Ambling Ramblings #15- Marching through Munich

Mein Deutsch ist nicht so gut.....so I won't write my entire blog in German, but I have been having fun putting to use the 4 years of studying German that I did in high school! It's been good to be in a country where I at least have some idea of what is being said to me and around me and where I can make appropriate replies and greetings.
Although our hotel in Munich was quite a hike from the train station (1.4 kilometers) we decided it was worth it because we had a coffee/tea maker at our disposal which we made very frequent use of! We also loved the fact that the quilts on our beds were very fluffy and wonderful to snuggle in on a chilly winter night.
We have discovered that the combination of two girls who have been travelling together for a while, long train trips that get boring when we run out of food, too many late nights, overactive imaginations, too much tea, too much sugar (for marnie) and too much laughter and giggling leads to some very strange occurrences (however, what happens in Europe, stays in Europe!)-it's ok, we've got away with only a few minor infringements!
Our first day in Munich was not spent in Munich, but rather in Fussen, the location of Neuschwanstein Castle, one of the most picturesque and happily situated castles I have ever seen or heard of. King Ludwig II of Bavaria had it build based on an artist's painting and dedicated the interior of the castle to the operatic works of Wagner. Although these are all important facts, one of the highlights of the day for me was not the castle, but rather the horse and carriage ride up to the castle! Due to the snow and ice, the buses to the castle weren't running (what a shame....) so, instead, we had to go up by horse and carriage ride (quite appropriate for a visit to the castle that Disney allegedly based theirs off!). The view from the castle was spectacular-it was enthralling to be up in the Alps looking down over the plains, rather than always looking up at the mountains from below! The castle itself is magnificent, framed by the Alps and yet fitting it's surroundings so well, with the spires of the towers mimicking the peaks of the mountains. Seeing the castle in wintertime, with everything covered in snow and glistening in the sunlight only added to the magical atmosphere and made it feel even more like a fairy tale.
We went on a tour of the castle (as that is the only way to get inside) and although we were disappointed that being inside the castle wasn't any warmer than it was outside-we were both freezing-the interior was incredible. The furnishings and decorations were beautifully and tastefully done (although extravagant and splendid too!). There was a even a cave inside the castle! (as well as all of the other, standard castle-y type rooms like a chapel, bedchamber, dining room, servants quarters etc.) I have decided that I want a castle so that I can indulge my every whim and have caves, towers, attics, spiralling staircases, stained glass windows, frescoes on the ceiling, gold filigree on pillars, a canopy bed, a ballroom, libraries and window seats! My favorite room of the castle was the Singer's Hall or ballroom, which had a painting on the stage backdrop that looked exactly like a forest scene from a Disney movie (so much so that I expected the squirrels to scamper up and down the trees and someone to burst into song!)
That night we enjoyed multiple cups of tea whilst watching Jane Austen's 'Emma' (the BBC version, of course!)-I am working on improving Marnie's knowledge of period dramas and great literary classics :-)
The following day, we shopped for some supplies in Aldi (for the authentic, German Aldi experience), did a bit of sightseeing around Munich and then headed for the train station (which was quite a feat in of itself as between Marnie's bags weighing her down with all the food we bought, and my ankle causing me to limp very slowly along the street it took us around 40 minutes to walk a kilometer-and what a sight we were!) By the time we got to the train station we were very ready to be able to sit down for 4 hours as we moved on to our next city.