Entries about christmas

Cities and Castles

Our final destination on our tour of Germany was the large metro and capital of Bavaria, Munich. It has so much history and tourist attraction options, it's tough to summarize what your options are. This is the second time I've spent 3 or 4 days in Munich and mostly saw all new stuff this time and still haven't run out of things to check out. This time included a couple day trips a little further outside the main city center.

We went north to check out the Dachau concentration camp memorial site. Another day we headed south to check out some of the most well known German castles and their local small villages.

Highly recommend:

• Marienplatz
• Christmas markets
• Dachau memorial
• Linderhof castle
• Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles
• Theresenweise / Oktoberfest grounds

Other sites to check out:

• 1972 Olympic site
• Nymphenburg palace
• BMW museum
• Royal Residence & theater
• Hofbrauhaus and other brew pubs
• several local churches, universities, museums, markets, and parks

Trip Map

Pictures

Munich Christmas markets

Bavaria countryside & Oberammergau Passion Play site (only happens once every 10 years since the 15th century)

Linderhof castle

Hohenschwangau castle

Neuschwanstein castle

Videos

The Hofbrauhaus beer hall

Linderhof castle

Neuschwanstein castle

Links

MurkTravels Vimeo - videos of my trips
MurkTravels Facebook page - pictures, posts, and regular updates
MurkTravels Facebook photo albums
MurkTravels Instagram - my attempted at artistic travel images
MurkTravels Travel Map - all the places that I've been and the things that I've seen

Castles and Cars

We spent a few days checking out the main towns of Heidelberg and Stuttgart. Heidelberg is a cozy little university focused town, but is also know for it's picturesque castle. Stuttgart is a larger metro that is the birthplace of the automobile (Daimler, Mayback, Benz, and Porsche) and has a few lesser known castles of it's own.

Highly recommend:

• Heidelberg castle
• Heidelberg Christmas markets
• Stuttgart Christmas markets
• Stuttgart Königstraße (King's Street) pedestrian area

Other sites to check out:

• Philosophers Walk
• Heidelberg old bridge
• Stuttgart new and old castles
• Mercedes Benz museum
• Porsche museum

Trip Map

Pictures

Heidelberg markets and some food you can get there:

Heidelberg castle, views from across the valley and by the old bridge:

Heidelberg castle up close:

Stuttgart Mercedes musuem, from the original modal to older cars to new expensive cars and fast racing styles:

Videos

Running down some stairs across the river from the town and castle:

Links

MurkTravels Vimeo - videos of my trips
MurkTravels Facebook page - pictures, posts, and regular updates
MurkTravels Facebook photo albums
MurkTravels Instagram - my attempted at artistic travel images
MurkTravels Travel Map - all the places that I've been and the things that I've seen

German country tour

In one day, and a couple hours worth of train rides, we left Luxembourg and checked out a few cities in the south western part of Germany: Saarbrucken and Mannheim. Saarbrucken is the capital of the smallest German state, Saarland, and within shouting distance of the French border. Mannheim is the "city of squares" in Germany, since it's main city center area is set up in grid pattern. Each block has a number and letter designation (like R4) and their address is based on that since there are no street names.
The people were friendly and sites were interesting. However, we didn't find anything that would be considered Must-See, knowing that we did rush through both areas in a day.

other sites to check out:

• Saarbrucken castle, church, and gardens
• St Johanner Market
• Mannheim Wochenmarkt
• Planken pedestrian mall

Trip Map

Pictures

Saarbrucken castle and church

Saarbrucken modern art museum display

Mannheim palace

Links

MurkTravels Vimeo - videos of my trips
MurkTravels Facebook page - pictures, posts, and regular updates
MurkTravels Facebook photo albums
MurkTravels Instagram - my attempted at artistic travel images
MurkTravels Travel Map - all the places that I've been and the things that I've seen

the Grand Duchy

Luxembourg is the world's only remaining grand duchy ... just meaning that the ruler is royalty with the title of Grand Duke. It's the 7th smallest country in Europe, and 28th smallest overall. It's quite the blend of French, German, and Belgian culture. Luxembourg City is one of 3 official capitals of the European Union.
We decided to check it out as part of our German Christmas markets tour in 2017. The main reason being that I found really cheap flights going there instead of the main German airports, but it's less than an hour bus ride to the border. It also allowed us some time to get over any jet lag and relax a few days before the crazy German markets tour. We were pleasantly surprised, and they have incorporated their own markets (like much of central Europe now).

Highly recommend:

• Bock Casemates (UNESCO World Heritage site)
• Place Guillaume II square
• Christmas markets

Other sites to check out:

• Notre Dame Cathedral
• Grand Ducal Palace (only open for tours a few weeks in the summer)
• Villa Vauban & the Municipal park

Trip Map

Pictures

A panoramic view across the Alzette river and valley.

One of several Luxembourg City christmas markets

A decorated tree in the markets.

The decorated cathedral of Notre Dame (Lux version).

The UNESCO site of the Bock casemates.

A panoramic view across the Alzette river and valley.

Videos

Our ride up a glass elevator:

Links

MurkTravels Vimeo - videos of my trips
MurkTravels Facebook page - pictures, posts, and regular updates
MurkTravels Facebook photo albums
MurkTravels Instagram - my attempted at artistic travel images
MurkTravels Travel Map - all the places that I've been and the things that I've seen