Our primary reason for going to Portland was to learn about KEEN Utility footwear. Alex was there on behalf of Charles & Hudson to cover the event, while I wanted to explore a new city as well as to learn about KEEN and how they might help Alex prevent another broken toe due to inappropriate footwear while working on projects. Trust me, it’s a real problem of his. He was actually nursing a broken pinky toe during our visit, how ironic given our reason for being there.

We kicked off our trip with some serious Portland exploration. We’d heard about all of the food, breweries, and beautiful homes in Portland, so we wanted to be able to experience all of it firsthand. We also heard about the 105 degree temps looming later in the week, so we had one evening and one full day to pack in as much as we could before the heat wave made it unbearable. We were staying centrally in the Sentinal Hotel in downtown Portland, which is an absolutely beautiful building that was once an old Elks Temple.

Just look at the amazing ceiling in the hotel lobby. It was beyond impressive.

Not only was the building impressive, but the décor of the hotel was right up my alley. Everything from the common spaces to our room were beautifully decorated and inviting. If you’re headed to Portland, I would certainly recommend staying there.

Since the Pacific Northwest is also well known for their temperate climate, rainfall, and greenery throughout the region (though it was particularly hot when we were there…did I mention that?), it comes as no surprise that you can find an International Rose Test Garden at the edge of town.

Before the temperature climbed on the morning of our first full day, we ventured out for a little hike to explore the area and what it had to offer.

What we found were rows upon rows upon rows of beautiful roses.

It was early in the day and the sun was low over Mt. Hood in the distance. We wandered through the roses and took it all in. Immediately next to the Rose Test Garden is a neighborhood filled stunning homes.

As we normally do, we wandered the sidewalks of the neighborhood and gawked at each one of its homes' interesting details. 

Portland's Neighborhoods

As with many US cities with a history reaching back to the 19th century or before, Portland is divided into several distinct neighborhoods within the city limits. We spent most of our time in the Old Town Chinatown, Pearl District, and Nob Hill neighborhoods of Portland, though we did make an obligatory stop at the crazy Pioneer Portland Square directional sign in the city center/downtown area.

Each of the neighborhoods has an identity and it’s pretty easy to tell when you move from area to the other. For example, the Nob Hill area is filled with impressive Victorians and has far more open and green space.

We even stumbled on a house that was in the midst of a complete renovation and paint stripping project. I can't imagine the amount of time that's been put into this project.

It seemed everywhere we turned we saw yet another beautiful old home that added to Portland's charm.

On the other hand, Old Town Chinatown has a far more gritty urban feel (though it’s only a handful of blocks from Nob Hill), with fewer natural green spaces and trees planted in sidewalks like you’d expect in a major city’s downtown area. 

We spent quite a bit of time walking and shopping in Old Town Chinatown, and also visited a brewery or two.

Shopping at Budd + Finn

This neighborhood is also where you can find the original Voodoo Doughnuts, where we had to make an obligatory stop.

In case you're wondering, Alex went with the "Old Fashioned" doughnut, while I couldn't resist the very cute "Voodoo Doll," with red jelly filling.

The Pearl District is sandwiched between Nob Hill and Old Town Chinatown and is where Portland’s major urban revitalization is underway. This neighborhood is home to what was Portland’s warehouse district, but is now where you can find trendy restaurants and shopping that show where Portland is headed. You may be familiar with one of the Pearl's most favorite and famous shops, Powell's Books.

This world famous bookstore is also the largest new and used bookstore in the world. It's a book lover's dream with room upon room of selections, titles, and genres.

Also in the Pearl District, we found dozens of restaurants, breweries, and shopping options to satisfy even the most discerning visitor. 

We seemed to fall into a habit of visiting breweries between stops in shops and trying our everything from sour and fruity beer to bold stouts…but we made sure to always add a pretzel to the order. It was a great way to beat the heat.

Deschutes Brewery was one of our favorite stops, for both the food and the beer, but brewery after brewery we kept finding our "favorites." Portland certainly does food and beer well, that's for sure!

One thing is for certain. If you're a beer lover and find yourself in Portland, you won't find it difficult to discover things you'll enjoy.

KEEN Utility Visit

After packing in nearly 14 miles of walking in the day and a half we explored Portland, we'd seen and learned a lot about Portland from a tourist's standpoint. So when it came time to visit the KEEN office, we were very interested to learn more about Portland from the perspectives of some locals. 

KEEN’s headquarters building is located in the heart of Portland’s Pearl District, and it is nestled among large factory spaces that are enjoying a significant urban revival as Portland’s historic neighborhoods have quickly transformed into hip and sought after destinations. After the space underwent a massive renovation just a few years ago, Keen moved their offices from about five blocks away and took up residence in the Simon Building, which is a recognized National Register of Historic Places location. We were given a tour of this impressive building during our visit.

The Simon Building started life in 1907 as a manufacturing and storage facility for steamship accessories. Over the years it has served many purposes, more recently this beautiful masonry and timber building has been an office for other commercial manufacturers. Through KEEN's renovation, their construction team stripped away layers of paint and more recently added partition walls to expose the beauty of the massive and open interior. The re-imagination of the space has created a stunning example of reuse and repurposing while retaining the original structure and feel of the building.

Wherever possible materials were salvaged, reused, and repurposed to minimize waste and any unnecessary addition to landfills. The company's owner and family are extremely environmentally conscientious people, and went to great lengths to breathe new life into this amazing building while simultaneously trying to protect the environment. The story of the building's evolution is proudly described on the blackboard behind their office bar in the main gathering area. Yes, that's right...their office bar.

For example, it was proving very difficult to rid the interior timbers of their many layers of white paint. Rather than leverage harsh and caustic paint stripping approaches, the construction team used the ground up glass from windows that were removed from the upper floors to sand-blast away the years of paint and expose the amazing antique and massive timbers throughout the building.

The impressive headquarters houses several floors of open office space as well as their KEEN Kanteen cafeteria, and the KEEN Garage retail location. The basement houses a bike storage area where their employees can park when they ride to work, the employee common spaces on each floor take advantage of the awesome character of the historic building, and all over the building they've gone to great lengths to reuse materials for everything from counter tops (like old bowling alleys from the founder's neighborhood), or road signs or metal barrels for seating.

While you’ll more commonly see their products offered in places such as REI, Bass Pro Shops, Cabella’s, and online, if you’re a fan and find yourself in Portland, you should definitely pay the KEEN Garage a visit. They even stock a few products, like utility pants, that are only available at the Garage.

Their building is very indicative of the rest of Portland, and the idea that Portland is "weird" can be seen by looking across the street at the cool old KEEN VW bus parked next to some employee parking and picnic tables.

Or the fact that you can buy a pair of walking sandals from their vending machine in front of their office.

It was a treat to get a glimpse into the inner workings of this very environmentally friendly building and office space. These are the sorts of things you don't normally get to experience when you're simply playing tourist in a town. If you'd like to learn more about KEEN Utility and their Portland factory, be sure to check our Alex's KEEN Utility Factory Tour recap he wrote over on Charles & Hudson.

We've both wanted to spend some time in Portland for a while now, and I'm very glad we had the opportunity with this trip. Though we didn't get out of town to enjoy the Oregon coast, or do any hiking in the parks, experiencing the city of Portland was a great first step and introduction to Oregon.

It was also very unique to experience a bit of Portland by learning about it through the eyes of locals that work for a company that has a significant local investment in the area. More than anything we learned that Portland has a rich history with many wonderful legends, but Portland's recent resurgence in culture and acceptance of everyone is its true attraction. 

Portland has many diverse landscapes, populations, and interests, and the people that live in the PDX area are passionate about their home. This passion seems to extend from their often active leisure activities to their chosen careers. Like any major city on the rise, the infrastructure of Portland is trying to keep up with the burgeoning demand and influx of people. There are major construction projects on many city corners, but the vision and direction of the area is apparent. Portland will continue to change for many years to come, but it's certainly worth checking out right away.

Have you been to Portland? If so, what do you think of the area? And if you live there, are you as passionate about your home as most of the Portland residents we met during our time there?  

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We have an experience with this very scenario that we've been waiting to share with you for some time. 

Almost two years ago Wendy and I went on a trip that we'd been waiting to take for decades. We'd long dreamt of going to Ireland together, and we finally took a true trip of a lifetime back in October 2015. We loved just about every second of the trip. It was truly enjoyable from start to finish, and we even have a brief recap if you'd like to check it out.

But that recap of our trip left out a little detail that really made this trip one to remember. 

Nearing the end of our whirlwind tour of the southern half of the greenest country I've ever seen, we were driving from the picturesque historic port town of Kinsale toward Dublin for one final night. 

Not in any hurry to rush our way through our last moments in the stunning Irish countryside, and wanting to take in as many sites as we could before we'd depart, we made a few stops along the way.

One of the stops was in the thousand year old city of Kikenny in the southeast of Ireland. The bustling and winding streets of shopping were the perfect bridge between the quiet towns we'd been visiting on our way back to vibrant and bustling Dublin. We had a wonderful time exploring, but one particular shop stands out in our minds. 

The front of this little antique store was nondescript, yet very inviting. The exterior was plain, with only a script "Antiques and Collectables" sign drawing us in. There was no elaborate display like so many of the other shops, but rather it was the water damage, chipped paint, off center windows, and a collection of trinkets with piles of dusty artwork in the window that spoke to us.

As soon as we walked in, we knew this was the place for us. We explored the crowded walls and floor of the narrow shop. An eclectic mix of antiques were haphazardly arranged along the walls and stacked in corners. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason why each piece was in the store, other than the fact that the owner had found each interesting in some way, acquired them all at some point, and was looking for someone to buy them from him. The store felt claustrophobic with just five patrons and the owner. In our experience, this is the hallmark of a wonderful antique store! 

No fewer than two to five minutes in the store and we'd both spotted what we were there for, we just didn't know yet.

I snapped the photo above to show Wendy the "Cool cast iron fishing sign" I thought she'd like. But as I approached to show her the photo she looked back at me and said, "Did you see the sign that says 'Fishing'? I think it's perfect!" It was antique picking serendipity or a plain old "meet cute" of the antiquing variety.

We asked the store's owner for a price and he responded "100 Euro." We were on our way out of town, only had 95 Euro in our wallet, and he didn't take credit. It was also a lot more than we usually spend on home decor items, but we knew it was truly a conversation piece and would make for an amazing and unique souvenir. We tried to bargain him down but he wasn't budging. Not wanting to let this get away we scrounged through our pockets and bag and were able to come up with three more Euro. After delivering our "best and final" offer, we were met by a lengthly pause, then he reluctantly accepted the 98 Euro. We quickly closed the sale and walked out of his store proud owners of an antique cast iron Galway road sign, complete with authentic Irish grime and dirt! These signs are nothing short of iconic in Ireland. If you do a quick search online you'll fine plenty of place where you can get reproductions of their classic look all over the place. But very few places have the real thing, and this is the only one I've ever seen that advertises "Fishing."

Example sign from an eBay auction

Though we'd made the purchase that was only half the battle. We had a flight to catch the next day and the sign was too large to fit in our luggage. When we arrived at the airport we checked in at the United desk and asked how we should handle this large sign. "Could we carry it on the plane?" The check in desk felt it could be construed as a weapon (the most awkward weapon ever perhaps) and indicated we may have it seized if we tried to take it through security, so they helped us check it as luggage. Working with the extremely helpful staff, we wrapped the sign in newspaper, plastic, and tape (basically whatever we could get our hands on at that point) to withstand the journey. 

We were nervous we'd arrive home only to have a shattered road sign greeting us on the luggage belt, but the tape marked "Fragile" did its job and the beautiful sign arrived back in the states in one piece! 

Once we had this wonderfully rustic Irish sign on American soil, we had to figure out just what we wanted to do with it. We knew it would work beautifully in our Foursquare in helping direct our guests to the water, but just where we'd place it was unknown. Should it go in the dining room? Perhaps the hallway? 

We knew the arrow would need to point in the correct direction, but that was about it.

After some significant deliberation, we had that classic DIY "Ah-Ha!" moment. When we constructed our hallway built in bench with salvaged beadboard below our main staircase, we'd presented ourselves with the perfect opportunity. The sign could be mounted on the open area and would be visible from not only the hallway, but also the kitchen.

When it came to mounting it I didn't want to simply hang it on a few nails and call it a day. This sign is big, heavy, chunky, and has a ton of texture with the raised lettering and border. I wanted to take advantage of these details and accentuate the fact this that large sign had lived the majority of its life as a utilitarian directional road sign.

In order to add depth to the mount I devised a little wood mounting frame.

And since the sign was originally bolted onto a sign pole, I wanted to stay true to the roots of the sign and affixed it to the wood frame with stainless bolts.

But for mounting this right to the wall, while adding as few holes to the beadboard as possible, I put a few small mounting keyholes in the wood frame. This would allow us to easily slide the frame on and off of the screws, making it easy to remove in the event I need access to the secret panel for the crawlspace.

All said and done this little addition to our built in bench and beadboard nook is a true favorite aspect of our home. We still have a lot to do in this little hallway. Lots of plaster, paint, and putting in a beautiful antique cast iron register cover over the black air intake opening. But until then, the builtin bench area is looking really great.

The story behind the sign and how it came into our lives is a memory we'll always cherish. It's a unique aspect to our home that you'd be hard pressed to find in another home. And best of all, it serves a purpose. If you're ever over our house and want to know where to find the fishing, just glance at our hallway sign and you'll be on our way. Best of all, it applies whether you read English or Gaelic!

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As part of our whirlwind Bavarian adventure Wendy and I opted to drive a large part of the Romatiche Straße, or the Romantic Road. We actually started our journey at the “end” of the Romantic Road in Füssen, just a stone’s throw from our stop at Neuschwanstein Castle and only a few kilometers north of Germany’s border with Austria. There’s actually a small arch that marks the “official” end of the road said to mark the typical path of journey during the Roman Empire (but really created as a 1950's tourism marketing campaign).

This was a perfect approach to this journey, in our opinion, and I’ll tell you why at the end of the post.

The village of Füssen was our first foray into the picturesque view of Bavarian Medieval cities, and what an amazing first experience it was. The town, originally settled during Roman times with modern architecture dating back to the 8th century, is both a bustling tourist destination and is known for its violin making.

Füssen is situated on the Lech River, which affords beautiful views of the Alps along walking paths, streets, and cobbled sidewalks of this densely packed town. If you’re ever in the area, it is absolutely worth a stop.

By the time we were ready to head out, it was a little bittersweet since we loved the village so much, but we were quite excited to see what else Germany had in store for us.

Our trip on the Romantic Road took us north on the winding two lane road through the Bavarian countryside and through the middle of many small Bavarian villages along the way. We passed through countless Bavarian farming communities and quaint towns. Each one seemed to be the embodiment of the storybook views of the Bavarian countryside that included a centralized Church with homes clustered around the village center.

As we neared the end of the trip on the Romantic Road we made a quick stop in a town we had seen great reviews about, near the northern extent of the trip. The city of Dinkelsbühl was our stop, and what an amazing stop it was. 

Founded in 1083, the walled village represents what was typical of a 15th to 17th century Bavarian town.

The town escaped the entirety of World War II suffering only a single broken window as damage, and as such, is a beautiful example of historic architecture and charm that is quite rare to find in the world today.

The streets are lined with quintessential Bavarian style architecture with restaurants, shopping, and essential stores you’d find in any normal living town.

The thing to remember is that this is a real city, and like any real city, not everything is perfect. These imperfections are what make the experience authentic and the views spectacular.

We parked outside of the walls and wandered around the streets and alleys of Dinkelsbühl for several hours simply enjoying our surroundings.

We even found a narrow alley between a few houses that we couldn’t resist passing through to get from street to street.

We knew we’d be staying in a larger cities throughout the rest of our trip, so we wanted to appreciate just what this village was before the experience was over. As we walked to our car, we took it all in and just enjoyed what we were seeing.

As picturesque as the majority of the trip was, the ultimate goal was our final destination of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, or “Red fortress above the Tauber,” and we were nearing our final destination along the Romantic Road. 

Little did we know we were stumbling into what would easily be the absolute highlight stop on our entire German vacation!

Rothenburg is a Medieval walled city in north central Bavaria originally founded in 1170. It’s survived miraculously intact through multiple conflicts, including both the 30 Years War and World War II. Through various strokes of luck, both good and bad, the economy of the village allowed it to both prosper when necessary, and then flounder during the age of advancement, to reach a point in history where it is now a true and largely original Medieval city of significant size, which is about as rare as they come in modern times.

Today, Rothenburg is experiencing a massive economical resurgence thanks to the tourism its “frozen in time” look generates. To say that the tourists are on to something pretty special, well, that’s a significant understatement.

Wendy and I pulled into the city through one of the main tower gates. Where there now exists a road for cars, there was once a drawbridge over a moat to protect the walled city.

Though the city has been adapted for modern living, a must for the population of roughly 10,000, the streets are still cobblestone and architecture still looks as it once did, many hundreds of years ago, complete with hand painted and gilded signage for the specialty shops and locations.

We ended up staying in a hotel that only heightened our experience in the unique city. The hotel was called The Burg-Hotel, and it was spectacular.

Originally a 12th century “beggars” beadle, the hotel’s building is built right into the fortified walls of the city.

Our room had a simply spectacular view of the Tauber river, lower villages outside of the walls, and surrounding rolling hills. 

It was probably the nicest view we’ve ever had in any of our hotel stays on any of our vacations.

It was such a spectacular location, Wendy started contemplating ways we could somehow pick up and move to Rothenburg and make it our permanent residence. This was especially the case when she discovered a secret patio alcove where we were able to relax with pastries and the bottle of Champagne we bought in Munich.

It was picture perfect. We sat, chatted, enjoyed the surrounding view over the Tauber valley, and just soaked in one of those moments that represents exactly what vacation is supposed to embody.

As with all of our other stops on this trip, we made a point to do several extensive walking tours of the city. And given the fact the city walls covered many miles, there was quite a bit of walking to do and sights to take in!

As we wandered, mouths often hanging open, we marveled at the architecture and details. Everything from the streets and buildings as a whole…

…to the smallest details that adorned the fronts of shops and buildings.

There were homes with ancient doorbells where the same family has lived for over 300 years…

…and architectural details indicating ownership by or membership in the church (note the shell details).

There were quaint views…

…and spectacular views.

Every other alley, window, or door had some level of interest and uniqueness about it that we couldn't help but be drawn to.

It seemed everywhere we turned it was another moment where one or the other of us was pointing out something to ooh and ahh over.

And leave it to us to find an example of a great old building under extensive renovations that we could sit and gawk at.

Evidence of the city's advanced water delivery system from hundreds of years ago still exist just around many corners.

The city center is still a bustling area for tourists, shopping, and local businesses.

If you find yourself in Rothenburg, there are a few stores you absolutely must make a stop. The first is Käthe Wohlfahrt, which is essentially a Christmas wonderland! I really can't start to explain it. It's sort of like a labyrinth of Christmas, spanning multiple rooms, buildings, and levels. There's absolutely something to entertain everyone, and the truck parked out front can be considered this store's welcome wagon.

The second place is a small store just off of the main square that we learned about from the Rick Steves book. Anneliese Friese is a small shop selling German goods of many kinds, but it's run by the absolute nicest and friendlies little lady (I think she just celebrated her 85th birthday) we met in all of Germany. She was accommodating, helpful, and a spark plug, showing off her photos of when Rick Steves visited the shop on multiple occasions, and singing his praises for including her in his book. 

Personally, I don't think any trip is complete without finding a local cat or dog that's mugging for the camera.

If you'll notice, the only roofing material you see on all of our photos is that of red tiles. This was adopted as a city standard hundreds of years ago. Where many Medieval cities had homes with thatched roofs, fire was the enemy of these historic towns, and fire spreads rapidly through thatched house coverings. As a result, a standard and fire resistant roof covering was adopted and enforced throughout the city. Did it work? Well, the city still stands and never had a serious or significant fire sweep through the town since the standard was adopted.

One of the walking trips we enjoyed the most was the nearly two mile walk along the top of the city wall and ramparts. 

This walk spans about half of the circumference of the city and offered amazing views of both nearby buildings outside of the wall...

...and across the impressive roof lines of Rothenburg.

We ended up walking along the ramparts just before sunset and were able to get an awesome view that was truly a treat.

We also made sure to take a moment here or there to get the obligatory posed tourist shot or two.

I will tell you one thing. If you're making this trip and walk through the ramparts on your own, be sure to watch out for low hanging header stones near the end of the walk. Take Wendy's word for it, they aren't particularly forgiving.

On our final night in Rothenburg we did something that everyone who visits should absolutely make time for. Rothenburg is far more quiet when night falls, and there's a tour at 8:00 each evening that leaves from the city's main square. This tour is the night watchman's tour.

The night watchman appears out of nowhere under the dark sky and leads a gaggle of story happy tourists through the streets of Rothenburg, pausing at various locations to share bits and pieces of Rothenburg's history. The watchman himself is a very entertaining speaker, and his stories weave a wonderful image of both the prosperous and difficult times the city has experienced over the years.

I can't stress enough just how wonderful of a place Rothenburg turned out to be. It's a destination that is a must for anyone even mildly interested in Europe. The city offers a glimpse into the past of a time easily forgotten. As I said, it's rare to experience something so incredibly unique, and I'm willing to guess that this is one of the only places in the world were you can experience something that's actual the genuine artifact.

Earlier in the post I mentioned that we feel the route we took, starting at the end of the Romantic Road and moving north, was the right choice. Looking back on our journey it seemed we may have been let down if we had started in Rothenburg and then ended in Füssen. Instead, Füssen welcomed us to the trip and and eased us in with a smaller city and allowed us to slowly appreciate each stop a little more than the last. In our opinion, our itinerary to get to Rothenburg was almost ideal. We only wish we had stayed another two nights.

What do you think? Is Rothenburg a place you'd like to visit? Have you already been? If so we'd love to hear what you thought.

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Whether we're talking about 13th century fortresses turned noble places of residence, or examples of overt excess from the local ruling classes (often at the expense of their loyal subjects), today the grand and looming structures that harken back to a past we, and future generations, will likely never know. And it's for this very reason, and because of my obsession with antique architecture, that I'm so incredibly fascinated by and enjoy visiting these places, no matter their current state.

As part of our tour of south western Germany I wanted to make sure we made a stop at a place I'd know about for years, but only from the majestic photos in tourists brochures and video from travel shows. The location, Neuschwanstein Castle!

Neuschwanstein is a 19th century castle that sits high above the village of Schwangau in the very southern and central part of Bavaria, one of Germany's 16 states, and just a few kilometers from the German border with Austria.

The castle is actually one of two castles separated by just a few kilometers, and was built by King Ludwig II in the mid to late 19th century. The second castle, Schloß Hohenschwangau, was built in the early 19th century by Ludwig's father, King Maximilian II, and was the family's retreat away from the hustle and bustle of Munich, Bavaria's capital city.

Our visit began as we pulled into the tourist heavy town of Schwangau in the valley between the two royal residences. The town is one of those things that are left out when only looking at tourism photos or watching travel shows. Personally, I've never been to a true Bavarian town in the Alps, but I've seen plenty of depictions. However, nothing compares to seeing the real thing.

The small village, whose existence is no doubt due to the two castles (first as a service community and now as a tourist destination), is a quintessential Bavarian village. Tudor and mid 19th century style buildings are spread along a main and secondary road through the valley floor.

Each place is painted a combination of cream and the additional color palette of choice for that building, and no two are alike.

Today the buildings are full of shops, diners, hotels, and restaurants, but when the castles were operating royal residences, the town offered the support services and community establishments necessary to keep an area of such importance fully operational (think about the town of Downton Abbey).

After arriving, parking, and heading over to pick up our tickets for our castle tours, we experienced the good fortune of listening to Rick Steves. He said to pre-book your tour reservations as the line for day of purchase can get long. 

Boy was we right! We walked to directly to the front of will call without a person in front of us, while the "day of" line wrapped endlessly. I'm rather sure this seven euro advance purchase charge saved us about an hour standing in line.

The true advantage of this approach was that it gave us more time to enjoy the breathtaking town.

Our tours kicked off with the smaller and older of the two castles, Schloß Honenschwangau, the large yellow castle perched above and overlooking the village. Built in the early 19th century atop the ruins of a fortress dating to the 12th century...

...its perch above the valley floor offers panoramic views of the surrounding mountains and villages below. To say it was picturesque is a serious understatement.

We made the 10 minute walk up to the castle where we took in the gorgeous views of the Bavarian countryside and marveled at how bad us lowly peons have it in life. These royals, they knew what was what!

The tour of the castle itself was quite interesting. We toured the various rooms still outfitted in furniture and gifts belonging to King Maximilian II and his family, each with original artwork, essentially masterpieces painted right onto the walls, keepsakes, and a brief story of each room's purpose in the home.

Though photos were not allowed on the interior, we were able to snap a view of the views through the windows. All I can say is, "WOW!" It seemed every view was more stunning than the last. One area I was able to take photos of was in the neighboring structure where the castle's kitchen was located. Talk about an open concept kitchen!

As jaw dropping as each room of the house was, the most breathtaking aspects of the entire castle were the views from the castle windows looking out over the nearby clear blue lake and onto the mountains of Austria. The cool breeze, shimmering reflection of the sun, and wonderful smell in the air were simply amazing, I could have sat in front of that window for days.

After our initial castle tour concluded, we immediately headed down to the bus stop to catch a bus to the second castle. While the first climb was a simple 10 minute walk, the second would have been a much more substantial 30+ minute hike up a rather steep road. We didn't want to be a sweaty mess by the time we reached the castle, so the bus was a rather good decision.

The bus took us up the steep and winding road and dropped us at a secondary site near Neuschwanstein called Marienbrucke, or Queen Mary's Bridge. This bridge is a marvel of engineering for its time, as it straddles a waterfall amidst sheer rock cliffs and offers stunning views of the castle and valley below.

This bridge definitely lived up to its reputation, offering some beautiful and unique views of the castle.

The only problem? It was jam packed. With that many people, the wooden walk planks of the bridge bounce and sway, and the narrow passage acts as a bottleneck and prevents people from returning to the side they entered. It quickly went from a scenic overlook to a hoard of people stuck and pushing one another. After a photo or two, we quickly made our way off of the bridge as we both felt something bad was bound to happen. The views are stunning, but it's best to go to this bridge when it's not crowded...trust me.

Finally, after seeing our lives flash before our eyes, we headed over to Neuschwanstein for our tour.

Though not particularly old, especially when compared to the 12th and 13th century ruins you can find around Germany, Neuschwanstein was built by a king that possessed a tremendous appreciation for the romantic periods and employed a set designer to develop the overall vision for the cancel. And though it appears to be constructed from stone and is seemingly carved from the mountain, its construction is decidedly modern, using rebar and cement for the majority of the exterior.

If the castle looks familiar at all, but you've never heard of it or seen it, you might be thinking of Cinderella's Castle in Disney. It seems the Disney castle was inspired by this very castle, so I ask you, why go to Disney when you can see the real thing?

The castle tour was amazing, but like the first tour, no photos allow on the interior...except in the giant kitchen.

The castle itself was constructed over a 17 year period ending in 1886 (the same year our house was built). The grand construction and attention to detail was amazing. From mosaics to massive chandeliers, everything was more grand than can be imagined. One room had solid hand carved wood on every surface, and that room took four full time woodworkers two full years to complete!

There's a very interesting story about King Ludwig "The Mad" that I encourage you to look into. It shows how dedicated he was to building the castle, though he only lived in it for six months after being removed from the throne for questionable and politically driven reasons, before being found dead under suspicious circumstances just days after his ouster. For this reason, much of the castle is unfurnished and an entire floor is incomplete, with brick/white plaster walls and pine floors. Wendy told me her money is on the side that he killed himself, and that I'd probably kill myself too if I had worked on a house for 17 years only to be removed from it six months after moving in. You know, she's probably right.

Though interior photos were not allowed, I snuck one photo with my phone that I couldn't pass up. Please excuse the blurriness as I was covert and moving, but one of the massive and grand doors to the ball room that would have been able to fit four of our houses completely inside had an interesting detail I couldn't believe. See if you can tell from my horrible photo.

Do you see it, in the middle panel of the door? That's the beadboard wainscoting profile of our new stock for the master bathroom! It's identical, and I mean, exactly the same! Sure, it's done in walnut, on a massive door, in a king's castle in Germany, but the fact this profile exists in a building (of any kind) that completed construction at the time our home was built, well, that tells me we're doing something right! Serendipity (in the most far reaching form possible) I tell ya'!

If there's one thing I learned on our tour of Neuschwanstein castle, it's that everyone's home needs a scale model replica of itself within its walls. I think I need to get started on our home's model right away. Luckily, I think it will be a little easier than this one.

In all, the tour was good, the castle grand, and the scenery better than I ever could have imagined. And the best part were the horses we kept passing along the way, adding a certain ambiance to the whole endeavor that tour buses simply can't compete with.

However many times I've seen Neuschwanstien on television or in photos, our visit to the castles, their village, and neighboring Honenschwangau castle provided so much more context and helped to make this stop one of the true highlights of our vacation.

Have you ever visited Neuschwanstein, Honenschwangau, and Schwangau? If so, what were your thoughts? If not, does it seem like a place you'd like to see in person? After years of wanting to visit, I can say that it lived up to the hype I'd created in my mind.

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This year we were actually wracking our brains to figure out just where we wanted to go. We knew we wanted to visit a new place, and it’s long been a dream of Wendy’s to visit the country, Germany, where all of her ancestry is rooted. Based on lots of feedback from friends and family who all greatly enjoyed their visits to Germany, and our love of the styles and history of Germany, we decided on a nine day several city tour of southern Germany to give us a feel for the country as a whole.

Munich, or München as it’s known in Deutschland, was the first stop on our tour of southern Germany, and the biggest city we would visit on our vacation. Seeing as neither of us had ever been to Germany, we grabbed a copy of Rick Steves 2013 Germany guide (honestly, we’ve learned “don’t go to Europe without a Rick Steves guide for your destination”) and hoped for the best in a city and country simply dripping in history. But best of all, we were visiting during the first weekend of Oktoberfest!

We planned a two night stay in Munich but knew we’d need to really hit the ground running and do our best to keep our energy up after our long journey across the Atlantic and into the heart of Europe. Personally, the slog of getting from the airport to the hotel can easily set the tone for the first several days of travel. A difficult or uncomfortable journey can derail plans before they even begin. Luckily, all concerns were laid to rest as be exited the elevator of the S-Bahn (train) into the Marienplatz pedestrian square and we were greeted with a view that cemented exactly why we had chosen to visit and had a great chance to truly love Germany.

While in Munich we focused on the three primary aspects of touring in Germany:

1. The Sights
2. The Food
3. The Beer

The Sights

Munich is amazing is so many ways. The architecture, history, local customs, and general sights in and around the city are spectacular. With nearly 1000 years of history, the majority of which were under a wealthy monarchy’s rule, there are quite the variety of impressive places. One of our first stops was back at the square that introduced us to Munich to watch the "event" of the Rathaus-Glockenspiel on the New Town Hall. The chimes at 11:00am reenact a 16th century tale through the use of large moving figures. Though it wasn't as cool as the astrological clock was in Prague, I'm still glad we stopped by to see it.

Our various walking tours of Munich took us all throughout the city streets of the central historic district where we visited everything from the impressive government buildings, churches, and monuments...

...to the famous gathering places of Munich locals and tourists.

The city as a whole is quite large, but at the same time, not overwhelming. There are no massive skyscrapers, the sidewalks are largely clean, and we felt completely safe and comfortable whether walking during the daytime or night. Because of the height and size of the city, it actually felt a lot like Washington,DC feels to us. Perhaps that's why we were pretty comfortable.

But one of the absolute coolest sights all throughout the city were the locals and tourists all dressed to celebrate the annual Oktoberfest tradition. I'll get to the beer drinking and actual event later, but the fact it was a festive time of year was apparent everywhere, as you could see people walking the streets in traditional garb at any time of the day.

We did a ton of walking around Munich and saw a numerous sights, but there was one thing that stood out as the most unique bizarre was the makeshift shrine to Michael Jackson that apparently popped up just days after his death in front of the hotel he frequented while in Munich.

The statue, intended for German musician Orlando di Lassois, is plastered with Jackson photos, notes, keepsakes, and even tastefully decorated with plants. But the thing that puts it over the top is the nearby parody shrine to Michael's monkey, Bubbles, just a few feet from the statue (though I'm sure many probably take it seriously). This statue's base is covered with monkey masks, drawings, notes, photos, and even...bananas. Yes, that's right.

Hysterical, that's all I have to say about that.

One final thing we stumbled across was something we often see around our neighborhood as well, yarn bombing. It seems some great traditions know no regional boundaries.

The Food

While Germany is well known for their brats, sausages, and various other pork based deliciousness...

...what happens when a pescatarian and non pork eater venture into the land of ham? Surprisingly enough, it's probably just as delicious of an endeavor as that of any full on meat eater.

The food of Germany is a giant social event, rather than simply a means for getting the nourishment necessary to both tour endlessly or allow you to drink more beer. Between the pretzels, cheese, fruit, and most importantly, spätzle, as well as a ton of other Italian, Asian, Indian, and other style restaurants, we had no issue finding non meat items at pretty much every turn.

Cheesy käsespätzle topped with onion rings!

In addition to normal lunch and dinner places, Wendy made sure we took a moment here and there to appreciate the café culture of Munich with some morning cappuccinos and tea.

We really didn't have a bad meal in Munich!

The Beer!

Though the size of the city, its architecture, food, or the various other amazing things we discovered and learned along the way were all wonderful, each decidedly played second fiddle to the fact that we were visiting München during the first weekend of the 2013 incarnation of Oktoberfest, the raucous German celebration of beer and tradition.

Oktoberfest is one of those bucket list items for many, and if you’ve never been we can now tell you that it’s really an experience like no other! Rooted in a marriage celebration for Germany’s King Ludwig I in 1810, the one time event has grown into an annual tradition that now represents the single largest fair in the world.

During the two week event millions of visitors roam the walkways of the Oktoberfest grounds, and frequent the various rides, food, and shopping options.

But the main reason people arrive by the millions is for the 14 large tents that are more beer hall than simple gathering place. From the outside they are large advertisements for their own brewery.

While on the inside it looks like something along the lines of the Hogwarts style caffeteria mixed with lederhosen, a central oompah band, and a massive amount of beer and German food. 

It's loud, crazy, and absolutely drunken fun that I'm so happy we had the chance to experience at least once in our lives. By comparison, here's a photo from Cincinnati's Oktoberfest, the second largest Oktoberfest in the world...second to Munich. See the difference?

Cincinnati, OH Oktoberfest, 2002

Awkward...

Speaking of Harry Potter, doesn't this hat for sale in Munich look like the Hogwarts sorting hat, but for beer?

I'm not positive, but I think this hat is responsible for determining which beer tent you belong in. But don't worry, it takes your preference into account so you won't end up in the Hippodrome if you really want to be in the Löwenbräu tent.

I did find it very funny that the massive roller coaster rides that dot the park are most likely "enjoyed" all too often by people who have tied on one or five too many in the massive beer tents. If there's one place in Oktoberfest I'd absolutely not want to be, it's probably a car or two behind the overly drunk on one of the many loop roller coasters.

The number of fall down drunk people in the walkways was simply hysterical. I lost track of how many clumsily stumbling people we saw. It’s hard to describe just what they looked like. Think about someone wearing traditional lederhosen complete with festive hat and suspenders, trying to both walk in a straight line and keep up with their own group so intently, that they were able to no neither with any level of success, like this guys in matching yellow shirts with the rest of his group. I wish it was appropriate to take a video of him, but my description will have to do.

These extremely inebriated revelers stumbled around with their head down, one eye closed (to help with the balance), taking short steps on the balls of their feet all in an attempt to increase stability, but all that was really happening was a complete meltdown of their basic motor skills. Try as they might to be cool and coordinated, they were usually bouncing off every other person like an alcohol filled pinball as they walk through the crowd, each collision resulting in a larger ricochet and greater deviation from their intended course. Undeterred and unaware of their gross inabilities, they kept moving in the sea of people as if it’s an everyday affair. Who knows, maybe it was.

In addition to the routinely drunk, we also saw at least three and possibly four people who tripped, fell, or opted to sit on the ground and decided their location was the perfect place for that nap to sleep off their beverages. Again, wish video and even photos were appropriate in this situation, but I digress.

Wendy and I didn't have tickets to one of the beer tents, and we felt rather out of place without lederhosen nd drindl. But we still stopped by one of the smaller outdoor areas and had a few half pints of Paulaner along with an obligatory Oktoberfest selfie or two.

While Oktoberfest's primary grounds are the site of the actual carnival, there's definitely an air of celebration throughout Munich. It seemed everywhere we went the beer was flowing and the various indoor and outdoor places for food and beer related fun were always buzzing.

To embrace this aspect of German life we decided to stop by the world famous Hofbräuhaus, Munich's most identifiable beer hall, founded in 1598. And it was here that we had beers as big as our heads.

If there's one thing you need to know about us, it's that I'm a lightweight, but Wendy can hold her own. During our Hofbräuhaus adventure I got to a point where I couldn't quite finish the giant beer I had, yet I noticed Wendy's beer was almost gone. I had a very poor form but brilliant idea to take care of the dilemma I was faced with. No problem!

The Hofbräuhaus itself is filled with cool items and lore, such as the saying painted on the wall above the band.

Which translates to "Thirst is worse than homesickness."

Regulars have their steins locked in stein lockers, ready and waiting for their next visit and pint.

And there's always a good chance you'll be able to sneak a photo of a surely looking German dude with a flower in his hat kicking back and enjoying a pint or two.

Needless to say, we had an absolutely amazing time in Munich and can highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys history, architecture, and good food. And if you like beer, well, then it's a no brainer! 

We'll fill you in on more of our adventures next week. Munich was only the start to an amazing trip that made us absolutely fall in love with Germany, and we can't wait to share more of our photos and experiences. 

Have you ever been to Munich? What about Munich during Oktoberfest? If so, what did you think of your time there? If not, is it on you list of places to see at some point in your life?

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