Adventures in Munich

We had more train adventures leaving Salzburg and going to Munich. I bought our four tickets at a ticket machine, but only three tickets were printed; we went to the ticket office, but they could not print the fourth until later in the day when the transaction from the ticket machine showed up in their database. We went back to the ticket office the next morning when we were leaving for Munich but found out that we were too late to reserve seats- so we were again looking for four unreserved seats on a train. The first-class cars had compartments, and three of us were in a compartment with a German man who ended up being very helpful in arranging all our luggage in the compartment; we were packed tightly. Jake ended up in the compartment next to ours. We were delayed between Salzburg and Munich because the freight train accident that had disrupted trains in Vienna on Monday was still being repaired and trains had to take turns going both ways on one track. The German man also helped us unload when we finally made it to Munich. We left the station through the north exit after looking at Barbara’s phone for directions to our hotel and we crossed the street and as we turned left, we realized we were at the hotel, so that was easy. We checked in at about 1 o’clock and thankfully they had our rooms ready, and we spent an hour resting and then met up and headed east towards the main square (plaza) of Munich in the old town. The Townhall has a clock tower with figures that move as the bells in the tower are chiming for about five minutes. From our guidebook, we determined that the clocktower figures come out and do their little show from about four stories high at 11 am, at 12 noon, and at 5 pm so we determined to return to the plaza by 5 pm. Meanwhile we needed lunch and we stopped at a sandwich shop that had all the sandwiches displayed in a glass case, and also had pastries displayed in the case, so we decided on what we would like- a sandwich and a pastry- and then sat at a table on the side of the restaurant, under umbrella shades, and ordered and enjoyed a nice lunch, watching all the people walk down the main pedestrian street towards the old town square. 

One of the things that Barbara and Jake had seen on their trip to Munich a few years ago was the residence of the prince-bishop with his collection of rooms, decorations, art, and furniture spread through about 100 rooms. We walked there from the main square and were ready to buy tickets to go and see it, but the ticket person told us there wasn’t enough time, and that we should come back the next day when we could see it all. We took his advice and walked through the gardens that adjoin the residence and made our way to a subway station to return to the City Hall and watch the clock tower figures at 5 pm. 

The old town hall with gothic decorations and a clock tower in the middle

The "new" town hall with another clock tower on the main old town square

The clock tower figurines moving as the bells played at 5 pm

An important task each day when you’re traveling on your own like we were in Munich is to find a good dinner spot. This first night we asked the hotel clerk, and he sent us into the neighborhood, perhaps six blocks away, to a very nice Italian restaurant, where we enjoyed very good food and relaxed, and congratulated ourselves for making it on our whole cruise trip together to our last city. We always choose hotels that have a nice breakfast bar and so our breakfasts for our two mornings in Munich were very good, just like our breakfasts in Budapest and in Salzburg and at the beginning of our trip in Amsterdam. We always started our days with our favorite breakfast foods. 

Barbara and Judy waiting for our Italian dinner- we were late diners (9 pm) for Munich

Russ and Jake happily waiting for our lasagna to arrive- they still had some for us!

Friday morning was the last day for Barbara and Jake in Munich; they were flying home the next morning. Barbara and Judy were approaching their limits for traveling and visiting buildings, museums and castles. Jake and I wanted to visit the Bavarian history museum and asked the girls to come along with us for a morning activity. After breakfast, we all went to the museum on a trolley line that took us on a big loop in the southern, part of the city, and were surprised at the number of items in the museum; not just history materials, but also a full collection of some of the folklore furniture from the Bavarian area. Lots of paintings and church art, because Munich is very full of churches, and the region is full of famous artists who worked in decorating churches. The museum also had porcelain and silver and gold plates and a favorite room for me was the old musical instruments that they had collected. Each of us found parts of the museum that we enjoyed a lot. 

Bavarian wooden and painted furniture 

Painted armoire for clothes

Ceramics from Bavaria

Figurines playing musical instruments 

Ceramic relief of the shepherds and animals at the birth of Jesus

Ceramic statue of St. George and the dragon- not big and not scary 

World globe and star globe (showing constellations) from about 1500

Old Bavarian musical instruments

River flowing through Munich

We were then trying to go to a building from about 1900 that was one of the city baths, since we had such a fun time at the Budapest thermal bath. We thought we would have lunch at the café at the baths that was recommended in our tour book. The walk to the bathhouse was along the river that flows through Munich, and it was a very beautiful walk completely under large trees with grass areas on the hill along the river and several beach areas where people were swimming or sunbathing along the river. I’m sure it’s a favorite place for people in Munich- to have such a nice parkway along the river. Unfortunately, the bath building was being restored, and the café was closed, and we couldn’t look in the bath pool rooms without buying a ticket, so we were directed under the bridge to a neighborhood café that turned out to be very good; Jake and I both enjoyed their special which was lasagna. We rode the trolley back to the hotel and everyone took a rest or nap for a couple hours prior to trying to find a dinner spot. I thought we should try the most famous beer house and beer garden (patio) that was located down past the main square and so we determined what trolley would take us closest and walked to have dinner in this restaurant that holds more than 2,000 people when is full during Oktoberfest. But it was too noisy for us and so we walked along the street and found a nice restaurant with patio tables; ours was near the main inside restaurant and not far out in the sidewalk area where there was lots of smoking. This was our last meal together because Barber and Jake were leaving the next morning to fly home and Judy and I were getting up early the next morning to take our bus tour to two of the castles that Ludwig II had built.

There are about 100 large and elaborately decorated churches in Munich 

The 1900 bath house cafe was closed- Judy is asking for another cafe suggestion

One of the old city gates of Munich- across the river from the bath house

Salzburg Express

On Monday, we left Budapest for Salzburg on a late train that left at 11:40 am so that we would have a relaxed morning and enjoy the scenic train ride for five hours to Salzburg. The hotel arranged a van taxi that we could all fit in and we arrived at the train station about 11:00. When we went to look on the big board announcing what trains were on what tracks, there was no 11:40 train to Salzburg. We asked the train station staff and they said that two days ago the Austrian train company changed the train station to across the river, and so we were 30 minutes away from the train station with all our luggage and there was no way to make our train, because the train departure was 15 minutes earlier, since the train did not have to come across the city. The second taxi driver was very talkative but told Judy not to worry that there were no seatbelts in the back seat- he was a very safe driver. This just increased the stress Judy was feeling. We got to the second station about 12 o’clock and found that the next train to Salzburg would leave at about 1:30 so we had a two-hour delay. Judy and Barbara found a shopping mall across the street and located a very nice bathroom. It was air-conditioned and so they looked in some of the shops until about 1 o’clock when they came back to the train station and bought sandwiches and pastries for our lunch. When the train arrived we loaded our six suitcases and two rolling backpacks onto the train aisle and then looked for spots to put our luggage. There were overhead racks and some of the small suitcases could go up there, but our four large suitcases needed spots on luggage racks and there is just one on each end of each car. Because we missed our train with assigned seats, we had to look for open seats, but there weren’t very many open seats on this train. The seats we first sat in were reserved at the next city and we would be without seats. So I went through the dining car to the first-class cars and found several open seats in a first-class car, so we all moved down to the first-class car and purchased the upgrades which were about €25 each, except that the upgrade only applied to the Hungarian border which was coming up between where we were and Vienna. When another conductor came to check on our tickets, she had mercy on our predicament and didn’t charge us to upgrade to Vienna. 

The remaining trip to Vienna was calm and we might even have called it relaxing, but as we approached Vienna, there were all sorts of announcements in German that we did not understand. Once we stopped in Vienna, they announced that our train would terminate, and everyone had to get off the train to wait for a new train. A woman across from us told us that all of the train troubles were related to a freight train that derailed and caught fire between Salzburg and Munich the previous day. Trains could make it to Salzburg, but they could not continue to Munich, and so lots of trains were having to detour and our train at the last minute was canceled from Vienna to Salzburg. Our luggage was four cars behind the first-class car that we had moved to, and we had trouble getting down to the car with our luggage.  The train crew was leaving the cars and wouldn't let Judy back onto the car. Jake and I had gone one more car down and were able to quickly unload our eight suitcases and backpacks, but Judy was really upset that we were about to lose our luggage on the terminated train. A different train was brought in, and we loaded back up with our luggage and all the other passengers, and we found four open seats together and found places for our luggage on a rack in the same car. The new conductor came through looking for tickets and we told him our sad story and he also had mercy on us and didn't charge for our first call upgrade. This was not quite as bad as The Orient-Express with mysterious murder suspects, but it was not the quiet, relaxing train trip that I had imagined. 

We finally arrived at about 8 o’clock and checked into our hotel, which was just across the plaza from the train station and went out for dinner, but found that restaurants in Salzburg close at about nine and so we bought groceries and packaged sandwiches at the train station store and had our dinner in our hotel rooms; we all agree it was a disappointing travel day- but thankfully we ended up with food and nice rooms ready for fun in Salzburg the next morning. This “bad train” day reminded me that Jesus told us: “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭34. 

Jesus did not promise us that every day would be smooth, but he promised to be with us in all that happens each day that we live. Trust in him on good days and trust in him on “bad train” days.

 

Passenger trains are used a lot in Europe 

 

Munich train station from our 8th floor window

How old is this train that we saw in the second Budapest station?

Judy and Barbara in first class compartment from Salzburg to Munich

On Tuesday after our nice breakfast, we bought Salzburg cards that allow us on the trolleys and give admission to most of the museums and buildings. We went to old town and rode the funicular up to the castle that sits high above the town on the ridge. There were many steps even after riding up to the castle plateau and Jake and I at least had fun walking around the circular stairs and passageways and looking at the small windows that were used to shoot arrows and muskets and cannons at anyone who might’ve attacked the castle. Apparently, no one ever captured the castle and perhaps no one ever attacked the castle. It was warm and after seeing several of the buildings all connected at different angles with cobblestone streets, the girls rested while Jake and I went in the last building that had a Museum and completed our tour of the castle. Then we made a great decision to have our lunch at the café under a sun canopy that overlooks the town. We had good food and a wonderful view. After lunch, we rode the funicular down and went to the bishop’s buildings and the main cathedral of Salzburg. The church buildings are now a museum with furniture, paintings and statues, as well as church decorations. After resting in our rooms we went on the tram in the rain to dinner in a German restaurant decorated with wood carvings and old furniture.

 
 

Salzburg old town and castle on hill 

View of old town from our lunch terrace 

Painter restoring castle wall decorations  

Fancy ceramic stove with figurines 

 Lunch with Barbara and Jake on the castle terrace 

Beautiful room in bishop’s palace 

Colorful painting of woman 

Beautiful woman of the Salzburg palace 

Front of the cathedral- who knows what style?
Wall carving of Jesus teaching the disciples?- oops, this carving has Mary teaching the disciples (this was one of the major mistakes of the Catholic Church- to elevate Mary above Jesus)

On Wednesday we took a bus out to a “day palace” of one of the prince-bishops, called Hellbrum (clear water spring). He built gardens with lakes and canals and many fountains and statues. He was very interested in technology in about 1620 and he built several fountains and water jets that could be turned on and off. He would seat guests at a table that was on a platform surrounded by water, and then have a servant turn on the jets that squirted out of the seats, and from all around the fountain area that would drench the guests. He called it a trick fountain. His palace rooms were full of decorations and statues and windows overlooking his gardens, which were on three sides of the house. We rode the bus back to our hotel and took a rest, and then we took a tram back to the old town and walked through the beautiful Maribell Gardens. There were fountains and statues and beautiful flowerbeds along the river with the buildings of Salzburg and the castle in the background. We walked across town to the University to go to our classical music concert, that was part of the Salzburg music festival. Our concert was performed by students who had been together for three weeks and this was their recital concert. We left at intermission after an hour and a half of music. The student groups included strings, brass instruments and one had a clarinet soloist with strings, but my favorite was two men playing giant marimba- one normal size of maybe four feet long (high notes) and one twice as long (low notes). They each held two sticks in each hand and they played so fast that it sounded like musical raindrops. We walked through a courtyard and found an Italian restaurant still open at 9:00 where we enjoyed a delicious dinner including tiramisu for desert. Although we had some troubles getting here, our days in Salzburg were very interesting and enjoyable.

 

Hellbrum palace and fountains 

Table for guests with trick (hidden) water jets

Room with fountains in back of palace

Water jet lifts crown in cave room

Old dining room furniture in folklore house at Hellbrun

Stuffed Unicorn in the nature room- they must be real

Beautiful Maribell gardens in Salzburg 
Judy leading us to the next garden area

Budapest

We got up early to go on the sundeck and watch the city of Budapest come into view at 7:30, passing under bridges and then seeing Castle Hill on the right side (starboard for sailors) which was the city of Buda, and then seeing the parliament building on the left side (port for sailors) which is a beautiful gothic-spire building from 1896 (Hungary’s 1,000 anniversary) in the city of Pest. A large iron bridge with stone towers and steel link design was built in about 1850, uniting the two cities to become Budapest. Prior to the bridge being built there was no easy way to get between the two cities; there were ferries, but the current of the river is very strong in this section and the two cities had separate governments. This reminds me of the trouble that we have to ever reach across the gap that separates people from God. The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ is the only bridge, the only connection between God and man, and that only by believing in him with trusting faith can we come into the presence of God and know God. God had to build the bridge to us because it is impossible for us to build our own bridge to reach God. First Timothy, 2:5 “For there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.”

 

Buda side of Budapest 

 

Parliament building on Pest side

Chain bridge connecting Buda and Pest

Beautiful church on Buda side- Matthias above

Matthias church with painted walls and ceiling 

Looking across the Danube River 

 

Market building in Budapest with food stalls

Lions guarding the chain bridge

They were repairing the bridge last year and it just opened a week ago, so we could walk across it and see the city of Budapest from the bridge. We had a bus tour of Budapest and then walked in the old city on top of Castle Hill, and went into a very beautiful church, the Matthias church, and looked across the Danube River to the parliament building and the other buildings of Budapest. After lunch, we visited the old city market that is in a building with two stories of shops under a huge roof. I had a pastry called a chimney cake, made from a strip of dough that is wrapped in a cylinder, and covered with cinnamon or other flavorings, and you peel off the strip as you eat it, like peeling an apple.

On Saturday, we left the ship and took a taxi to our motel, which was near the parliament building and near the chain bridge. Along the river is a monument of shoes- where the Nazis tied Jews together with shoelaces and then shot some of them and threw them all in the river- what a terrible thing. We took a walk to the parliament building, but did not take a tour because they were sold out for the day. But we saw some displays about constructing the building and an exhibit of one of the uprising‘s during the communist rule. The people of Hungary have always wanted to be free, but they have been under many different rulers from other countries, most recently under the Russian rule that ended in about 1990 when the “iron curtain” was lifted. We had lunch at a very fun strudel restaurant, where they stretch the wheat dough into very thin sheets that are then rolled around fruit or around meat, and we had a meat strudel and an apple strudel for our lunch along with Hungarian goulash, which is a beef and vegetable soup.

 

Shoe memorial for Jews killed by Nazis 

Strudel restaurant sidewalk lunch 

Counter where they prepare and bake strudel  

History museum where we couldn’t take pictures 

Hungarian folk dancers and violin band

In the afternoon Judy and I, along with Jake, went to the history museum but were not allowed to take pictures, which spoils some of the fun of seeing beautiful things and “taking” them with you; but after we had toured the museum we found that we could have paid three euros for a photo ticket and been allowed to take pictures. We had never heard of a “photo ticket.” Saturday night we went and saw a Hungarian dance and string band, with violins and a hammered dulcimer. The music was very good and very Hungarian. You can borrow my CD to listen and dance to the music. On Sunday we all went to a large synagogue that was the center of life in the Jewish quarter of Budapest. Then Judy and I went to a museum with some Hungarian furniture and crafts. We all met at one of the thermal springs that has been a bath spa for many years; even the Romans lived here and had bath houses. We ended our days in Budapest with a classical concert in Saint Michael’s Basilica.

 

Great synagogue in Budapest  

Memorial tree for Jews killed in the holocaust  

Hungarian embroidery- very colorful  

Hungarian folk furniture  

Public bath and spa

 

We each had a changing booth 

Saint Michael’s (early king) Basilica 

Concert in the church was a great finale 

Budapest was the last city on our river cruise and the last time we used a "voice box" with an earphone to listen to the tour guide. This reminds me of how God promises to be our guide in life. He is always with us and he is ready for us to call out to ask for his help. Or if we have questions or want to know what we should do or how we should feel, his ear is open, and his voice is ready to answer. Many times he speaks directly from the Bible which is his written word. But at other times he answers by giving us a thought or an inclination to do something or help someone- this is his Spirit speaking in us. Here is a Bible verse with this idea: “Your ears will hear a word behind you, 'This is the way, walk in it,’ whenever you turn to the right or to the left” (Isaiah‬ ‭30‬:‭21‬). Another verse tells us: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John‬ ‭10‬:‭27‬). We should not try to travel life alone- by our own wisdom and strength. Tune your heart to hear God’s words and his Spirit’s guidance as you travel your road of life.