During a hard day of viewing the architectural glories and historic masterpieces of mankind, it is nice to take a quick break and enjoy some wildlife. When visiting Nymphenburg Castle, I always enjoy the sitting down by the lake outside for a few reflective minutes and watch the antics of the gang of swans that have made their home there. My experiments include confirming that they seem to understand both the German and the English language, which I consider to be a fine reflection on the German educational system. I have been to university and still only manage a few shaky phrases in the Swan language – it is very hard to get the tones right, they tell me I’m a semitone off. I’m learning how to say “I ring your bloody necks” in Swan”  So better get down to see them before my next...

One thing that your friends will repeatedly ask, when you say that you have been to Munich, is whether you visited the town of Hohenschwangau while your were there. Actually, they probably won’t say Hohenschwangau – that name hardly rolls off the tongue – but that will be what they mean when they say “That cool little tourist village surrounded by mountains and overlooked by a big yellow castle and an even bigger white castle”. You have almost certainly already seen that big white castle before, it is one of the most photographed buildings in the world, looking somewhat similar to that fairytale castle displayed at the start of Disney movies, but perching high among, steep, dark green, gothically ominous mountains. When in Munich, Hohenschwangau is somewhere that you escape to because it is actually 120 kilometers to the south of Munich, but it is well worth the trip because of the two...