July 5 - We took the On and Off Bus. There are three lines. We got on the first one that was leaving and that one took us to Nymphenburg so we got off there. It was huge and beautiful. We got the tickets where we could see everything. We could have spent a whole day there walking all the paths in the park area behind the house. There were several buildings we were able to go into with the tickets. You can also take a gondola but the water looked so bad my husband wouldn't do it. I noticed there were a lot of joggers and locals in the park. It must be open to the public where they don't have to pay. After walking around we came back to the castle and did the upstairs tour. We had to go one at a time because of my backpack purse I didn't want to check in. The best part we thought was the Carriage and Porcelain Rooms. They were in front. As your looking at the entrance they are to the left. They have all the old and original carriages used by the royalty. They also had a lot of the horse outfits. It was all very cool. After about 3 hours we waited for the on and off bus and took it back to the original spot. We had lunch nearby at a chain steak restaurant and it was good. We bought some waters and snacks and got on another On and Off Bus. This one took us all over the city center. Then came back and took the last bus to Englischer Garten and walked a ways to the Eisbach (German for “ice brook”) which is a small man made river. A wave has been created in one section and people surf in it!!!! It was amazing! Afterwards we walked back to hotel, rested awhile and got ready to go to dinner. We went to the famous Hofbräuhaus for dinner and fun conversation. You sit at a table with whoever and eventually you get waited on. First family next to us was from Houston Texas and the second couple was from Dallas Texas! Fun night! (I thought i remembered being seated twenty years ago but that wasn't the case this time. We couldn't find any kind of hostess so we just finally sat down at a table that had two seats with food that had to be cleared.)
July 6 - Went on a tour (so we didn’t have to wait in line) of Neuschwanstein Castle today. Met at the main train station and then took a 2 hour bus ride. They gave us a little time to have lunch or shop so we chose to have a sit down lunch at the hotel. It was cold and rainy so we had soup and bread. Then they took us on a little bus up the hill to the castle. Our tour guide walked us to the bridge where we were able to take spectacular pictures of the castle. He said sometimes it was covered in fog and you can't even see it so we were lucky. He told us stories all along about Ludwig II. All VERY interesting. The tour inside was by the castle tour guide (no pictures allowed). Ludwig the second was a very interesting character. He loved to build castles and spent the last 15 years of his life living nocturnally. His death was a mystery. He died in his early 40’s. Can’t wait to read more about him! They compared him to Michael Jackson. We walked down the hill to meet up with our guide and hit the water closets, then had the two hour bus ride back. He concluded his story with possible scenarios of how Ludwig died. We went to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner and it was hopping. The Soccer/Football World Cup was going on during our whole trip and this night was one of the playoffs. We were in France when they won their playoff and the people were celebrating big time. It was exciting.
July 7 - Today we went to Dachau. We took a subway train and then a big train and then a bus. We couldn't find where to buy tickets for the bus so just followed everyone on. We were never asked for tickets. We bought the audio guide and started walking. We thought it was important to go and see but it sure was depressing. I didn't take many pictures, just the memorial sculptures. The inside museum was the most interesting with all the stories.