Our New Reality
Schloss- und Gartenverwaltung Nymphenburg
Schloss Nymphenburg 1,
80638 München
(0 89) 1 79 08-0
Tram 17
Okay, I am a little annoyed today and feeling the frustration of not speaking the native tongue here in Germany.
Today we set out, on foot, to see the Nymphanburg Schloss (castle). According to my map it was maybe a 1.5 mile walk, close enough to not hassle with the bus/train/sub. Twice along the way I stopped to ask if we were heading in the right direction and both times we were directed east. It's not like I was asking for a 7-11, it's a castle for crying out loud in the middle of the city! It wasn't until we came upon a subway stop that I knew we were heading in the wrong direction. I whipped out my map and was studying it when a kind middle aged man stopped to offer help. He got us going in the right direction, WEST, and we began again our search for the castle. 
This is the last time you will see smiles on my children's faces.
Only problem, when your children are not used to walking everywhere and you've just walked twice the distance it should have taken, they aren't super excited to start afresh. Luckily, within 10 minutes we were on the street that leads to the castle--it is actually a very straight blvd and at its terminus is the castle--a mile down the road. It is like being at the end of a marathon, dying to be done, seeing the finish line and it is a long way off yet. Plus, once you get to the entrance of the castle grounds, the place you need to be is still a football field away due to the large gardens.
I thought my kids were going to freak out by the time we got there. We left our hotel around 1:00pm and didn't get to the castle until 2:50pm. The tour only took us 45 minutes and that's because Eden and I were listening to the audio. Thankfully, the kids were free. The real draw to the castle are its grounds, but my kids were in no mood to walk the grounds when they still had to walk home.
Let me just interject here about public transportation. Everyone says Europe is awesome because you can get anywhere on public transportation. Well, that may be true if you speak German and can read the transport maps. It's not as easy as jumping on a train. In many cases, you must take a tram/bus combo. I've decided the best solution to our "no car" status is a bicycle. I cant wait for ours to arrive. Thankfully, I put them on our fast shipment so they may be here by the end of the week.
This is the Queens bed chamber
As we were walking one of my kids was complaining and I said, "well, this is your new reality" and Eden's response was, "I like our old reality better." I admit, I laughed out loud! We are all feeling the growing pains.
Ludwig II (builder of the Disney Castle Neuschwanstein) was born in this room. This is the original furniture made in Paris, France.
One last complaint--What is with the water here? I have wasted $10 in bottled water because I can't find water that doesn't sparkel, fiz or taste like salt. I am trying to not drink so much coke, but I can't find plain old water. Eliza flatly refuses to drink the stuff. Today, I was so annoyed I told her plug her nose and drink!
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