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.

Stuttgart sprint... and fail.

Alarm. Shuffle to the bathroom. Throw things together. Head out for the train. It's not even 6am yet.

I grabbed some breakfast at the Heidelberg Hauptbahnhof which involved a lot of pointing and gesturing and that got me a pretzel I really didn't order, but I was content. I also got a coffee, the most important part of my day. Hey- food is food; no need to complain. I meandered my way to platform 7 and began what seemed like the longest 10 minutes of my life. Why? Because it wasn't 10. It was more like 20- my first train was late. Awesome.

Somehow I found my way to my reserved seat, at least I think it was mine. Maybe. The conductor came by and checked my ticket which I think he did wrong because now I have a stamp on my Munich ticket which might prove very bad later on. Fingers crossed that it won't be an issue.
At any rate, my train from Heidelberg to Stuttgart was pleasantly uneventful. The surrounding scenery was eerie: very foggy and full of twig-like trees. It really would have been the perfect setting for a horror film. We arrived at 7:13 at the Stuttgart station. My connecting train to Ausburg left at 7:12. The conductor said it would wait. Lies.
You know how you always laugh at the people wearing backpacks running for buses? Imagine the same thing, except in a foreign country, and sprinting full-force from platform 10 to 16 and darting in and out of bustling crowds. What a headache. I literally arrived at the train the second that the door closed. Epic. Fail. In that lovely moment of sheer panic, I called Sam.

"OMGEEIMISSEDMYTRAINWHATDOIDOOOOO???"

She's a saint. I was directed over the phone to the ticket counter (angels) and they got me a new train ticket. I ended up accidently plopping myself into first class when the conductor people came to check my ticket. Oops. He wasn't amused. Dumb American. Yep, that's me.

After slamming myself into a few of the "automatic" doors on the train (probably only automatic for natives) I meandered my way into second class. Heh, that explains the giant "1" and "2" printed on the cars, windows... seats...

And now, here I sit on the coach-bus style seat next to a complete stranger ranting about my mini-adventure. Oh boy this is proving to be quite interesting.

Sunday Drivers

Kayla rocking the puppy purse

Oh, autobahn, how I dearly love thee.

Once the crew was bundled and ready to go (of course Kayla looked like she was dipped in a paint can or 10 according to Enrico) we headed to the Schloss Schwetzingen. Essentially it was like a mini-Versailles, situated in a pristine plaza with surrounding cafes, some equipped with beach chairs and blankets. Oxymoron? You betcha.

Greek culture at it's best

We wandered out into the immense garden and took a stroll on the lovely gravel which Kayla was absolutely fascinated with. Lavish could be one word to describe the grounds, borderline grandiose would be a better term. We passed a roman-style mini-parthenon with a greek god-style statue. Of course, I hopped up on a neighboring pedastal and did my very own greek interpretation. Eh, I'm a tourist, what can I say.

We continued down the seemingly endless path to an even larger garden area filled with cherry trees threatening to bloom. And to the right of this... a mosque. Not just any mosque, a pink mosque. Dotted around the sides of this unique bulding were true, but nonetheless depressing sayings. A rough translation of one of them is "when the rose is watered, so are the thorns". A much perkier saying was "gather all the gold you need and as much wisdom as you can". The interior of this mosque/palace was beautifully decorated as well. It reminded me of something from Aladdin.. but in the middle of Germany. Unique is one way to put it.

BAM. Where'd that come from?!

At least it added to the lake scenery

Kayla was completely oblivious to the fact that this mosque was incredibly out of place for she thought the carp was far more fascinating. Better yet, she was intrigued even more by the brown, crinkly leaves. We spent a good deal of time staring at the fattest goose I had ever seen in my life and some show-off swans. Wandering around a courtyard or two, we stumbled upon something even more interesting and unexpected: a peacock. I still think the mosque was the craziest thing.

SPEYER. It's huge.

Slightly confused and itching to look up what we just saw on the internet, we headed back to the car, heading to Speyer. Oh, Speyer. It was very cute. Slightly mismatched though. The main theme of the town was quite an old but "cutesie" set-up but with a very, very large technology museum with enormous planes mounted above the buildings. Our interest, however, was in the Speyer cathedral. Grandiose doesn't even begin to describe this place. It was absolutely enormous. It had a stunning rose window with Jesus's face in the center. It was obvious that this building was very old, and had undergone quite a few renovations back in its day. There was a plethora of different brick sizes anywhere from teeny-weeny child's play size to massive modern day stone. You could even see where the old archways used to be on the sides of the building. Outside the weather was rather pleasant, even for a cold-blood like me. However, when we opened the heavy doors (the handles were metal: one a dolphin and the other a lizard), we entered the arctic. Uncomfortable is one word that could be used,  downright freezing is the best. The inside of the cathedral itself made the largest visitor feel minute. The sides of the nave were adorned with larger than life sized paintings depicting Mary's life. On the sides leading down to the crypt, the oldest part of the building, there was an alter bearing a multitude of lit candles and decorated with sculptures of frogs, insects and ravens. Pleasant, eh? Despite how ugly the creatures were, it was nice next to the candle altar- I could actually feel my fingers.

Creepy McCreeperson.

Stepping outside, we headed towards our restaurant of choice, Hausbrauerei Domhof. It was a hotel restaurant which pursued the fantastic right of brewing their own beer. There I got the chance to try their authentic german noodles. Being the gnocchi addict that I am, I naturally ordered gnocchi stuffed with cheese and wild garlic. Apparently bärlauch (bear's garlic) is about to come into season and when it does... oh boy. Everything is made with this herb: pesto, sauce, soups, you name it, they make it. Nothing gets left out. The gnocchi themselves were huge, as is the theme in Speyer. They were also absolutely delicious...

Thoroughly stuffed, we all headed home. Since the train workers are expected to strike (at least locally) we decided to move my trip to Munich ahead, and extend it a day. We battled with the Bahn website for at least an hour before we got tickets from here to Fussen. What a riot! It was so difficult. First we got the BahnCard, then the reservations, and then after figuring out that we can't buy bus tickets from them (duh- but they don't tell us it's a bus..) we FINALLY got train tickets... that leave Heidelberg at 6:15am. Sleep is overrated anyways.

Welcome to Calvary Chapel!

This morning began with a early morning "I want to play with play-doooooooooough..." circa 7:00. I have to say it was far more cute than annoying despite the time. After Kayla awoke the household with her seemingly endless supply of childhood energy, I suited up and headed towards the vineyards for a morning jaunt.

The "parklet"

It was definitely interesting. I headed up the street past a bakery or two (of course), out past quite a few gardens, a mini-park (a "parklet" to me) and through the fields.

The sign that greeted me coming back towards home

The pathway that I took was a bike trail which it would have been perfect for. It was nice an flat with a few rolling hills, nothing too strenuous. Especailly considering that it was about 2 am at home. Technically 3 am with the time change. Yeesh.

This area is definitely wine country- it was quite reminiscent of New Zealand in the way that all the hills and every square inch was filled with vines. I also ran by a little farm with roosters crowing despite the lack of sun.



 

Serious art.

During the run I passed under a couple bridges that would put any ATL graffiti to absolute shame. I have absolutely no idea what this wall says so if it's something profane, I plead ignorance.

I also got the chance to deliver my gifts (really from Mom- aka Aunt Cissy) to Kayla. She was so excited! I can't wait until she wears her brand new hello kitty outfit to go with her lunchbox. She also got a puppy (with it's own purse) and some bracelets. SO precious.

A very happy Kayla!

From there we had a delicious breakfast with more fantastic breads and honey. Sam took me to the local Calvary Chapel where the services are in both Deutsch and English. It was interesting; I sat next to a woman who greeted me in German. It's pretty frustrating trying to explain that you only speak one language... and you are sorry that you can't communicate... but you know all they hear is another language. A fascinating experience. The service itself was alternating contemporary Christian music- one song English, the next German. The pastor spoke German for a sentence or two and then a translator would speak his sermon in English. It made for a very, very long sermon but nonetheless a good one. He used Psalm 130 and Isaiah 40:29-31 to talk about being happy despite any given circumstance that might be less than favorable. I have to say that he did a good job!

Afterward I had a mini-adventure and took the tram back to home base. The trams were SO clean and tidy! Sightseeing next! Cake and coffee for lunch... HECK YES.

Bier and Wein: two essential words

Roughly 118 miles per hour. Small stuff.

Arrival to Deustchland was, like the flight, uneventful but certainly in a good way. I did notice on my way in that the Frankfurt airport had both a Jewish and Islamic prayer room. Interesting.

Meeting up with Sam was super simple, definitely more so than I thought it would be! Literally once I picked up my bags, she was right there ready for action... on the autobahn. Note the speedometer. This was the warm-up kilometers per hour...

From there we headed home to Heidelberg where I was greeted by a breakfast from the Marktplaz. Oh. my. It was absolutely delicious. There were all sorts of breads including some authentic honey courtesy of Enrico's, Sam's husband, grandfather who is a beekeeper.
After the hardy breakfast, we headed on to tour Heidelberg. We started with a morning dugout session where we were supposed to help build a dugout. Key thought: intended to build one. I ended up having a beer with the girls, Sam, Enrico and company at about 11am. Heck yes. I have been told that this isn't that typical, but any excuse to have beer before noon makes this country a-okay in my book. I was so excited about my beer that I couldn't even open my eyes for the picture. In all actuality, I was probably laughing too hard.

Then our on-foot tour of Heidelberg continued where we walked through the shopping streets, past the Church of the Holy Ghost, over the old bridge and down by the river. What an exhausting trip!

Church of the Holy Ghost

The Old Bridge

The stairway leading to the stage

Then after the mini-hike, we climbed into the car and headed to the "special mountain" as told to Kayla. We headed up the mountainside to see Der Keltenweg which to us Americans is known as the Celtic trail. This area is rich in Celtic history and is home to a monastery that was built in the 800's. However, Hitler being the power-hungry and prideful being he was, seized the place and decided to build an amphitheater that he used to hold propaganda-laced plays. Why elect to build it here? Simply because the German roots were so deep and it was a perfect stepping stone for building his "ideal" Germany. Visiting the amphitheater was really interesting, at one point it actually housed 20,000 people circa 1936 for a Nazi-promoting rally. It was absolutely chilling standing at the base of the stage knowing that at one point Nazi colors flew atop the flagpoles there.

Then we continued our hike further up the mountainside to reach the monastery. It reminded me a lot of the Trim Castle in Ireland where there was a good bit of overgrowth and many of the room's older functions were questionable. I got to have a taste of real German culture while I was there- one family was playing hide-and-go-seek in the ruins (brilliant idea) and another group of interesting folks were having a medieval brunch. When I say interesting folks, imagine the Medieval club except with more authentic garb and props... sitting in an ancient ruin. Oh, my.


With a very tired and hungry Kayla in tow, we climbed back down the mountainside back to the amphitheather. It really was quite captivating.

Imagine this place filled with 20,000 people. it actually only seats around 7,000.

Heading back home to re-group, Kayla conked out on the windy drive back. After only a few minutes to recover from all the walking, we were back on the autobahn. We also drove by SAP, Sam's work, and saw the campus. Yes, it is that big.

Our eatery of choice was in a teeny little village outside of Heidelberg. I apologize, but the name of the town completely eludes me so a photo will have to suffice. There we grabbed a table outside and were served HUGE pieces of beer bread, and had some fantastic wine. Service was slow, as it quite customary in Germany. I actually preferred it that way- it was much more relaxed and carefree. Plus, Kayla got to meet some new (boy)friends! I believe I failed to mention this before but she is a whopping 2 1/2 years old.

I ordered the flemmkuchen mit frischen pilzen and zwiebeln- the biggest personal "pizza" known to man. It was delicious flat bread with mushrooms, onion, creme fraiche, and cheese. Imagine foccicia except bigger and better. We finished off the meal with a shot-size drink of their homemade currant

Massive flemmkuchen of epic proportions with Sam's schnitzel in the background

liquer which unlike the nasty stuff back at home, is meant to be sipped and enjoyed. It tasted quite a bit like jam syrup with a bite. I promise- tastes much better than it sounds.

Later on into our feast, we were joined by a bizarre German man and his less-than-sober wife. She asked about my schooling and upon hearing about my pre-vet studies began to ask me questions about her little terrier with heart problems and a giant tumor. The dog is 13. Let the poor beast be. She was concerned that other people would think she was heartless by not having the tumor removed. Quite possibly one of the most awkward conversations... ever.

After my grand escape, we tasted some red wines that were made right there at the vineyard. Exhausted, we headed back home all the while drawing ponies, bunnies, and kitties for Kayla on her etch-a-sketch (love those things!).

And then.. I was immersed in German culture. Words cannot even begin to describe what I witnessed tonight. We watched the German version of American Idol except subtract the talent, add a techno beat and throw in some clothes from another dimension. Thus you have Deutschland Superstar. It is very possibly one of the most hilarious foreign tv shows I have EVER witnessed in my life. A picture of one of the contestants, Norman, explains it all. What a winning name! Unfortunately I can't find a photo from tonight but I will definitely post one as soon as I find it. Is his jacket a coat? A hoodie? A florist uniform? The world may never know.

9+ hours in a teeny tiny seat... ew.

Let me just begin by singing my unending praise for the magical pill they call Benadryl.

Flights are uncomfortable. Something that isn't supposed to always falls asleep: legs, arms, feet... but never full self. Benadryl can fix that. German time I went to bed at 2 am. And here I am, bright eyed and awake at 6 am. Effective for 4 hours of pure solid drowsiness. Brilliant. Totally enough sleep for a full day--God made caffeine for a reason. Delta gave me coffee. I suppose an upwards of $890 for an air ticket is good for something.

The flight itself was pretty uneventful though I did get the chance to see "The King's Speech" which was very difficult to pay attention to because the plane was SO loud. And I probably have some sort of ADD. Another story for another day. I also watched "Easy A"- not recommended. That one is about a girl that turns herself into a complete tramp and then complains about her poor plight. She absolutely worked herself into that little dilemma.I also got to meet a lovely woman with a thick Athens, GA accent (those of you from the area know exactly what I mean) who was on her way to Strasbourg, France to see her new granddaughter- so exciting for her!

I must say it's a little intimidating traveling to a foreign airport (Frankfurt) and getting picked up by my cousin... somewhere. I'm all for lax travel plans, don't get me wrong, but I like to plan... obsessively so (note that I have entries when I'm not even in the destination country). We really don't have a specified meeting place. In all honesty, if I'm going to get myself lost in an airport, Frankfurt would be a good one. Home of Haribo and Ritter Sport--I could be stuck without direction in places that are far worse... like Miami. Nothing personal, Floridans. I was stuck there on a layover flight to Guatemala and stayed in the nastiest hotel known to man. It was straight out of a horror film: one of those hotels where you didn't want to sleep under the covers for fear of contracting some sort of disease, but then again, sleeping on top of the comforter was not a much better prospect. Forgive the rambling, I still have a little while before we land.

And now with the precious remaining hour that I have on the flight: Harry Potter 7 Part I. Delta, though you sure love to rip people off like it's a seriously messed up hobby, your on-demand movies are absolutely fantastic.

Mental Check-Out

Classes are seriously getting in the way of my ability to thoroughly enjoy my pre-spring break plans. Not okay.

By the end of this week: Germany. How did it happen so FAST?!