Walt Disney Had Good Taste

Yes, I did it. We did it. Rachel and I took our first adventure, south of Munich, to Füssen, Germany near Neuschwanstein (the castle Walt Disney used as inspiration for his Disney World creation). We didn't even know where we were meeting at the central train station--we simply decided to go, packed one backpack, and headed out to try and find each other.

After a two-hour ride, we arrived at a rather scenic view, and for the first time (this trip) got a true glimpse at the mystery of the Alps. With no agenda we freely meandered around the village and came across a quaint cafe, whose desserts in the display window lured us in. They were called "Schneeballen," or "snowballs." They were magnificent creations of several flat cookies rolled into a ball, then dipped in various toppings. We went with the white-chocolate-nougat one, and each enjoyed a cappuccino. Most things were closed, despite it being a Tuesday, because it was a national German holiday. We were fine with that--we needed to find a place to sleep, anyway.

I'd asked a nice woman at the cafe if she knew where the hostel was, and she gave us the name of it. Off we went in search for the Jugendherberge. It was getting darker as we walked, and though it took a while, we eventually found it. After waiting 20 minutes for a staff person, we found out no rooms were available. We were not too concerned about it, because we'd prayed much earlier in the day, and instead we just asked if the guy could recommend some other place. We set off to find another place. We would not have known to stop at the gated driveway if the Australian couple, Michael and Amy, hadn't stopped us in our tracks and with their accents said, "The owner's crazy."

We went in, and after taking off our shoes and putting on the slippers provided, we met Irmie--a frail, old German woman with vigor and quite decent English. Rachel and I were surprised when we didn't have to pay the second we got there. The first question was whether we wanted coffee or tea the next morning. She showed us to our room, which was a triple though she gave it to us as a double. And it was...hilarious. Irmie clearly loved to collect things, judging by the massive doll collection, iron collection, and the you-name-it-it-was-there collection...The dolls were terribly freaky, but we laughed about it. After killing a giant daddy long leg, Rachel and I changed and set out for some dinner. (For those who know this odd fact about me, the key to our room was a skeleton key, and I was realllllllllllly excited about that.)

Though most places were closed, we were patient and ended up at a great restaurant. We each had a delicious turkey dish, a Radler, cappuccino, and split this apple dessert between the two of us. After staying there for a good hour or two, we headed "home" and went to our bibles because we're reading the same things together. It was such a good conversation we were having, and we learned so much that night. We actually didn't even want to go to bed--it was one of those nights when you're lying there in the dark, as if at a sleepover, and thoughts keep popping into your head and you HAVE to say them. I would guess we said "goodnight" to each other at least five times before we actually meant it.

Promptly at 08:00, Irmie had prepared a beautiful array of different rolls (sweet and non-sweet), meats, cheeses, jam, honey, butter, coffee and orange juice with sugar-rimmed glasses. I liked how Irmie said sister...Schister. She was number 11 of 14 children. The milk she brought old was chunky and nasty, and when the four of us told her, she insisted on taking all of our coffees away from us and proceeded to act out the bodily functions that might occur if we had consumed such nasty milk. Needless to say...Irmie got quite the laugh out of me--really, it was because she made farting noises with her mouth.

Post-breakfast, we headed out to the bus which took us two miles to Neuschwanstein. We decided to walk up the large hill/small mountain and brave the 40-minute walk; we made it in 15. After taking pictures of the castle while we waiting for our tour to begin, we finally got to see the inside. It was quite beautiful inside. The king had his own room to pray in, and his own chair for reading the bible in...I thought that was interesting. After our tour it was 11:30, but time was going fast! We had only 1.5 hours until our train departed from Füssen, and we had several things on our agenda: get to this bridge for a good picture taking opportunity, make the bus at 11:40, get more Schneeballen to eat, and find our way back to the train station.

That next hour or so was so exhilarating--we ran uphill, carrying our heavy backpacks, to the bridge. Snapped some quick photos, ran down to the bus which took us to the village. Then we RAN to the bus to try and make it at 11:40. We had faith the bus would be there. As we turned the corner it was the moment of truth....and the bus was....THERE! We ran up to it, panting, and I asked the driver (who was laughing at us) how long it would be until the bus left. "Fünf Minuten." Ha. Not only was it there, but we had five minutes to spare and catch our breath.

We even got to satisfy our sweet tooth and gain back the calories we worked off from running like mad. It was a fantastic 36 hours and everything worked out...as we knew it would.