europe: disney to the alps

[written sunday, jan. 25th]

wednesday was a lovely day. we took the train to fussen, about 2 hours from munich, and the closest town to the ever famous neuschwanstein castle. this castle was built by ludwig ii in 18---and was designed to be what he thought a truly medieval castle should be -but it was never completed because he died unexpectedly (probably suicide). neuschwanstein is the model for disney's castle and is pretty much the romantic ideal i picture when i think of medieval castles. the castle sits high up in the mountains surrounded by trees and almost hidden from view until you arrive at the gates. white frosted trees, snow laden walks, and low foggy mists made the castle's gates, towers, and terraces even more idyllic. snow started falling on our way back from the castle and lizzie and i felt like we were in narnia as we made our way down the mountain. we got the train back to munich and went to bed early after readying for the next day in rothenburg.

after a rather interesting day of traveling (see my blog for more stories), we finally arrived in rothenburg early thursday evening. my parent's friend, lisa, has a cousin in bad windsheim who was wonderful enough to let us stay with him. james picked us up from the station at rothenburg and took us to his home where his wife and daughter had prepared a traditional german meal of pork roast, potato dumplings, and purple cabbage (like sourcraut). it was wonderful! the ripley family was great company (and they had an amazingly comfy guest bed christened "the princess bed.") the next day, barbara and jackie took us to rothenburg and we walked through blustery snow to the "christmas village" where they had thousands more ornaments in one place than i've ever seen in my life put together. we visited a church where they had a beautifully carved wood alter. then we walked through the snow down cute little streets and after getting cinnamon-sugar schneeballs, a traditional pastry, barbara dropped us off at the train station.

we got the train back to munich (much less trouble getting back than getting there) and then on to salzburg where we found our hostel (after only one wrong turn!). we were dead tired so we went straight to bed. the next morning we ate our nutella on bread and went out to see the sights and hear the sounds of salzburg. first we hiked up to the kapuziner monastery and got some great shots of the city. then we walked around down cute, narrow, winding streets, saw the glockenspiel, and found our way up to the hohensalzburg fortress. on our way down we tried opening some big metal gates thinking they would be locked, only to find ourselves in a crammed graveyard outside the church of st. sebastion. i love walking through graveyards (morbid, i know), so that was pretty sweet. we walked through beautiful squares, taking picture after picture, shared a huge bacon and cheese pretzel, and visited one of the most uniquely gorgeous churches i've ever seen (probably one of my top 3 favorite churches). we found the house where mozart was born and the home where he grew up (nearby across the river), promenaded through the schloss (palace) mirabell gardens (which are supposedly the most beautiful wedding venue in the world), and enjoyed one of my favorite things -crisp apple strudel -before making our may back to the hostel to spend the evening journaling, doing much needed laundry, and packing up to leave early the next morning.

the alarm went off at 7am and lizzie and i reluctantly crawled out of bed, loaded up our huge packs, and got to the station in time for the 8:30 train to zurich -which didn't exist. i don't know what i read, but we spent a lovely 2 hours in the station before catching the 10:30 train. i'm now writing this from that very train, where i'm looking out at the snow covered alps and the sounds of music are still running through my head.