Gnomes in Europe (photos)

[Apple]

*poof*

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

I love the traveling gnomes, the incredibly ambitious itinerary, and, of course, as always, your fabulous photography.  

Everyone's threads about recent and upcoming trips is giving me a serious case of wanderlust.  My list is long, though, and my budget is very tiny.  

[Apple]

Jan 20, 2016 0:59:47 GMT -5 GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl said:

I love the traveling gnomes, the incredibly ambitious itinerary, and, of course, as always, your fabulous photography.  

Everyone's threads about recent and upcoming trips is giving me a serious case of wanderlust.  My list is long, though, and my budget is very tiny.  

Oh, part of the key to this was night trains!  Go to sleep in one country, wake up in another.  It saved so much time.

And thank you

My budget is much smaller now that I'm ramping up college saving, it'll be a few years before I can travel again.

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

Jan 20, 2016 1:08:38 GMT -5 Apple said:

Jan 20, 2016 0:59:47 GMT -5 GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl said:

I love the traveling gnomes, the incredibly ambitious itinerary, and, of course, as always, your fabulous photography.  

Everyone's threads about recent and upcoming trips is giving me a serious case of wanderlust.  My list is long, though, and my budget is very tiny.  

Oh, part of the key to this was night trains!  Go to sleep in one country, wake up in another.  It saved so much time.

And thank you

My budget is much smaller now that I'm ramping up college saving, it'll be a few years before I can travel again.

Did you ever wake up confused as to where you were?  

[tskeeter]

Jan 20, 2016 0:33:13 GMT -5 Apple said:

The Eagle's Nest (Germany)

Wow.  Seriously, the views were incredible.  I'm used to Mt. Hood, which is huge, but this was like being surrounded by Mt. Hoods.  Views can be hit or miss depending on weather, and we definitely got a hit.  Fortunately, we did our wandering around when we first got there, because just when we finished to go eat, the fog came in and the views were completely gone.

Apple, currently planning a trip to Bavaria early next fall.  Was Eagle's Nest worth the trip?  Are there other sights around Munich that you'd recommend?

[Apple]

Jan 20, 2016 2:08:14 GMT -5 tskeeter said:

Jan 20, 2016 0:33:13 GMT -5 Apple said:

The Eagle's Nest (Germany)

Wow.  Seriously, the views were incredible.  I'm used to Mt. Hood, which is huge, but this was like being surrounded by Mt. Hoods.  Views can be hit or miss depending on weather, and we definitely got a hit.  Fortunately, we did our wandering around when we first got there, because just when we finished to go eat, the fog came in and the views were completely gone.

Apple, currently planning a trip to Bavaria early next fall.  Was Eagle's Nest worth the trip?  Are there other sights around Munich that you'd recommend?

Whether or not it is worth the trip kind of depends...  It was a day trip from Munich.  We rode the bus, then took one of the narrow buses to the top, and when we came back down we stopped for a bit at the documentation center.  Nearly everything written as a display was in German (at the Documentation Center, it was pretty much all in German).  If you like views and maybe hiking, it's gorgeous and there were people hiking some of the trails.  If there is fog, you won't see the views though (and there ended up being a ton of fog, even though it was a late June afternoon).  So it kind of comes down to "do you want to see the Eagle's Nest simply for the fact it is a historical WWII/Hitler site?  The brass elevator was shiny and pretty, but really, it is just an elevator.  The marble fireplace is in the restaurant, and you can't really do much but look at it.  The tunnel to the elevator was cool, but it's just a tunnel.  There was a room with some photos, but the captions were in German.  There was an empty room where you could look out the windows.

For me, it was worth it though.  I love a good view.  I love mountains.  I love just walking around, maybe a short "hike" (we did not walk far).  It was definitely a relaxing day, not rushed, and pretty.  The bus to the town was covered by my Eurail pass, and the tickets for the narrow buses weren't too expensive (can't recall what they were, but I'm sure you can look it up).  We ordered food we could not pronounce nor identify (always an adventure to me!)  Walking the trail above the building I couldn't help but wonder how many people died building this place, and these steps (those carved in the mountain), and the road.  One thing that is pointed out in the history is how fast it was all built, but when you remember they had all the forced slave labor they needed, of course it was built fast, and loss of life meant nothing to those in charge.

For other areas in Munich-- Marienplatz was cool.  A lot of street bands and musicians, tons of shopping (we didn't do much shopping, but DS had been looking for a specific hat and found some there).  There are statues, old buildings, fountains, a big clock, etc.  I walked around after dark and felt completely safe.  We stopped into some Arabic and Greek markets and got the most delicious desserts.  We also used the laundromat there and met some people from my home state.  We went to see Monty Python's Spamalot when we were there, we both very much enjoy live theater, and even though we couldn't understand 90% of it, it has enough physical comedy that it was still hilarious ("It's just a flesh wound!" is funny in any language )  

We were going to see Neuschwanstein castle, but DS had got sick that morning and spent half the day in bed (but it was ok, because by him getting sick, we found out about Spamalot).

We also spent a day at Dachau.  A sad place (obviously), but I would recommend going to at least one concentration camp, whether it be here or somewhere else.

[Apple]

Jan 20, 2016 1:25:18 GMT -5 GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl said:

Jan 20, 2016 1:08:38 GMT -5 Apple said:

Oh, part of the key to this was night trains!  Go to sleep in one country, wake up in another.  It saved so much time.

And thank you

My budget is much smaller now that I'm ramping up college saving, it'll be a few years before I can travel again.

Did you ever wake up confused as to where you were?  

Lol, no, but we did have a near-mishap!  I thought I had arranged to check in early in Poland, and realized, after the guy wasn't there at the "right time", that it wasn't Poland I'd arranged an early time for, but Prague... sigh.  But, the friendly people part came in very handy-- a guy walked by us a couple times, standing outside the apartment building with our bags, and asked us if we needed help.  I explained we were waiting for the manager, and (I thought) he was late, but I had no way to contact him.  He pointed out the number on the building we could call, but we didn't have a phone (no data plan, only could connect with wifi, which we couldn't get where we were).  He went ahead and called the guy, who said he had been attempting to contact us, and would be there in 20 minutes.  When he got there, he was very nice and was not upset that we were checking in early (9 am) at all.  He even told us we could check out a few hours later than listed, because our room would not be used again until the weekend, and housecleaning wouldn't come until late afternoon

[MarleyKeezy78]

I thought maybe you caught actual live gnomes in a photo   The ones you show in the photos are so cute! 
The thought of catching real ones on film is cool but terrifying to me, I don't think they would look like the cute ones we think of, I think they would be knarly little creatures  

[Tennesseer]

For the next European trip, I would like to see pictures of gnomes in Rome.