Gonna back track a bit here and start this blog post on my first day in Germany. This would be home for the next few days.
My friend told me this is the second biggest sign in the world, the biggest being the Hollywood sign.
Out first stop was Castle Solitude. Kinda a dark name, but it was actually a castle that was built just as a hunting lodge. Above you can see my friend, Malte, embodying his past life as a tour guide.
We then went to the Porsche Musuem, which is the smallest of the three car museums that we would end up visiting. It was cool that the museum has a layout similar to that of a gallery. Some cars are so beautifully designed that they definitely are works of art.
A casual stroll through downtown Stuttgart carried us onto our next location which was the Mercedes Benz Musuem. This place was gigantic and full of so much history, not just on cars, but the world. I only have one picture here to show as it was kinda dark inside so I decided to sit back and just appreciate the space instead. We capped off the day by visiting a local vineyard which gave us an amazing view of Stuttgart. It's places like this that we would have never seen without having the local knowledge and help of our friend Malte. Just as an aside, if you look at the picture between the two panoramas you will get an idea of just how big Mercedes Benz is. Mercedes is based from Stuttgart and their headquarters goes from the stadium on the right side of the frame, left across the complex of buildings and off the frame. Just incredible!
Now were picking up where I last left off! As I was really sick the day before we just decided to take it easy the next day. Though I was feeling a lot better it was really nice just having a laid back day without a tight schedule. I took the morning to document some shots of the amazing Easter lunch that was being made. This was honestly the best Easter I've ever had by far and I dont see it every being topped actually!
After lunch we went for a nice walk around the city of Esslingen and then capped off the day with a drive around the country side. I think this was the highlight of my time in Stuttgart. It was just so nice and relaxing and we didnt really do anything that was touristy at all. Of course I have to share this last photo of Malte's speedometer at 200km/h. Crazy in Vancouver, rather normal in Germany when you have the Autobanh.
The trip out to Neuschwanstein Castle had to have been one of the highlights of the entire trip. The day was simply magical. Neuschwanstein is the castle that inspired the Disney castle and people from all over the world come to see it. My friend jokes that it's not a real castle because it's just over a hundred years old (rather new for an European castle) and that it's just a huge tourist trap. That may be true, but there is no denying that it looks epic.
It started snowing when we arrived at Hohenschwangau (The village where the castle is located). The castle draws visitors from all over the world so we ending up buying tickets for a German tour since it was coming up the soonest; and by soonest, I mean it wouldnt be another two hours before we started heading up to the castle.
The shuttle wanst running that day due to construction on the road so we had to walk up to the castle, which was fine as it was beautiful out. On the castle grounds it was just packed with visitiors and since we were so close to the castle there wasnt really a good view point of the entire castle. While we were waiting in line I met an Austrian man (Austria's just 20min's south of the castle grounds) who told us that theres a great view point from this bridge. The entrance to the bridge was closed, but that's only because of slippery conditions. I knew we had to go. A little snow doesnt stop a Canadian. Needless to say we were not disappointed by what we saw!
On the way back down we met a Canadian family, from Vancouver! I thought it was just crazy that you could meet someone from your home town on the other side of the world.
On our way back home we stopped by the city of Ulm to see the Ulm Minster. The Ulm Minster was something I really wanted to see, but didnt think I would see on on this trip and thought I would have to save it for another visit, so I was very happy to have seen it this time around. Back when it was built, in 1890; it was the tallest building in the world. It took a total of 513 years to build and stands roughly 53 stories tall (It is 5 stories taller than the Sheraton Wall Centre in Vancouver). To build something this high well before the time of modern technology is simply amazing. Today it still stands as the tallest church in the world.
Zurich was our first adventure on our own. Although it was just a day trip from Stuttgart it was exciting to see how good our trip planning actually was. The bus ride from Stuttgart was about 3hrs long and brought us to the train station. Switzerland is not in the EU but crossing the boarder was surprisingly easy. There was a boarder...and we just went across it. That was it. Guess I'm too used to the Canadian/American boarder.
I actually really liked Zurich. It reminded me of a European Vancouver of sorts. Unlike Vancouver though, they've got their parking figured out! In one of the above pictures you see a sign on the street with numbers on it. That sign shows you how many parking spots are left on a particular street. That's parking innovation if I ever saw it!
Among the places we visited was the Le Corbusier House, to pay our respects as former design students as well as the FIFA headquarters. I don't watch soccer at all, but it was still pretty cool to visit such an internationally recognized place. Being such, it was surprisingly empty. I think we only saw a kid and his dad visiting and that was it. Hidden tourist spot I guess.
The last photo there isn't the best picture, but I just wanted to share how awesome the Co-Op Market is. We only ate at the Co-Op as everything in Switzlerland is freaking expensive. We're talking around $17CAD for your standard Burger King meal. The Co-Op is kind of like Whole Foods on steroids. They have an awesome cafeteria and the stores are all over the place. We mostly explored Zurich on foot and we saw more Co-Op's than we did Starbucks!
Nuremberg is thought of as the best representation of old Germany. The entire city itself is actually fairly big, however we only explored the old town which is pretty much entirely walkable. For me the highlight of Nuremberg was St. Lorenz Church. I love old churches as the architecture is simply amazing. St. Lorenz is probably the nicest church I've ever been to in terms of sheer size combined with the incredible amount of details within the building.
Other things we visited were St. Sebald Church, The Nuremberg Castle (which offered a great view of the city!), Albrecht Durer's House (which is over 500 years old) and the Nazi Party Rally Grounds. It's incredible how the Nazi Party rally grounds has become a parking lot and storage space today. I mean it used to look like this.
One of the highlights for Munich for me was actually the apartment we rented on AirBnB haha. I just really liked that space! We spent a large part of our first day there exploring the Duetches Museum. It's the largest technology based museum in the world and that is no exaggeration! You can pretty much spend all day there.
Day two in Munich was packed! We headed to the farmers market in the morning to get some groceries. I was really craving mangos, but at 11 euros for one? No thanks. Next stop was Asam Church. Originally built as a private place of worship, this church is the most unique and detailed church I've ever been to. We then went to Allianz Arena. Again, not a football fan, but it was cool to check out as this is where Bayern Munich plays. We were originally planning to get a tour there, but they didnt have tickets for another few hours so we just decided to walk around and head out early to get ahead of schedule. This ended up being a good thing as the BMW Museum was just massive! You could get lost inside of it. Of the three car museums we visited, this one was the most designy in terms of its architecture. We finished the day at the Pinakothek Der Moderne Museum. I was trying to get a picture of the sign here, but it was being occupied so I opted to get a picture of people getting a picture of the sign. We ended up heading back home a little earlier than planned which was great as it made for a relaxing evening.
Stay tuned for the final blog covering my travels!