Day 8 was a travel day from Salzburg, to Garmisch, connecting in Munich. We had less than 15 minutes at our connection to run with all of our belongings down to another platform. Phew! It was as far as it could possibly have been between the two trains. We made it just as they were about to close the doors and take off. We sat by an elderly German woman who spoke great English, and had a nice ride to Garmisch. When we got to the Edelweiss Lodge (military resort), we thought we’d died and gone to heaven. It was huge and so welcoming with a 2-story open lobby with a blazing fireplace and rocking chairs next to the largest indoor Christmas tree... along with a pool/hottub, restaurants, a spa, and best of all, a big room with 2 queen beds! It was good to have a little bit of America in Germany.
Day 9-- We woke up early this morning to get ready for our tour to Neuschwanstein Castle. We grabbed a quick breakfast and loaded onto a huge tour bus with large windows (great for site-seeing). We drove around and stopped at a woodcarver’s shop (tourist trap which we fell into), a church that was the most visited in Bavaria (because of a statue of Jesus that was seen to have tears and special powers).
Inside church (Christ statue is bottom left)
Once we arrived in Hohenschwangau, we hiked up to the castle on a trail for horse carriages, people, cars, whatever. Abby really loved playing in the snow, but due to our negligence of not putting on the right boots, she got cold, wet feet just in time for a lot of walking. At the top, Ben warmed her feet while I took her boots and socks into the WC (water closet or bathroom) and used the hand dryer to fix the problem. The castle was gorgeous, with a fascinating story. King Ludwig II had it built, and only occupied it for around 120 days until he was found mysteriously dead in a lake in Bavaria. The inside was filled with painted murals of Wagner’s operas. The castle was actually dedicated to him… they were close friends but Ben and I are convinced it was more than that. But it was neat to see where he resided (I’ll see his other residence in a couple days by myself). After that tour, we rode in a horse drawn carriage to the bottom, and dined at the Meuller Restaurant and finished it off with a slice of cake with Bavarian cream and gelled raspberry topping. (Something I’ll definitely miss.)
Our tour bus took us home the scenic way, going through Austria. The snow-capped Alps are beautiful, and make me think winter isn’t so bad. We arrived back at Edelweiss Lodge and the whole bus had to show ID and the bus was totally checked out before re-entering the gates. Guess the guards have to be extra carefull… this US engineered place is quite a bit closer to terrorists.
We hit the pool and outdoor hottub after that, then had a typical American buffet of meats and macaroni and corn on the cob. Great day!
2 comments:
So the question I have....
When is your hubby actually working?!?!?
I have loved going to that castle when I was a kid:) Beautiful place.
Post a Comment