JEDEC held it's June, 2014, meeting in Munich, Germany. Helen and I arrived 1.5 weeks early to do some sightseeing. We had a wonderful time visiting with Charles' former co-worker Peter and his family in Bochum which is near Dusseldorf, Germany. Four-days later, we went to Innsbruck for a wonderful visit with Charles' second cousin, Regina and her husband Klaus. The remaining two weeks of our trip was n Munich. One of the two weeks, Charles' was working at the JEDEC meeting while Helen was busy sightseeing.
Below are some of our photos from the trip. We hope you enjoy them.
Bochum, Germany
Benita (15), Beatrix, Peter, Niels (15)
Peter and Beatrix showed us many interesting sites in the Bochum area, which is near Dusseldorf.
Thursday, May 22, 2014
We arrived in Dusseldorf around 10:30 AM. We spent the afternoon catching up and we went to Aldi grocery store to buy SIM cards for Helen's and Charles' mobile phones.
Friday, May 23, 2014: Hattingen old town, church and a music and money museum
On Friday we went to the old town of Bochum. This area was established in the 1200s and is very picturesque:
This restaurant solved the problem of rocking tables by putting "shoes" on the feet of the tables to stabilize them.
St. George's Church
Originally built as a large Romanesque church around the year 1200, it was burned down during the capture of Hattingen in 1424 and later rebuilt as a gothic church. About 1810 it was converted into a neo-clasical one-nave church.
Typical buildings built around the 1600s. These are half-timbered houses. The foundations were made of stone.
Next, we went to an old castle that had a moat around it at one time. The building had been turned into two museums. One was for musical instruments and the other was on the money used in the area, mostly coins.
Beatrix and Peter in the Music museum.
Charles & Helen in the Music museum.
Notice the man under the stair case holding it up. We found this to be a very interesting carving.
This was the first time I had seen a vertical piano. I found it interesting.
Saturday, May 24, 2014; The Ruhr Museum at Zollverein in Essen and a barbecue party
The Ruhr museum was very interesting as it was on the grounds of an old coal mine and it used many of the buildings originally built for mining and processing coal. The purpose of the museum was to show the coal mining processes and to show the history of the Ruhr area of Germany.
The museum and grounds are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Before the mine closed, Peter worked here as a young electrician. After a couple of years, he returned to University to obtain a degree in Electrical Engineering.
Unfortunately, we were not in a picture taking mood this day, so we don't have any to show you :-(
After touring the museum, we returned to Peter's home to a barbecue with family and friends, whom Charles has known for years and Helen just met.
For the barbecue, Peter and Beatrix had grilled several types of sausages and steak. As this was also a pot luck, we dined on many types of salads and breads. For dessert, we had ice cream with berries from Beatix's garden. Yum! Yum! was it good!
The party goers were: (from left to right) Kurt, Uta, Charles (not me), Albert (Peter's brother), Uta (yes, same name as before) and Charles (me). Not shown are Peter, Beatrix, Niels, Benita and Helen (taking the picture).
The outside of Peter's house. Note all the solar panels on the roof. In Germany, you sell the power generated back to the power company at a price HIGHER than what you pay to buy it from the power company.
A fantastic dessert of two types of ice cream with several types of fresh berries, whipped cream and shaved chocolate.
Sunday, May 25, 2014; LWL-Freilichtmuseum Hagen (a folk museum)
See LWL-Freilichtmuseum Hagen for more details.
The next day, we visited a folk museum. This museum covered a large area and consisted of many buildings which were either original buildings relocated to this site or modelled after ones from the 1600s and later. We saw crafts being made as they would have been made in the 1600s. Some were paper making, rope making the polishing of stones for jewellery and many water powered tools such as lathes and drills.
A map of the museum. It is about 1 mile from the left to the right side of the map.
A typical building in the folk museum.
One of the crafts we saw was the polishing of geodes to make jewellery. We had asked for a more detailed demonstration than he was giving to most visitors. As a result, he asked Helen to pick out a "rock". He cut it in half and it was hollow inside. He then polished the edges of the hole and gave it to Helen.
Here the stone is about to be polished.
The stone has been cut in half, exposing the hole inside.
The polishing process has begun.
In the final stages of polishing, there were three wheels in one tool. The first was a very fine stone. The second was even finer and the third was made of leather.
Uta, Charles and Albert posing for a picture in front of a building with a large water wheel; just out of sight on the right.
A very early fuse box in one of the buildings.
A very interesting species of apple tree.
This apple tree was designed for very small yards. It grows practically straight up with very little horizontal development of the branches.
Monday, May 26, 2014; Fly to Munich
On Monday, we flew to Munich on Air Berlin. Air Berlin only allowed us to have one carry-on bag, however, we could have one free checked bag. This worked out for us as we each only had two bags.
I had been in contact with my second cousin, Regina, in Innsbruck. The last time I had seen her was in 2002. Since Innsbruck is only a two hour bus or train ride, I thought it would be a good opportunity to visit with her.
At first, I wanted to go by train. However, the ticket price was around $32 each. At Regina's suggestion, I check the bus prices. They were much lower at only $10 round trip. The bus ride was very nice. It was a huge, comfortable bus. A young woman on the bus was impressed we had found it, since the bus had only been in operation for a year.
Innsbruck, Austria
Tuesday, May 27, 2014; Innsbruck, Austria
Charles and Regina
The hotel Dee Dee, Jeff, Betty (Jeff's Mom) and Charles stayed in back in 2002.
A look down the entrance way of the hotel.
The classical composer, Mozart, also visited Innsbruck. However, he was there a few years before I arrived, the first time ;-)
The mausoleum of emperor Maximilian I (1459 - 1519) and the "bronze men" bidding farewell to him.
Close-up view of King Arthur as one of the "bronze men". These men and women were modelled after important dignitaries, family and friends of Maximilian I.
One of the cities finest pieces of architecture. Commissioned by Maximilian I who chose Innsbruck as his imperial capital at the end of the 15th century. Made of gilded copper tiles, the roof was constructed in the 1490s to cover a balcony used by members of the court to observe events in the square below.
Munich, Germany
Wednesday, May 28, 2014; Walking Tour Around Marienplatz
We took a free walking tour of the downtown area of Munich. It was quite interesting and contained a lot of history of the Munich area and especially on the rise of Adolf Hitler who made Munich his home base.
The infamous glockenspiel at Marienplatz.
Helen serving beer at the Hofbrauhaus. The Hofbrauhaus was established in 1589.
Click here for short version of the history of the Haufbrauhaus
Thursday, May 29, 2014; Deutsches Museum
One of the best science and technology museums in the world is the Deutsches Museum. We spent about 5 hours there and barely saw the museum. If we had had more time, we would have spent another day there.
From the top floor of the museum, you could get some great views of the city.
This is Charles' first panorama using my Samsung Galaxy S3 smart phone. It did a great job!
Friday, May 30, 2014; Deutsches Museum OberschleiBheim Aviation Museum
About an hour from the center of Munich, by train, is a wonderful aviation museum. Our ticket from the Deutsches museum the day before allowed us free entry into the Deutsches Museum OberschleiBheim Aviation Museum. We spent about 3 hours and were able to cover the entire museum.
The Dornier Do 31 was a West German experimental VTOL jet transport built by Dornier. The Do 31 was designed to meet a NATO specification (BMR-4) for a tactical support aircraft for the EWR VJ 101 VTOL strike aircraft designed under the NATO contract of BMR-3. The project was cancelled in 1970 due to high costs, technical problems and a change of requirement.
Specifications
- Crew: 2
- Capacity: 36 troops or 24 casualty stretchers
- Length: 20.53 m (67 ft 4 in)
- Wingspan: 18 m (59 ft 3 in)
- Height: 8.53 m (28 ft)
- Wing area: 57 m² (613.56 ft²)
- Loaded weight: 22,453 kg (49,500 lb)
- Useful load: 3,500 kg (7,715 lb)
- Max. takeoff weight: 27,422 kg (60,500 lb)
Powerplant:
- 2 × Rolls-Royce Pegasus BE.53/2 turbofan, 68.95 kN (15,500 lbf) each
- 8 × Rolls-Royce RB162-4D Vertically mounted turbojet lift engines, 19.57 kN (4,400 lbf) each
Performance
- Maximum speed: 730 km/h (452 mph)
- Cruise speed: 650 km/h (404 mph)
- Range: 1,800 km (1,120 mi) with maximum payload
- Service ceiling: 10,700 m (35,100 ft)
- Rate of climb: 19.2 m/s (3,780 ft/min) -using Pegasus engines only
WoW! Even Neil Armstrong (the first man to walk on the moon) stopped by to check out this unique aircraft.
This is one of the engines which was mounted vertically, as shown, in the pods at the wing tips. There were 4 of these engines in each wing tip pod and were used only for vertical flight.
Saturday, May 31, 2014; Dachau Concentration Camp
The concentration camp museum was very well done. It was very classy and respectful of the prisoners. It gave many details of the life of the prisoners without dramatizing the situation.
Dachau was the very first concentration camp. It was originally designed for political prisoners. When the Jewish prisoners started arriving in Germany, they were first housed here and this camp became the model for all the other concentration camps.
This is the layout of the camp. The camp was designed for 3,000 prisoners, however, by the end of the war, over 30,000 prisoners were being held here.
The foundations for the prisoner barracks still remain, however, the buildings have been torn down. Two were rebuilt when the area became a museum to give visitors a feeling for what it was like.
This is a panoramic view from the front gate. It is a movie, so may or may not work in your browser.
Friday, May 30, 2014; Englischer Garten
This is the largest public park in Europe and is quite popular with residence and tourists during the Summer. When we visited, there was a large group of students having a great time celebrating a local holiday.
One of the fun activities in the park is surfing! Yes, the Isar river is funneled under a bridge in such a manor as to create a continuous wave on the downstream side. Locals have managed to learn how to surf here and there is always a long line of people, on both banks, waiting for their turn to take to this wave.
There are many spectators on the bridge watching the surfers in action.
We're not sure what was going on with this bridge. It had hundreds of locks on it with the names of people. Maybe this is where marriage proposals were made? We don't know, but it was interesting to see them.
Street scene in Munich.
Street scene in Munich.
Street scene in Munich.
Wednesday, June 4, 2014; Dinner with Ingolf
A former JEDEC member invited us to dinner one night. He and I had gone geocaching together many years ago during a trip to New Orleans. Also, during one of our Maui trips, he and his bride to be were married and he invited a group of JEDEC members to attend the ceremony on the beach.
A couple of years ago, he changed positions within his company and no longer had a need to attend JEDEC. Since he lives in Munich, he stopped by the JEDEC meeting to say "Hi" to his old friends.
From left to right: Helen, Sarah (Ingolf's 19 year old step-daughter), Amalie (Ingolf's 3 year old daughter), Ingolf, Howard and Roelof.
Helen, Amalie and Sarah.
WoW! This whole pizza was for Amalie!
Thursday, June 5, 2014; Munich Puppet Show with Oliver
One of my JEDEC buddies, Oliver, was born and raised in Munich. While he was attending college, he became involved with a puppet theater production. He invited us to a performance of this little known theater company and he was even able to arrange a back stage tour. Even though it has been several decades since he was actively participating with the theater group (he now lives in the USA), many of the staff and performers knew him.
Since I am involved with a community theater group in San Jose, it was a real treat to be able to visit a performance of a group in Germany. I'm really glad Oliver mentioned this possibility to me.
Oliver in front of the stage.
1st row, right side: Joseph, a JEDEC member
2nd row, middle: Helen, Charles and Howard, a JEDEC member
A panoramic view of the workshop for the puppet theater.
A panoramic view of the puppet workshop as a movie.
Howard enjoying the backstage tour.
The workshop is very small.
Helen posing with the puppet "Helen" used during the show.
One of the puppeteers.
The "henchman" during the puppet show.
Apfel Strudel in Germany
Ahhhhh, one of Charles' favorite desserts. Every restaurant we ate at, we checked to see if they had apple strudel on the menu. If they did, we ordered it!
Bavaria, the area in which Munich is located, is famous for their apple strudel. I had always thought it was a typical German dish that would be available all over Germany. However, that is not the case. Once outside of Bavaria, it can be difficult to find. There are restaurants here and there that will have it, but it is not a dish served everywhere as it is in Munich.
We found the best tasting apple strudel at two restaurants. What made them better than the rest was the type of apples that were used and the pastry was thinner. The two top and it was hard to tell them apart, were found at the Ratskeller, which was under the Glockenspiel in Marienplatz and at Augustiner which has many, many, many restaurants in the Munich area. Unfortunately, we did not get any pictures of the apple strudel we had at Augustiner.
Lowenbrau Beer Garten: This was our first apple strudel in Munich. We had it the day we arrived. It was very good.
Hofbrau House: This one was also good, but not the best we had tasted.
Ratskeller: This was one of the best we had. It was also a nice treat to have a scoop of ice cream with it.
Neuschawnstein: Again, this one was good, but not the best.
Famous Bavarian Castles
Friday, June 6, 2014; Castle Touring
The JEDEC meetings ended on Thursday evening, so we had all day Friday as our last day for sightseeing. One place Helen really wanted to see was Ludwig II castle at Neuschwanstein. This castle is the one Walt Disney used as a model for the castle at Disney World.
The problem with getting to this castle is it is located about 2 hours outside of Munich. We were thinking about taking a train to Fussen and then the bus to Neuschwanstein. When I mentioned this to one of my JEDEC friends, Roelof, he said his wife was arriving on Thursday evening and they wanted to see the castle also. WoW! What luck! Roelof and Lettie live in Eindhoven, The Netherlands (Holland) and Roelof had driven his car to Munich.
Early on Friday morning, the four of us drove to Neuschwanstein. Once we arrived, around 10:30 AM, we purchased tickets for two castle tours. The first was Schloss Hohenschwangau. This is one of the castles Ludwig II lived in as a child and as an adult while Schloss Neuschwanstein was being built. The tour for Schloss Hohenschwangau was at 11:30 AM. The second castle tour was for Schloss Neuschwanstein. We chose a later time of 2:30 PM so we could have a leisurely lunch by the lake and a relaxed hike up the steep road to Neuschwanstein castle.
View of the mountains as we were driving along the Romantic Road to Neuschwanstein.
As an aside, this car was parked in front of us. If you take a close look at the license plate, you'll notice it is from
Schloss Hohenschwangau
Schloss Hohenschwangau was Ludwig II's childhood home. He spent most of his time at the castle while growing up.
During the tour, interior pictures of the castles were not allowed. I only took exterior photos except for the kitchen, which were allowed to photograph.
Schloss Hohenschwangau. Picture was taken from the village below the castle.
Schloss Hohenschwangau. Picture was taken from the village below the castle.
Schloss Hohenschwangau. Picture was taken from the village below the castle.
The first archway and entrance to the castle.
The second archway and entrance to the castle.
Foreground: Helen and Lettie
Background: Roelof
The plaque above the second archway entrance.
Standing in the second archway looking out of the castle toward the first archway.
Panoramic view of the village below the castle.
On the left side of the picture, above the trees and below the left most peak of the mountain, you can barely make out Schloss Neuschwanstein. Click on the picture to make it larger for a better view.
View from the courtyard of Schloss Hohenschwangau.
View from the courtyard of Schloss Hohenschwangau.
Schloss Neuschwanstein
Artwork in the courtyard.
Helen, Lettie and Roelof
Overall view of the kitchen for the castle.
Left side of the kitchen.
Middle of the kitchen
Right side of the kitchen
Plaque talking about the castle gardens.
Part of the castle gardens.
Artwork in the castle gardens.
Artwork in the castle gardens.
On the tour, we were allowed to take this picture out of the window of Ludwig II's study window. The lake in the background is Swan Lake and we ate our lunch on the shores overlooking the lake (see pictures below).
Ludwig II had a telescope in his bedroom. From there, he could watch the progress of the construction of Schloss Neuschwanstein.
Enjoying lunch on the shores of Swan Lake.
Enjoying lunch on the shores of Swan Lake
View from the courtyard of Schloss Hohenschwangau.
Neuschwanstein castle in the background.
Schloss Neuschwanstein
Neuschwanstein was still under construction when Ludwig II died mysteriously. He had only lived in the castle for 172 days during the previous 2 years (the royal apartment was completed first), when he was declared insane (however this accusation may have been trumped up). He was taken to Munich and placed under house arrest. The next day, he and his psychiatrist were found drowned in a pond near the residence. Shortly after his death, the family halted construction of the castle. Within a year, in 1887, it was turned into a museum and has been one ever since.
View of the castle from the road as we walked up to it.
View of the castle from the road as we walked up to it.
Courtyard of the castle.
The royal family crest.
Plaque for the 150th birthday of Ludwig II.
View from the castle of a bridge over a gorge with a waterfall. We wanted to hike up to the bridge, however, it was getting late in the day and we needed to return to Munich. Notice all the people standing on the bridge looking at the castle.
Views from the castle. Swan Lake is on the left side in the background.
Views from the castle.
Schloss Neuschwanstein
Conclusion
Helen and Charles left home on May 21st, 2014 and returned home on June 7th, 2014. We had a fantastic trip and are looking forward to getting a chance to return to Germany.
We would like to thank all of our friends who helped make this the wonderful trip that it was. We would especially like to thank Peter and Beatrix for being especially gracious hosts and treating us like royalty during our stay in Bochum. Thank you also to Albert & Uta and Kurt & Uta and Charles (friend) for taking the time to spend so much time with us. We really enjoyed our trip to Bochum.
To Roelof and Lettie, Helen says the trip to see Neuschwanstein castle was the highlight of her stay in Germany. Thank you soooo much for driving us to the village of Hohenschwangau so we could tour both Schloss Neuschwanstein and Schloss Neuschwanstein.
To Regina, my second cousin, and her husband Klaus, thank you very much for taking the time to visit with us. The tour of Innsbruck, Austria was delightful. It was fun to meet with you again.
To Oliver, thank you very much for taking us to the marionette show. We would never have found it or even known about it on our own.
Ingolf, thank you soooo much for the wonderful evening in Munich. The dinner was great and the company fantastic. We really enjoyed meeting your family!
This wraps it up for this trip. Please check back again to see the future adventures of Helen and Charles!