by Houston Miller
Now that I have your attention, ;) I can tell you about the wonderful day that I did have today. Our day (mine and Patrick's) started off badly. We were supposed to be at the girls' house at 9:00 am to get on the bus to take us to the castle Neuschwanstein (that's a mouthful). Before we went to sleep, we decided to set an alarm for 7:45 so that we could have breakfast and showers and good stuff like that. We woke up at 8:50. The alarm didn't go off or something happened (gremlins, now that I think about it) and we had a whole 10 minutes to get down the street to catch the bus. Luckily, we got dressed and ready in record time (6 minutes I think) and ran down the street, skipping breakfast. We reached the bus just in time and we (including Maggie) all boarded and rode for about an hour. We traveled to the other side of Zugspitze and reached the castle. We had to walk to this one too, which took about 30 minutes and when we reached it, we saw that it was huge. We got on our tour and learned some really interesting facts about King Ludwig, who built the castle and lived in it for only 120, the longest stretch being 12 days, before he died (of mysterious circumstances, I might add). The castle was started in 1869 ( I think that's right), which I didn't even know castles were still being built into that time. The castle was finished 17 years later but, much of the interior is unfinished because King Ludwig died soon after it was finished (about 6 months later). Everything in the castle is original and it included some very advanced technology, such as running water to all the bathrooms, a telephone, and an intercom system. They wouldn't let us take pictures inside, and I don't want to do the castle any injustice by trying to explain the beauty that I witnessed. This castle was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen that was created by man. All of the murals on the walls were based from medieval epics and legends, such as in the king's bedroom, all the paintings depicted scenes from the story of Tristan and Isolde. There was much more of the castle that we did not get to see and I would have liked to have seen it, even if it was unfinished, because of the awe that it inspired in me. After the tour, we ended in the giftshop (well, wasn't it conveniently placed?) and I did buy a little booklet that has some of the history and artwork from the castle since I couldn't take pictures (that's how they get ya!) and I got someone a present for when I get back ;)
We left the castle, trekking back down the muddy, snowy slope back to the small town below. There was another castle right across from Neuschwanstein that Ludwig's mother lived in and I got some pictures of that, but we didn't go up to it. We got back on the bus and headed to a church. This church was made in the style after Baroque, I can't remember the name, something like coco..., but it's all dolled up and really gaudy, a little over the top to me for a house of God. we weren't supposed to take pictures here either, (which means some people did) so I got some pictures of the outside. We only stayed there a little bit because it was cold (no heat or something), so cold, in fact, that the holy water in the basins was frozen, and we were hungry. So, we got back on the bus and headed to Oberammergau, which is a small town. There we had lunch. Again we split up and had lunch at different places. Dr. Sofer, Shannon, Patrick, Adelle, Karen, Amanda, Cat, and I found a tiny place that had low prices (you can tell before you go in because all the menus are posted outside the restaurant) and I got potato soup to help my tastebuds and cold (of which I'm sure I have now, but the German medicine is helping!) and it was delicious. They made it with sour cream and big chunks of potatoes and small slivers of carrot. It was the best potato soup that I have ever had, but that's not saying much since I never had potato sop before I met Angela. Oh, yeah, Angela! I used those gloves again last night Geocaching and today walking up to the castle, so thank you, they helped! Anyway, after we ate our lunch, of which everyone had good food, we went for a little shopping before we had to leave on the bus. I found a little woodcarving shop where I found another present for someone back home :) Everything in there was made by the owner and it was all amazingly good work. After that, we had to race back to the bus so that we could go back to Grainau.
The bus took us back, and we had a short meeting to figure out what food we were having tomorrow, since the place we are going has to prepare for such a large group. After that, Patrick and I decided it would be a good idea to shower and stuff since we missed that chance this morning. We went back to our room and took showers, charged electronic things, and transferred pictures to my computer. We then headed back to the girls' house since they are the only ones with internet, and then I started catching up on here. Tomorrow, is basically a free day, in which some of us have decided to go sledding (I'm in that group!), and hiking and go up to the top of Zugspitze, which I would like to do, but it costs more money than I would like to spend considering it is more than I spend on two days of food. Otherwise, we could head into Garmisch for shopping, which I would like to do at some point, but I'm not sure if I will get the chance. Anyway, I think that I have filled up enough of your time and I have nothing else to say, so, until tomorrow evening, Goodnight!
We left the castle, trekking back down the muddy, snowy slope back to the small town below. There was another castle right across from Neuschwanstein that Ludwig's mother lived in and I got some pictures of that, but we didn't go up to it. We got back on the bus and headed to a church. This church was made in the style after Baroque, I can't remember the name, something like coco..., but it's all dolled up and really gaudy, a little over the top to me for a house of God. we weren't supposed to take pictures here either, (which means some people did) so I got some pictures of the outside. We only stayed there a little bit because it was cold (no heat or something), so cold, in fact, that the holy water in the basins was frozen, and we were hungry. So, we got back on the bus and headed to Oberammergau, which is a small town. There we had lunch. Again we split up and had lunch at different places. Dr. Sofer, Shannon, Patrick, Adelle, Karen, Amanda, Cat, and I found a tiny place that had low prices (you can tell before you go in because all the menus are posted outside the restaurant) and I got potato soup to help my tastebuds and cold (of which I'm sure I have now, but the German medicine is helping!) and it was delicious. They made it with sour cream and big chunks of potatoes and small slivers of carrot. It was the best potato soup that I have ever had, but that's not saying much since I never had potato sop before I met Angela. Oh, yeah, Angela! I used those gloves again last night Geocaching and today walking up to the castle, so thank you, they helped! Anyway, after we ate our lunch, of which everyone had good food, we went for a little shopping before we had to leave on the bus. I found a little woodcarving shop where I found another present for someone back home :) Everything in there was made by the owner and it was all amazingly good work. After that, we had to race back to the bus so that we could go back to Grainau.
The bus took us back, and we had a short meeting to figure out what food we were having tomorrow, since the place we are going has to prepare for such a large group. After that, Patrick and I decided it would be a good idea to shower and stuff since we missed that chance this morning. We went back to our room and took showers, charged electronic things, and transferred pictures to my computer. We then headed back to the girls' house since they are the only ones with internet, and then I started catching up on here. Tomorrow, is basically a free day, in which some of us have decided to go sledding (I'm in that group!), and hiking and go up to the top of Zugspitze, which I would like to do, but it costs more money than I would like to spend considering it is more than I spend on two days of food. Otherwise, we could head into Garmisch for shopping, which I would like to do at some point, but I'm not sure if I will get the chance. Anyway, I think that I have filled up enough of your time and I have nothing else to say, so, until tomorrow evening, Goodnight!