Dubrovnik

We just returned from a week in Croatia. It's a gorgeous country. We spent a total of 4 nights in Dubrovnik and 3 on the island of Mljet. We didn't do much in the city of Dubrovnik itself except go out to dinners and walk around the walls. You could do Dubrovnik in two full days. We spent one full day and several evenings touring around Dubrovnik and otherwise used it as a base and took several day trips. We stayed at the Hotel Dubrovnik Palace while in Dubrovnik and it was a gorgeous hotel with a view over the ocean from every room. I'd recommend it. Here's the view from the hotel and the pool:



A few sunset pictures:



Our main activity in Dubrovnik was walking on the walls that surround the old city. It's a worthwhile but expensive thing to do. We got a lot of great views of the city and also of the ocean. The picture below is of the main street in Dubrovnik, which is usually pretty crowded.



Here I am with my dad, just setting out on our wall walk. The main street is in the background.



A few pictures of the walls and the ocean and the town (all taken from on top of the wall):



There are also two bars just outside of the walls where you can have a cocktail and also go for a swim. They're pretty popular and worth a late-day visit. Dubrovnik gets really hot in the summer - temperatures are usually around 100 degrees and the walls really hold the heat in the old town. You can find these bars from the streets of the old town by ducking through little more than holes in the walls with signs reading "Cold Drinks".



Late-day sunshine on the main street of Dubrovnik:



One evening we rode a cable car up to the top of one of the hills surrounding Dubrovnik to get a nice view of the city and its walls. This was also relatively expensive - Dubrovnik isn't cheap!



A shot of the main street of Dubrovnik at night:



We ate at several good restaurants in Dubrovnik - Posat was probably the best one. Both the service and the food there were amazing. We also went to several wine bars in the evenings because we learned that we really enjoyed Croatian red wines. I'd highly recommend visiting at least one wine bar if you're so inclined. There is also some shopping to be done in Dubrovnik. Mostly touristy stuff but there were a few unique shops selling crafts and artwork there too.

Deidesheimer Weinkerwe

Yesterday we went to the Deidesheimer Weinkerwe, which is yet another wine festival here in the Pfalz. This one is in a village named Deidesheim, which is two villages south of where we live and only a 7-minute train ride away. We went mostly to have a farewell drink with our friends Grace and David, who are moving back to the US in a few days. We had never been to this wine festival before and it turned out to be a really fun one. It's one of the biggest wine festivals in the Pfalz and maybe also in the world (the Wurstmarkt, which takes place in our town in September, is the biggest in the world).

Here are Grace and David, enjoying their schorles:



A quick shot of the festival:



The largest wine glass I've ever seen. Right after I took this picture, this guy got it refilled practically to the top! Thankfully he shared it with a few friends.



Here comes the really really tall tree that they put up in the main square. First they parade it around the town a bit with a marching band.



One of the guys in tuxes and tophats gets up on a big barrel and gives a pep talk filled with cheers-ing and drinking. He said that they put up this tree every year so that all the neighboring villages know that it's wine fest time in Deidesheim. The festival lasts 11-12 days and the tree stays up that whole time.



All the other guys in top hats cheer the announcer on.



Then, they finally get their act together and hoist up the tree. It takes quite awhile.



Finished! Cheers again! It was a fun time watching this process and we'll have to go again next year.

Munich

This was my second trip to Munich so I didn't take a ton of pictures but since I didn't write a blog the first time I went, back in 2004, I figured I'd write one now. Munich is a really beautiful city with a lot of fun things to do if you enjoy German food and beer. It also has a great pedestrian area with a lot of shopping and one of the world's largest urban parks. It's a nice city to wander around in and enjoy all of the old buildings.

Here are some pictures of the pedestrian area filled with shopping.



No trip to Munich would be complete without a trip to city hall to see the Glockenspiel. The flowers on the building were gorgeous, and the building is beautiful too. The Glockenspiel itself is anti-climactic but still interesting to see.



The English garden covers 1.4 square miles and is bigger than Central Park. It's enormous and a great respite from the city. We spent a good amount of time wandering through the park and relaxing on the grass and benches. There is also an artificial stream that flows through the park, the Eisbach, and at one end of it some stones were added to create a standing wave that people can surf on. We watched some people surfing for awhile, picture below.



You also can't go to Munich without visiting the Hofbräuhaus. We went there for some beer and käsespätzle one afternoon.



Käsespätzle is kind of like macaroni and cheese, but with better cheese and fried onions on top. It is also made with special dumplings made with eggs and flour instead of pasta.



We managed to visit the hotel where Michael Jackson held his baby over the railing though we were just there for the bar and didn't realize it was famous until we got there. There's a great view from the bar (shown below) because it's located on the roof of the hotel. There are also Michael Jackson shrines in the park across the street from the hotel. Munich is just steeped in history, what can I say.

The World Cup Final in Munich

Two of my college room mates happened to be visiting me in Germany during the world cup final this past weekend, so we decided to travel to Munich to watch it with a few thousand other people. It was a really fun experience to have. A group of my American friends from Bad Dürkheim also went.

Below are pictures of our group in our Germany apparel, plus some pictures of the bar we watched the game at (Cafe Munich on Leopoldstrasse) and the people there. After Germany won the game, everybody took to the streets and was up until dawn celebrating. And they were celebrating nicely too - no riots, no violence, just people being happy that their team won and showing national pride.

All of the pictures except the last one were taken before the game even started. If you want a seat at a bar for the game, you have to arrive at least 6 hours before the game starts. At least. It makes for quite a long afternoon sitting at a bar. And if a bar allows tables to be reserved (ours didn't) you had to reserve your table likely before the world cup even started in June. We called around to some places to try to reserve a table after Germany won the semi-finals and everything was already taken. So you arrive early someplace to get a table and hang out for 6 or so hours and once the game starts there isn't even room to stand within viewing distance of the screens anymore so you're really happy to have your seat.