The Wall

So the first thing you should know is that I love the HBO series Game of Thrones.  I even have my dad hooked in on it now.  GOT is set in a mythical medieval type setting and the next town we visited reminded me very much of this setting.  Rothenburg ob dem Tauber.  It is literally an old medieval town that is still surrounded by a watch tower and wall to this date.

When you think of ye olden days in Germany this town is probably something you think of without even realizing it.  The buildings are the gingerbread style and Shakspearian style construction and the roads are all made of cobblestone.  Picturesque to say the least.  It is filled with many little shops from touristy shops to designer clothing to jewlery etc.  It is also filled with super yummy smelling bakeries and coffee shops with open air seating.  I could have spent days just soaking in the atmosphere.

The wall itself has been magnificantly preserved and we were able to climb the super steep steps to go up and walk along the path were many before us have gone.  From atop the wall there were vistas of the entire town with the church spires dominating the center.  Looking out the other direction you could see the "new town" which is where the train station was located.  It was a bit spooky at night as we walked around and found the old moat and church out buildings.

We really only had the 1 night in this location but it was by far my favorite spot on the trip to date.  In the morning we explored a bit in the light and found vinyards off to the south side of the wall with gorgeous panoramic views.  We even walked through the Devil's Gate...not sure if that means we are saved or damned, only time will tell :)

Next up is a small town near Herrenburg to visit Bettina's niece.  Should be interesting as her niece has yet to tell us where she booked us a room to stay for the night.  Fingers crossed she'll text us back soon!

Fairytale/Not a Fairytale

Sheffano, our illustrious tour guide informed us that Neurscheinstien Castle is "no fairytale castle" and that he would tell us the truth but we wouldn't like it.  Well I'm not sure what he was expecting us to find.  Yes, I know this is the castle that Disney modeled Cinderella's castle after, but I ever expected Cinderella to really live in the castle here in Germany.  I will however tell you, fairytale or not it was a sight to behold.

After 2 train rides and 2 busses we arrived in the quaint little town below the castle itself.  It was of course filled to the brim with tourists like myself and my friends, and it was filled to the brim with tourist shops of all varieties.  I did not actually shop in any of the stores due to the extraordinarily strict time frame given us by Sheffano but to be honest I find the souvenir shops to be all the same anyway.  I spent my time taking pictures that didn't turn out because I had somehow changed some friggin setting on the camera.  Luckily I figured this out when we got on the tram to get up the steep mountainside to the base of general castle region.

Upon exiting said tram we were told to go straight, Sheffano would not accompany us for this portion & we had exactly 15 minutes before he would move on.  Initially I could not understand why our guide would not guide us but I soon figured it out.  It was a short 2-3 minute walk on what had to be a 35-45 degree incline.  No seriously it was like trying to climb a ladder only I think a ladder would have been easier.  Sheffano had no idea how lucky he was that the steep climb/walk turned out to be worth it.  The path led us to a large bridge with an absolutely gorgeous overlook of the castle in its glory.  The bridge was over packed but I actually didn't care and offered to take quite a few people's pictures for them so they didn't have to do one at a time photos.  It was also packed enough to allow someone to do the same for us without fear that our camera would be sprinting away (literally there were so many people it made exiting the bridge a challenge).

(the bridge)

Next we were to head to the castle itself.  What I didn't realize was that in order to get to the castle we had to walk down the hill as the main entrance was lower than where the tram stopping point was.  It was also about a 10 minute walk.  Again it was a gorgeous area in the woods and to say it was scenic would be like saying a bonfire is just a little bit hot.  Sheffano had us stop a little over half way to the entrance so we could be entertained by a singing minstrel.  It was a song from the time period of Leudwig that sang of his life, insanity & subsequent early death.  The entirety of the song was in German and Sheffano told us he would translate at the end...he did not.  The reason I know what the song was about in general is thanks to my travel buddy Bettina who speaks some German herself.  Following the brief musical interlude we finally made it to the castle entrance ourselves.  Shaffano was not allowed to accompany us as he was not on staff with the actual company running tours inside the castle.

Luckily the guide for the interior of the castle did not lecture us and make us feel like we were having a pop quiz for a subject we had not studied for.  He in opposition was informative and business like in his delivery.  The interior of the castle was gaudy to say the least.  It turns out that Leudwig had a thing for swans due to a myth about a young hero who saved the life of another man.  There were many frescos depicting the hero who rode astride a giant swan.  In later years this story somehow morphed into the Opera the Black Swan.  Now I have no idea how the story morphed, I can just tell you that quite literally there were hundreds of swans either in painting or statue form throughout the castle interiors that were on display.  We were not allowed to take pictures inside the castle so unfortunately I have none to share.  It was an amazing sight to behold though, both interior and exterior.

The part that I found to be the most challenging was something I had anticipated but not to the degree  we experienced.  Stairs.  I'm talking hundreds of stairs.  It started with the climbs up the super steep walking paths, then followed by a climb up the royal tower steps.  In all I think we climbed literally 4 or 5 stories to the top, then 4-5 stories down.  After all of that there was no tram back down the mountainside so we had to walk.  Now it wouldn't have been too bad, but about half way down the mountain my knee told me to pound sand and I had to hobble my way back to the bus to Munich.  Luckily I packed advil so all turned out grand.  For some reason Blogger won't allow me to upload the pictures I took from the castle so I'll have to do some research when I get home to see if there is a way to put the pictures up from my home computer.  In the mean time I'll sign off for now.

Tschuss!!

I will tell you the truth...

Today is our final day in Munich and we're not even going to be in the city.  Thats right, we are taking a train and a bus to head further south to see the castle that inspired Disney.  We were hoping that the trip to the alps would provide some relief from the heat.  We were wrong, very wrong.

Anyway we decided to take a tour vs having to figure out transportation etc for the day trip we wanted to make.  We also thought it might be nice to have a guide inform us about some of the things we were about to see.  It is with this in mind that we found ourselves on a train through Bavaria with a guide named Shaffeno.

Lucky for us we had about 2 hours of travel time which meant we had 2 hours of Q&A time with Shaffeno.  He started by asking us all our names & how to spell them (turns out he had to list us on our rail passes as purchased by the tour company) we then asked him his name and he provided it along with how to spell it.  He then informed us that it is not his job to tell us anything but if we asked him questions he would answer.  To quote the man he actually said "I will tell you the truth but you will not like it".  Our tour was beginning to get interesting.

I'm finding it difficult to articulate how odd and peculiar this man was, lets just say we found him entertaining for reasons he will never understand and could possibly be described as a curmudgeon.  He didn't like the question I asked and he quite rudely told me "you don't ask me personal questions I won't ask you personal questions".  Well shoot I had only asked where he was from because on the prior question in which he was asked if he had a favorite German city/town he gave us a 5 minute diatribe about why he did not like any town or city in Germany.  It made one think that perhaps he himself was not German.  I only bring this up to articulate the man's peculiarities.

He quickly grew bored of our questions and began asking us questions.  One was, do you know who built the castle.  The train sat silent...It was then that he began to pace up and down the aisleway asking everyone, whether they were on the tour or not if they knew who built the castle.  Finally one of my friends broke the akward silence and provided the answer, Leudwig.  The questioning went on..."do you know why he built the castle"; "do you think he had a wife" etc.  At one point everybody on the train was afraid to make eye contact.  At one point he told us not to be stupid and to use our brains.  He also told us it was not his job to provide us with any answers.

The man must have realized that he wasn't going to get many more answers from the group which had been silenced by fear.  It is at this point he asked me if King Leudwig was a legitimate king/ruler.  I had made the ultimate error in judgement...when he addressed me I looked up and established eye contact.  I sat there afraid to move and even more afraid to look away as it was obvious that I had heard him speak.  In my hesitation to answer such an obviously loaded question Sheffano answered himself with a resounding "no".  He stated that Leudwig's father had Syfilous and couldn't have children, therefore he had an Italian knock up the queen...not just once but 2 times (it was at this point the man made 2 quick thrusting motions with his forearm to emphasize his point).  I was totally screwed at this point as 2 of my travel friends completely lost any composure and started laughing hysterically.  Sheffano continued on his conspiracy theory speaking above the laughter and went on to explain that not only did he not have proper lineage to rule, but he himself had no wife because he enjoyed the company of young men...18 to be specific.  My friends then continued to laugh and now even those not in my group of friends began laughing.  I however was stuck in an unbearable eye lock with the man.  Luckily he walked away shortly after and allowed us to travel the remainder of the journey in peace.

All I can say about our tour guide was that he was indeed a character who has given us many laughs during and since our trip to the castle.

Munich

Munich, lets just say that I can sum up a great deal of this leg of the trip by saying that it was at least 1 million degrees and humid as hell.  It would seem that timing would have us in this otherwise beautiful city during a time when a heat wave was passing through.  Now being from Phoenix you wouldn't think this should have any kind of effect on me, but I live in the land of air conditioning the Germans do not.

Our lodgings were at a hostel in Munich city.  Actually not a bad location as it was very close to the rail stations we needed from the airport.  It was also fairly close to and within walking distance of most of the attractions we wanted to see.  When in Munich I think the first thing many people do is explore the Marienplatz.  This is a historical portion of the city and home to the famous Glockenspiel.  The bells chimed as we were walking down the street and people were flooded on both sides of the road and sidewalk.  As we got closer we saw the Glockenspiel in full glory with its characters spinning around and even 2 knights in a joust.  It is an amazing sight to take in.  This is where my friends and I opted to find a seat at a small cafe and just take in the sights.  This is also where I realized that Khalese must be near as I saw a dragon climbing up the wall appearing to attack the Glockenspiel.  This is the only explanation I can manage for why this dragon was climbing the wall as it seemed out of place.  On a side note I learned that no matter how hot it is, one cannot find a free glass of water in all of Germany (well everywhere I've been thus far).  I also found out that beer is equitable to cheaper than a bottle of water.  Seriously....no seriously.

Anyway, I'm getting off topic.  I think my favorite part of Munich was not the famous Marienplatz area, rather it was a place we found while walking and exploring the city.  As we were casually strolling through the town searching for the English Gardens we came across another lush park so this desert girl requested that we literally take the more scenic route.  Luckily my travel friends agreed and we found ourselves under a gazebo listening to a solo  Cello playing in the middle of the park.  There were fountains surrounding the gazebo, beautiful music, lush greenery and great company, I think I could have been lost there as long as the man was playing, but we had a lot ofthings to try to fit into just a few short days.

Alas we had to move on.
Upon leaving this park we saw a small creek with people dangling their lil toes in it (when in Rome...) we again made a detour, ditched the shoes and stuck our feet in.  Oh dear sweet baby jesus that water was cold.  Frigid and I dare say that if it felt amazing as compared to the extreme heat we were facing otherwise.  I was willing to freeze my bits off and jump in fully clothed but somehow I figured it would be poor form since nobody else was doing the same.  Our group lingered here for a bit before again attempting to locate the English Gardens.

It wasn't until a few minutes later that we realized that we had entered the garden we sought nearly immediately after we finished refreshing our aching feet.  It was here that I think I could have stayed, and repeated many a time if I were to live in Munich.  The river runs thought the park and to say it was gorgeous might just be the biggest understatement one can utter.  Imagine NYC's Central park on steroids.     As I said there was a river that cut through the middle of the park and countless numbers of scantily clad men, women & children were quite literally running and jumping into the river.  The current made it the largest free lazy river ride I have ever witnessed.  Walking a bit further we caught sight of something even more crazy and out of place...men surfing the river.  No truly med and one girl were literally taking turns throwing their surfboards into the wave created from a spillway hitting the river.  They would surf back and forth a few times before dropping off to allow the next person to go.  It was an amazing sight to behold indeed.  Needless to say we spent an hour or two wandering around eating ice cream and enjoying the park with all the locals.  (It should be noted that if we didn't have our purses/wallets etc, we would have jumped in the river fully clothed just to cool off.

As previously noted, the weather in Munich was sweltering  We are talking 2 showers a day just to stay cool.  Even then, I'm glad our time there is winding down!

Beautiful Turbulence

Here I sit, row 16 seat J.  My own personal oasis on a plane.  Blissfully the seat next to me is unoccupied and I am able to spill my blanket, pillow and other unnecessary miscellaneous crap into a heap vs having to find a miraculous way to shove it all into the seat back of the guy in front of me.  I thought there was going to be in-flight wifi but I was clearly living in dream land just like I was when I dreamt that the airline would randomly bump me up to 1st class.  Auf Wiedershoen GOT season 5 marathon viewing,  by now it's clear to say that Jon Snow is not the only one who knows nothing.  Next let's turn to the in flight entertainment.  I have opted to watch "Into the Woods" as I am one the few musical theater fans who missed it in the theater.  I got as far as the main characters actually going to to the woods when bam!  The in flight entertainment system takes the proverbial dump.  The "in flight cabin director" comes over the P.A. System to announce that they have to reset the system and it will be back up shortly.  That was about 20 minutes ago.

So here I sit, wondering what to do with myself when an angel approached. Thank the heavens and powers that be, the steward for my section of the plane is an Irishman.  He very politely asked me what beverage I'd like and I just said "red wine me please".  He then proceeded to hand me  2 bottles and said "that's what I'd want if I were in your seat".  He then told me he can offer me more wine with dinner if I would be so inclined.  Uh is the Pope Catholic!!

I am 1 bottle in, I think the entertainment system is back up and as of this minute I don't care that my flight was nearly an hour late departing (I should note I now have 30 min to make my connecting flight.  I should be worried, but shoot...my steward gets me, life is good!

((FYI this was written before I landed...upon landing I had to re scan through Heathrow security and by the time I was done I was quite literally running for the gate and I made it as they were making the final call for passengers!  But I made it, hot and sweating...but on time!!))

Side Note

Last night the USA played Germany in the semifinals of the women's World Cup.

USA won 2-0.

Notes to self:
I will be gracious when I get to Germany
I won't gloat
I won't point out their weaknesses and missed PK

...but I may have to wear my USA gear at least one day while I'm there!!

GO team USA #Ibelieve, #SheBelieves, #OneNationOneTeam

Doomed Before it Begins?

OK seriously...no seriously life, WTF.  Yes things have become so crazy over the last couple months that I have broken down to saying things like WTF & OMG.

So my last post was about the life events/hurdles that have threatened this Germany trip.  Apparently I forgot to include myself so life threw me a curve ball. (yes I realize the date stamp on the last post was the same as this but that's just because I have delayed in actually publishing my posts and I'm doing several all at once.)

Anyway my hurdle...

How to begin.  Pops.  Well it turns out that pops, who is 78 years old, found himself in a position where he was being evicted.  It sounds bad, but here's the situation.  You see my dad has been renting the home I grew up in for 36 years.  The woman who actually owns the home is even older than pops even though I didn't think that was possible :)  We believe her health has been declining and her children are helping her to consolidate her assets before anything unfortunate happens to her.  As a result the home my dad has lived in for so long was being sold out from under him.  That's right, after 36 years he was being given the ol heave ho & told to vacate the property in 45 days which was by the end of March.  As I sit here typing this post up I still shake my head and wonder how or why they would give him such short notice after being their longest and most reliable tenant.  Luckily my family is very close and very protective.  My brother, pops and I got together and hatched a plan.  Pops would move in with me.  

Great!  I had just purchased my flights and now I had to stop all planning on my Germany trip and move/rearrange everything on the back half of my house in order to accommodate my dad's things.  Don't get me wrong, I love my dad dearly and would do absolutely anything for him, its just that the timing kind of sucked ass.  Not that there is ever a good time to be evicted...ok hopefully you understand what I mean.  So, I find myself packing and cleaning and moving.  Did you know that after 36 years my pops had managed to hoard...uhm I mean save a shit ton of shit.  We literally had one of those waste management bagsters filled to the point we were concerned it would be overweight with crapola that we were cleaning out of the house and garage.  He has things that he hasn't seen or touched in nearly the whole time he has lived there.  We did unarchive several old family pictures which started me on a family tree kick.  I mean how could I not considering I'm going to Germany and my Great Grandpa on my father's side came straight off the boat!!

Anyway, cut to 45 days later and my pops has now been safely moved into my house and is as snug as a bug in a rug...or 2 rooms and garage and a huge storage unit :)

I wish that is the end of my hurdle story.  Oh no...you see as we started to plan some more (and by plan I mean trying to figure a good time to Skype given our 11 hour time difference between me and my travel buddies).  Well during that time frame pops decided that moving in was not enough fun and so he somehow came down with an infection called Orchitis.  Oh dear baby Jesus, this infection is located in his boy parts...lets just say the ball jokes ran wild.  On a serious note it landed pops in the hospital from May 17th thru the 28th.  I nearly every day at the hospital with him.  When he was released home I then had to play nurse and give him an additional 9 days of IV antibiotics.  Oh did I mention that I had the joy of cleaning my dad's junk and ever so pleasant catheter as well.  Good times my friends good times.  

Soooo, I am set to leave for Germany, well I have my plane tickets and I have my rail pass, but I have absolutely no idea what the trip will bring as I have put absolutely 0 planning into this.  I have to give a big thanks to my friends who have found lodgings for us.  

I am so ready for this vacay to start.

13 days and counting my friends!!