadence...particularly for our budget. It is a large city with grand and impressive architecture. We saw the gaudy and ornate apartments of the former emperor and learned about his crazy, manic-depressive, workout-a-holic empress Sissi. We also went to a classical music concert that was particularly touristy, but whetted my appetite for more classical music. Instead of dinner, we followed this concert with a slice of sacher torte and cuppa hot chocolate at the original Sacher cafe (mediocre). We also ended our lasted day with coffee, crazy cream cakes, and people watching at Cafe Aida on the main pedestrian route, before taking off on our overnight train to Venice!

Other Tidbits: German and Austrian food (real stuff, not pastry) does not mesh well with my diet - schnitzel and wurst anyone? Is it wrong for Cathedrals to charge to see the main area? still lamenting that pretzel I didn't buy...