Suitcase Stories of the Shea's: February 2014

From Munich, Germany the 4 of us (Brian, Paul and Angie & I) flew to Paris, France for two nights! When we arrived and got to our hotel it was almost 10:00pm. The hotel had 30 floors and we just so happened to be on the 6th floor which turned out was the one and only floor to have malfunctioning fire alarms that ended up going off 4 times during our short stay! The 1:00am and 7:00am alarms were extra annoying but we were able to laugh about it and continue on with our quote, "It's all about the experience!"

When we arrived we were hungry so even though it was late we headed out for dinner. Then since we were so close to the Eiffel Tower we walked up to it to take pictures. We debated about checking on tickets to go to the top but decided to wait until the next night. More on that later...

At night every hour on the hour it sparkles for 5 mins!

So pretty! Click the video below to watch it! :)

In the morning after eating crepes at a french cafe we stumbled upon "Love Lock Bridge!" It is a bridge completely covered with padlocks which lovers have locked to the bridge and thrown away the key into the river! Of course we thought this was very neat and had to buy a lock to do this ourselves!

Finding the right place for our lock...

Throwing away the key!

After we were done at the bridge we decided to take the Paris hop on' hop off bus tour! We were able to sit on the top open area of the bus. It was a little chilly but a great way to see the different areas of the city without having to walk between them. We had headphones that played nice classical music along our tour and told us different facts and history about what we were seeing. Here we are near Notre Dame Cathedral...

The detailed architecture and sculptures in Paris are incredible everywhere you look...

The Arc de Triomphe was especially amazing!

Back past the Eiffel Tower in the daylight!

After the bus tour we quickly found a place to eat lunch and warm up from being out in the cold on the bus. Then Paul and Angie went to tour the Lourve and since Brian and I had been there on the high school trip we decided to wander the city instead. We started out by going back to Notre Dame to take a closer look. The line was extremely long so we didn't go inside.

From here we explored a bit more and before long the sun was setting beautifully over the Seine.

Paris really is a pretty romantic city!

After meeting back up with Paul and Angie we had dinner at an Italian restaurant in the Latin quarter. Then we went back to the Eiffel Tower and planned to try to go up to the top. Turns out when we got there the line looked short but that's because they had already sold the maximum tickets for people who would be able to get through the line before it closed. It was disappointing because Paul and Angie were really hoping to go at night. (Brian and I had gone before at night also on the high school trip.) So in the morning we got there close to when it opened at 9:45AM... only to find MASSES of people! There was a line formed but it snaked around back and forth completely filling the entire area under the tower. We finally found what we thought to be the end while Paul went up to try to find out if we were in the right place. When he came back he said, "Good news and bad news... good news, we are in the right line... bad news, the wait is approx. 4 hours!" Angie was crushed because this was on the top of her list to do in Paris and it was our last day there (luckily we weren't leaving until 9:00pm) They debated what to do but even though it was freezing cold and windy they decided to wait it out for the entire time! Ended up being 4 1/2 hours by the time they got down from the tour! So glad they were able to do it though! We found out that people began lining up at 4am since it was so busy with travelers that time of year. Guess we will know next time we go to get tickets in advance... Yikes! Meanwhile Brian and I walked around to see more of the sites from the bus tour up close.

And to finish off Paris... A warm delicious bowl of french onion soup and fresh baguettes!

We left on the Eurostar train to travel back to London that evening (Dec 30th) and gear up for New Years! (Blog on that to follow soon!)

On the morning of December 26th we headed to the airport and flew to Munich, Germany. We were excited to have Paul and Angie still with us and looking forward to this part of the trip when we were going to travel together before they had to go back home to the U.S. Here is us having a quick coffee while waiting for the cab to bring us to the airport!

We arrived in Munich in the mid afternoon after taking the train from the airport which was about a 45min ride. Once we got checked into our hotel we headed out to wander into the city center. The streets were still very pretty and decorated from Christmas.

We also walked through the square home to Munich's famous Glockenspiel. We thought it was supposed to play it's song on the hour and the life sized people were going to move around however turns out it is only at 11:00am and 12:00pm during the winter. More on that later in this post... It was very pretty seeing it all lit up especially with the large Christmas tree there as well!

Since we were all pretty hungry and wanted some German beer we found ourselves at the famous Hofbrauhaus fairly quickly! The Hofbrauhaus was founded in 1589 by the Duke of Bavaria and is one of Munich's oldest beer halls. It was originally founded as the brewery to the old Royal Residence. Here is what it looks like from the outside...

The inside is huge! We walked around for a bit before finding a table and ordering a round of their giant beers!

Cheers to Germany!

The food was yummy too! Especially the soft pretzels and the massive desserts!

Our first full day started out on a bit of a bad note... Brian and I slept through our alarm! We had planned to leave on a 9:58am train to visit Neuschwanstein Castle and the 4 of us had planned to be ready and meet to go to breakfast at 8:15. When we woke up to a knock on our door it was 8:30am! Luckily we still had plenty of time to quick get ready and grab a pastry at the train station! The train ended up being the second part of our bad morning... it was PACKED!!! Since there are no assigned seats outside of First Class if you don't get there early enough you risk not finding a place to sit. (They do not just sell enough tickets for seats available.) We realized after the fact that since the 9:58am train was the first train of the morning that is significantly cheaper then the earlier ones this is also what lead it to be so packed. We ended up standing literally squished up against a wall in a passageway between two of the cars. Not exactly what we were hoping for since it was a 2 hour long ride!! Luckily we were by the door so at some of the stops we could open it for a quick breath of fresh air! I wasn't sure we were going to make it in the beginning! This is where Brian coined the line that stuck with us for the rest of the trip, "It's all about the experience!" Paul's words in the moment and while thinking he was going to be sick, "Well I don't like this experience!" Once we FINALLY got off the train in the adorable tiny village of Fussen somehow we quickly forgot about the train experience because the view of the snowcapped mountains were incredible! Below are a few pics of the village... we wished we had more time to wander the area but quickly found a cab to beat the rest of the rush from the train that was also headed to the town at the base of the castle via bus.

Once the cab brought us to the small town at the base of the walk up to the Neuschwanstein castle we quickly realized a massive line to buy tickets! It was around 1:00pm and they were already selling tickets
for entries at 4:00pm (around the time it normally closes but they were extending since it was so busy with holiday travelers, etc.) We were sure glad we stuck it out on the train and didn't get off to take a later one because we wouldn't have been able to get in! Once we had our tickets in hand we enjoyed another german meal complete with more pretzels, beer and my favorite part... cheese spaetzle(traditional german dumpling) tasted like mac n'cheese!

After lunch it was time to start our walk up the mountain to the castle! Below is a picture of it in the distance. It is just so beautiful nestled between the snowcovered Bavarian Alps. On top of it we were lucky enough to have blue sky and the sun shining! We couldn't have asked for a more perfect day to be there!

You can take horse drawn carriages up and down the mountain to get to the castle however we choose to walk. It is a pretty path through the trees and even a few waterfalls along the way.

Once we got to the top we were amazed by the views looking back down the mountain and of the beauty of the castle up close. The Cinderella castle at Walt Disney World was built after Neuschwanstein Castle! Certainly looks magical! On the tour although our guide was hard to understand (similar to when we were there on the high school trip) we learned a few interesting things...The castle was built for King Ludwig II starting in 1869 and took more then two decades before Ludwig actually moved in. It was still under construction on the inside and turns out it was never fully completed because Ludwig lived there only 172 days he died a mysterious death! The inside of the castle has tremendous detailing everywhere (sorry couldn't take pictures). The most amazing part was his bedroom in which 14 woodcarvers spent 4 years working on just the carvings above his bed alone!

One of the reasons I was most excited to go back to Neuschwanstein Castle was to buy another print like the one I had lost on the high school Europe trip approx. 12 years earlier! I had bought a print similar to the one I am holding in the picture to the right and carried it around carefully the rest of the trip only to leave it on our connection flight on the way home along with my connection ticket! Turned out to be a mess... So happy I was able to return and buy a new one! The goal is to get this one matted and framed! After touring the castle had a much less eventful ride back to Munich! We all were able to SIT... Whew!

Our last full day in Germany we had another nice blue sky day in Munich! We made sure to get to the square by 11:00am to hear the Glockenspiel and see the life sized people and horses come alive in the center green area of the clock. The performance goes on for about 15 minutes and it chimes and re-enacts two stories from the 16th century. It consists of 43 bells and 32 life-sized figures.