Traveling while Pregnant - Munich and Vienna

As it was requested recently that we talk more about how Jessie is feeling, I’ll take a moment to do just that. Jessie has come up with a list of pros and cons of traveling while pregnant:

PRO – Walking a lot helps keep you from getting too fat.

CON – Walking a lot is hard.

CON – It can be hard to find free bathrooms in Europe, which is a problem for pregnant women with a little baby sitting on their bladders.

CON – Joint pain. Also makes walking harder.

CON – The excuse that you need 300 more calories a day makes it too easy to give in to that Gelato sometimes.

CON – Stretch marks. Not a big problem yet (or at all if you ask me), and not really a travel con, but Jessie is worried since she doesn’t have special Arbonne stuff with her this trip.

Ok, so it is more like a list of cons, but the general pros of being pregnant help to offset the travelling cons.

PRO – Baby kicks

PRO – Baby Center App gossip (sometimes TLC-esque drama train wrecks make you feel better about your life)

PRO – Baby names

PRO – Baby planning

CON – Baby… Baby… Baby. Ooh. (sorry)

So yeah, Jessie is doing well lately. =)

CON - Being pregnant makes it hard to outrun the giant, man-eating catfish of Muenchen

PRO - After the catfish spit her out, we got her some world-famous Sacher-Torte cake in Vienna

With that, it’s my job to tell you about the last two places we have visited: Muenchen (Munich), Germany, and Wien (Vienna), Austria.

We rode a fun compartment train (like the Hogwarts Express, for Jessie) into Muenchen from Venezia, and after our usual initial blunderings through the city's public transportation, made it to our airbnb host. Our host was great; very kind with a great personality, and he offered to take us on a little tour of Munich, which was great. On the subway ride to the city center, we had the privilege to listen to some of his stories about his family's experiences in World War II. His mother grew up during the war; he told us how his grandmother wouldn't allow his mom to join the DBM (the Hitler Youth for girls), even though all her friends were a part of it.

After his tour, we ate a lunch of sandwhiches and pretzels (German bread is amazing), and we joined another free walking tour through Munich. There is so much history in Munich. Not only was it an extremely important city in World War II, the starting point of Hitler's power in Germany, but the history goes back even further. It was founded around the 1100s, which was a somewhat late start compared to some of the other cities in that area. During the free walking tour, we heard stories of kings, architecture, and of course beer. Jessie's favorite story from the tour incorporates all three of these elements, and is recounted below:

King Ludwig I was king of Bavaria in the early-mid 1800s. He was the one that built the world-famous Hofbrauhaus, the establishment which allowed men of all classes, whether peasants or kings, to come together to drink as long as they could afford a beer. His father, Maximilian I, commissioned the National Theater, which had an interesting and innovative anti-fire system. The dome on the roof was inverted, like a cup, in order to catch rain-water. This water was then routed through pipes in the ceilings which could be opened in case of a fire, which was a common occurrence at the time considering the special effects of the day. During a play in the winter, a fire of course broke out. While the majority of people inside began to panic, the stage manager knew how to operate the fancy sprinkler system that had been tested only a few months prior. He turned the wheel and opened the sprinklers. But nothing happened. By then he began to panic as well, as he continued turning the wheel with continued failure.

The pipes had of course frozen, and so the fire raged. In desperation, the stage manager thought about what kind of liquid they had in abundance with which to quench the flames. It just so happened that the King's Hofbrauhaus was just down the road, and so the manager ran down and explained the situation to the bartender. In a heroic example of community support, all the patrons of the bar and the theatre created a line of men from the bar to the theatre, and began passing barrels of beer up the road to be thrown on the fire.

It was thirsty, work, of course. And somewhere along the line, someone thought it might be a good idea to lessen the load for the next guy by taking a free sip out of the barrels. He wasn't the only one with this idea, and so the barrels were empty by the time they reached the theatre. The tour guide was amused at what the last man in the line must have thought, throwing empty wooden barrels on the fire. ("I don't know how this is helping, but keep 'em coming!") The next morning, the king rode in to town, and found a long line of passed out men leading from the now-empty King's Haufbrauhaus all the way to what was left of the King's Theatre. Imagine his dismay! He raised the money to fix the theatre by placing a tax on beer (a tenth of a cent increase in the price), which allowed him to rebuild in a year. The fund-raising worked so well, he decided to increase the tax once more just to make more money. Upon which the people revolted and removed him from the throne in favor of his insane brother, Otto. Don't mess with Bavarians' beer, even if they burn down your play house.

Jessie in the train compartment

Mary statue from the Marienplatz, between the domes of Frauenkirche

The King's Hofbrauhaus

The King's National Theatre, with a statue of Max I

Augustiner Beer (not bad as far as beers go) and a Pretzel!

Delicious dinner - Bratwurst and Sauerkraut, Pretzels, and Augustiner Cream Soup

Our first experience with couchsurfing was in Vienna. It actually wasn't too hard finding the place, and our host was gone the entire weekend, so we had the place to ourselves. We couldn't find any free tours in Vienna, so we found a self-guided walk through the city. We spent one of our days exploring the grounds and gardens of Schoenbrunn Palace. We ate some Wiener Schnitzel, Kebap Sandwhiches, and Sacher Chocolate Cake during our time there. Vienna Staadsoper, the opera house, broadcasts live and for free each performance to anyone who wants to sit and watch outside. Jessie and I took advantage of this both nights we were there, although since we didn't understand what was happening we never stayed for the entire performance. We did get to see some of Wagner's famous "Die Walkure," best know for the "Ride of the Valkyries." So pretty cool.

Mozart Monument

Schoenbrunn

Haydn Monument (Mozart's classical music buddy)

Part of the Monument against War and Fascism (not including the old guy)

Such a fancy box for fancy famous chocolate cake

FREE OPERA

That's what we've been up to. Now we're in Prague for a day, and then we're heading to Poland. We're nearing the end of our trip. O.o Keep us in your prayers, as we do for you each day. We look forward to seeing everyone again when we get back!

And that's us.

~Jacob and Jessie