New friends!

Welcome to the Alps!

Good news: I made it to Fussen... and back!

Fussen is really like what you see in picture books. It lies right at the foot of the alps and is home to some beautiful brightly colored buildings. Absolutely spectacular. The day was unusually warm so I rented a bike to ride to Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein. That ride was gorgeous: there were still some snowdrifts, more like snow blankets, covering the fields on the way and I crossed a pristine clear river that was the perfect shade of teal-blue. 

The path to the castles: took this while biking. Totally safe.

Bikey.

Upon arrival I sketchily parked my bike (thanks to Athens for the influence) and got my tickets for the castles. Hohenschwangau, King Ludwig's childhood home, was first up to bat. I'm going to be nice when I say that it was the most heinous color of yellow- so vibrant it almost hurt to look at the thing. While I was waiting on my tour time, I met a guy from Japan named Seiji. Honestly I think I said his name about 40 times and I still can't say it right. I only know how to spell it because he had to write it down! Ha!

Hohenschwangau

Me and Seiji

The tour itself was really quite nifty- King Maximilian II really loved his over-the-top paintings which seemed to adorn every room that we wandered into. They were also quite skilled at wasting precious metals which included giant centerpiece "sculptures" made of solid silver. Solid. The thing weighed more than me! The views out of the windows were just spectacular: the Alpsee lake was frozen with snow on top and the backdrop created by the Alps was just incredible.

Inside Neuschawnstein

From that tour I had about an hour and a half to hike up to Neuschwanstein. The road leading up to the castle was very reminiscent of the road leading to Kennesaw Mountain. Except K-Mountain doesn't have a grandiose castle on top.

At the base of the castle I met up with Seiji again which lead to more conversations about the differences in American and Japanese cultures. It was so interesting hearing from his point of view despite the fact that his English was rather broken. I think he was so excited to have a free native English teacher though! 

Looking down from the bridge...

The Neuschwanstein tour was, as Rick Steve's worded it, rushed. I still thoroughly enjoyed my time there. King Ludwig really took eccentric to an entirely new level. The castle could not have possibly been more cram-packed with bizarre sculptures and paintings. Very fascinating to visit but living there would be enough to drive one mad

From Mary's bridge

Seiji and I headed hastily towards Mary's bridge which offered an incredible view of the castle. Not to mention that spot would have been prime for bungee jumping. For other people who are far more brave than me, of course. I also met a history professor from Paris named Alex who spoke English (thank goodness!).
Then the run/walk/hike back down was a little bit hasty since the sun was rapidly setting behind the (gorgeous) mountain peaks and I needed to return to Fussen before dark. Luckily I made it in one piece.

Descending from the castle

Bike fast! Losing daylight!

Mmmmm gelato.

Bye Fussen!

I stopped by the Hohes Schloss Italian Ice Cream place where I had the Mozart (some sort of chocolate something...) and the house specialty that included hazelnuts, toffee, chocoalte and who knows what else. It was absolutely delicious. And then I had a Georgiannaism. I got lost.

I don't really know what it is about me and my sense of "I'll be FINNNEEE" but it's really quite stupid. Luckily I needed to stop at the Norma for some more snack bars (I had rapidly gone through my supply) and asked where the Bahnhof (train station) was. Definitely not in the same direction that I was heading. You'd think I'd learn, right?

Never.

So I trudged my way over to platform 3 to catch my train to Munich. Luckily Alex was there as well! We passed the next 2.5 hours just chatting away about literature, history, travel and Paris. Definitely an interesting and unexpected surprise.

Another great reason to have Alex on board- the train stopped halfway through the transit. No explanation. Just stopped. Honestly if I had been alone, on a train, at the Ausburg station, at night... not knowing if it would resume I would have been having a full-on panic attack. Though Alex didn't really know what was happening either, he did speak some German and was able to understand that the conductors were trying to apologize for something. Eh, close enough.

Once I finally got to Munich after that 20 minute delay Alex showed me around which was an absolute blessing once again because I'm pretty sure I would have never found my way to the Wombat people. I made a valiant attempt to translate a "one way" sign into a street name. Not the same.

Wombat is interesting. There's a quiet computer lounge with internet which is dreadfully slow (which is why Im on here so late... I'm hoping the other internetters will give up) but I met my roommate named Meany (spelling is very questionable) and I don't think she speaks English. Not surprised.

I also met another guy named Kyle who is actually studying aborad in Japan. He's meeting his parents here "halfway" as a compromise. I love talking to complete strangers, hearing their story and being able to talk openly with someone you don't know. I also learned about his overnight stay in a Swedish prison with a Turkish murderer and his roommates named Peepee and Macintosh. I really don't think you can make that kind of stuff up it's so crazy.