Oktoberfest & Neuschwanstein

“If You Can’t be With the One You Love, Love the One You’re With.” –Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young

American Song of The Week: Hang On Sloopy at Oktoberfest. I guess even the Germans were happy to see that Terrelle Pryor was starting.

This Week’s Travel Tip(s): Learn How to Enjoy a Good Book. From Friday at noon until Sunday night at 11 we were on a train for approximately 18 hours. A good book comes in real handy when your iPod dies on day 1, you can’t sleep, and the American you meet is drinking a Miller Lite in Germany so he is obviously not worth talking to.

Alright, what I’ve figured out being in college is that the weekend starts on Thursday. Wednesday for some, but Thursday for most. I decided to go to the before mentioned Grund last Thursday, The pub Liquid, and listen to some live blues music. Although she was singing in French it was still awesome. I think God is doing everything he can to
1) Make me flunk out of school and
2) Keep me from going willingly back to the U.S.

Friday takes us on a 7 hour train ride to Augsburg which was a 40 minute train ride from Munich. We check into our hostel, throw down our bags and immediately find a German place to eat. The menu was in German so we played a game and you just had to pick something. Luckily I had sausage, ham, and sauerkraut; it was excellent.

Saturday we made a big mistake of waking up before sun rise, too early for the continental breakfast, and naturally miss our train to Munich. We finally make a train and get to Munich. From here it was pretty simple; follow the 1,000 men in lederhosen and the women dressed as milk, or bier, maids. You come up the stairs from the Subway and walk into a land that would make Otis from The Andy Griffith Show feel right at home; unlimited beer. Each bier company has its own tent and getting into that tent is extremely hard. It unfortunately upon first appearance looks like the Ohio State Fair with a main stretch and each bier tent, festival ride, and salted pretzel stand scattered in between. It wasn’t what I imagined as far as the physical set up but exactly on for the atmosphere. If you make it to Oktoberfest in your lifetime good for you but it’s not something I would put on your Bucket List.

Sunday morning five of the ten of us got up at 6 AM and hopped on a two hour train south to Fussen and King Ludwig’s castles. King Ludwig II of Bavaria had a beautiful castle nestled at the base of the mountains; Hohenschwangau.

He then for no reason beside pure pleasure had a bigger and better one built; The Neuschwanstein. The Neuschwanstein is what Disney modeled the castles at their theme parks after. The Disney version is modified but you can still see the resemblance. I gotta say after seeing it, I can’t blame the guy. However, the people of the Bavarian region of Germany were not happy with this. Mysteriously before he was able to move into his bigger and better castle he was found dead in the bottom of a nearby lake.

It was about a 25 minute walk up the mountain to the castle. You had to take the tour to get inside. Unfortunately we didn’t have the time so we took it in from the outside. Then from the castle another 20 minute walk that wrapped around the mountain went up to the St. Mary’s Bridge where you get this view.

The Neuschwanstein

Then another short hike up the mountain on the dirt path and tree roots you get this view…. I think she took the picture on two...

After seeing a countryside like that it’s completely worth the 8 ½ hour train ride home…

Bonjour’s to:
Kitty: I guess it took me going to Europe to finally get Lenore to use the internet! Thanks for helping her out!
Jody: Thanks for keeping dad informed for me last week. I look forward to hearing of your adventures!

Cindy, Wendy, Karlton, Regina, and Patty: Sorry it took me so long to get in touch. Your e-mail’s got lost somewhere between Columbus and Brussels, Belgium