Sorry for the long delay in writing - between computers losing my entries and spending time with the in-laws, I think I've fallen about a week behind on all our travels!
I think the title of my entry pretty much sums up the last week of travel adventures. After a sober drive out of Freiburg, we wound up in Southern Germany near the Austrian border. Located near a town called Fuessen is one of the most-visited tourist sites in Germany, the Neuschwanstein castle. Since Christine had missed it during her first go-round in Germany, she managed to talk Toli into taking her to see the famous fairy-tale castle of the mad King Ludwig II. He was King of Bavaria for a short time in the 19th century and was fascinated by castles, building up several of them during his lifetime. Neuschwanstein is supposedly the inspiration behind Walt Disney's Cinderella Castle.
So, on January 6th, we visited two of Ludwig's castles - Hohenschwangau, where he grew up, and the famous Neuschwanstein just a few km away. The scenery was breathtaking, as the castles are set up in the hills against the Bavarian landscape. The tours of the castles, however, left something to be desired. We were herded like cattle among the other tourists (something like 30 to 50 people per group) and given a cursory look at a few rooms, along with some various trivia in heavily-accented English. (One of the more interesting tidbits - Ludwig was a big fan of Wagner, and it is due to his patronage that Wagner became such a famous opera composer.) Maybe our perspective of the trip was somewhat hindered because Toli wasn't feeling well that day anyway - must have been a combination of bad goulash and the trauma from losing Fritz.
The following day, we went back to Munich to return our rental car and give Toli a day to rest up before meeting his parents in Vienna, which we did on January 8th. They very generously set us all up in a nice little hotel in the center of Vienna, where we spent the next few days touring around the city and soaking up all the sights.
Toli's parents may be a bit older and slower than we are, but boy are they energetic travelers! Each day we spent with them was packed, starting with the king-sized breakfast at the hotel each morning. We did several walking tours of the city, visiting the large city park and looking at the beautiful architecture of various residences. We also visited several important cultural sights, such as the Historical Art Museum (featuring the Royal Hapsburg family's art collection) and the Schonbrunn Palace (which has a better tour than Neuschwanstein).
(Quick tangent: We were both extremely impressed by the Francis Bacon exhibit at the art museum. Bacon is a 20th century modern painter who still liked to paint figures and people, as opposed to abstractions. The nice thing about the exhibit was that they put together his paintings, along with paintings done by other famous artists that inspired him - Velasquez, Picasso, Van Gogh, etc. You could actually see the influence of the other artists on his works. They also included various photographs and books found in Bacon's possessions after he died, which also showed some insight into his paintings, as well as various movies that also influenced him. It really felt like a complete, organic exploration of the artist.)
The two major highlights, though, were the Economics University Ball at the Hofburg and seeing La Traviata at the Vienna State Opera House. Lucky for us, we made it to Vienna in the middle of ball season and were able to get tickets for a ball at the Imperial Hofburg Palace for Saturday, January 10. As our only other ball experience was the Stanford Viennese Ball, we decided to go to a university-based ball so that we wouldn't embarass ourselves too much with our ungraceful waltzing.
Now, it must be said that when it comes to size, scale, and grandeur, the Stanford Viennese Ball has nothing on a Hofburg Ball. It's impossible to describe the feeling of waltzing (albeit clumsily) to Strauss in an imperial ballroom. But, after watching the opening ceremonies with the debutantes in white, Toli and I both agreed (and perhaps we are a little biased too) that the Stanford ballroom dancers have a slight advantage over the Economics University when it comes to beautiful dancing. The opening dancers were indeed very talented, but we have seen smoother dancing in Palo Alto. Of course, this relieved us greatly as we are not the best of dancers!
Toli's parents also made an impressive showing at the ball, cha-cha'ing and boogie'ing in the various other dance halls (the ball had about six different dance halls with different styles of music) and they managed to keep up with us until two in the morning.
Toli's dad's birthday was on the 12th, and we celebrated that evening by going to the Vienna State Opera to see "La Traviata". Getting tickets to the opera was no mean feat - tickets go on sale the month before the performance, and Toli and I were up at 1am on the morning of December 12th, trying to coordinate the reservations between ourselves because you can only buy two tickets at a time online. We did manage to secure box seats, though, and were rewarded with a clear view of the stage and a beautiful performance. If you've never been to an opera before, La Traviata is a good one to start with. It's relatively short, the music is very familiar, and the plotline is easy to follow. If you've ever seen "Camille" or even "Moulin Rouge", you'll know the story.
Having exhausted the sights in Vienna, we spent our last day with Toli's parents visiting Bratislava, in neighboring Slovakia. It is remarkably different - more run down, with clear scars from its Communist past. The Soviet-style apartment buildings along the Danube look a little bit like Legoland. But it does have an old-city center and a castle of its own, and the city is starting to come to life. There was clearly a lot of building and renovation going on while we were there, as the Slovakians continue to form their own cultural identity and nurse their budding tourist industry.
After that, we sadly parted ways with Toli's parents. They went back to Athens, and we have gone on to Budapest. It was wonderful living it up with them, but as many of the palace tours we've taken seem to suggest, the royal life is also an exhausting one. Toli and I had fun being grand for a little while, but we're happy to back to our "normal" lives just touring around.
Posted by Christine at January 15, 2004 10:42 PM