Day 19: Some town called Garmisch

Right now I am sitting in our hotel room in Garmisch, while Taylor is napping, and trying to catch up on some blogging. We don’t have internet here, so I’ll have to post later when we move to a new town. It is pouring down rain outside right now. It sounds amazing, I love rain when you can just sit and listen to it.

This morning our breakfast was pretty skimpy. I’m still recovering from being sick and its getting easier to eat things, but there just wasn’t much to eat today –just bread and cheese.

About 9 of us went with Dr. Brantz and Dr. Browder to another nearby town. There was a violin-making museum there that we went to. It was really cool. The violins were so old and beautiful. I really enjoyed it. After we just walked around and looked in some of the shops. Taylor and I got pizza that was awesome. I also got a milkshake. I was so excited because that’s the first time I’ve had cold milk here at all. Taylor got raspberry of course haha. We all headed back at 1:30 and it started raining so everyone is just chilling out. We are eating tonight at the hotel. This is going to be a chill day for us.

Day 18: I have no idea what happened on Monday

I honestly can't remember much about Monday. I was still recovering from sickness. I do remember we went to Ludwig's Palace with a weird cave that they would watch plays in. I don't honestly remember anything else. We got to Garmisch that night and went to dinner at a restaurant where there was music and dancing. Sorry for the lack of a post, every day is starting to run together.

Day 17: The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Music

Sunday, MY BIRTHDAY, I got up early to go on the Sound of Music Tour with Derek, Taylor Hutchens, Taylor Witlow, and John. We ate breakfast and waited for the bus to come pick us up from the hotel! I was pretty pumped, especially because I was feeling a little better….and it was my birthday. We got on the bus and met our Tour Guide, Gary. He was a funny guy. We started the tour by going to the house that was in the movie, but they only show the back of the house and used a different house that we saw later as the front. We got to see the lake that the children and Maria fell in when the Captain arrived home and the trees that they were hanging in. It was really fun. Then they took us to the gazebo that the “I am sixteen going on Seventeen” song and the “Something Good” song was filmed in. They moved it from its original spot in the back of the house to a public park a few years ago.

After that the bus ride took us out into the Austrian countryside. They started playing the soundtrack when we were driving by the hills and valleys. I freakedddd out! It was so fun. Taylor and I wanted to burst out in song and run up and down the aisles. We saw the most beautiful views of the lakes and got to stop in a little town for lunch. I got a grilled cheese that pretty much made my day. Taylor and I split an apple strudel with vanilla ice cream. I also got an Edelweiss necklace…for my birthday present ha-ha.

After the tour we wanted to go see Mozart’s house. We ran into dr. Browder and he took us to the house, a got us entry to it as well. It was really cool. This house was his birthplace so there were lots of stuff from his childhood and some beautiful paintings. I got William some souvenirs from there of course.

After that we walked up toward the Abbey that the film was based on. We tried to figure out which gate was shown in the movie. The views of the mountains at the top were gorgeous.

We ended up finding other people from the group later. There was a new piece of art near Mozart’s statue and we went closer to find that inside was a photograph exhibit of the Making of the Sound of Music!!! The pictures were amazing. I took a picture of every picture and bought 2 post cards haha. After that it was time for dinner and we decided to eat with Dr. Brantz and Dr. Browder. I got duck, but nothing will beat the duck the first night in Paris. I also got a desert for my birthday. They sang to me at the table, and as awkward as it was I was glad it happened. It made me feel a little more at home.

On the way back there were street performers trying to raise awareness of “Milk Day” in Germany. They were all dressed in white and doing weird movements but they sucked us in. That night after we got back to the hotel, Kristen, Taylor and I went to get drinks with the Drs. It was an interesting conversation and a great way to end my birthday night.

Day 16: Welcome to Mozart's City

Friday night I was not able to get much sleep because I had basically slept all day, so it was a long night. Saturday morning I was starving, after hardly eating anything on Friday. At Breakfast it was more difficult than I thought to get something down, my stomach was still hurting me.

We headed off to Salzburg after breakfast. I got a seat by myself on the bus thank goodness. We stopped a few times along the way. We also had a surprise stop that Dr. Brantz and Browder would not tell us. We pulled up to this place where there were tons of people. We thought maybe we had to dress up in lederhosen (the traditional German garb) because they said we would have to “dress up a little”. What we were really going to was a mineral/salt place. We went into the Alps where they mine for salt and had to dress up in jump suits –real gangsta ones. There were slides that we could slide down, so Kristin, Taylor, Liz and I slid down them. Fun stuff. It was pretty interesting, but not at all what we were expecting.

After that we headed to Eagles Nest. We had to park our bus and then take a separate bus run by the Eagles Nest tourist people up to the top. The view on the way was amazing, but up at the top it was really foggy. I was a little disappointed with Eagles Nest. I thought it would be a lot more legit, but it was pretty touristy. Needless to say, I was also feeling pretty bad by the point too and just wanted to get to Salzburg.

The Fireplace in Eagle's Nest

Once we finally arrived in Austria and to our hotel, we settled in and then went to a restaurant for a cultural meal. I just got a baked potato hoping that would be easy to eat. That night I went to bed early, which was sad since I was turning 21 at midnight. But I wanted to get better and enjoy Sunday.

Day 15: Sick in Europe

So the next morning I had to go to the Doctor. Apparently I had an enlarged tonsil but it turned into a stomach thing as well. So while everyone else went to Dachau I stayed at the hotel and literally slept all day. This trip has worn everyone out. It’s a very strenuous schedule and I don’t think any of us were expecting it to be this hardcore. I think I got sick from exhaustion and I probably got food poisoning or caught a stomach bug. So Friday was basically my sick day.

Day 14: "Munchin is the best city in Germany!"

Thursday we got up to eat breakfast. The breakfasts in Germany are not nearly as good as in France. We are missing some baguettes. We headed out as a group to go meet our tour guide for the Third Reich Tour…intense sounding, I know. The tour guide was this college age student, she was pretty cool. She showed us lots of places where Hitler had gone and where there was Nazi history. She told us a story about her grandfather who had been in school during the Third Reich and Hitler. He had gone into his religion classroom and at that time everyone always greeted teachers and others with Hail Hitler, but this teacher said he didn’t want to see it or hear it. The next day the teacher was gone. He had apparently been sent to Dachau. Those types of stories really put that time period into perspective. Even if you didn’t agree with the Nazis, you weren’t allowed to say anything…you would be executed. This also happened to a group of college students that formed the group, The White Rose. They put out anonymous flyers to try to bring to attention the madness of the party. Sadly, they were eventually caught and killed.

There are lots of lions all over the city. It is apparently the symbol of Bavaria. I keep seeing them and say "Alphie!!"

The tour was really good and afterwards we had free time. For lunch, Taylor, Derek and I had been talking about McDonalds all morning…so we had to go. It was the best McDonalds ever. After that we walked around and went back to the hotel to get ready before the Hofbrahaus. I was feeling really achy that afternoon and evening. I overslept our meeting time but managed to throw on clothes and catch everyone before they left for the rally point. At the Hofbrahaus I figured I would feel better after I ate something so we ordered salad and pretzels and eventually I had a beer. But at the Hofbrauhaus, they are litre beers. It took me all night to drink it. We had two German men sit down next to us. We eventually got to talking to them about all types of things. It was a really fun conversation about Obama, Osama bin Laden, and the holocaust. That was the ultimate European experience, just sitting there talking to real Germans.

Day 13: Bye, bye France

Today we travelled from Strasbourg to Munich. We got up this morning to finish packing, have our last breakfast (and say goodbye to baguettes and nutella), bring our luggage out to the lobby and say goodbye to the beautiful chateau. It was bittersweet leaving today. The chateau really did become our home away from home over the last weeks. But I was really excited to start the rest of the trip.

We loaded the bus and started the drive. We stopped in a little village after an hour and a half to get coffee and a snack. It was really cold in this village, but thankfully everywhere else we have been has been warmer.

I had fallen asleep most of the way, and my neck was killing me. I think I slept wrong last night and then with the bus it made it worse. Plus, Dr. Browder was talking on his microphone the whole time, which made it hard to sleep.

We travelled a little further and stopped for lunch. The little town we stopped in was SO quiet. It was eerie. There were plenty of people walking around but no one was talking. Kind of weird. But we went to a bratwurst place and got a brat, fries, and pepsi. There were disgusting pigeons around that made every so appetizing… We got a chance to walk around a bit after lunch and found a 1 euro a scoop Gelato place! We were all so excited. Probably one of the best moments on the trip haha.

After lunch we got back on the bus and made one more stop at a gas station. Then were finally arrived to Munich. Driving in, the city itself looked kind of ugly. I was happy later after dinner to see prettier architecture downtown. But, after we got settled into our hotel we went to eat at a place Dr. Brantz has been going to since he lived in Munich a few years back. We all got beer, the waiter peer pressured us, but half a litre was on 3.70…a LOT cheaper than Paris or Strasbourg. I got a veil meatball and mashed potatoes! The mashed potatoes were SO good. The veil was alright. After dinner we just walked around to burn off what we ate and then headed back to the hotel. I skyped a little with Ian and am probably going to go to bed early.

Sorry for the boring post. Today was a travel day with a lot of restless sleeping!