I guess all things must eventually come to a close. Tomorrow morning I fly out of Munich and back through to Seattle. It seems like my time here has been both very long, and very short. Isn't it funny how time behaves that way? It was a good experience, and I am thankful that I could spend the last shreds of time with most of my family. I am going to miss them.
Time is sneaking up on me. The date of my MTC entry scuttles closer and closer and I'm beginning to feel the pressure. A recent revolution to my particular planet has somewhat thrown my center of gravity slightly a-kilter, but I am still going. Its just going to be a little harder. Provo is calling to me pretty loudly these days.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Saturday, August 14, 2010
A Romantic Getaway and a Fairy Tale Castle
Ok, so the getaway was not exactly meant for me. But I'm tagging along anyway.
Earlier this week it appeared as if all our weekend hopes were to be dashed when they notified my dad that he would most likely have to work the weekend through. That's what he gets for being a superior and dependable soldier. But by a happy turn of events he informed someone that his wife and kids were here visiting and they informed him right back about this retreat to Garmish. Garmish Germany is a beauty of a quaint town located somewhere right at the feet of the Alps, and the Army has a rather ritzy resort nestled comfortably in the town. The best part, family's could come and the Army was paying for it all. So here I sit in a cozy hotel room overlooking the foothills of the Alps and I have a nice cushy bed instead of a couch...mmm...
But since this is a couples retreat, they have everything geared toward the married couple. They have classes on communication and connection and male vs. female thinking. This means though that when we go to something like dinner at the hotel and they see that two couple slots have been charged the automatically assume Jacob and I are a couple. Its like being in Provo again! This phenomenon on one hand really amuses me, and on the other kind of irritates me too. But, oh well, what can you do? Must be because we look exactly alike or something.
Today we took a tour bus to Bavaria. Have I mentioned before that Germany is so green! I love it. Rolling hills became grew and grew until they formed wooded valleys full of little towns and red roofs.
We stopped first on our bus tour at a little wood workers shop, then roamed on to a church surrounded by green meadows. These meadows gave the church its name, The church in the Meadows. Don't you love German originality? We'd visited this little village before and it was interesting to see that ten years hadn't changed it overly much. Inside catholic Mass was in session. Now I've been to mass before, but its something completely different inside an intricately carved, painted and gilded building that's a couple hundred years old, and its in German. I'm so glad I'm happily settled in my own religion. The church was beautiful, if a little ostentatious.
Our final stop was the castle of Neuschwanstein. The swan castle built by Bavaria's most famous and loved king, King Ludwig. Now he is an interesting character here. The man became sickened by the politics of his time and retreated into his own world, one that he built for himself. He had a growing obsession with castles, designing and building them. He had several castles in the plans, but only four were begun. Only one was ever completed, and lived in with any permanency. Neuschwanstein is probably his most famous undertaking. The white fairy tale be-spire-d castle is the same iconic figure that inspired the likes of Disney to base their own Cinderella's castle and the castle that became their symbol on. Ludwig ended up sadly being declared insane by the state and he was arrested and taken to Munich to be detained. The next day he left on a walk with his psychiatrist around a nearby lake (who allows a mentally insane man detained by the state to wander off and take a spin around the lake?) and never came back. Both their body's were mysteriously found in the water near the shore, drowned.
Neuschwanstein sits up on the mountainside and there are three ways to get there, hiking, a tram, or horse pulled buggy. My parents trammed it up and Jacob and I proved our medal as the first ones in our group to reach the top hoofing it up the hill. Thats what dem long legs is used fer. We were supposed to meet my parents at a bridge spanning across a waterfall's ravine overlooking the castle...or should I say that the castle overlooks? In any case, through a misunderstanding (mostly Jacobs...) we wasted twenty minutes waiting for our tour group in the courtyard. Then I convinced him that our parents were still waiting for us at the bridge so we hiked all the way up there too, just to meet them at the bridge as they were leaving (our scheduled tour was starting in 10 minutes and the hike down was going to take time) so we hiked back down again and then back up to the castle.
The tour was amazing. The inside of the castle, what was finished, was art. Every wall was decorated with a scene from an opera, or the darkest of polished and carved wood. Its hard to enter a place like that and not imagine how it used to be, when it was bustling with people who lived and worked there. Its also nearly impossible not to wish to have experienced it. I really would have liked to just admire the beauty all day. It all told a story, each room, each carving, right down to the patterns in the columns on the walls. Such a beautiful castle.
After the tour we hiked once again to the bridge, Jacob and I wanted pictures. But we took it a step further and gallivanted up the mountain side along a sketchy washed out path gnarled roots and mud at a pretty much straight up angle. We left my parents at a lower altitude and roughed it up as far as we could. We got some great pictures. We also got sweaty and a little dirty.
On the way down the mountain we took an alternate (and quite a bit longer) route and happened upon a pretty little waterfall. Back to the bus, and back to Garmish we traveled.
We leave for Graf again tomorrow. I have to say, I'm going to be sorry to give up this bed for a couch...
More pictures are up here: http://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?aid=239824&id=678053486&ref=mf
Earlier this week it appeared as if all our weekend hopes were to be dashed when they notified my dad that he would most likely have to work the weekend through. That's what he gets for being a superior and dependable soldier. But by a happy turn of events he informed someone that his wife and kids were here visiting and they informed him right back about this retreat to Garmish. Garmish Germany is a beauty of a quaint town located somewhere right at the feet of the Alps, and the Army has a rather ritzy resort nestled comfortably in the town. The best part, family's could come and the Army was paying for it all. So here I sit in a cozy hotel room overlooking the foothills of the Alps and I have a nice cushy bed instead of a couch...mmm...
 |
| Edelweiss Resort lounge |
But since this is a couples retreat, they have everything geared toward the married couple. They have classes on communication and connection and male vs. female thinking. This means though that when we go to something like dinner at the hotel and they see that two couple slots have been charged the automatically assume Jacob and I are a couple. Its like being in Provo again! This phenomenon on one hand really amuses me, and on the other kind of irritates me too. But, oh well, what can you do? Must be because we look exactly alike or something.
Today we took a tour bus to Bavaria. Have I mentioned before that Germany is so green! I love it. Rolling hills became grew and grew until they formed wooded valleys full of little towns and red roofs.
 |
| View off of the balcony in our room. |
We stopped first on our bus tour at a little wood workers shop, then roamed on to a church surrounded by green meadows. These meadows gave the church its name, The church in the Meadows. Don't you love German originality? We'd visited this little village before and it was interesting to see that ten years hadn't changed it overly much. Inside catholic Mass was in session. Now I've been to mass before, but its something completely different inside an intricately carved, painted and gilded building that's a couple hundred years old, and its in German. I'm so glad I'm happily settled in my own religion. The church was beautiful, if a little ostentatious.
 |
| Front of chapel in the church. |
Our final stop was the castle of Neuschwanstein. The swan castle built by Bavaria's most famous and loved king, King Ludwig. Now he is an interesting character here. The man became sickened by the politics of his time and retreated into his own world, one that he built for himself. He had a growing obsession with castles, designing and building them. He had several castles in the plans, but only four were begun. Only one was ever completed, and lived in with any permanency. Neuschwanstein is probably his most famous undertaking. The white fairy tale be-spire-d castle is the same iconic figure that inspired the likes of Disney to base their own Cinderella's castle and the castle that became their symbol on. Ludwig ended up sadly being declared insane by the state and he was arrested and taken to Munich to be detained. The next day he left on a walk with his psychiatrist around a nearby lake (who allows a mentally insane man detained by the state to wander off and take a spin around the lake?) and never came back. Both their body's were mysteriously found in the water near the shore, drowned.
Neuschwanstein sits up on the mountainside and there are three ways to get there, hiking, a tram, or horse pulled buggy. My parents trammed it up and Jacob and I proved our medal as the first ones in our group to reach the top hoofing it up the hill. Thats what dem long legs is used fer. We were supposed to meet my parents at a bridge spanning across a waterfall's ravine overlooking the castle...or should I say that the castle overlooks? In any case, through a misunderstanding (mostly Jacobs...) we wasted twenty minutes waiting for our tour group in the courtyard. Then I convinced him that our parents were still waiting for us at the bridge so we hiked all the way up there too, just to meet them at the bridge as they were leaving (our scheduled tour was starting in 10 minutes and the hike down was going to take time) so we hiked back down again and then back up to the castle.
The tour was amazing. The inside of the castle, what was finished, was art. Every wall was decorated with a scene from an opera, or the darkest of polished and carved wood. Its hard to enter a place like that and not imagine how it used to be, when it was bustling with people who lived and worked there. Its also nearly impossible not to wish to have experienced it. I really would have liked to just admire the beauty all day. It all told a story, each room, each carving, right down to the patterns in the columns on the walls. Such a beautiful castle.
 |
| Thats a castle! |
On the way down the mountain we took an alternate (and quite a bit longer) route and happened upon a pretty little waterfall. Back to the bus, and back to Garmish we traveled.
 |
| The waterfall... |
We leave for Graf again tomorrow. I have to say, I'm going to be sorry to give up this bed for a couch...
More pictures are up here: http://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?aid=239824&id=678053486&ref=mf
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Guten Tag
Almost from the moment I stepped off the plane in Munich I felt like I was entering a lost part of my history. I remember more fully once again why Germany is one of my favorite places that we have lived. On the two and a half hour ride from the air port to Grafenwoehr (when I wasn't lamenting the loss of my blackberry or dozing) I marveled at the lush landscape decorated by beautiful red roofed towns. Oh to have so many trees again! It makes me happy. And I have a good appreciation for Germans, who for the most part are a fairly friendly and sensible people. Sleep deprived as I was (which was quite), I managed to not sleep the day away, instead I took a bike tour around the small yet cute post of Graf. with Jacob.
Today we attended the small Ameri-German ward. It was interesting to hear the sacrament given first in German, then in English. I lament the loss of the sparse German I once knew. Hopefully I can pick some up again, its an interesting language both to speak and read. After church we wandered into sinful indulgence and bought Jacob and I bikes so we could all ride together and get around post this upcoming week. We then took the coolest ride to a duck park off post in the village outside and had a picnic. Jacob and I relived our youth and gave the see-saw a good go. Then we continued our ride through a light drizzle around the village and into the forest. Now mind you, I haven't ridden a bike in probably 5 years, but I didn't crash into anything! Which I was perfectly happy with.
We ended the ride at an ice cream shop and I remembered that German ice cream is entirely superior to most American stuff. You see, Germans actually like their ice cream (and most foods) to taste real, not artificial, and as a strange side effect they use real fruit and whole ingredients to flavor it. Weird I know, right? Jacob also managed to break a peddle off his brand new bike, then flatten the tire. So we traded it in for a new one.
Now we are back cozy-ed up in my dad's 400 sq ft temp apartment chilling through the rest of the afternoon. Jacob and I are rockin' the Disney tunes.
It was an entirely enjoyable sunday. And I am so thankful for the time I have been given to spend together with my family before we are on 4 different continents.
I know this is kinda a lame update, but I promise to spice the next one up with pictures!
Today we attended the small Ameri-German ward. It was interesting to hear the sacrament given first in German, then in English. I lament the loss of the sparse German I once knew. Hopefully I can pick some up again, its an interesting language both to speak and read. After church we wandered into sinful indulgence and bought Jacob and I bikes so we could all ride together and get around post this upcoming week. We then took the coolest ride to a duck park off post in the village outside and had a picnic. Jacob and I relived our youth and gave the see-saw a good go. Then we continued our ride through a light drizzle around the village and into the forest. Now mind you, I haven't ridden a bike in probably 5 years, but I didn't crash into anything! Which I was perfectly happy with.
We ended the ride at an ice cream shop and I remembered that German ice cream is entirely superior to most American stuff. You see, Germans actually like their ice cream (and most foods) to taste real, not artificial, and as a strange side effect they use real fruit and whole ingredients to flavor it. Weird I know, right? Jacob also managed to break a peddle off his brand new bike, then flatten the tire. So we traded it in for a new one.
Now we are back cozy-ed up in my dad's 400 sq ft temp apartment chilling through the rest of the afternoon. Jacob and I are rockin' the Disney tunes.
It was an entirely enjoyable sunday. And I am so thankful for the time I have been given to spend together with my family before we are on 4 different continents.
I know this is kinda a lame update, but I promise to spice the next one up with pictures!
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