Munich, Germany

There was a break in all the canceled and delayed flights in Europe (specifically in Germany) and Carolyn and I were able to land in Munich last night. We walked to our bags and we agreed we were excited to finally get up close and personal with “German efficiency.” First stop, customs, I guess the customs agents were off for the night, the agents weren’t there, passengers all walked right through...seemed efficient. Next baggage claim, the bag pile up was laughable in the carousel next to ours.

Erin: “where are all the owners of all these bags?”
Carolyn: “they must have figured out a way to get these bags here lightening fast, they haven’t figured out how to transport people as quickly.”

On the S Baun, headed to the hotel. Made it.

Carolyn and I were both eager for our German breakfast in the morning! She more than I, since Carolyn’s still be a little jetlagged and had been up since 4:30 am.

At 10 am we were able to connect with a business friend of my dad’s who lives in Frankfurt, Dietrick. He gave us some inside scoop on Munich and some feedback on the trip itinerary I had sent earlier. He welcomed us back to Frankfurt for a weekend especially important to carve out a weekend while I’m still in Madrid! It feels like the world is smaller and smaller.

We bought a map and a German phrase book, mapped out our route around the city and headed out. We started at the Karlsplatz and down Neuhauser Street which was full of people, then to Marienplatz. Marienplatz is an unreal sight to see. You could see where the Christmas markets had been there in the plaza. We’ll catch it another time. We went into the tower at Marianplatz which gave us an 85 m above the ground view of the city. It’s about 5 degrees Celsius below. It was beautiful. Carolyn said that these buildings just down exist in the states. She’s right, the detail and charm in the architecture. After Marienplatz, the Royal Palace and the Wittelsbach Residenz Museum and Treasury.

The Treasury houses jewelry, crafts and other gifts from the 13-18 centuries, exchanges between royals, religions and countries.

The Residenz was magnificent, it was heavily bombed during World War II, so parts have been reconstructed back to their original state. The “Antiquarium” was the oldest room in the Residenz and it housed all the statues and antiques collected by the royals, it was converted into a banquet hall but the antiques decorate the perimeter of the room. I loved the old church that had been rebuilt after being mostly destroyed in a much more simple style. It is now used for special concerts or ceremonies. We were getting tired, there were so many state rooms. It was getting redundant.

Carolyn and I headed over to the Food Market to get dinner and plopped it at a restaurant where we could sit. We ordered sausages and beer. There is a certain quality about being in Europe in the wintertime.

Neuschwanstein Castle
We spent the next day in Fussen to see Neuschwanstein Castle. The man behind the madness, King Ludwig II probably would have been great on a Disney design team. This castle was out of a fairytale. 17 years and only 5 rooms were completed, his personal bedroom, excuse me, he personal bed took woodcarvers 4 years to recreate all the church steeples from around Europe that were replicated on his canopy. Talk about a bachelor pad.

Salzburg, Austria
A train ride later, we were in Austria and headed to the main shopping center. We checked out the birth place of Mozart and headed up the road to the medieval 1000 year old fortress, the Hohensalzburg Castle. We toured the castle and though views were limited as it was snowing, it was still a beautiful city and landscape.

On our last day in the city, we walked around another part of the city we hadn't yet ventured to. We went to the Jewish Museum, walked into a few churches on our walk to and the Museum of Contemporary Art.

Leaving on a jet plane
Before the plane took off I was doing a last minute, where's my stuff? And I could not locate my passport. Ugh. Alright logically it had to be on the plane I had to show it to the ticket agent. Carolyn was brought into the search mostly as a hold everything that I pull out of my purse and pockets. The plane started to move.

Ugh. I told Carolyn it had to be here, somewhere, maybe I was sitting on it. Then the intercom came on and Carolyn said before she even started, "there it is."

"Christine Byer....Erin Christine Byer..."

Ding! My flight attendant light pressed.

Two women came over, one holding my tried and true navy blue passport by the very tip of it, not because she was put off by USA, but...

"It was in the toilet."
Pause.
"It was in the toilet."

"I'm sorry (?)" I said.

Still damp, she gave it to me and I put it in a barf bag and securely in my purse.