National Hampoon's German Vacation Pt. 4 The Spa.

My bestie Shana and I had good bonding times at the Olympus spa in Washington...and after a little digging I found a lovely spa here that was only about an hour away, the only difference is that it was bigger and co-ed.   We weren't bothered to much by the idea and after spending a summer with the Europeans we're not phased by nudity.   Phil was a bit hesitant, but we told him it would be full of naked ladies.

We were wrong.

All sagging bits aside, we enjoyed the different saunas and going from the natural hot springs to the cold Irish Roman bath was surprisingly refreshing.   We also decided on a Rasul steam bath where we are seated in this beautiful mosaic room where the ceiling looks like stars and we apply different muds to different parts of our bodies and then hang out while steam is pumped in.  

The attendant warned us of the " abrupt " rain, but it was warm and wonderful and I will definitely be going back.

National Hampoon's German Vacation Pt. 3 The Castles.

I love  Bavaria, more importantly I love the Bavaria castles.   I think Ludwig of Bavaria was an amazing and misunderstood man and I for one appreciate his love of fairy tales, swans, and shiny things.

We decided on Linderhof first because it was closest to the resort, the weather was a bit cold, but we were treated to snow capped mountains at the palace.

Hello Mountains!

Lucky for us the weather improved after our castle tour and we were able to bask a bit in some German sunshine and watch the fountain.

But on to the next place.    Not a ton of people know about the Weis kirche (White Church) but it's getting more popular, they have just installed paid parking near the pilgrimage church.   I love this church because it's kind of in the middle of nowhere and looks pretty plan from the outside, and then it surprises you with views like this.

That's the gateway into heaven up near the top, and the whole church is painted/decorated in this Rococo Style, it's also still used for Sunday services and weddings. 

And now to my favorite place.   Neuschwanstein Castle, when we first got here someone told me I would be disappointed at the castle.   They can choke on it.   I was disappointed that I had to walk all the way up but it's always worth it.   

We stopped at the Aichen rest stop on the way home and Shana was impressed that not only can you get real food at the rest stops, but you can get pretty nice Alaskan Cod.

National Hampoon's German Vacation pt. 2 The Munich.

So I barely slept, usually I pass out in hotels but not this time.  The pillows are poopy, and there are lights outside.   AND NO ROULADENS.   I'm spoiled I know.  We finally pulled ourselves out of bed and into the breakfast buffet, which is the best kind of buffet.  

And then to Munich.  

After the horrors of driving through the city center we actually found a sweet park spot right next to one of the city gates, and the Erotic Kino.   Nice.   We passed the Hofbrauhaus and started in the new Rathaus.  As it turns out you can go to the top of the tower  and get a great view of Munich.  You can also see sweet graffiti on the tower interior.   My favorite was "Derek is Sex," and "Aslan"  We were able to get out in enough time to stand in the rain for 15 minutes and then see the Glockenspiel go off...it's a little bit spooky, like haunted carnival music.   We then headed to the Frauenkirche, and unfortunately the little alcoves with the paintings were mostly closed, and the one that was open I tried to light a candle while someone was praying ... and dropped my change in the silent echo-y prayer alcove like a jerk.

We had to run back to the car to pay for more parking and we went to the market.   We all concluded that a ripe fig feels like testicles, much giggling ensued.   We found a yellow fruit I've never seen before, we'll eat it tomorrow.  

And then we went to Dachau...learned a bit more than I did last visit, but after a while it really gets to be emotionally draining.

After the emotional draining we decided it was hot tub first when we got to the resort.   Hot tub, hot tub then food, and it turns out the drink bringer, the waiter, the people next to us, all from Seattle.   When our bellies were full...more hot tub, because I deserve it.

It was a good day.

National Hampoon's German Vacation Pt.1

I'm not going to go into the details of my long hiatus, but I think I have my second wind so to speak.     To kick of my welcome back to the internet I present to you the chronicles of our vacation with our best friend Shana.    

I've been stressing out hard for week about my apartment and then I stayed up way late talking to my sister on the Skype...but it wouldn't have mattered because I didn't sleep anyway.  And then I was scatter brained all morning.   I visited my first international airport, I dunno if all of them are like this but the Frankfurt airport is super chill, it could be because it's Sunday and the Germans aren't too hip with anything besides church and relaxing on Sunday but there wasn't a security check point to go through so we got to go right to the gate.   And then I got to hug my friend that I haven't seen in a year and I totally cried.   Full on sobbed.

Everything would have gone swimmingly but ALL OF GERMANY IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION!   The Stau added almost two hours to our drive time, but the thing of it is no one is working today so I was thoroughly confused as to why there was such bad traffic, and that was until I saw the French stationwagon full of Djembes.   Trunk, back seat...stacked to the ceiling Djembes but Germany is a weird place sometimes.  

We finally got to the Edelweiss, after possibly driving through Austria a bit, we just happened to find the German Edelweiss first.   Silly.   The resort is fantastic and it looks like the Misty Mountains.   We had the hot tub to ourselves and we had the very best crazy pool races ever.  
Going to bed with Robin Hood on while playing poker.   Today was a good day.

Also Clif bar has a new thing called a "fruit rope" all natural, just fruit puree in a big wad of almost licorice.   I'm in love.