Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts

Saturday, October 31, 2015

Neuschwanstein Weekend

My landlord got a new wifi system and now my internet goes in and out, so I haven't posted any blogs lately.  Today, I'm going to try to get this post done before the internet goes out again.

Neuschwanstein Castle - My friend from work and I rented a car and went to see Mad King Ludwig's castles - We saw 2 and he has 4 (who knew?).  We went right after school and the leaves were just beginning to change and the drive was breathtaking.  Everywhere we looked we saw amazing sights!












Walking into
Hohenschwangau Castle 




















Hohenschwangau Castle
  




To end the perfect day of beautiful sights, the sun gave us one more show!

Hands down, at night, Hohenschwangau castle is better than the Neuschwanstein castle.

This is the view from our hotel.  It is pretty, but at night it doesn't even compare to the other one!

Good morning sun, alps, and castle!

My friend Sam at the entrance of Neuschwanstein castle - who knew it was 2 colors!

Gorgeous views from the castle balcony.




The view from Neuschwanstein Castle!  I walked around that lake!




Looking toward the 2 castles from the other side of the lake -
we are actually in Austria in this picture!


This is the other side of Neuschwanstein castle looking onto the valley.

The gardens of Hohenschwangau castle.



What would a castle blog be without the turret?


Hohenschwangau castle isn't as pretty as Neuschwanstein during the day.
Neuschwanstein has the advantage also of the Alps for a background.

The Perfect Hotel and the Perfect Village

This may be the first May pole I have ever seen!


This is a little smoke house in the hotel's back yard.
They build a fire in the pit and warm themselves up from the cold winters.

This is a map we saw of the Camino.  It is a pilgrimage from all over Europe to Santiago de Compostela, Spain.  I knew about the trails that went from France to Spain and from Portugal to Spain, but I had no idea there were trails literally ALL over Europe!  The one that goes from the U.K. via boat looks like the one for me!


Love these frog princes that are everywhere!  This one says "Kiss me!"





Seriously?  This is our hotel's back yard.  This is fairytale land FOR SURE!

I thought this was just artistic!  I had to try several times to get what I wanted.
It reminds me of a book cover.
We saw a sign that said view, so we stopped to see the view!

Augsburg

I love love love these vines changing color on the sides of buildings!
It is so pretty!!!  These pictures do not do it justice!

Love the artistic buildings that put color into the city!

Monday, September 7, 2015

Hanging out with an Australian and Austrian.

How do an Australian, Austrian, and 
American Know Each Other?

Last year, I went to Germany and did an English immersion company called Diverbo - in Germany it's called Englisch Hausen (In Spain they call it Pueblo Ingles).  The Austrian who lives in Germany was also there and we became friends.  I was actually with her in June also and she took me to Austria.  She did another Englisch Hausen recently and met the Australian there.  She took us both around to Roth and Regensburg.  She has been so kind and generous with her time!  She is an amazing person!

Rock Concert, Roth, and Regensburg

This was the most interesting concert I have ever been to.  A guy in a small small village has a barn.  Several years ago, he invited a few of his friends to come and play music for fun.  That grew into an annual event that includes about 300 people and a cover band.  It is absolutely free and there are venders (or friends) who are serving drinks and food that is for sale. (Bratwurst and beer mostly - this is Germany.  I had an apple juice and water.) There is even a portable bathroom (not an outhouse) with several stalls!  It was cold and a little drizzly, so they had a bonfire going and tents up so people wouldn't get wet or cold.

Most of the people there were either from the village, knew someone in the band, or heard about it from word of mouth.  My friend knew several people there because her ex-husband had worked in the same village.  Several people knew how to speak English and they were very friendly.  One girl I met was determined to find me someone to talk with, so she kept dragging her friends over to meet me.  It was really funny.  They would say, "How can I help you?"  I would say, "She wants me to meet people who speak English!"  Then we would chat for a few minutes - I was mostly there because it was close to the fire.  :)  I went into the actual barn where the band was playing just a few times.  Once because my friend told me to join me on the stairs so I could see better.  (It was the first time I realized how extremely tall Germans were.  I would say 75% of the men there were over 6 feet tall.)  Anyway, when I got to the stairs where she was, there was really no place to sit, so a man who was over 75 years old offered his lap.  Lol.  I said, "Nein" and stood.  

This is Purple Mania - A cover band for Purple something or other.



My Australian friend made this amazing salad.  She called it an Australian salad.  :)

An American, Austrian, and Australian.  These ladies were so much fun!!!  This pictures is of Regensberg. It is a cute town on the Danube River.  It has beautiful old colorful buildings and great architecture.  It is a World Heritage Sight.

Roth
The following pictures were taken when me and the Australian went for a walk in Roth.  In both places, we saw an opening in a wall or gate and went in to see what was there.  The first pictures were an amazing garden with all types of flowers blooming full force.  The last 2 pictures were inside the courtyard.  It has a little turret on the outside, so we just went around the corner to see what it was protecting. We weren't disappointed with a fountain, a beautiful clock and great artistic facades.