Neuschwanstein Castle

I've officially been to a castle. A real, live castle. Neuschwanstein is a small village in Southern Germany about two hours away from Munich. On my way home from Munich I made a pit-stop here. Neuschwanstein is a charming little place important only because of it's castle. I saw it approaching from the bus, a mere dot cut into the face of a small mountain, and thought to myself that it was going to be a big waste of time. The closer we got, the more incredible it became. That thing was seriously in the mountain. I can't imagine how they got all the materials up there to build it. Our tour-guide started giving us some fun facts about the castle over the bus's loudspeaker and I learned that this particular castle is the one that inspired the Disney castle. How cool is that?

When I packed for Germany I packed for moderately warm weather. I was thinking between 50 and 60 degrees and thats what I got in Munich. I was drunk half the time, anyway, and so the weather didn't really effect me. I wasn't expecting the cold slap in the face I got from the mountaintops. Shit, there was snow up there and I'm wearing leggings, a t-shirt, and a teensy jacket. I should probably also have expected that it would rain when I'd purposefully left behind my umbrella. Just my luck. Good thing I didn't wear flip-flops. My body was one giant goosebump within five seconds and I found myself thinking "Well, there goes any hope of sweatin' all that beer off". Great.

Turns out I did sweat some beer off, though. My tour-guide told us he was taking us on a "nature hike" up to the castle, and boy we were in for it. We hiked up a damn mountain is what we did. In the rain, by the way. Caah and I walked arm in arm (she, being the smarter of the two of us, brought her umbrella) slipping and sliding all the way up to the castle. It was really spectacular when we got to the top, sure, but it was definitely anti-climactic. Great view, cool castle, lots of souvenier shops. Caah and I walked back down that mountain, slipping perhaps ten times more than before, commenting extensively on exactly how worthless the hike was. Oh well, we worked off some beer, at least.

By the time we got back into the village I was soaking wet. My glasses were literally useless and my hair was a giant mop. The best part of it all was my jacket didn't button and I was wearing a white shirt. Yup. I've officially gone wild in Germany. Caah and I knew that we needed something warm, immediately, but literally looked at every single menu in every single restaurant before deciding on one. The only thing we really wanted was hot chocolate and warm apple pie. Hot chocolate in Florence is strange. In short, its a brick of chocolate that has been melted with a little bit of hot water. I love chocolate, but thats a little heavy. Hot chocolate in Germany, on the other hand, is perfection. I even got to have some whipped cream with it.

We got back on the bus after souvenir shopping. I was able to buy a shot glass for my collection (a little beerstein) and some postcards. We got back onto the stuffy bus reeking of wetness. It was a combination of the I've-just-been-outside-in-nature-for-hours smell, the I've-just-sweat-alot smell, and rain smell. It equals a bunch of putrid people on a bus for hours. At least we were warm.
Well, Arrivederci, for now.
Love, Gabby.