Part 55: I like to be in America, Okay by me in America Nov 21-25, 2012

I went home for Thanksgiving this year.  This is not the ideal break for a trip that takes 19 hours to complete just to say “hi” to the family, but previous plans fell through and I had a ticket, so Wednesday after my classes were finished, I was off to the Sofia Airport with a giant suitcase of things to leave at home. 

It was not a bad trip over.  I should buy the girl at the Lufthansa check-in desk a present for seating me by open seats for the entire trip.  I didn’t have anyone next to me on my flight to Frankfurt or DC or St. Louis.  It was awesome and since I could put my feet in the open seat, they didn’t swell up like an 80 year old diabetic woman’s.  On the downside, I had to go through security at Every. Single. Airport.  By my third time around, I was just in a daze. 

Highlights of my flights:  I had the happiest flight attendant ever on my Frankfurt flight who called all females “My lady.”  The flight attendant on my flight to DC called Canada “Ca-nay-dee-a” (whoops) before quickly pronouncing it correctly during an announcement. 

I was picked up in St. Louis by my friend SQ.  We tried to find non-fast food, but it was after midnight, so McDonald’s won out.  I stayed at his apartment for the night and ran the next morning.  While running I figured out that Starbucks was the only thing open on Thanksgiving morning so we went there for breakfast (mmmm, bagel) and got back just in time for my dad to pick me up.

My parents finally replaced Dimples, their 2003 Honda Accord with 183,000 miles on it and severe hail damage (hence the name), with a brand new Accord that is beautiful and has amazing super-computing skills.  I still not sure I know the full capabilities of this thing. 

4 hours later, we were in Kansas City for Thanksgiving at my aunt’s house.  I snacked on good salsa (you can buy Old El Paso salsa in the store in Bulgaria, but trust me when I say it is not the same.  Nor is it very good) before sitting down to HONEY BAKED HAM!!  Best ham ever.  I love that store.  It was delicious.  Unfortunately, my sister had to work the Plaza Lighting Ceremony all day, so she missed dinner and didn’t get to come over until much later, however, she still got ham. 

It was my birthday on Sunday, so I also got to open presents on Thanksgiving.  My parents got me 2 new tires for my car and my cousin and aunt got me a Clarisonic because it “changed my cousin’s life,” and she felt I needed one.  I have to say, the old face is feeling pretty good lately, so I’m inclined to agree. 

The next day, my sister and I went to Target (I could write an ode to Target, but I’ll keep it in check) and I got some new running clothes before heading to Von Marr to check out the shoe clearance section.  All shoes in Europe are really narrow and pinch my toes, so I got some new black shoes that are super comfy (and were 75% off) and some rainbow shoes that are really cute.

We then met my mom, aunt, and cousin at the mall where I got to eat Japanese Pan Noodles at Noodles and Company.  (I’m holding in another ode here)  I love that place. 

After that, my mom and I stopped at my sister’s to get my stuff before driving to the lake, where my parents have been storing my car.  We stayed the night there before hopping back in the car to drive to Fort Madison. 

After getting to FM, I went to see JF and family.  Her daughter is so big and so cute!  We all watched ‘Brave’ together before I left to eat at Amigo’s, my most favoritist Mexican restaurant ever.  It was just as good as I remembered. 

After dinner, I dropped in on LD, my neighbor who was home from marine biology grad school.  We have known each other for 23 years now which exceeds everyone else who isn’t family.  I learned from LD’s dad that some buildings near their family’s business burned down (and I do mean down) the night before.  They were worried that it might spread to their store, but luckily it didn’t.  There have been a suspicious number of fires in Fort Madison lately, leading some to speculate that it’s due to arson.  This is probably something that no one in the town ever thought would happen.   

The next morning, my parents and I went to church, then out for Chinese food (it seems like food was a major theme for this trip) before my dad drove me back to St. Louis to catch my planes home.  While in the airport, a guy offered my dad and I a “free (something unintelligible) for the best looking couple at the airport.”  Yeah, um, that’s my dad. 

Going home, I didn’t always have an empty seat this time, but I did when it counted:  From Chicago to Munich there was no one next to me.  J 

Numerical Summary: 

• Total restaurants eaten at:  6
• Total hours in car:  14
•  Total hours on planes:  24
• Total number of cows and wide open spaces observed:  countless  (probably around 14 hours   worth)
• Total hours of sleep:  less than required

Part 54: German Science! Nov 4, 2012

For my last day in Munich I got up early to go to the Deutsches Museum, “the world's largest museum of technology and science.”  I was really excited.  It is located on an island in the Isar River and the building was originally used as barracks for workers that transported wood down the river.  It was donated to the  museum in 1903. 

Overall, I was sort of disappointed in the museum.  Quantity does not mean quality.  The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago blows this place out of the water and I even liked the Galileo Museum in Florence a lot more.  However, here are the highlights:  you can take an awesome picture of the famous Munich skyline from the window’s of the staircase;  the exhibit on photography is interesting; the recreation of Altamira cave (the Spanish cave with some of the oldest cave paintings in the world) is really cool, since almost no one is allowed to visit the actual site;  they have a fully automated miniature clay brick factory that is neat to watch; finally, the space exhibit was awesome.

The space exhibit had satellites and equipment that has actually been in space.  They also recreated the lunar rover and Mercury Capsule (it is not very big) and they had a lot of space suits from astronauts and cosmonauts.  They also had a lot of space food including dehydrated cheese sandwhiches that were about 1 inch square.  It was interesting to see so much stuff from the Russian space program.  A lot of displays had Cyrillic labels (including the food.  Хляб, anyone?).  This was my favorite part. 

After leaving the museum, I took a nice walk down the river to the English Garden.  It is one of the world’s largest public parks that was established in 1789.  On my way there, I passed by the Bavarian Parliament, which is an impressive building to say the least, and the Angel of Peace, a monument created in honor of the 25 years of peace following the Franco-German war.  Once I got to the park, I saw beautiful leaves and a nice lake.  By then I was tired, so I just caught the train to the airport. 

Now, funny story, I was at the airport 4 hours before my flight.  I read my ticket and headed to gate 29.  Turns out, I read that number wrong (it happens sometimes, I’ll tell you more about it if I ever get around to blogging about my trip to Serbia) and almost missed my flight, which was leaving from gate 39.  AAAHHH!  Brain!  Why do you do this to me?  I heard the last call for passengers to Sofia and ran to the gate and got on the bus with my heart pounding from panic.  I was soon joined by the president of the school and his wife.  They were coming home from Portugal and their previous flight had just gotten in.  At least they had a better excuse for being late than just reading their gate number wrong.  The important thing is that I made it home and since I met the president and his wife, I got a ride back to campus. 

Part 53: Back in Munich for Palaces and Olympics November 3, 2012

On Saturday and Sunday I was on my own and I decided to do some royal residences and visit the Olympic Park.  My first stop on Saturday was the Residence Museum, but, I was there too early, so I took the extra time to visit the inside of the Theatine Church, the yellow church we’d seen a couple of days before. 

The Theatine Church was finished in 1690 and was built by the local ruling couple, Elector Ferdinand Maria and Henriette Adelaide of Savoy, as thanks for the birth of their son.  The inside is very detailed and beautiful. 

From there, I continued up the road to the Siegestor (Victory Gate), a large triumphal arch.  It was originally completed in 1852 and was dedicated to the glory of the Bavarian army.  It was destroyed during WWII and only partially reconstructed.  It now bears the inscription: "Dedicated to victory, destroyed by war, reminding of peace.” 

Having killed enough time, I headed back down to the Residence.  The Residence is the former living space of the Bavarian Monarchs, the Wittelsbachs (I love that name).  Construction began in the 1500’s and continued up through the 19^th century.  It is the largest royal residence museum I have ever seen.  130 rooms are on display.  It just kept going and going and going.  Unfortunately, a lot of the palace was destroyed in WWII, but most of it has been reconstructed.  However, some parts are redone in a simplified fashion. 

I started my tour in the treasury.  The house jewels of the Wittelsbach are on display here and pieces span 1000 years from the early Middle Ages to Neoclassicism.   The oldest surviving crown of England is here.  The Palatine Crown was made around 1370 and came to Germany when Henry IV married off his daughter to a Wittelsbach.  My favorite thing was a St. George Statue from 1599.  

After the treasury, I entered the residence museum.  The first ‘room’ I came to was the Shell Grotto.  It is a covered garden area covered in shells and rock that looks like it is dripping.  It also has a statue of Mercury above the fountain.  I believe it was from the 17^th century. 

From there I entered my favorite room:  the Hall of Antiquities .  This room was constructed in 1571 to hold Albert V’s antique collection.  Apparently, it is the largest Renaissance hall north of the Alps.  Another ruler turned it into a banquet hall in the 1580’s and it even served as a library.  Eventually, they added the amazing barrel vaulted ceiling, and thank goodness they did, because that was my favorite part. 

At this point my audio guide stopped working.  (I seem to have a knack for this since I have had this happen at the Hapsburg palace in Vienna this summer and at Dachau days before).  This means that all I can really tell you is that I walked through a lot (and I do mean a lot) of beautiful rooms.  I saw amazing beds and wall coverings.  I also saw a lot of beautifully painted ceilings. 

Eventually I made it to the private chapel from the 1800’s.  It was so beautiful.  It had a blue (so of course I liked it) ceiling with gold molding over the top and granite murals on the walls.  From there, I got to see some ruler’s collection of holy relics.  Holy creepy relics.  Mummified hands, full arm bones, and skulls in ornately embroidered holders.  (Holders isn’t the right word, but moving on)  It was like a bone anatomy lesson. 

Finally, I ended up in the Baroque Ancestral Gallery.  It is a long gallery filled with portraits of Wittelsbach rulers and a nice family tree.  It also has a lot of gold.  And so, 130 rooms later, I was finally ready to move on to my next destination:  Nymphenburg Palace. 

Nymphenburg was the summer residence of the Wittelsbachs.  It was started in 1664 and added to for over 100 years.  Only a small portion of the rooms are open to the public because, interestingly, it is still home to the head of the house of Wittelsbach, Franz, Duke of Bavaria.  Even though Germany does not recognize royal titles, this problem is circumvented by making the title an actual legal surname.  This is also the man that some people feel is the correct heir to the throne of the United Kingdom. 

To get to Nymphenburg requires the use of tram 17.  Once I figured out which of the several tram stops in front of the train station 17 actually stopped at, it was an easy ride out to the palace.  I got off and started walking towards a monstrous complex.  It is huge!  It has a lake in front of it and the front of the building is 700 meters long.  The complex continues around with the stables and other buildings. 

I went inside and bought my ticket to see the rooms.  The first room was amazing.  The Steinerner Saal (Stone Hall) in the central pavilion is covered with murals.  It is 3 floors tall with an overlooking balcony and amazing chandeliers.  It was one of the most impressive rooms of the trip and considering, I visited a castle and another palace, that’s saying something. 

From the  Stone Hall, you enter some smaller chamber rooms and bedrooms, including the room where King Ludwig was born.  Eventually you get to the Gallery of Beauties.  One of the kings (I don’t remember which), commissioned 36 portraits of women from all social classes that demonstrated the different characteristics of what was considered most beautiful at the time.  I only found a couple of them to be great beauties.  Apparently the standards have changed. 

After seeing the little bit of the palace that was open to visitors, I went through the stables.  This was incredible.  There were huge coaches, small coaches, baby coaches, sleighs, a hearse, paintings of King Ludwig’s favorite horses, a taxidermy horse that was one of Ludwig’s favorites (my dad used to joke about getting the family dog stuffed after she died and setting her on the end of the couch forever, but he didn’t actually do it), and many sets of tack. 

From there, I checked out the backyard, or the gigantic park with rivers and lakes and fountains and 5 pavilions.  I only saw 2 pavilions:  The Apollotemple, which is an incredibly picturesque ancient-greece inspired building  and the Pagodenburg, a building where “the lords and ladies rest after the exertions of a round of "Mailspiel” (which is literally translated “mail game.”  I have no idea what it is).  I didn’t go inside, but the Nymphenburg website has some to look at, and they are nice. 

From there, I went to the Olympic Park.  If you go to Munich, there is a metro stop with a the word “Olympic” in the name that is NOT the Olympic Park.  That would have me some time in getting there.  Munich, of course, was the site of the 1972 Summer Olympics and the park still looks great. 

Since the sun was setting, I decided to go up the Olympiaturm.  This tower is 200 m high and you can see all the way to the Alps in the distance.  I also got to see the Olympic Stadium with its sweeping glass roof and the Olympic Village, where the Israeli athletes were taken hostage.  I also saw “BULGARIA” written on the tower in huge letters.  Apparently, I was not the first visitor to come to the tower via Sofia International Airport. 

From there I walked around the park.  I poked my head into the swimming hall where Mike Spitz won his world-record 7 gold medals at one games.  I also walked by a section of sidewalk that channels Grauman's Chinese Theatre with its celebrity handprints and signatures.  I then climbed a giant hill to over look the park as it lit up.  Finally, I hopped back on the metro and headed back to my hotel, stopping for a Subway sandwich on my way.