The Epic Journey

The next stop on the adventure was to take mom and Tony to the most magical place in Europe - Bruges (or Brugge). Matt and I fell in love with it instantaneously when we where there last fall and I was excited for them to see the fairytale land of canals, Gothic buildings, chocolate, beer, and fries. Hey, even the crappy movie In Bruges did not diminish the beauty and allure of the city.

Unfortunately, we were in Domburg - at the edge of the sea, on a long peninsula - and we needed to get to Bruges - just 50 km south as the crow flies but a 4 hour bus/train ride away. We decided to skip the trains and venture out using buses and ferries. Mind you, this is no easy task because the bus schedules at one stop are only good for that stop and are useless in determining a multi-step journey - not to mention this trip was going to take us across two countries, with two different bus systems. Have I mentioned I forgot my passport at home?

So here's the journey, in all its glory:

1. Walk from Kasteel Westhoven to Domburg Windmill (2.5 km, 25 minutes)
2. Bus from Domburg Windmill to Middelburg Train Station (20 minutes)
3. Train from Middelburg to Vlissingen is running 30 minutes late - hop on a bus from Middlelburg to Vlissingen Center (20 minutes)
4. Bus from Vlissingen Center to Fast Ferry (5 minutes)
5. Ferry from Vlissingen to Breskens (15 minutes + loading and unloading)
6. Bus from Breskens to Brugge (1 hour 20 minutes)
7. Get off bus at first site of Brugge to avoid passing out, since it was at least 100 degrees on the bus (the heat was on and it was about 75 degrees outside)
8. Walk to B&B (3 km, 30 minutes)
   

View Trip to Bruges in a larger map

But then we were there -Brugge! And she was just as magical as I remembered!

Train Travel

We happily left our cars in South Carolina and came across the pond with no intentions of driving a motorized vehicle for a year. It has been wonderful. As much as I love Inge, I love train travel even more.

Train travel - even through flat countryside, in the rain, with no view - is far better than car travel any day. Unlike car travel, which requires maintenance, cleaning, map printing, and gas pumping, train travel is "get-up and go". More importantly, no driver is required and everyone can pass the time as they wish.



































Now add the scenery on a train ride through the Swiss Alps, and you feel like the train ride is the purpose of your vacation. We rode the train from Geneva to Gryon on our second day in Switzerland. The view out the windows on every side was spectacular the entire journey.

Looking out the left of the train, we saw the landscape was dotted with small cottages, old churches and farm buildings built up the side of the Alps. In between the land was covered with vineyards. Every once and a while you pass through another small town built on the Swiss Riviera on Lake Geneva - picture perfect buildings in lakeside resorts. The buildings became scarcer the higher up in the Alps we looked until it was nothing but a snow-covered peak with a Chalet on the top of a mountain.

When you get bored of the Swiss Alps, you can simply look right at Lake Geneva and the French Alps. The clear, blue water of the lake sparkled right up to the mountains with little towns dotted along the shores.
After we changed trains in Bex to go up the mountain to Gryon, the landscape slowly became covered in snow. The towns along the way were the ski villages that could be featured on any alpine post card to draw in skiers and tourists. Imagine small cottages with snow covered roofs and smoke flowing out of the chimneys.

We arrived in Gryon only to be presented with more snow covered beauty....

Cologne, Keulen, Koln

We rose extremely early for our train ride to Koln - like 4:20am early - the trade-off for dirt cheap train tickets. Due to the early departure time, we had to ride around the country in order to get to Koln and over five hours later we emerge from the train station.

We were quickly jerked out of our half-opened eye state by the site of the Dom. It was ENORMOUS! We were amazed despite having seen TONS of huge churches lately.


Amazing Facts:

• It was the world's tallest building until 1884 (when the Washington Monument was built)
• It has the world's second tallest church Spires
• It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site for "exceptional work of human creative genius"
• Has the largest facade of any church in the world
• It has stained glass from the Medieval time period, the Renaissance, post WWII, and a window designed by Gerhard Richter in 2007
• Houses the largest reliquary in the Western world - the bones of the three wise men
• Has the largest free-swinging bell in the world

Land of Fairytales

After arriving in Munich on Saturday morning, we quickly stashed our bags in the train station lockers and headed out to countryside of Bavaria to see two fairytale like castles. The landscapes were stunning - small picturesque towns at the foot of the Alps with lakes in the background.We arrived in Hohenschwangau with a few hours to kill before our appointed tour times at the castles. We walked around the outside the town of Fussen hoping to catch a few rides down the luge, but unfortunately it was not open. Then we stopped in a local restaurant to grab a bite to eat - and it was the most wonderful bite to eat. I had a homemade macaroni and cheese type dish that was topped with fried onions and pan fried pork. The noodles were even homemade and it was delish! The town even brews it own King Ludwig beer; Matt had the light version and I enjoyed the Dunkel version.After lunch we made our way to Hohenschwangau Castle for a peak inside the Royal Bavarian life. The castle was built in the 12th century, but destroyed by Napoleon. Maximilian rebuilt it in the 19th century and it looks much like it did in 1836 today. While the tour was dry and short on information, the inside was immaculately preserved.
Apparently the Hohenshwangau Castle was not enough for Maximilian's son Ludwig II , so he commissioned the building of three more castles in Bavaria. We visited the Neuschwanstein Castle that is just up the mountain from his father's castle. Neuschwanstien in the ultimate fairytale castle; it was the castle Disney based Sleeping Beautiy's castle on and where Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang was filmed*. The castle was designed by a painter and then planned by an architext and is truly an example of Romanticism from the 19th century. The entire castle was dedicated to Richard Wagner and is decorated with paintings of his operas.
Unfortunately "Mad" King Lundwig II died, from a highly suspicious sudicial drowning, and the castle was never finished. The short tour, again dry and lacking information, took us through the third of the castle that was completed. Once again the interior has been excellently maintained and most of the wall murals look as if they were painted last year.
We also visited Mary's Bridge, named for the wife of Maximilian. The bridge offered a fantastic view of the castles and the nearby town of Fussen. I tiptoed out a few feet onto wobbly wooden bridge and then happily handed the camera over to Matt to take pictures of the breath taking scenery.
Fully exhausted from walking up the mountains to see the castles and short on sleep the from the train ride, we headed back to Munich for a early night in our hostel with some Munich Beer and Bratwursts.

*Christina ~ I know you are dying to come visit me and visit the castle from Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang. Maybe we can even tour the children's dungeon...

Traveling Hotel

Friday night we took an overnight train from Amsterdam to Munich; it was essentially a hostel on wheels. In our compartment there were two bunk beds with bunks a piece. It was very tight quarters to say the least.

Since we got on the train at 8:32 pm, we weren't quite ready for bed but the bunks made lounging around in the cabin impossible. Fortunately we were sharing the compartment with an Austrian who showed us how to stow the bunks to create "couches" until it was bed time. We shared a beer with the Austrian and enjoyed discussing the places he has traveled and global issues. It seems the fear of immigration is not just an American thing.

At one point during the night Matt woke up to an older man feeling up and down his leg. Fearing the man was searching for his wallet, Matt grabbed his wrist and removed his hand. The man then clung onto the bed railing; apparently he just couldn't catch his balance to put on his shoes. The rest of the night was quite uneventful, except for the compartment door slamming open and shut as the train accelerated and stopped. After a so-so night of sleep, we arrived in Munich ready to spend the next week in Germany.