Salzburg

After leaving München we made a stop at Dachau Concentration camp.  I had been there on my very first trip to Europe about 10 years ago, but that was long ago and I think it was good to have a second visit.  I won't post any pictures, but wanted to document that we went.

Afterwards, we made the 2 hour drive to Salzburg, Austria.  We checked into our place and then headed to the old town.  It was a very small, but pretty place with a lot of history.  Salzburg is where the Sound of Music was filmed and also where Mozart was born!

Mirabel gardens - after we got back to the AirBnB that night I looked up the Sound of Music and discovered that we unknowingly took the same shot - too funny!

Lock Bridge across to the old town

Old town at night

We found this store full of egg shells that were painted so intricately - they were beautiful and I could have stayed in there forever!

We found a nice quiet spot for dinner and then called it a night.  The next morning we went to visit the fortress on the hill that you can see from Mirabel gardens.  The views were spectacular!

Cute little garden in the fortress where a geocache was hidden.

View of Salzburg from the fortress.  We stayed just a cross the river in the newer part of the city.

We also visited the Nomberg or the nunnery that was just down the hill.  We walked into the church which was dark and silent except for the nuns singing.  It was surreal and such a cool experience.  This was also the nunnery where Maria was from in The Sound of Music.

After these two stops we headed out - we had a long drive ahead of us to Switzerland.

Munich (München)

We arrived in Munich at a decent hour on Friday afternoon.  The flight from Berlin was quick and painless.  We then trained to the city and checked into our awesome AirBnB not far from the city center.

My dad and brother had arrived in Stuttgart that same day and drove to Munich to join the fun.  We met them as well as the daughter of my dad's good friend who lives in Munich for dinner at a traditional Bavarian restaurant (yum!) and then headed to the famous Hofbrauhaus for a drink. It was packed, but so much fun and great people watching!

Glockenspiel (clock) in Munich

Group shot at dinner

The next morning we all met up again and headed to The Oktoberfest.  I had no idea that it was so big and there were so many carnival rides - it was incredible!  We didn't have tickets to one of the big beer tents, but had fun sitting in one of the walk up tents and enjoyed some deliscious food.

We rode the Ferris wheel and it was amazing to see the size of the festival.  On the other side there were 6-10 beer tents that held 5000-6000 people inside and then several more thousand outside. They say more than 6 million people attend each year.

Inside a traditional small tent.

Family (we missed you mom!)

The rides were huge and there were so many of them! I took a video, but can't figure out how to post it.

Alex finally got his lederhosen outside the festival.

Anna gave me a traditional ginger bread cookie - these are bought for each other at the Oktoberfest and were sold in all sizes and decor. They were fun to look at!

We spent all day at Oktoberfest and enjoyed a nice pizza dinner that night. The next morning we took the train to the airport and then picked up our rental car - Wanda the Wagon!  More adventures to come later!

Berlin

We arrived in Berlin on Wednesday afternoon by plane.  The train journey from the airport was almost two hours thanks to some testy ticket machines (cash and small bills only - quite a problem for A LOT of people!) and a train we had to evacuate for the police. (?) We checked into our AirBnB with Lisa which was in a very nice little part of Berlin called Mitte that was close to the city center.  After a delicious dinner at an Indian place we explored Mitte a bit.  It was a very cute hipster neighborhood with lots of restaurants and bars.  We then called it an early night as we had a big day planned for Berlin.

We woke up early and met for a bike tour of Berlin which was FABULOUS! We were off around 10:30 and did not return until 3:30.  We then chose to keep our bikes until the next day since Berlin is such a big city and biked around to see the sights more.  In total we biked 17 or so miles and walked ~5.

Getting ready to go at the Fat Tire Bike shop.

Checkpoint Charlie - border between US side and East Berlin.  These were some very interesting street performers trying to make some $$.

Sniper tower within the "death strip."  This is the zone between the inner and outer wall.

On top of the bunker where Hitler committed suicide.

Jewish Memorial 

Brandenburg Gate 

We stopped for a quick lunch at the Biergarten in the Tiergarten - I got fennel Sausage with mustards.  It was delicious and such a nice biergarten.

Reichstag - German parliament building

Church on Museum Island

east side gallery- longest remaining section of the Berlin Wall.  Lots of political paintings/expressions.

Amen!

"Many small people who in many small places do many small things that can alter the face of the world" -- love this!

TV tower was built to symbolize the Eastern Berlin/Communist tower.

Sunset from Park Inn terrace (37th floor)

We had a traditional German dinner at 1840 restaurant in Hackershr Market.  We sat and enjoyed the live music, delicious food, and cheesecake and then called it a night after biking home.

This AM we went to find this lovely giraffe at Legoland.  It is also a geocache! 

We then turned our bikes in and headed to Tegel airport.  Now we are off to Munchen for Oktoberfest!  I am so excited to see all of the tents, lights, etc!

Copenhagen

After arriving in Copenhagen late on Monday we checked into our AirBnB (it was a nice apartment right on Strøget street which is a pedestrian street over 1 mile long) and set out for some dinner.  We were all quite tired so after a nice Italian dinner we called it an early night as we knew we'd have lots to see on Tuesday. 

Tuesday we got up at a decent hour and had a deliscious breakfast of rolls, meats, cheeses, jam etc. left for us by our host, Morten.  We then set off for the changing of the guards Danish style at Amelianborg palace.  Unfortunately it was raining but we toughed it out.  Very cool to see the huge hats!

Beautiful chirch from the courtyard of the palace.

Here they come!

Apparently, this is a very long and boring job - hopefully we brightened his day a bit!

Next, we headed off to Nyhavn which is known for its colorful buildings and nice little harbor.  It is also where Hans Christen Andersen lived a lot of his life and even wrote the Princess and the Pea! 

We had a quick lunch of traditional Danish food and then walked to Christiana.  

Stock exchange on the way to Christiana

Entering Christiana

 

Christiana is an alternative commune which is pretty well known within Europe. It was founded in 1971 and considers itself to not be part of the EU.  They are known for some sketchy thingsthere,but it was fun to see and there were plenty of people so we were safe (don't worry mom!). 

House within Christiana.  They share everything including money, crops, clothing, etc.

Back to the European Union aka leaving Christiana.

We then headed to the Copenhagen street food area.  This was essentially an indoor building full of internationally themed food trucks with an outdoor patio.  I had some deliscious nut cake and it was nice to rest our feet! (We have been walking 10-11 miles each day so far.)

Water view

 

Nut cake

Inside the building with all of the street food

Very cool rail car seating outside by the water

We went up in the Targaat tower - a palace with a nice view of the city.

We ended the night with a trip to the Meat packing district for dinner.  We had deliscious pizza at a place called Mother and then tried a drink at brewery called Mikkelar.  Tomorrow we will head to see the Little Mermaid statue before leaving for Berlin in the afternoon.