Day 13: I love cats bad

Helllllllo world! I write this on Tuesday, our last day in Germany, and really, our last day in Europe. The past two weeks have been crazy, exhausting, exciting...overall, just unbelievable. But I'm not reflecting on our trip just yet. That can happen when we get home. Let me just fill you in on our journeys over the past few days.
For nearly two years, I've wanted to go to the Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, the "Disney Castle," as Johannes' friends call it. Timing never worked out when I was abroad, but Johannes arranged for us to go yesterday, along with some of his friends from school. Lets start from the beginning...
Driving in his friend Tessilo's little red Ford (the 'college student car,' we've been told), speeding down the Autobahn, you'd hardly know you were in Germany. Once we left the city, we drove through nothing but lush, green farmland that made me feel like I was in Ireland more than the outskirts of Munich. On the way out. we stopped in a little Bavarian village for coffee (in my case, hot chocolate), in a restaurant overlooking the lake. From there, we drove through the backroads, down a dirt road that couldn't fit more than one car at any point. For more people, it would have been terrifying; for me, nothing could be scarier than the ride from Berlin to Munich with Martin at the wheel.

The castle was astounding. There are just no words for how ornate and elaborate every single room was. Well, at least the finished rooms - all four of them. The castle itself is set high up on a mountain, so we had to hike up a windy hill just to get there. After the castle, Johannes said we were going to hike even further up the mountain. We literally climbed up, grabbing onto tree roots and rocks to hoist ourselves us. Utter insanity.

On the way home, we, well...we stopped in Austria. Apparently it's not too far from the castle, do we drove through on the way back to Munich. The Alps are gorgeous. Simply put, there is nothing in the world more serene and peaceful than what we saw yesterday. The snow-capped mountains jutted out from above the water, occasionally vanishing into the chilly mist like a modern-day Brigadoon. The lake was a blue-green that no Crayola color could ever do justice. At one point, we got out and skipped rocks from the shore.


Finally, we made it back to Munich. We headed straight for the beer hall to watch the Euro 2008 football match between Germany and Austria. I don't think there is a point to me describing it. There was lots of beer, lots of cheering, lots of singing, lots of German flags waving around. You'd think the Germans had won a war (for once) or something. It was really cool though, to be part of something that brought out so much national pride in people. Germany won the match, 1-0, and it should come as no surprise to you that I missed the only goal scored because I was waiting in line to pee. Not surprised, right? That's what I figured...
After the match, we sang and jumped around and danced in the beer hall, then headed to the streets to celebrate. Armed with local beer and loads of layers to ward off the cold and rain, we made our way to a main street in town, where we were told Germans rioted after the team won the World Cup two years ago. There must have been thousands of people out there last night - it was utter insanity, much better than when Maryland won the womens's NCAA a few years ago...
Around 1 a.m., riot police stormed the streets and made everyone get on the sidewalks. Following that, huuuuuge street sweeping machines trolled up and down the streets, getting rid of all the broken glass bottles and debris (and trust me, there was a ton of it). We ended up going back to Johannes' friends flat nearby for awhile, then came back here.

We woke up this morning and immediately hit the streets, since Tor had yet to actually see Munich. We visited gardens and some cool stuff left over from the Nazi regime. We also came across guys surfing in the stream in the English Gardens. Architects created an artificial wave area where surfers could bring their boards and ride the waves, right in the middle of the city! How crazy is that!?

After the gardens, we walked into town and Johannes continued to be the best tour guide ever. We climbed up to the top of a church in the middle of town and got some astounding views of the city. Then we said goodbye to Johannes for a few hours and wandered around on our own. We came back to the main square, Marienplatz, to watch the glochenspiel. The gloch is perhaps one of the best things in the world - not as great as World Press Photo or mac and cheese, but probably on par with poop shelves (Quote from Tori, who is occasionally peeking over my shoulder: "There really are poop shelves here!"). The gloch is a long and complicated thing to explain, but take me word for it, its AWESOME.


Post-gloch, we hit up the Hofbrau house in search of some good beer and German food. Tor ordered the Hofbrau House Sausage Plattern. Damn, that girl loves her wursts. I opted for something more pig-friendly-turkey and spatzle. When we left, we began a long-winded search for a couple bottles of beer to enjoy on the Oktoberfest grounds (since Germany has no open-container laws. Or if they do, we've chosen to ignore them up until this point.). We finally made our find and headed over to Lady Bavaria, Munich's answer to the Statue of Liberty. WE popped open our bottles and enjoyed the brisk air and the company of Lady Bavaria.

And that's all, folks. We're about to go to bed, because we are waking up early tomorrow morning in order to get to the airport in time for our 11:55 a.m. flight. We have a brief flight to London, followed by a three-hour layover in Heathrow before we continue on the final, and longest, leg of our journey. You all know how I hate flying, so I'm hoping there is some sort of free wine involved at some point over the next 24 hours...

I did want to say a few things though. Thanks to everyone for reading, commenting and offering suggestions! You have all contributed something to our trip, and for that we are very grateful. Secondly, I'm getting a pedicure Thursday because my feet are disgusting. If you are in the Kingston area and want to join, just let me know. Thirdly, we didn't blog yesterday so we were unable to wish a very special lass a happy 22nd birthday. SO HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY AMY CLEGG!!!!!!!

We'll be posting a reflection from the States in a few days, so keep checking back! Auf Weidersen!

Love and extreme world travel,
Melissa