Europe Day EIGHT

Today we actually woke up on time.  It was a miracle.  We got up and went to breakfast.  We had oatmeal, but their oatmeal is a lot different.  It is just uncooked.  It is like our raw oatmeal in milk with chocolate pieces.  They also had ICE! YES!! I have been craving ice this whole trip.  I also had a really yummy roll.  After breakfast, we were back on the bus.  We went to pick up our local guide.  Our first stop was another of Ludwigs castles.  There were these nasty looking birds everywhere.  It was a ginormous and really pretty castle.  We then saw the German Opera House, old churches, and the winged victory.  We stopped at this bridge because it was a famous place in the middle of the mountainous Germany to go surfing.  What makes the wave is 2 cables and a cement wall under 3-4 feet of water.  It was very interesting to see surfers in Germany.  After that we had about an hour free time.  But Dimitrious said we had to see the Glockenspiel.  First we went to a little café where I ordered a bagette sandwich and a pretzel called nutesque or something like that.  It was like a glaze pretzel thing with almonds covering it.  It was really flaky and just all around delicious.  Then we made our way to the Glockenspiel.  While waiting these knights came over and started talking to us.  One of them asked if he could have a bite of my sandwich and I said, “uhh..No?” Then he just kept talking to us and I told him my last name is Ritter and that it means knight.  He was all sorts of excited.  Then he wanted to take a picture, but he put his knee out and wanted me to sit on his lap. We took a picture smiling, then we took a picture of me kissing him on the cheek. I’ve kissed 2 Germans on this trip now.  He said, “Since you kissed me on the cheek, he was claiming me as his lady.” Yeah. I have a German boyfriend, who is a knight.  Then he walked away and the Glockenspiel started.  It played really pretty music and the characters spun around and danced around.  It was a really cool thing to see.  After that we did a little souvenir shopping.  Then headed back to the bus. Again.  We were on our way to the concentration camp Dacheu.  You walked in the gates and instantly felt a different feeling. It was very sad to see and imagine the people walking and working, being tortured and trying to survive.  I swore I could see people and it was really awful to feel that. It was also really difficult to read all the information tables and read the stories of these prisoners.  A movie was shown that was actual footage from when the camp was in operation.  I am glad I got the opportunity to see it.  We then left and went back to City Square for free time.  I decided to pay 20 Euro to go on a guided bike tour. Why? Cause another bucket list item could be crossed off.  I wanted to ride through the streets of Europe on a bike.  Our tour guides name was Keith. He informed us to not use cameras or phones while we were riding because you can get a 40 euro ticket.  We went to the “Tina Turner” church.  I forgot what the real name was.   There are these pillars with 2 gold lions on them.  You have to rub one, run across the street and rub the other one to have good luck the rest of the day.  We also walked on the bronze path.  The people who did not want to hail Hitler would walk behind the Opera House instead of the front because if they walked past the statues in the front and didn’t sign to Hitler they could be arrested. They put the path in the back to honor their courage.  While we were going on the ride, there was a festival going on, so we got to hear a lot of the local bands and singers performing and playing.  It was really cool.  We continued through the streets of Europe and got to the English gardens.  They were really big and green.  It was like a big park with tons of trees.  Keith told us that the part of the park we were in was the nude part.  He said the older people would go there to sunbathe.  Then he said, “Luckily it is raining today.”  We rode for about 2 hours around.  It was my dream come true. We got back to the bike place and turned our bikes in. We went inside to warm up because it was freezing and we were soaking wet. Dimitrious came to get us and we went back to the bus for dinner.  We went to a really yummy place when we got there.  There was salad in glass jars that was really good. It had cooked green beans in it, and it was also a little spicy.  We had pork goulash which was also really good.  For dessert we had pudding that tasted about the same as the night before.  I ordered Spetzi again because I pretty much had to.  It was my last chance and it is a really yummy drink.  We were sitting at dinner and Melanie was really hot.  Ash put her cold hands on Melanie’s face and she says, “Ashlie your hands are delicious!”  Funniest moment of the night.  We then headed back to the hotel and packed to go home.  It was really sad.  We all sat in our room talking and spending our last night together in the beautiful country of Germany.