Oct 2008

Burg Frankenstein is a 1,000-year-old castle in Western Germany near Darmstadt that turns itself into a Haunted house every year for a couple of weeks in October. The whole thing started with the US Army! After WWII the Army stayed in Darmstadt and brought Halloween with them. They had a party at their barracks which got too noisy so they asked if they could use the castle. The party has been a yearly event since then! We bought tickets online in advance and headed 2 hours west for the thrills.
You have to park at the bottom of the mountain and a shuttle bus takes you and all your costumed companions up to the castle. They dump you out at the entrance and then you have to show your ticket and go thru security. Finally we entered and what is the first thing we see....just think we are in Germany....Beer! There is a tent with food and drinks. We stop to have a slice of pizza and drink in our free "goblet" (really just a plastic cup.)
After we get our nerve up we head toward that goblins and monsters (80 of them!). Basically the place is set up in sort of a circle where monsters can chase you. They also have a few "stages" where they have their shows. The monsters here are some of the most touchy feely things. They would rub your hair, chase you and even hug some people.
One that was stationed down in a pit of water all night liked to steel things from the girls.

There was one guy with a chainsaw running around that really freaked me out. After awhile it got so crowded there that I was less of a target. Curt on the other hand didn't seem to scared of these guys.

The castle supposedly influenced Shelley in her writing. Mary Shelley got the name Victor von Frankenstein from the physician and alchemist who wrote 2 books about the castle. He took bodies from the graveyard in Neider-Beer-bach and the minister told everyone in the local parish he used the parts to create a monster.

The place is really only a pair of towers and a chapel but they decorate it superbly. They also have actors performing little shows. They mime them so there is no worry that you don't speak German. They did portray a different twist on Hansel and Grettle that I have ever seen.
I can definately chalk it up as one of the best Halloween events I have ever been to.

On Sunday our whole goal was to get our “procedures”. We had breakfast, checked out, stowed our bags and headed to the clinic Our only choices were Thai massages so I got the hot stone and Curt got the classic full body. It was mostly relaxing but I can say those thai people or the people in Karlovy Vary have a different idea of what the hot stone massage includes. Afterwards they gave you tea which was delicious.

We moved the relaxation party to the Elephant Café for a lunch of Pepsi Lite and panini sandwiches. The sandwiches were great but the service was very European....slow. After lunch we headed back to the hotel taking a few pictures on the way. We headed a different way back and ended up seeing the downtown from above.

I don’t think we have been able to go on a weekend trip since the beginning of PA school so this feels great. We left for the train station Friday night and after 4 hours and 3 train switches the buildings of Karlovy Vary showed themselves. It was 2300 when the train pulled in and the walk to town was a big scary. The station is way up on a hill and a 30 minutes walk from the spa section of town. Our abode for this weekend is Hotel Avita by Best Western. Curt had a discount at Best Western which influenced our decision to make the reservations. However upon arrival the man at the front desk said we did not have a reservation. Luckily it was the off season so there was still a room available. Before long we were sound asleep.

Saturday was our day to sleep in – well until 0800! The room came with the usual European breakfast so we started our tour of Karlovy Vary with full tummies. The first stop was to buy little ceramic glasses fashioned with the name or picture of karlovy vary.

These are used to drink from the many fountains with healing waters This would be a good weekend for Rheumy Russ! The idea is toget some of the salty water in your cup, have a sip from the handle and then eat a sugary cookie to take away the taste.

We roamed down the main street by the water, drinking, eating and trying to find the spots shown in the movie, The Last Holiday. We passed the Grand COllanade, a building with a hot water spring in it and the church of mary magdolin.
Crystal is the thing to buy in Czech and I found some crystal flowers that I loved. There is also a liquor which is made only here – Becherovka. Apparently only two people know the recipe for this – I think they don’t realize that the Listerine mouth wash company got ahold of it. So a sip of that was enough!

At the end of the main walkway is the long awaited Grand Hotel Pupp! It looks much smaller than in the movie and we never found a ceiling that made us cry but it is still a beautiful hotel. Since we didn’t stay in the hotel an agreement was made to have coffee and a cake in the café Pupp. We got the Pupp cake which was layers of an apricot like fruit with cake and topped with chocolate.

The next mission was to climb to the Tower named Diana and have a look over Karlovy Vary. There was a furniculur that would take you to the top but what fun is that ?? We hiked and it was beautiful with all the leaves changing color and falling. The elevator then whisks you to the top of the tower and you have a beautiful view of the countryside. It doesn’t take long to take this in and you are back on the ground. We paused for a left over pizza break and some pommes. Now the only thing to do is go back down!

At the bottom the Carlsbad Medical Clinic was located and we secured appointments for our incredibly expensive "Procedures" - massages!
Dinner was at the Embassy pub and Hotel. Outside there are pictures of all kinds of actors like Morgan Freeman and Michael Douglas who have dined there. We didn’t need the reservations because at 1830 we were the only diners in the restaurant, therefore the waiters could pay lots of attention to us. The dinner was great and lasted like 2.5 hours.
The menu included parno ham wrapped around gorgonzola cheese with a slice of melon as appetizer. I chose white wine and curt had a Czech beer. Next came tri-colored pasta with cream sauce and bits of salmon for me. Curt had a stuffed pheasant with mashed potatoes. We took a plunge in getting the strawberries in pepper sauce with ice cream. I wasn’t a big fan of those but otherwise the dinner was great.

We had rearranged our travel plans in order to do Mikes Bike tour today. It didn’t start until 1230 so we had breakfast at the hostel, packed, checked out and deposited our bags in the luggage room.
The day was beautiful again we spent the morning at the viktualienmarkt, having a radler and reading. Lunch before the tour was chicken and chips from a vendor for 3.40 euro.

Our tour guide was a Hawaiian guy who in the end told us he was 36 years old with a 3500 euro mortgage and only works 6 months of the year. This didn’t get him far with a tip. The tour surprisingly spent a lot of time off the bikes but definitely won out over walking everywhere. The highlights were the park behind the residence and a beautiful ride thru the English garden.

The ride was gorgeous with leaves falling from the trees and men playing stereotypical music on their accordions. The tour included a stop at the second largest beer garden in the world, none other than the Chinese beer garden.

And order of pommes, a pretzel and two beers later the tour headed back to the shop. This ended our tour of munich ….or we may have to come back to see the surfers. There is a place in the english garden where surfers can catch a wave on the river. Of course today they weren’t out because the water was being cleaned!

Race Day!!! Fortunately or unfortunately the race started at 1000 so we got to have breakfast at the hostel before heading to the subway and the race start. The walk didn’t seem as long as before and we were at the start before we knew it.
The race had about 8000 runners and was a bit more spacious than berlin. It was thankfully flat full of water stations. I got a pain in my IT band that made me think I was going to have to walk the last 9 miles. I went with the other strategy which was just don’t walk because that is when it hurt the most. Not sure if it was the pain in my leg, running only 2 weeks after berlin or both, but I was definatly slower, finishing in 4:36.
The finish was one of a kind in the Olympic stadium. There were lights and fog as we entered along with lots of music. The worst thing in a run happened here because runners had to complete a lap around the track before finishing! But the end was pleasant with a big area to relax on soft, cool grass and munch on pretzels, apples and bananas.
The most cruel part was the end when to get out of the stadium you had to walk up the stairs! And walk all the way back to the area to turn in your chip. This did allow us to find a marathon maniac, Cowboy Jeff and have a chat with him.
Showers and food were the next goal. The plan was to eat downstairs at the hostel restaurant but who ever was supposed to work didn’t show so we ordered out some four cheese pizza and watched….LOST for the rest of the night.