German Palaces and Austrian Rain

SO! Germany and Austria...the main event of my last week. Last Saturday the family packed up and left for Germany, making a few stops on the way. The first was Verona, Italy and the second was Innsbruck, Austria where we stayed the night Saturday. We arrived late and wasn't able to see the town very much. All I saw was glimpses of the river our hotel was located next to. Our hotel by the way had the MOST comfortable down blankets. I'm going to have to figure out where to get me one of them. Sunday morning we got up and went to church at a local Austrian ward, where we met wonderful missionaries that spoke english. yay. It was testimony meeting and it was very interesting!

Outside the Austrian Crystal Museum

We then went to an Austrian crystal museum. Extremely modern and extremely Austrian. All I can say. It was really fun, actually. The kids enjoyed seeing all the weird art and stuff, as did I. After that we started our drive to Germany, but the family was gracious enough to stop and let me see a castle or palace that they had already seen previously. I walked around with Greg's sweater over my head saving me from pelting rain, but the gardens and palace were beautiful!

Austrian Palace

Edelweiss Lodge in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany

We arrived dripping wet in Germany Sunday night and fell right to sleep. Monday morning I left the family for my tour to Neuschwanstein Castle. The tour consisted of older couples and me. I was the youngest on that tour by atleast 20 years. It was interesting with that aspect alone. We arrived at Neuschwanstein (New Swan Stone) around 12 pm and did a walking tour through the castle.

So interesting! King Ludwig II was an old German King in the mid 1800's. He was a bit eccentric and loved his privacy. He built many castles such as Neuschwanstein and lived in them. Only one was completely finished before he died. Neuschwanstein only has two completed floors, but they are BEAUTIFUL! King Ludwig only lived in this castle 170 days before the government people claimed he was unfit to be King because he was crazy. Ludwig moved secretly with his psychiatrist to Lake Stenberg close by and was found dead in 2 feet of water the next day; his cause of death is unknown to this day.

Ludwig left behind many beautiful castles and palaces that have now become the inspiration and model for many of Disney's movies. Neuschwanstein is known as the "Sleeping Beauty Castle." I wouldn't mind living in that castle! It was AWESOME!
The Austrian side of the Alps

Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the small town we stayed in was close to the Austrian border, and Alps are beautiful on either side! Garmisch-Partenkirchen has its own history. It was the location of the winter olympics during the reign of Hitler. The Olympic Stadium is still there and is quite a cool place to visit. Hitler made it mandatory that the two cities of Garmisch and Partenkirchen combine into one town, unwilling from the inhabitants, to host the Olympics and show the pride of Germany. The separation between the two is still being forced, even though technically it is one city.

A gorge you could walk through along the river

(Check out the walk way carved onto stone on the left)

Garmisch is a beautiful town full of small shops and natural beauty. We rented tandem bikes and biked around the small town. It was green, leafy, and so pretty! The mountains were so huge, and the greenness was amazing! I could have spent many weeks there hiking and exploring. It was pretty darn cool!

Sausalitos!

The food, although I only ate German food once at the Neuschwanstein Castle, was great. Garmisch had within it's town limits a Subway (ate there twice), a Pizza Hut (ate there twice), a McDonald's (ate there once), a Burger King (the family ate there when I was exploring Neushwanstein), and the best restaurant ever. Yes! It's true, Garmisch actually has a real live Mexican restaurant, something that has eluded me in Italy thus far. That was entirely the best mexican food...not really, you can't beat The Red Iguana, but it has been too long since I've eaten at a really good mexican restaurant since I've left the confines of the United States. It was yummy.

We spent Sunday night to Friday morning in Garmisch and then spent two nights at Lake Garda, Italy. Germany was beautiful and I seriously plan on returning soon.