Saturday, September 6th
By 9:30 or so, we left to head out to the Numfumburg Palace. I will have to do more research on the history behind this place because I don't know very much about the family themselves, however, seeing the incredible Baroque architecture was sooo awesome. This was one of the first real artsy places we have gone, at least the first place that had so much applicable to my art history courses, so thank you Larry Ball, your voice is still guiding me through my art history adventures. haha.
The first room we walked into was a large open common room that had incredible crown molding and all of the "wedding cake decoration" everywhere. It covered the ceiling, walls, doorways, picture frames, everything. The ceiling had beautiful paintings as well. There were many windows all around so everything was lit perfectly. Seeing everyone’s initial reaction after going upstairs and walking through the doorway was awesome. Everyone had exactly the same shocking pause followed by ooohs and aaahhhhhs.
After the guide left us, we decided to go and tour the rest of the grounds. Cody and I went to the stables, and saw such detailed and extravagant carriges and sleighs, reins, saddles, and other accessories. I cannot even start to explain how fancy they looked. I felt like it would be impossible to ride in one because you would feel to afraid of damaging something so beautiful. We then toured the gardens, and some other smaller buildings, also very fancy.
We got back to our room, packed up a little bit because we would be leaving the next morning, and then decided to head out with a few things left that we wanted to do for the day. Cody and I went to a department store and looked around because we wanted to try on some of the traditional German dresses. We looked around and finally found the department with all of the traditional garments, and saw quite the selection of lederhosen and dritzls (don’t know how to spell it…) We started looking through the racks of the garments, and then this guy grabbed a microphone and started announcing something... of course we didn't really understand, but then we noticed a runway on the other side of the department. We got there JUST IN TIME to see a German fashion show! ha. It was so funny. The models were so animated and wearing both contemporary and old-school clothing. Some of the videos I took will demonstrate their "witty-ness" and enthusiasm. The male models were very animated. When the show was done, they handed out pretzels, and then we tried on some dresses and it was hilarious! We got yelled at for taking pictures, so we only got one in, but then just turned off the flash and took some in the dressing rooms. ...Still a good time.
We decided to leave from there and go to the HaufBrau Haus one more time since we only had a few minutes in there last time... and we didn't get to see much because of the fact that we were sitting in a back room, definitely out of the atmosphere. So, we walked in and found a group of out UWSP students, chatted with them for a bit, and then found an empty table to sit at since they were going to be leaving soon. We ended up sitting next to two men from Switzerland, and a couple from New York. The NY couple gave us lots of tips for our trip to Switzerland because they had just gotten to Germany from there (and now that I think of it, it is kinda ironic that they were the ones who did since there were actual Swiss people sitting with us... hm...).
As for food, we both ordered the Radler Beer (half lemonade mmm), and tried some sort of sausage with mashed potatoes and saurkraut. My first ever saurkraut experience by the way... it doesn't smell as bad in Germany so maybe that is why i was able to try it... still not the greatest thing in the world. We sat and enjoyed the atmosphere for a while.
The first room we walked into was a large open common room that had incredible crown molding and all of the "wedding cake decoration" everywhere. It covered the ceiling, walls, doorways, picture frames, everything. The ceiling had beautiful paintings as well. There were many windows all around so everything was lit perfectly. Seeing everyone’s initial reaction after going upstairs and walking through the doorway was awesome. Everyone had exactly the same shocking pause followed by ooohs and aaahhhhhs.
After the guide left us, we decided to go and tour the rest of the grounds. Cody and I went to the stables, and saw such detailed and extravagant carriges and sleighs, reins, saddles, and other accessories. I cannot even start to explain how fancy they looked. I felt like it would be impossible to ride in one because you would feel to afraid of damaging something so beautiful. We then toured the gardens, and some other smaller buildings, also very fancy.
We got back to our room, packed up a little bit because we would be leaving the next morning, and then decided to head out with a few things left that we wanted to do for the day. Cody and I went to a department store and looked around because we wanted to try on some of the traditional German dresses. We looked around and finally found the department with all of the traditional garments, and saw quite the selection of lederhosen and dritzls (don’t know how to spell it…) We started looking through the racks of the garments, and then this guy grabbed a microphone and started announcing something... of course we didn't really understand, but then we noticed a runway on the other side of the department. We got there JUST IN TIME to see a German fashion show! ha. It was so funny. The models were so animated and wearing both contemporary and old-school clothing. Some of the videos I took will demonstrate their "witty-ness" and enthusiasm. The male models were very animated. When the show was done, they handed out pretzels, and then we tried on some dresses and it was hilarious! We got yelled at for taking pictures, so we only got one in, but then just turned off the flash and took some in the dressing rooms. ...Still a good time.
We decided to leave from there and go to the HaufBrau Haus one more time since we only had a few minutes in there last time... and we didn't get to see much because of the fact that we were sitting in a back room, definitely out of the atmosphere. So, we walked in and found a group of out UWSP students, chatted with them for a bit, and then found an empty table to sit at since they were going to be leaving soon. We ended up sitting next to two men from Switzerland, and a couple from New York. The NY couple gave us lots of tips for our trip to Switzerland because they had just gotten to Germany from there (and now that I think of it, it is kinda ironic that they were the ones who did since there were actual Swiss people sitting with us... hm...).
As for food, we both ordered the Radler Beer (half lemonade mmm), and tried some sort of sausage with mashed potatoes and saurkraut. My first ever saurkraut experience by the way... it doesn't smell as bad in Germany so maybe that is why i was able to try it... still not the greatest thing in the world. We sat and enjoyed the atmosphere for a while.
We decided next, to go closer to the band and see them play since that was the inspiration for me even going here. After all, playing in the polka band throughout high school it most definitely my inspiration and the substance behind my extreme excitement for this country.
We walk closer, and this incredibly jolly old German man points at me and Cody and makes a motion to take our picture with him. He was dressed in lederhosen and your stereotypical German attire, so of course we accepted the offer. He sat us down on each knee and kissed us both on the cheek. The lady sitting next to him started talking to us, asking us where we were from, and we found out that she was from Wisconsin as well. Cody mentioned she was from Green Bay and the lady said that she was from near there-- Appleton. At that point I started freaking out because obviously, I AM FROM APPLETON! What are the odds!?!
We decided to continue on with our journey to see the band, but by this time we had taken a break and we had to wait more. We walked upstairs to see what was there, and found some sweet staff in awesome outfits. I got a picture with a sweet German waiter boy just before he got on an elevator... felt kinda bad though cuz he was just about to miss it. ha, oh well... he made it. We came back down, and the band was just starting to get ready, so i got a picture with the tuba player cuz he was all set to go, and waiting for the others. We decided to head out, and start walking back through the square.
Walking back, we took lots of pictures of everything lit up at nite- ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL! We heard some really pretty music being played, and a large group of people were all crowded around so we tried to get a good view in there too. We got closer and it was a string quartet playing traditional (and very famous) pieces, but they put a jazzy feel to them as well, and it was possibly one of the best groups of musicians I have ever heard. After they were done, we bought their cd and kept on our way. I cannot stress this enough... they were PHENOMINAL. If I was that moved by a few street musicians, I can't imagine how I am going to feel abut Carmina Burana...
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