Cinderella´s Castle

Just back from Neuschwanstein to visit King Ludwig II´s unfinished masterpiece (as well as his boyhood home castle) in the Bavarian Alp foothills. This is the castle that inspired Walt Disney to work up a home for Cinderella. Very pretty, with the best ceilings ever. Probably would have been better if we had done a little reading about Wagner beforehand, as Ludwig was obsessed with the guy and his opera´s, so pretty much every painting has something to do with a Wagner opera. Still, definately a sight to see.

Yesterday was a sad day at Dachau. This is a massive facility, that oddly was repurposed for a short time after the war to house "guest workers" that came for the Restoration construction work...walking down the wide gravel path between the former prisoner barraks was disturbingly pretty, a ruse the Nazi´s used to demonstrate to the Red Cross what kind of conditions prisoners were living under. It now houses a very well done (organized in typical German order) museum that traces the history of the facility and the country´s conditions giving rise to National Socialism (Nazi) power.

Proud moment though, when looking at the plaque dedicated to the U.S. Army unit that liberated the camp (actually two units converged at once, but one got hung up shooting it out with the Nazi tower guards, while the other unit circumnavigated the guardhouse to get behind the Nazi´s...at which point the Nazi´s laid down their arms posthaste, knowing they had been left behind to give up and knowing the Americans had overwhelming firepower).

Highly recommend this, as well as the Radius Tour company we hitched along with for interpreting the silent remains of this gruesome place, if you ever find yourself in Munich.

For something completely different, went to the famed Hofbrau House for dinner after walking the stunning town square (Marianplatz, or Mary´s Place, dedicated to baby Jesus´mother) with its jousting glockenspiel. Though touristy, it still maintains local cred with all of the tables that have been reserved for decades by local groups. Plenty of oompah music to enjoy our steins of beverages with. Still, sobering when considering that Hitler would give some of his major early speeches here to win over the locals, due to its ability to hold thousands within its walls.

So, the running tally would be -

Bavaria day one (Munich) - drei wursts, zwei breze (three sausages, two big pretzels)
Bavaria day two, so far (Fussen/Munich) - ein wurst, ein breze (one sausage, one big pretzel)...I cannot wait until dinner

To slightly continue the last post on energy policy - environmentalism has worked miracles here that we have witnessed with our own eye. At the train platform, a passenger we had seen wheeling around in a wheelchair noticed that someone had put two aluminum cans into the garbage bin. Like Lazarus, up he rose, walked (propelled by his singular commitment to the Earth), retrieved said cans to put into his chair´s bag to place them in the proper disposal container at a later time. The healing powers driven by the evironmental spirit have no boundaries. That, or the phenomenal exchange rate Germans must be given for turning in their cans. My knowledge of the German language does not allow for such mysteries to be revealed.

A random thing I forgot to blog about earlier - the Irish have no idea what "Erin Go Brah" means (nor do I), and detest the "Kiss me I´m Irish" business. Seems these are American inventions to include more people in the St. Patty´s Day festivities. We´re a bit more inclusive when it comes to celebrations, it appears.

Now, about that wurst count....