So on friday I woke up nice and early and trekked it to the Frankfurt Main Airport to pick up my mother. She had said that she didn't know how to find the train station again (all you need to do is follow the signs) so told me to meet her at the sky line thing connecting the terminals. Well I got there right when her flight was supposed to be landing. Apparently, as I found out later, her flight was an hour behind schedule. That would have been very nice to know. Because I was waiting at the skyline station for over an hour and a half looking like a bloody idiot before I decided that I would rather sit and headed back to the train station area of the airport. A who is at the train station already? Mom. Whatever...at least we found each other. But we had already missed 3 chances to get on our way. And then as we get going...every train we were on was late and delayed. We ended up getting to Fuessen 2 hours later than was originally planned. HATE! But the scenery was amazing.
We took a taxi into to Hohenschwangau and checked into the hotel. They were ready for us and addressed us by name when we walked in. They naturally spoke english but whenever I had to ask something on my own, I spoke in German. After checking in we unpacked and changed and got somewhat presentable and made our way to our special dinner. It was amazing...delicious. We were tired so we popped in a movie and started to fall asleep. We had a view of the Hohenschwangau castle from our room and at night it is all lit up and pretty. See....
Also when you look at it and take pictures of it at night, it isn't as obvious that it is being renovated on the outside and a lot of it is covered up. But anyway, I was then reminded how hard it is to sleep in the same room as my mom because she snores louder than any other human being I know. It makes getting to sleep and staying asleep very difficult. We woke up way early the next morning to enjoy breakfast before seeing the castles. A coach ride was included in our package and we were on the first one to the top. We left at 8:15. Through out the day I started feeling really bad for the horses because it was so damn hot and they were pulling up loads of 15 adults. That is ridiculous. But whateva.
Our first castle was Neuschwanstein. Once up the hill, we had to walk a bit more uphill and then there it was. We had to wait about 40 minutes until our tour was supposed to start so we chilled and were amazed at the views. Our tour guide when it finally started looked so young and like he was going to break and he had the weakest voice. But his english was pretty good. And the castle was pretty awesome. Here is me and mom before our tour at the castle waiting.
And this is me at the top of the hill:
We took the coach ride back down the hill and along the way I figured out how to record movies on my camera. We dropped off our purchaces from the castle at the hotel and had some water. Then we walked up the other hill to the other castle to wait for our tour to start. The castle was just as pretty and elaborate but it was nice because there were fewer people in our tour group. And our tour guide for this castle was more confident and had a presence but his grammar was atrocious. All I could do was wince because it was...bad. But because I understand German, I also understand how he was making his mistakes. But still....
When we got done, we took the bus up to the drop off area and waled to the Marien Bruecke, the bridge where everyone goes to to take pictures. There is also a hiking trail on the other side. We walked a little ways along it, but we weren't in the right type of clothes to correctly go hiking. Here is a picture of it:
I am good at getting backgrounds that I want in the pictures I take. And look at what crazy King Ludwig got to look at everyday:
We walked around the place, but there isn't too much to do. One store and it is crazy expensive. So we got some souveniers and mom got stuff for people. Then we took a walk down to the lake and basked in the beauty. Then we found a place that sold Ben and Jerry's ice cream. It was top notch. We ate dinner again at the hotel and it was delicious. Since mom is here I get to eat and try new expensive foods. So I had the salmon. We watched Desperado as we packed and watched the storm outside. Then the next morning we ordered a taxi and had breakfast and were on our way again. But back to Landau.
And a bad start again. A delay for the first train already. But it turned out ok, because every single one of our connecting trains were delay so we made all of our hoped for trains. I was amazed although miffed. The worst thing to hear on a train, I think, is 'We have a delay, Ladies and Gentlemen, and will be in the station (or in the middle of no where) for and unknown amount of time.' I hate that. But oh well.
When we got home, we had time to settle down before we were to start. Then we made lasagne and salad and cake and garlic bread. Every one here really liked it and it went over really well. It was strange because many of them were speaking in English or at least trying to, and I had never heard any of them speak in English before. And some of them sound so different when they do. But it was cool. And then we all hung out in the kitchen for a while having a few beers and talking and taking pictures of our last time together (OH MY GOD.....no...I don't want to come home). And then off to bed again.
Tomorrow mom and I are off to Rome. We'll be home in a week.
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