Germany: Constance, Munich, Nuremberg, Gefrees

I spent my first few days in Germany enjoying the fantastic hospitality of Sabine and her family. Ate lots of real good German food, drank lots of real good German beer and baked some Christmas cookies (its summer, so it should be Christmas right?). They live close to Lake Constance which is right at the bottom of Germany and is rather beautiful. I love mums.

From here to Munich for five days. Munich is a pretty neat city, lots of beer and beer gardens. Got me a 1 litre handle which is a challenge to drink, and not as awesome as you would think (volume aside) as it gets a little warm by then end... unless you are speedy. Just chilled in Munich really, took a day trip to a lake, explored the Palace which was occupied by Bavarian kinds (below) and generally got lost in the city, which is the best way to see things. Also went and saw a Brazilian band play, cut some mean shapes.

Hit Nuremberg for a day... thats neat city. Neat old castle over looking the city which had very good views and was fun to explore (the free bits at least... they were asking more than the price of hot street meat for entry...). Nuremberg is also where Hitler started getting big so there is an area where he started building some pretty crazy stuff, notably Zeppelin Field where rallies of 200,000 people where held. A surreal place to be as the history is so recent and has directly effected people I know....

Then to Gefrees. Bet you have never heard of that one. Its where Elisabeth's grandmother lives, a super quintessential German village. Ate heaps of German food. So much meat! I love Germany. I love grandmothers. Spent a few nights sleeping in a super small bed made in 1888 (old stuff is so much older here), doing lots of wandering.... wandering is Germany hiking where you walk for an hour or so then a pub magically appears in front of you and you get a Radler (beer and lemonade... means you don't get too drunk and can still walk home. Those Germans have good beer smarts). Germany is actually super pretty, I am honestly a little surprised... I have fallen for the New Zealand tourist propaganda which tells me that New Zealand is the most beautiful and that nothing compares. Sure NZ is beautiful, real beautiful, but other stuff is too... Such an arrogant kiwi. I love it.


After my first brief appearance I headed East. I will be back there though, starting in Berlin in a few weeks, I am pretty excited about Berlin, I heard you can get kebabs for 1 euro...