July 14th
After a fabulous night out in Munich, we woke up bright and early to drive out through lovely German countryside to the crazy King Ludwig’s fantasy castle: Neuschwanstein. There was so much excitement in the area, everyone immediately went to sleep on the bus drive out, but the landscape was amazing (We stayed awake). It was like a slice out of the movie Heidi, little brown and white cottages with windows spilling with bright red geraniums. There are legends swirling around the King Ludwig, mainly that he was obsessed with swans (that’s an understatement… the castles filled with them!) and that he committed suicide when he was forced to abdicate. He chose the location out in the middle of nowhere and would ride in a white carriage drawn by white horses in the middle of the night. The castle was amazing. Just go watch Sleeping Beauty and you’ll see what I mean… We got to hike to the bridge behind the castle and get some sweet pictures as well.
When we got back we went to the famous 5 o’clock Glockenspiel cuckoo clock show. It’s been said to be one of the top 4 sights to see in the whole world.
The Augustiner monks, who originally founded Munich, to this day still have a world-famous restaurant and brewery. So that night we decided to partake in yet another great German tradition and go eat there. Pretty much had the most fabulous German meal until about 11:30 at night and then got to experience a true German thunderstorm. The fountains in the middle of the town center are available for running through if one catches the desire. Earlier, when passing through in the middle of the day, our tour guide recommended that everyone do it at least one, taunting us with a: “well I’ve ran through at midnight..” , but these southern girls weren’t about to ruin their makeup just to say we did it. I mean middle of the day mascara run? What a nightmare! But leaving the Augustiner with 30 minutes til midnight and a thunderstorm crashing around us, we decided to run through the fountains. It was great. Except Lauren didn’t. She went straight for the taxi… (Lauren note: Someone had to be responsible with all of the cameras! I know Chris is thanking me right now!)
Back to Hotel Maria and tomorrow we leave for Prague.
J & L