Today was the day following our No Good Very Bad Day, and it actually went quite well. We began the day by having a nice English breakfast of sausage, eggs (scrambled), toast, fried tomatoes, and a variety of jams and spreads. From there, we proceeded to the train station where we caught the 45 minute long train ride to King’s Lynn.
At King’s Lynn, I was finally introduced to the Harris family with whom Libby stayed while she was student teaching in England. We ventured to the next town of Wisbech, where they lived. Once in town, we made a quick stop at Marshland High School, where Libby had spent two and half months teaching. We walked around the exterior of the art building, saw what had changed with the school, and peeked in the windows. Rhiannon and Rhosey, two of the Harris sister trio, then took us on a tour of Wisbech.
The quaint town is often used in movies and in fact Johnny Depp is buying a house near there after having filmed a movie in the area. They both got a laugh out of this, worrying that he might be disappointed with the amount of things to do. Later they took us to the Elgood Brewery, a famous point in the town, for a walk through the massive Brewery garden and to sample some goods. The garden was glorious. The English are very proud of their gardens and with good reason. We passed the garden maze and of course decided to give it a try. Our sense of navigation, perfected in the previous week, successfully led us through the maze after several tries. I imagine it would have looked funny to an outside observer, as four twenty-somethings all tried to pretend that they weren’t having too much fun exploring the 8-foot hedges.
After touring the gardens we headed back into the main part of town to pick up a variety of sausages for the cook out. The Harris family had heard I liked trying new foods, and were determined to give me a good selection to sample. Leaving the meats to the Harrises, I quickly headed over to the candy aisle with Libby in tow. In the time it took them to pick out a couple of sausages I had a basket full of my favorite English goodies: Toffee Crisp Bars, Cadbury Crunchies, Smartees, a variety of Biscuits, and Mars bars. After getting over their shock at my booty, Libby and the Harris girls added a few items of their own. Libby insisted we had to get some Jaffa Cakes (her personal favorite from her previous visit) and Battenburg cakes, while the Harrises suggested Lion Bars and a few other candies to try.
I was eventually dragged from the candy aisle and back to the house for a quick lunch of breads and cheeses before heading off to the new cinema. Of course, the cheeses were all traditional English cheeses, which were mostly delicious and definitely smelly. The Leicester Red and English Cheddar were excellent, and Libby assured me the Stilton was fabulous as well, although I was skeptical. Along the way I got to try Marmite (interesting is a good description), several homemade jams, and traditional cream tea. Of course, I didn’t actually drink the tea. But I did enjoy the scones and clotted cream.
After we were all finally stuffed from our “light” lunch, it was time for the cinema. It was a very nice little cinema, with leather couches and drink service. Certainly, it was the most comfortable theater I have been to. Unfortunately, the single screen forced us to watch G-Force, an action flick about talking hamsters. Despite its best attempts, I was able to withstand the movie until the electrical kitchen appliances went on the attack and I was finally forced to give up.
Fortunately dinner was excellent; the Harris girls cooked sausages, herbed potatoes, and even made black pudding (ewww… look it up) for us to try. While eating we watched the very funny English show Q.I. and I was introduced to the comedy of Stephen Fry. After a great day we headed off for some sleep.

Travel question of the day: Why would anyone eat black pudding?

Today was an interesting day for the trip. Have you ever read the book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day? Today was a bit like our version of it. That isn’t to say that there weren’t some good parts too. In fact there were some very good parts. But the story doesn’t start there.
The story of today begins with Libby and Steven getting up bright and early to take a train to Cambridge. They had frantically found a place to stay the day before, deciding that Cambridge would be very interesting to see. They did not have internet at the time, so they hadn’t been able to do any research; they just chose the first place that popped up and would answer the phone.
So, Libby and Steven got up early, ate a quick breakfast at their hostel, and headed off to the underground. They successfully navigated their way to the train station, where they bought tickets for the trip to Cambridge. They took a short train ride over to the main station in London, and then settled in for the comfortable hour-long ride. The ride went wonderfully, with Libby and Steven talking, posting things on the internet with their new internet card, and enjoying the scenery.
When they got to Cambridge itself, however, things began to take a turn for the worse. You see, one of the things they hadn’t been able to get prior to booking their room were directions to the place they were staying. They knew how important directions were though, so they had looked them up on the train ride and written them down. They followed their directions faithfully, even taking a bus for a large chunk of the trip to shorten it. They were still tired from the previous day, and their backpacks were very heavy. They were soon on the street that they were looking for, and merrily set off looking for what promised to be a very cute bed and breakfast.
This quickly saw the house numbers on the houses (1, 2, 3 4…), and looked at their address to see what house number they were staying at. To their horror, they realized that the house they were looking for was 710! But not to worry, they thought. That merely meant they needed to walk seven blocks. Poor Libby and Steven were used to the way house numbers worked in the United States. There, the numbers were sometimes based on distance, so if you went seven hundred feet, your house number would be 700. Sometimes they also changed depending on the block. If you lived on the seventh block, you might have the house number of 710. But never, never, were houses numbered like they were in England. In England, Steven and Libby still had to walk past another 706 houses. So they set on their way. They walked and they walked but they saw no street signs, and soon they became very worried that perhaps they were going in the wrong direction. But then a very nice American stopped to ask them for directions. He happened to have a map with him. Steven and Libby told him where we were going, and he told them that they were very lost. He was going to the opposite side of town from where Steven and Libby were going. Since Steven and Libby had ran into him, they must have gotten lost and wandered in exactly the wrong direction. A closer examination of the map, however, showed that perhaps Libby and Steven were on the right path, and the nice man instead was extremely lost. So they parted ways with the now embarrassed nice man, who began heading back in the other direction.
Steven and Libby continued walking. By now, fatigue, hunger, and agitation had begun to set in. Libby was not delighted in Steven’s RIDICULOUS idea of renting a car, and Steven was not pleased with Libby’s RUDE remarks about his capabilities of driving in this foreign land.
Finally, after passing another several hundred houses and walking close to three miles, they made it to their bed and breakfast, which was conveniently located behind a bus stop. There they found themselves in a mini oasis, with a pleasant English couple that marveled at their long walk. “At last!” they thought, “Our day must surely get better now!” And so it did, at least for a little while. They put their packs down, enjoyed the cool air of the bed and breakfast, and once refreshed, set back out to Cambridge. Of course, this time they took a bus.
Libby and Steven found that Cambridge was amazing, and was like everything they had ever dreamed it to be. The city was full of gorgeous colleges, bookshops, restaurants and the typical college town buzz. They feasted on a delicious meal typical of the region, a fisherman’s pie and bangers and mash. They toured the famous King’s College and wandered through a park. They even took a nap in one of the gardens, resting their heads on their packs and gazing up at the sky. (This also gave them the opportunity to observe that while the Germans enjoy making out at public monuments, the English seem to prefer public parks.)
Deciding at last that it was time to head back, Libby and Steven made their way to the bus station. Buses, they had found, are a little different than they were in Germany. For one thing, the buses aren’t quite as new. That isn’t really a problem; they still work well and are clean. But it does mean that the buses don’t have handy screens telling you what stops they go to, or a voice announcing where you are at each stop. Because of this, Libby and Steven decided to ask the bus drivers if the bus would go where they wanted.
The driver of the bus they wanted assured them, “Sure, I stop at the cemetery on New Market Street. Just press the button when we get near!”
“Perfect,” they thought. “Our No Good, Very Bad Day is gone!”
But then, despite the bright “Stopping” sign glowing at the front of the bus, they passed right by the cemetery. They also passed right by the shopping center, the roundabout, the business center, and finally the edge of town. A fellow traveler on the bus noticed their alarm at this, and said, “Oi, were you trying to stop back there? You’re in for it now, we won’t stop until the next town!”
The bus driver had forgotten that he was supposed to stop. He hadn’t even paid attention to the alarm asking him to stop. He had just driven merrily on his way. When he finally stopped at the next town, Steven and Libby asked him what had happened. He had no answer, and could only say “I’ll go back there in three hours.”
So, our travelers were left standing on the side of the road, quite literally in the middle of nowhere, with only a signpost for company. But that was no problem, they thought, as the next bus would surely come in fifteen minutes and take them back. Except no bus came. Thirty minutes later, no bus had come. Finally, they used Libby’s brand new phone to call bus information. They were told that no buses would come for another two hours! By this point, Steven and Libby were more than a little upset. Libby may have started to cry, and Steven may have had some unkind things to say about British bus drivers. Libby resolutely began walking towards town, while Steven pulled out her cell phone to call the owners of their bed and breakfast. Thankfully, the owners were Nice People. They were horrified by what had happened on the bus, and drove all the way out to pick up our weary travelers.
At long last, Steven and Libby reached their Bed and Breakfast. They thanked the owners profusely, and took a nice long nap. And finally, the day got better. They read their books in the peaceful garden. They wrote down some of what happened to them. And Libby even got to call her family and talk for a while. The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day was over.

Signing off,
Tired Steven and Exhausted Lib
Question of the day: Too tired to think of one.

Day 9 was our first full day in England, and as such we decided to celebrate by taking the day a little easier than some of our previous days. We started the morning by writing some more of our experiences down, looking up where we wanted to visit in London, and figuring out what we needed to buy to survive in this country. Internet was still not readily available (something of great worry to me), so we couldn’t post anything on the blog or get directions easily. We still had trusty Rick Steves though, so we set off on the Jubilee line to central London.
One thing we had forgotten though: to eat breakfast before we left. Libby had eaten some of the leftovers from the night before (a banana and some flat bread), but I hadn’t had anything at all. By the time we reached London, it was nearly noon and I had been up since 7:00. Libby soon learned why breakfast is the most important meal of the day for me, as I entered a nearly catatonic (and extremely grumpy) state. It seems Libby isn’t the only one who has a Hunger alter-ego; mine just has to work harder to surface. After wandering around for nearly an hour trying to find some place to eat (along the way seeing the Eye of London, Westminster Abbey, the Millenium Bridge, Parliament building, and Big Ben from a distance) we finally settled for a touristy-style pub on Trafalgar square. It was expensive, the food wasn’t particularly good (fish and chips, with a healthy dosing of grease), but it was food and that’s all that mattered. Of course, if the German cheese and sausage hadn’t done our intestinal systems in, the fish and chips definitely delivered the final blow.
Much more cheerful (but now with hurting tummies from the grease) we set off to continue our day. We didn’t stop to see Trafalgar square at the time, promising to return later, but instead caught the underground to Picadilly Circus where the tourist information office is located. There, a nice gentleman got us a map, advised us on where to go shopping (and get a cell phone), where the best place to get musical tickets are, and even tried to help Libby figure out the differences in sizing for women’s clothing.
Since it was only a short walk down to Oxford street, where all the best shopping was, we decided to spend the rest of the day wandering there. We rapidly found a large cell phone shop, where we got Libby a cute little cell phone (it was nearly the same price as picking up a SIM card for my phone, and she should be able to use it back home). It is pink, and in her words, “so cute!” More importantly, we also got a pay as you go Mobile Internet card! We could now have the Internet wherever we wanted (I’m typing this from a train, in fact).
Both of these would end up being good purchases. The Internet card has allowed us to work on what would otherwise be rather long train rides, and the cell phone has saved us more than once.
The next stop was a department store across the street, where Libby picked up some fresh clothes, and debated long and hard on whether to get a (very) expensive purse. In the end, she decided to “think about it”, although it was difficult to leave because “It has a little dog just like Rudy on it!” She would later use this as leverage to drag me from a bike shop without purchasing anything.
We ended our stroll by heading to a nearby park where we sat on the grass and called the Harris family where we would be staying later in the week. We watched children play football, families walk their dogs, and oddballs argue religion in a corner of the park. It appeared that one particular corner of the very large park had been designed for such a thing; each post had someone holding a sign of some sort condemning everyone else who happened to be nearby.
At last, we decided it was time to head back to the hostel. On the way back from the park, I got my traditional ice cream (this time the traditional English “Double flake cone”), and as usual Libby rolled her eyes, and then proceeded to eat half of it. We got back to the hostel, Libby took a nap while I read, and then we washed some clothes, used our newfound internet, and finally went to bed early.
Signing off,
(Net)-Surfing Steven and (cell-phone) Loquacious Lib
(Bonus points to who can tell me how I know that last adjective)
Question of the day:
Why must Lib always eat half my ice cream?

We woke up early on Day 8 of our European Extravaganza to pack everything and leave Munich. We checked our bags at the hotel, paid for our rooms, got ripped off with paying extra for our “included breakfasts,” and met Susi at a bookstore. We went to the Alte Pinakothek Museum, which Steven would like to note was very similar to the painting museum in Berlin. We met up with Susi’s friend who is also an English teacher and did a brief tour of Munich. We had a wonderful lunch, chatted about all of the differences between the US and Germany, and exchanged English and German lessons. We said our good byes and Steven and I headed to the subway to catch our train to the airport. It was a perfect way to spend our last day in Germany.
We got through security at the airport but found out right before scanning our bags that we needed to drink our liter bottle of water and jug of fruit juice before moving any further. We already had our passports checked, so we could not go out to the bathrooms and there were no places to dump the liquid. With the security guard standing over us we managed to gulp it down. So how long does it take to drink two liters of fluids? Not long with the proper motivation. We made it through security with Steven’s bag full of electronics lighting up like a Christmas tree on the scanner (it did get checked), and headed immediately for the water closets. With the remaining euros in our pockets we headed over to the souvenir shop to spend our money on the German-English dictionary we could have used seven days ago, and (of course) candy to tide Steven over. After an uneventful two-hour flight we landed in rainy London. Heathrow had been completely redone since my last time there is preparation for the 2012 Olympics. It also turns out that the subway system is being redone, which caused some headaches. We did get to finally return the favor for all those Germans who had taken pity on us in the train station. Our underground train was running late, so halfway through the ride it was announced that the train would end and we would have to catch the next train. We dutifully hopped off, but noticed that a small Japanese family hadn’t been able to understand the instructions and were still sitting happily in the train. We got back on, and explained they had to catch the next train. Hopefully Karma from our similar experience in Berlin was satisfied. Once in central London, we decided against trying to navigate the buses late at night, and hailed a famous black cab to made our way to the hostel. By the time we made it there it was late and the only food we could get was at a Tesco store (15 minutes away) that was closing in 25 minutes. Which leads us to our traveling question of the day: What can 15 pounds in 10 minutes buy?
Dinner for Two,
Clean towels for the hostel,
And most importantly: Fresh boxers.

Signing off,
Lady Libby and Sir Steven

This post is dedicated to my brilliant mother. Despite her struggles with German class I still believe her to be the smartest woman I know and I hope this helps her.
I am also dedicating it to my father, for his relentless efforts in teaching me memory tricks instead of investing in vacations. Coincidently, he happens to be the smartest guy that I know. (Steven, no worries, you’re a close second).
This is how I survived a week in Germany with no German speaking skills:
Ich mochte = I would like, think: “I would like an icky moustache”;
Danke shcoen = thank you, think: “donkey chains” (Thank you Mark)
Bitte sehr = you’re welcome or literally very pleased, think of giving someone “bitter pears” (Thank you again, Mark)
My all time favorite! Get ready to visualize this. I came up with this little trick after many scoldings for the mispronunciation of the castle name Neuschwanstein. Think of a swan holding a stein of soy sauce. The castle is pronounced noy (rhyming with soy) shvan stein.
Hauptbahnhauf = main train station. I cleverly figured this out when we left the hauptbahnhauf in Berlin and arrived at the hauptbahnhauf in Munich via the bahn.
Strasse = street, learned that when trying to read a map in German for several days.
Platz = plaza, they have lots of platzs there.
Es tut mir leid = Sorry, learned that just because it’s fun to say, pronounced ssss toot meer lied. Can also think of as “Excuse me I lied!”
It’s amazing how much of a language is picked up by drowning in it for a week.
Off to England.
Gute nacht!
Libby

Day seven of our journey arrived with us feeling more than a little worn down. On Susi’s advice, we had decided to visit Regensburg (as opposed to Nurnburg or Rothenburg), but we decided to get a later start than usual in order to try and recover somewhat. Incredibly we made it to our train 20 minutes early and had time to leisurely find our seats. After an hour and a half ride we made it to Regensburg.
Upon arrival we hopped off the train, and felt a now familiar sensation: A total loss of what to do. Even worse, our go-to man, our source of knowledge in crunch time, our ace in the hole, was of no use to us here. Rick Steves had failed to write about Regensburg.
Seeing there was nothing else to do, we put our tourist ways aside and headed out into the city to do what we do best: wander. Making our way down the main street from the train station our first stop became apparent. Rising above the city were the two largest church spires we had ever seen, done in a fantastic gothic style. This turned out to be the 12th century St. Peter’s Cathedral. This was by far the most interesting church we had visited. It was magnificent but not overdone. Gothic carvings and gargoyles covered the exterior, and the entire church was built in white, stained stones that exuded a sense of age. (Some of this was a show, however; the towers had been added by none other than King Ludwig II in the 19th century). The inside was equally impressive, with stain glass windows that rose for what must have been 60 feet, and the highest vaulted ceiling we had yet seen. The dim interior added to the ancient feel of the place, and not even the construction work being done on the organ could take away from it. Around the interior edge of the building there were the tombs of saints and priests that had served there, set into the floor. Each was covered with a large stone plate that you could walk on (if you so chose), with life-sized images of the deceased carved into them, and grave markers on the wall above. We felt like Indiana Jones, especially while writing notes in the moleskin journal from Deborah. And no matter what we did, we couldn’t quite shake the sense that if we were to step on one of the tombs, spikes would shoot out of the wall, or a large boulder would come rumbling down the center aisle of the church.
When we were finally finished visiting St. Peter’s Cathedral, we were once again slightly at a loss as to what we should do. We felt like we had already seen the most impressive thing in the city, and didn’t have any idea where to go next.
And then Libby got Hungry, and our next destination became exceedingly obvious. We knew that the best place in town to eat was supposedly the old Wurst stand on the Danube river, so we began heading downhill, hoping that eventually we would end up on the waterfront. Sure enough, five minutes later we emerged directly next to the stand. The only problem was that it was packed, and Libby now proclaimed that she couldn’t stomach another bite of sausage anyway. With Libby’s Hunger becoming increasingly insistent, we hurried back into the city looking for a café that wasn’t too crowded. Unfortunately, everything we passed was either packed to the limits, or an ice cream shop. I thought the ice cream shop was a fabulous idea, but with my life increasingly in jeopardy, I thought it best not to mention this. A half hour later, we finally stumbled back to the main square at St. Peter’s Cathedral, where we had seen a small café that looked promising. Sure enough, there was plenty of seating. We sat down, and soon were enjoying our lunch of… currywurst? Apparently Libby’s definition of “not another bite of sausage” was flexible. She was very proud of herself though, as for the first time she managed to order her meal entirely in German by herself.
The Hunger at last satisfied, we carried on. We still didn’t have a good idea of where to go, but we now at least knew where the waterfront and the historic stone bridge across it were. What we really wanted though was a map of the interesting things in the city. Susi to the rescue! We texted her with our dilemma, and five minutes later, we knew that the Alte Rathause (old city hall) had everything we needed: maps, historic sites, English language help, and bathrooms.
Twenty minutes of wandering later, we had our maps and were ready to continue. We went back to the waterfront and crossed the stone bridge to look at the other part of the city. From there, we got some beautiful pictures of the bridge and the water, and got to see part of the park that ran along the river. After a short exploration of this new area, we decided that the final thing we had to see for the day was the castle located at the opposite edge of the city.
The trek to the castle was relatively short, and certainly scenic. Along the way we wound our way through tiny little streets with gorgeous buildings rising on either side, saw several more churches (including a pretty, but very small and obviously newer Catholic church directly next door to the cathedral), and an interesting memorial to the persecuted Jews. When we came to the area surrounding the castle, the first thing we saw were two more churches. These two were especially odd, in that they seemed to share a common wall and entry area. The first, and smaller of the two churches seemed especially old; in fact it seemed more ancient than even the Cathedral we had seen earlier in the day. There were more of the tombs set into the floor of the building, and also into the walls of the entryway outside. The interior of the church had the feel of something well-worn; the floors were cracking (and several of the flagstones were loose) and the pews were completely smooth from use. This was possibly my favorite church of the day. Aside from its age, which made it special all on its own, it was also the least overpowering building we had been in. While still beautiful, like all old Catholic churches, it didn’t have the overdone gilding, or hundreds of paintings covering the walls, or even the massive statuary and towering ceilings of the Cathedral. The church was simple, and you could imagine a small congregation from a thousand years ago worshiping together there.
The next church over was yet another beautiful medieval church. We did not get to see much of it, however, except for a few glimpses inside through the window. All day long we had been seeing men dressed in tuxedos, women in formal dresses, and in particular a girl in an all white dress wandering around the town with cameramen. It all made sense as we saw glimpses of the wedding taking place. It seemed like a pretty posh affair, with a string quartet, a couple of incredible singers, and a guest list that probably topped 500. The fact that they had apparently rented out the cathedral and the car waiting for them outside the reception area was a flower-festooned BMW 7-series was the cherry on top.
Leaving the churches behind us, we finally made our way to the castle Libby had been waiting to see all day. It became obvious that it was more of a palace than a castle, but it still looked very interesting. It also became obvious that it was more closed than open. Oopsie. It turns out that it closed at 5:00 PM, and we had arrived at precisely 5:05 PM. It looked very nice from the outside though.
The castle being closed turned out to be a good thing, as we were both by this point utterly exhausted. We therefore headed back to the train station, this time walking onto the train with a comfortable 10 minutes to spare, and settled in for an hour and a half ride and an early bedtime. The train was extremely packed, and we ended up sitting on the floor in the bike area profusely sweating, but by this point we were beyond caring.

We returned back to Munich in the early evening and walked through the city. We stopped of course for ice cream before making it back to the hotel.

Traveling question of the day: Do Germans get food poisoning more often than we do, or are the US laws perhaps overly strict? The world may never know.
(Perhaps the German intestines ‘o steel play a factor)

Signing off, on the way to England,
Me and her.

Before we left on the trip, my mom had said that this trip would be good for us; it would be a test of our relationship and how well we worked together.
She was right.
But, like a well-trained duo of super heroes, we leapt into action without the slightest bit of panic.
Perhaps there was a little panic.
We grabbed our packs and were soon sprinting full speed through the crowds of people separating us and our precious train to the majestic castle. Regulars in Munich might have wondered what two slightly scruffy looking people with backpacks and ball caps were doing dashing down the street, but we arrived at the Haptbahnhof with 6 minutes to spare despite Libby stopping to tie her shoes at least twice. We still had to get tickets and actually arrive on the train, however. We plowed through the station, bypassed the ticket lines with English speaking staff, and made it to the machine to order our tickets in German. We got what looked like what we might need, dashed to our platform, leapt into the train, and sat just as the doors closed. Giddy at our accomplishment we settled in for our train-ride.
(This is Lib taking over for the rest of the post, Steven has decided to read).
Fussen contains the summer childhood hunting home (Hohenschwangau) of King Ludwig the Mad, and his fantasy castle based on Wagner operas (Neuschwanstein). The town is very well set up to lure tourists to spend money. Once arriving in Fussen you must wait three hours before you can visit Neuschwanstien Castle but you only have to wait one hour until you can visit Hohenschwangau Castle. The idea is that one will then decide to visit both, going to the smaller castle first than the larger. Also, enough time is scheduled between the two to keep tourists in Fussen longer. Somehow, this commercialized marketing scheme took away from the majestic nature of the place, although it was still impressive. We decided to rent bikes once we arrived and forgo the tourist buses to the castles. We biked the 5 kilometers to the base of Hohenschwangau along a nice scenic path that crossed several bridges, until we reached the point where only foot travel or shuttle bus was allowed. Deciding to hike, we were soon in the courtyard of Hohenschwangau. This castle served as a summer hunting lodge for the kings of Bavaria around Ludwig II’s reign. Only a small part was open to the public. It was impressive but the rushed thirty-minute tour didn’t give the time to process much of what was seen except for swans in all forms throughout the castle. We then walked on to Neuschwanstein, on what was supposed to be a 40 minute hike, and found that we were there in 20. Waiting around we read up on the castle in our handy Rick Steve’s guide. Ludwig was a huge fan of the composer Wagner and designed the interior of the castle after Wagner’s compositions. The castle contains an original Wagner piano (which we saw!) and a small concert hall. Many of the paintings and statues reference Wagner’s operas. A theatre scene designer designed the castle and painted the backdrop for the concert hall. Disney used the castle as inspiration for the movie Sleeping Beauty. Ludwig only lived in the castle for 172 days. He was declared mentally ill and was not allowed to rule. The next day he was found dead in a pond under shady circumstances and the only witness was his doctor. (If you’re thinking about Michael Jackson, don’t worry I was too). Six weeks after he died the castle was opened for tours. It’s almost like this place was destined for tourists. On the way down from the schloss (castle) we decided to take the scenic route that Rick Steve’s mentioned. It was incredible; instead of following the road the dirt trail wandered down the backside of the mountain. We found that we were the only ones on the route. We hiked the past an incredible waterfall and flowing streams. This route also provided the best view yet of Neuschwanstein. We made it back to our bikes and realized that we had 12 minutes to bike the several miles back to bike store, return the bikes, and catch the train back. It was an eerily similar situation to this morning. I hopped on my bike to lead the way. I pushed the hardest gears while pumping my legs at incredible speeds. Steven then took over near Fussen to navigate us back to the rental store. Suddenly, I heard the screech of brakes and saw Steven’s bike skidding to a halt without warning. Panicked, I slammed on mine as well and tried to figure out what was going on. By this time Steven was already ordering his second scoop of ice cream and telling the merchant that it was “sehr gut”. Unfortunately I was too out of breath to scold him, so we hopped back on the bikes, now with Steven juggling his bowl of chocolate and cherry cake ice cream, and headed on. We made it back to the rental store, locked the bikes up, and once again hopped on the train 2 minutes before it left. Giddy again at our accomplishment we started wondering if catching a train seconds before the train leaves is something to be proud of or if maybe we should pay attention to the time. Exhausted we made it back to our pension (bed and breakfast) for a good night’s sleep.

Traveling question of the day: What type of tourists are more obnoxious than American tourists? We know.
Signing off-
Lederhosen Libby and Streusel Eating Steven
PS: You should be able to click the pictures on the blog for bigger versions.

As you all know, Steven and I are recently engaged. We are very excited about the upcoming wedding and we have decided to use our travels as inspiration for the part of the wedding theme. Tapping into our ancestry, we realized that we both have German roots and think it would be very special to incorporate those roots in our celebration. As such, we have decided to apply a Bavarian theme to our wedding party. Bridesmaids often complain that their dresses are useful only for the wedding itself but we feel that we have found something that will be practical in the future as well. The groomsmen will appreciate that their outfits will not need tailoring due to the adjustable nature of the straps.
Sincerely,
Libby

Today was our day to go visit Susi, Emily’s German roommate from Arizona. When we first mentioned that we were going to be visiting Germany, Emily immediately said, “You’ve got to visit Susi!” So we dutifully got in contact, and agreed to meet in her town near Munich for a day.
We weren’t meeting Susi until the afternoon though, so we decided to do some more touring of the city first. Libby finally convinced me to take one of the sightseeing bus tours, so we went down to the train station, bought our bus tickets (and our train tickets for later), and headed over to the bus stop. We managed to get seats on the open-air top of the bus, and set off for our tour. On the tour we were surprised to find that we had already seen many of the sights they were showing us; because Munich is so small compared to Berlin, it is very easy to walk from one location to another and we had accidentally wandered into many of the landmarks on our own. It was still worthwhile though, because it eventually took us out to the edge of town where Nymphenburg palace is located.
Nymphenburg palace is a summer residence for the Wittlebach family that was built by King Maximilian, to celebrate the birth of his first son. The palace was opulent, however, we both found the gardens more impressive than the building itself. We toured part of the interior. We decided that instead of waiting for the Tourist Tour bus we would save time and take the public tram system back to the train station. We actually did this very successfully and saved about an hour.
We were able to get train tickets to Miesbach and boarded the train. Luckily, Susi had informed us that the train separates at one of the stops. The first two cars continue to Miesbach and the latter cars go somewhere else. No one had told us that at the train station and we didn’t see any mention of it on our tickets.
Susi was there to greet us as soon as we got off the train. It was great to see a smiling, friendly face. She then drove us to Oedberg for the summer luge. Lib had been looking forward to this since we decided to go to Germany. The luge was located on a ski mountain. The carts were pulled up the side of the mountain with a cable and then released at the top. A hand brake could make the car accelerate or decelerate. It was very fun. After two runs down the mountain we headed off for a hike near Miesbach. The hike gave us plenty of time to ask Susi all of the questions about Germany we had been accumulating during the trip. She explained some of German school life to us, talked about the German government, and explained many of the Bavarian traditions to us. For example, most towns have a May pole that is put up in, well, May. A common tradition is to get the pole several weeks in advance and hide it, and then nearby villages try to steal the pole. If they succeed, they the first town has to buy the town that stole the pole beer. Susi is an English and history teacher and likewise had many questions for us. The hike was gorgeous and gave us excellent views of the valleys below. At the top of the hike we sat outside of a biergarten, drank water (sparkling of course, this is Germany), and talked for a while.
The hike made us hungry and we went to Miesbach for a Bavarian meal. Susi informed us that people in the town do wear drindles and lederhosen, but it is usually for special events. Ordering with a native German at our table made things much easier. We had roast, dumplings, and cole slaw. We have found that the Germans love their ice cream, so we did as the Germans do, and got ice cream (one thing we’ve noticed about German ice cream; it is more like Gelatto than ice cream in America). After dinner she showed us her flat (it was very nice) and helped us plan our last couple of days in Germany. We took a walk around Miesbach and had a wonderful time conversing with Susi, and of course, swapping stories about Emily (We found out some very interesting things. I think Emily may have to cook us some meals for a while, if you know what I mean).
We did miss our first train, however. We thought the last train left at 23:44. It turns out that the last train left at 22:44. Luckily Susi was kind enough to let us spend the night in Miesbach and head back to Munich the next day instead.
Signing off,
Libbenstein und Kadystein.
Traveling question of the day:
How hard will it be to convince the Pook (Emily) to come to Germany in two summers? We may have made a solemn vow to kidnap her and bring her back with us within 2 years.

We’re 2 days behind right now and counting, but the internet is as hard to to find as the restrooms are in Munchen.
We’ll try to keep you updated; hopefully we’ll have better internet in London (yes, this is a good trial for Steven).