stinking early to get ahead of all the (other) tourists, and drove to
Schwangau, home of the famous castles, Hohenschwangau and
Neuschwanstein. While we were getting ready, M and I went out on the
porch to watch the sun rise over the Alps. Wow.
We definitely beat the crowds, and got great times for our tours of
the two castles. Before our tours began though, we had time to eat
some breakfast. We had not gone out for breakfast for a long time
because in Italy they pretty muc
h just eat sweet rolls or focaccia for breakfast. We wandered into a
hotel and when they said they had a 'buffet' our hopes soared. The
hotel looked pretty decent and I was envisioning heaping piles of
steaming hasbrowns, maybe a custom omlette station, Belgium
waffles......
Not so much. Some salami, ham type stuff, SOFT boiled eggs (eww),
rolls, and cold cereal. AND the coffee was yuck! Not impressed.
Anyway, the castles were VERY impressive. Just amazing. The kids were
AWESOME during the tours and I think they really liked them. You can't
just wander around these castles, you have to take a tour. Much of the
original furniture is still there. There are several rooms that you
don't see- I would just love to have the keys and go exploring around
the castles!
After the last tour, we rode the carriage down the hill and found a
brautwurst for lunch. (that's German for HOT DOG) Then we hopped in
our car and went to Tegelberg. It was a cool place- looks like skiing
in the winter, and now that the snow is melting it has a luge course
along with a great playground. It also had a magnificent gondola to
the top of Tegelberg Mountain. We started with the luge. It was SO
fun and each of the kids got 2 rides. None of them are old enough to
go alone yet, so J and I took turns riding with them. After that we
played on the playground and the coin operated motorcycles for a
while , and when we went to purchase tickets for the gondola it was
sold out! Bummer. But the ticket lady was super nice and gave us
instructions how to get to a nearby park/naturetrail in Fussen. We
played there awhile and then went to find some dinner. Near the town
we are stating in, we drove past a cute little place and decided to
try it. We hoped we were up for the challenge when we found out they
didn't have English menus. So with the help of our little German
phrase book and very meager dictionary we took a super long time
deciding. We got through the whole kids' menu and maybe a third of the
dinner menu and we decided that we should change our strategy. Instead
of reading the entire menu and picking the very best thing on it, like
we would at home, we agreed that once we each found something we
liked, we'd just go for that! I ended up with a DELICIOUS mushroom/
garlic steak and a baked potato, J got a petite roasted steak with
fries, M got potato pancakes with applesauce, and the boys got
Eirepfanncuchen! Egg pancakes- they were big and fluffy, like the
ones I (or my mom/aunts) make for breakfast at home! Yum!!! I would
say our first completly on our own German meal went well. Phew.
Auf Wiedersehen!
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