Cows and Castles

If you're checking this blog every day and disappointed I'm a slacker, I'm not. Our first hotel charged for wi-fi and I was unwilling to pay for something I can get for free by hanging out at Starbucks. (I had another joke here, but removed it.) Sadly, I was too lazy to hang out at Starbucks even though we saw one in the train station about ten times (sorry Mom). We also saw nearly every American chain of fast food within a one block radius of our hotel. (Fun Fact) I remember that most cities had a McDonald's from the last time I was here ('98), but there are so many more. I could eat every meal like fast food from home and not run out of places to eat for a week. That makes me a little bit sad. It is, however, a great campaign to make sure that other countries are gaining weight so we aren't the most obese country anymore. Isn't that like being the pudgy girl who keeps buying food for all her friends so she can finally be the "skinny" one? Makes you proud to be an American, doesn't it? (Those were my pre-post musings, exciting right?)

On Friday we spent the day with cows and castles. It was a two hour train ride out to Neuschwanstein Castle, we saw lots of rolling farm land filled mainly with cows. I took some great shots out the train window from our first class accommodations. That's right, when we ride the train we are first class passengers. It's like we're royalty. If by that you expect your train car to be only slightly cleaner than the rest of the train and to have a couple more inches of space, as well as the right to your own arm rests without having to fight over it with a stranger, then that little "perk" is perfect for you. They actually make you buy Eurorail passes in advance of the trip and it will only let you buy First Class so it's pretty much the way they try to keep the obnoxious tourists away from the unwashed masses that are the locals. Ok, I don't know if they're really unwashed, I am not going to hang around with second class riders to find out. Let's just assume that it's ok for me to assume the are even though I fully admitted in my first post that I too hadn't showered. It's different when you're like us... What's the sign Alicia sent me? "I don't care what you think of me. Unless you think I am awesome. In which case, you are right!" Did you follow that serious derailment of topic onto first class seats and awesomeness when the post is titled Cows and Castles? Did you notice how I used "derailment" to refer to my thoughts as though they are on some kind of railway (or train wreck?!) The castle was pretty cool, we skipped actual tour and opted for the minibus ride to the bridge and waterfall above the castle with an awesome view. More importantly, we willingly got on a mini bus full of tourists who all wear cameras around their necks and have no concept of personal space (I prefer to have it when I ride in minibuses too, not just planes). We were packed in so tight I know there were at least four other people touching me besides Rach. I did take a picture above my head of that ride. I just kept thinking about my niece Kenzie at Disneyland and how much she would have enjoyed that ride with us. Neuschwanstein is a really impressive sight. It was the actual castle on which Walt Disney based his idea for Cinderella's at the theme park. My picture probably doesn't do it justice. What do Disneyland and Neuschwanstein have in common? Kenzie knows, and it's not the fun fact about castle designs. Incidentally, Mad Kind Ludwig commissioned the castle for himself and it's A LOT BIGGER than his father's, which is in the same area. (Insert joke as needed). Sadly, it took so long to build that he only got to live there about 170 days before he died under questionable circumstances. He practically bankrupted the country building it, so it only seems questionable that someone didn't kill him a lot sooner. We spent some more time on a bus with other tourists before we could get back to our first class train accommodations for the ride back to Munich.