October 23, 2010 <3
Another early morning, made even earlier by a misunderstanding. Sam and I had both been under the impression that B had said we should meet for breakfast at 6:30. I dragged myself out of bed at 5am, and Sam was up not long after. As I was finishing up getting ready, Sam went over to the R's room and knocked on the door...and accidentally woke up G. Oopsies!! He came back, and we waited until the R's came to us. We went down to the breakfast buffet together and lounged around until our bus came at 8:20.
Off we went to tour some local highlights. We had a fabulous tour guide who was very knowledgeable about the local history, and had a sense of humor, to boot. I, sadly, did not catch her name. I do know that our driver's name was Hienz.
Anyhow, I digress. Our first stop was a wood carving shop. This held a wealth of hand-carved delights, and more stein purchasing occurred. Our tour guide gave a demonstration of how "little smokers" worked, as well as telling us some interesting tidbits about them and nutcrackers. I had been persuaded into bringing Moosidora on this particular journey, and the nice lady behind the counter complimented me on my furry friend.
We loaded back onto the bus and proceeded to our next stop, a church that was home to a statue believed to work miracles. It had started out in a woman's home, then a tiny chapel, and finally ended up in said church. There was a service going on when we arrived, so obviously we could not go exploring right away. Right next to the church was a small cafe that made fresh donuts, which our tour guide informed us were so good, "it's a sin not to try them." Not wanting to go to hell over a pastry, we tried the donuts. They were, as promised, divine. After our tasty treat, it was okay to tour the church. As we approached it, we encountered a rooster that had snuck out of pen. Its buddies, along with some little goats, were still behind the fence. One of the first things we saw upon finally entering the church was a black cat slinking our from between the pews. We were clearly in an animal-friendly community.
The church itself was beautiful, with lots of intricate artwork. We didn't have much time before we had to be back on the bus, so we walked through, taking lots of photos. I got a prayer candle for my mom on our way out, and we were on the road again, this time to our final destination and the highlight of the journey - Neuschwanstein Castle.
The structure was commissioned and inhabited by King Ludwig II, who hated royal life and was a bit of a recluse. The castle was under construction for seventeen years, but never finished. On our tour, we were only shown the finished parts, including the indoor cave. This was probably the room that stands out most in my mind. However, it didn't quite beat out the fact that Neuschwanstein Castly was the inspiration for Disney's Sleeping Beauty castle. Love!!!
After the tour, we were all a little tired and cold, but our tour guide had informed us that just a short walk away, there was a bridge that had the best view of the castle and made for the best photos. This could not be passed up, so we trudged along in the cold. When we got to the bridge, the view was totally worth it! The castle looked absolutely gorgeous and many pictures were taken. I was wrapped up in my surroundings and not paying much attention as Sam started digging around in his pockets. I was out of the corner of my eye that he had pulled out some silly stuff, including a spider ring. He handed the ring to D (it was a remnant of her trip to San Francisco several years back) and said, "This one's for her." After a pause, he added, "And this one is for you." I was still only barely paying attention, and assumed he was handing something to the baby. And then I turned and really looked at him. He was standing there, holding a box with a perfect diamond ring. With the "Cinderella Castle" in the background, he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him! With all the daydreaming in the world, I could not have asked for a more perfect proposal. And by now, you all know I said yes!
It was then time to start heading back down the mountain. On our walk down, in the tradition of funny pictures, I took a photo in a beaver hat. D asked us if we could go on ahead, since we were now on a bit of a time crunch. We agreed, but must have taken a slight detour, because we into the restaurant where we were having lunch at the same time as the R's. We ordered some traditional Bavarian fare and scarfed it all down in ten minutes flat, barely finishing before we had to get on the bus to head back to Edelweiss. There were no stops on the way back, just beautiful scenery, more history a brief drive into Austria and some singing from Heinz, our driver.
Upon getting back, we went to our rooms for a brief rest. We had decided, in advance, to keep dinner simple that night, and met up a short while later to dead downstairs to Zuggy's, a burger and pizza place. The service was pretty slow, and D and B were highly peeved, D opting to take G upstairs before her food came. Burgers and pizza finally arrived, and those of us that were left at the table consumed our meals. I offered up the last of my sliders to the guys, but was turned down. However, when we got up to leave and B saw there was still a mini burger on my plate, he grabbed it and walked through the lobby of the lodge, chomping away on it. Since D had been on her own with the baby for a while, B brought her food upstairs. She promptly grabbed it and came to our room to eat and play Bananagrams, while G slept.
After that, and watching bits and pieces of "Angels and Demons" and "Nacho Libre" (surprisingly funny!), it was time to turn in for our last night in Germany. Before going to bed, we had decided it would be better if the R's came to our room the next morning, to avoid further accidental baby awakenings.
No comments:
Post a Comment