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. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Europe Day SEVEN

Today we got up and ate breakfast.  I managed to pack everything in one bag! We drove for about an hour to a little tiny country called Liechtenstein.  Its population is 35,000.  They use the Franc and speak German.  They also don’t have debt.  They are the most rich country.  The average salary is $100,000 francs.  We stopped and got our passport stamped.  It cost 2,50 Euro or 3 Francs.  But to me, it was worth it.  We walked around for a minute and looked at tons of statues.  We were there about 30 minutes, but hey…we were there.  We then got back on the bus, crossed back into Switzerland, then crossed into Austria.  After a while we were back in Germany.  There was a point when we were in 3 countries at once.  Seriously awesome.  In Germany they don’t have a speed limit.  They have suggested speed of 130 kilos but if you don’t follow it, its not a big deal. We finally arrived at the Neuschwanstein Castle. It’s the castle that Disney modeled Cinderella’s castle after. We went to lunch at Leo’s right down the road before the castle though.  I ordered spetzle which is like a noodle with cheese and onions.  It tastes a lot like mac n cheese. To drink I had Spetzi, it is a mix of coke and fanta and super yummy!  Melanie had to pay 50 cents for a ketchup packet. We had to hike “uphill” for a mile, it wasn’t even that bad though.  We got to the top and the view looks like a backdrop.  It’s so fake.  It is amazing that places like this exist on earth.  We walked to part of the property with a bridge over 2 waterfalls with blue pools at the end.  It was way cool! We walked back down to the castle and waited until we could go in.  At about 4:30 we went in and the sign said no cameras, so that was disappointing.  It was incredible inside.  I would love to live in any of Ludwigs castles.  It was so pretty.  They had rooms for everything.  I can’t believe something like that is able to be built. We bought some souvenirs and headed back to the bus for another two hour drive.  We got to the place we were eating dinner.  It was called Bella Bellaria or something like that.  They first served this weird soup that looked like watered down soy sauce with soggy dog food in it.  It was awful.  It’s okay though, cause they forgot to give me some so I tried some of
Ashlie’s and didn’t have to worry about it the rest of the time.  They brought out the main dish and it looked horrible.  We asked what it was and he said it was pork and potatoes.  It definitely wasn’t potatoes.  It looked like soggy pops.  The waiter asked Garrett which girlfriend was his and he said all of them.  The waiter was impressed and said, “Wow, I only have 2.” WHAT??? Haha! Dessert came and it was just like a cake batter jelloish thing with sprinkles on it.  Once I got past the texture I actually really liked it.  So…So far…German Food isn’t any better than Swiss food.  We went back to the hotel and man was it a weird one.  You had to buy the wifi.  It was 9,95 Euro for 24 hours and 3,95 Euro for 1  hour.  I bought the 24 hour. Ash was showering and came out in a towel practically naked and said, “I think the shower is broken, I can’t get it to work.’  So I tried and couldn’t get it to work.  I told her to go ask and she said, “look at me, I can’t!! You go!”  So I walked across the street to the front and ask.  They look at me like I am a complete idiot.  But they informed me how to use a shower. Thanks German Hotel Lady.  While she was showering, I was supposed to plug in Ashy’s ipod and I totally forgot.  She turned the shower off and I threw half my suitcase across the room and said, “Ash I can’t find the ipod charger.” She points with a dead straight face to the plug where her ipod is plugged in with my cord. WOW. I made a mess for nothing.  But it was hilarious! Then we all talked for awhile and went to bed. 

 

 

Europe Day SIX

We had a crazy day today.  We got up on time for once.  At breakfast the cheese tasted and smelled like a chemical I used in biotech.  We also tried this cracker thing that tasted like cardboard and this cereal stuff. We then drove about an hour to Lucerne.  We took a walking tour and saw the old, beautiful buildings.  In Switzerland they paint windows on their buildings to make them symmetrical.  Half of the Windows are fake.  We saw the Famous Swiss Bridge.  It is a really cool bridge.  The bridge is made of wood with many baskets of flowers on the edge.  As you walk through the bridge, there is paintings on the ceiling depicting everyday activities from the time period the bridge was originally built.  It was burned down though, and later restored costing 2 million francs. Some of the original paintings also were restored, but many were lost.  We also went to this old church and from the outside, you would never guess the interior.  It was so gorgeous.  There was pastel yellow and pink decorations with a lot of gold. In the church the organ is at the back of the building. Someone is always in there playing it and filling the building with spiritual music.  After that we finally got to walk across the bridge.  We had free time for about 40 minutes and in that time we had to eat lunch.  Ashy and I went to pick up the knives we ordered for our families.  We then looked around because I really want to buy a swatch in Switzerland. We still had to find lunch because if we didn’t the food at the top of Mount Pilatus was around 30 Francs for one meal.  We found a place that was like a little sandwich shop.  I got a chicken avocado sandwich.  We found a little staircase to sit and eat in.  We were eating, and just talking and enjoying the view and a little bird came up.  Now is my time to freak out.  I don’t do birds.  Ash kept feeding it and it kept coming back. But as we left, I left some because he got scared away.  It was now time to meet the group.  Of course, we got way lost and turned around.  Turns out we were at the cities center not the edge.  We were 15 minutes late.  Oh great! We are dead meat.  We asked a construction guy if he knew English and he did, He gave us directions and then we started running.  He ran after us and said that there is another shop just like the one we were looking for the other way, so we ran that way.  We finally found it and got on the train.  We got a nice lecture, and lets just say no one was happy with us.  Then we headed back to Mount Pilatus and rode a ski lift type thing to the top.  While we were in the lift, it started raining and it was starting to get really chilly.  After we got to the top of the ski lift, we hopped onto the Gondola and went to the very top of the Swiss Alps. The Gondola fit most of our group.  As we were going up that it started to snow.  YAYYY! NOT! I am sick of the snow.  We just left the snow, us Utah kids.  We got to the top and went into the hotel up there.  We were given 2 hours to explore outside the Alps and hike on some of the trails up there.  Well considering it was snowing me and Ash looked at the Souvenirs and guess what I found….YES….a Swatch that I loved!  It is really cool and unique.  Then we decided to go outside and go in this little cave.  Turns out it was a giant pathway.  We followed, it had cuts in the rock for windows so you could see all the Alps.  We took tons of cute pictures but we also froze in the process.  It was seriously freezing.  We got super high and the view was so pretty.  You could see down and look at the fields and rocks.  You couldn’t see the bottom though because it was really foggy.  We got to the very tippy top and took a picture to prove we were there.  Then we started heading down so we weren’t late.  It was amazing to see the view.  When we made it all around and down the mountain we bought a postcard and switched money to change so we could have all the Swiss Franc coins.  Next on the list, we rode down the worlds steepest cogtrain.  It was cool to say that I have been on it and to see the mountain going down like you were walking. The view is outstanding! The weird thing about the Alps is, as you go down, its like you pass through all 4 seasons.  It is really weird.  We got to the bottom and found this cute little pier to wait for the boat to come and get us to take us back to Lucerne.  It was so peaceful to just walk on the boardwalk, sit at the end and just take in the country.  This whole place looks like a fairytale storybook.  It is also indescribable as most things in Europe are.  While we were waiting Ash fed a swan some baggette right out of her hand.  Talk about disgusting.  We walked a little more and the boat finally came.  We got on and sat against a wall so we could have a back rest. We swore that the wall had heaters in it, because it was so warm.  We asked Domitrious what language he thinks in and he said English.  Which is weird because that is the last language he learned.  We also asked about travel and he told us the places he’d gone.  We also got up and saw the steam engine.  You could see all the gears working as we were going.  They weren’t covered or anything.  Ash and I went to the very front where it was way windy and hard to walk.  Domitrious wanted to get up and walk so we went back to save the seats.  Then we just sailed peacefully talking and looking at the town.  Ash fell asleep and I tapped her to wake up and she said, “Why did you hit me?” I said to wake you up. Then she fell asleep again! I woke her up and she said, “I was thinking about braiding my hair, but then I pulled it” and she fell asleep again.  So I woke her up for the third time and I was just busting up laughing she was way confused and it all happened in a matter of 2 minutes.  I couldn’t even tell her the story I was laughing so hard.  We got back to Lucerne and had free time.  We went back to the knife shop to fix Ash’s brothers name cause it was spelled wrong, bought a few more souvenirs, and Swiss chocolate! Yum! I love Mocha Chocolate so much.  We just pretty much killed time and met back with the group, got on the bus and went back to the hotel for dinner.  I totally passed out! Then…for dinner we started with carrot soup.  I was hesitant to try it, but it was really good.  Then we had some rice which was good, the mystery meat again ): and a stuffed tomato.  For dessert it was this ice cream stuff and this is what people in my group said it tasted like: pepper, soap, orange, lemon, bitter, ice cream, cool whip, nasty.  Let’s just say it was super weird obviously and I hated it.  After we went to our rooms, repacked, and got ready to head to Germany in the morning.