Well for all the fun we had last night, I'm glad that we had a late call time today at 9! I actually woke up and felt great which surprises me. We hopped on the bus and off to visit the Wieskirche Church. It should have been a one hour drive but somehow we got lost and it ended up being 2. Apparently they don't use GPSs or something. I don't know. Anyways, the story behind the church is that the town every year holds processions for feast days, which is a pretty common occurrence. But, during one particular march, the crucifix they use to lead the march began to cry. And I believe the march was during Holy Thursday or Black Friday. Anyways, it drew in crowds from all over the world to this tiny town. So much so that they had to rebuild the church twice!
And o my the inside is incredible!!! It is so pretty! Both us and the pettes took turns singing inside as well. The priest came up after we sang to a few of us guys and said our singing of Ave Maria was "A donation from the heavens upon this church". What an incredible compliment!
Following the singing, we went outside for a few group pictures then I went and frolicked in the fields! It was a lot of fun!
After a good portion of frolicking in fields on the mountainside, we hopped on the bus to depart for Neuschwanstein otherwise known as Crazy Ludwig's Castle.
So the story behind Neuschwanstein is that it was built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria next to his homestead and fathers castle. It began to be built in 1869. The same year Purdue was founded! The problem with the castle was how expensive it actually cost to build. It was meant to be a tribute to Vagner (his favorite opera writer/musician) and swans (the symbol of the land). In fact, the name Neuschwanstein literally means "New Swan Castle" (the original swan castle was his homestead). King Ludwig II spent all of his own money on this castle and it still wasn't enough and he asked for loans all around. Even the actual country of Germany, who refused because if they have him all the money he needed the country would have gone bankrupt! In fact, it was so expensive the townspeople thought the city itself would go bankrupt so they came up with a scheme to get him off of his throne.
He was a single unmarried man and the city had a professional psychiatrist (who never met King Ludwig II) declare him crazy and sent to a castle/jail across the state. The first night while in the castle, he supposedly drowned in waist high water. Meanwhile, the psychiatrist who diagnosed him died as well that night. Anyways, the castle was never completely finished but Kind Ludwig II lived there for 172 days.
Now while the castle itself and it's incredibly ornate features are enough to draw a huge crowd, the main reason it is the number one income generator for Bavaria is for a completely unrelated reason. It is because of a man name Walt Disney. Walt visited this castle and was so enchanted that many of his ideas stem from it. For example, the Disney logo as well as Cinderella's castle are both designed from it. Also, the entrance is remarkably similar to that used in a story about a beauty and beast. The background of the theatre is said to be the idea behind the forest background in Bambie. So as one could imagine, the castle is quite a spectacular sight!
Upon arrival it was raining and we had about 1.5 hrs to get food before the castle tour (because they have over 6,000 visitors a day, you can only enter at your precise ticket time). So jban, rob, Lars, and myself stopped into a beer garden and had a local brew while killing time and waiting for the lines to go down for food. The line never really went away so we decided to just go to a vendor on the street that had fantastic brauts and I think everyone knows how much I love brauts! We also got a beer in a glass there. It amazes me that each tiny little place has there each individual beer!
Well we had a little bit of a walk ahead of us so we started the walk with beer in hand. (The walk was supposed to be 40 min to the top. We made it in 15 and they have no open container law so it was kind of nice just walking along like that). It rained the whole time but what a view when we got up there! I bet we could see almost 50 miles out!!
The tour was fantastic! The ornateness was unreal. The kings canopy bed, which had a skyline of all the major churches on it took 40 carpenters 4 years to make! The detail was just amazing. All of the paintings were from Vagner operas as well. I wasn't allowed to take pictures in there though, which normally I would sneak some but I was trying to stay close to the tour guide so I could hear what she was saying!
After the tour, Jason and I took a hike up a little higher into the mountain to a bridge that overlooked the castle. What a view it was!! It was still raining but totally worth the effort!
We then took a bus down the mountain side and headed back to our new hotel for dinner. It was a high end hotel that all ready had all of our bags waiting for us at our doors. It was very nice! At dinner, I sat by Doctor Exum, who immediately brought up the "Why am I crying?" Story. She is pretty awesome to spend time with. She also bought beers for both of us. It was 7.2%. A little stronger than the 4.8% standard back home. We all sat around and chatted then went to the hotel bar as there was nothing anywhere around us. We all hung out there and it was also jban and Taylor Reiffs birthdays as well so we sang happy birthday as well as a few more songs!
Afterwards, we all went back to our rooms to sleep.
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