Day 3: Sunday, June 9

Today is June 9th, a Sunday, and the weather has been overcast with a slight drizzle. It was arguably the perfect weather to be around the towering mountains all day, that having been today’s activity. We woke up at a time before 7, and went to the mess hall for a very German breakfast of breads, jams, and fruits. It was an excellent breakfast that properly prepared us for the rest of the day.

There were many public transportation experiences today, having immediately went to the subway after breakfast. The train took us to the Marienplatz, where we had spent our time the day prior. Today, however, after we arrived we went off to find our tour guides who led us to a bus. They were both very nice, and the one leading the tour was a native English speaker. The bus drove us out to the day’s main attraction, Neuschwanstein Castle. But first there were other things to do in the mountains. 

We arrived at our bus destination and went into an underground facility by a ramp, which is where the many, many bikes were held. The tour wasn’t being taken by just the GAPP students, there were others from around the world there too, which was surprising to me as the small shop where the headquarters of the operation was located seemed small, but the amount of bikes solidified how large the tour was in actuality. So we got on the bikes and headed off to the base of the mountains, and in about thirty minutes we arrived at a lake situated before the cliffs began. Having already changed into my swimsuit after something disgusting fell from a tree and onto my leg, I was ready to go swimming with the others. The water was paralyzingly cold, but the majority of us still jumped in, even if not for long. Sadly my glasses fell off my face and into that opaque green body of water, never to be seen again. Thankfully I still was able to see and appreciate the beautiful forests covering and surrounding the mountains, even if a little fuzzily. After returning from the bike ride we headed to a Bakerei to get breads for lunch to prepared us for Neuschwanstein. 

We were given two choices, go on a steep ten minute hike to the castle or get on a bus and drive there. Having already gotten enough of the foot destroying experience as well as seeing the world through unfocused lenses, I settled with the bus. Upon getting up next to Neuschwanstein, we went to the Marien Bridge, a bridge with an absolutely perfect view of the castle, and we took a relatively small amount of pictures due to the dreadfulness of the boards composing said bridge. 

Finally we arrived at the castle, a still standing landmark of King Ludwig II’s riches. Being only made for one person (Ludwig) to live in it was extremely large, and full of beautiful paintings, murals, and other art pieces of legends and religions. For how old it is it had some fancy technology, two methods of internal heating that I didn’t understand as well as running water from a river above the castle’s place on the mountain. Quite extraordinary indeed. 

We walked back to the bottom of the mountain and had some odd fried bread balls halfway down, reaching the final bus that took us back to the Marienplatz. We got back on the subway and headed back to the Hostel area, where we ate dinner at a nice Italian restaurant. We discovered that sparkling liquids react with table salt. Satiated and tired, we walked the short trip back to the Hostel and now we are at the time I am writing this. Until my next dedicated entry, next up is June 10th, a Monday, by Jordan.

- Drake Eisel