Daytrip to Passau

Recently, we went on a daytrip to Passau with our friends, Craig and Sophie. Luckily, we had a fantastic fall day for it - crisp and sunny! Passau is at the confluence of three rivers - the Inn, Ilz and Danube - and we spent much of our time walking near them or overlooking them.

The confluence of three rivers as seen from the hilltop

We should probably learn to do our daytrips on Saturdays because on Sundays all the shops are closed (and there were a few nice-looking chocolaterias). It was still quaint to walk around the town's old center and see the church and their city hall. There was a great riverwalk and across the river, we did a short hike to a vantage point over the city.



Not sure which river this one is, but the riverwalk along it was gorgeous



Afterward, we stopped and had lunch at a Greek place. We came across their cathedral which was beautiful on the inside with lots of whitewashed, carved marble. They also had a display set up for the fall with a furry muppet-looking wheat crown and quite a few gourds, but sadly, we didn't get any pictures of that. You'll just have to believe us on it.



Passau Dom St. Stephen on the inside

You can see the rest of our pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/ayeletdrori/Fall2010?feat=directlink

Daytrip to Murnau am Staffelsee

My grandma, Safta Tzipi, came into town on Tuesday so I stayed with her and the fam at Na'ama's house for a couple days. On Wednesday, we had some great weather and took a daytrip to Murnau and Staffelsee, a lake nearby the town. Murnau is known for being the artists community for Der Blaue Reiter group, including Kandinsky, Gabriela Muenter, Franz Marc, and others.

We actually did see some of their work in the Schlossmuseum, but I couldn't take any photos. Kandinsky didn't have any of his famous works in there with his geometric angles and wild colors, but I ended up finding new artists to love: Gabriela Muenter and Franz Marc. Muenter was Kandinsky's partner for a while until he went back to Russia and married someone else (she ended up with an art historian herself). She painted a lot of Murnau--which as you'll see from the pictures below--is a beautiful city with a great view of the Alps. Franz Marc also painted with bright, vibrant colors and tended to focus on horses and wildlife in his work. It was nice to get out of the city for a while.

View of the town and the mountains from the Schlossmuseum

The snow-covered peaks of the Alps!

Colorful little houses going down to the lake, which is below the Alps.

This is where we took a break--on the banks of the Staffelsee

with the sun shining down on us.

Daytrip to Augsburg

Sophie, a French wife of a BIS teacher, and I decided it was time to take a day out. Oh my, what a beautiful daytrip it turned out to be! Weather worked in our favor with sunny skies and t-shirt wearing weather in the afternoon. And the town we visited--Augsburg--was fantastic.

We arrived at the train station in the morning without a firm plan of where to go. Sophie and I had decided to get the Bayern ticket (which is a great group pass to go anywhere in Bavaria) and take whichever train suited our fancy. For me it was between a medievil city or somewhere in the Alps. In fact, Augsburg actually has history going past medievil times as it was established in 15 BC by the Romans. Sometimes it's easy to forget how close we are to Italy and Rome.

In any case, Augsburg is only 45 minutes by train from Munich. At first, we were a little lost, but upon finding the tourist info, we got ourselves situated. The main street shoots off of the Rathausplatz (city hall plaza) with its black stoned plaza, tower reaching into the blue sky, and tempting cafes lining the square. Walking down the main street was eye-catching as the buildings fronts spread out in assorted pastels and with unique decorative touches (see first photo above).

I was excited about an exhibit of Impressionist artists (incl. Cezanne, Renoir, Signac, Rodin, Monet, and many more mostly French artists). Lovely artwork and great to get the culture, but a touch expensive for our tastes.

We decided to skip the equally cool-looking Fuggeri museum in an oldest poor house (not sure the proper term--basically, where poor people have cheap housing... I don't think "the projects" has the same ring to it in German though ;-). So, not only do the poor people get to live in the ivy-covered buildings, but the rent is about 1 euro plus 3 daily prayers for the founding family's health (but since they were mostly dead, it's probably not that strenuous).

While wandering the streets after the exhibit, we found an American store! No joke - it had the kitschy country stuff, but also some cool old signs of Americana. I think Sophie secretly coveted the one that said "Rodeo Tonight." Sadly, it was closed so I could only half-heartedly make fun of the shop. I wonder if maybe I really haven't gotten as far from America as I thought... or if the Augsburgians just have a bizarre affinity for American decor.

Speaking of Americana, this building reminded me of a quilt with its colors and blocked pattern. It made me think of the beautiful quilts Greg's mom, Priscilla, made us, which are now awaiting our return in their basement.

After all our wanderings, Sophie and I hopped a train in the early evening, heading back to our normal lives after a day of being tourists.