Fussen, Germany 7/26 - 7/28

Fussen is a small town in germany located near a few castles. We went on a tour that showed us a church that had mummies. Apparently churches buy holy things from the Vatican and at some point they sold mummies of (illegedly) saintly people. Very creepy.

We then went to neuschwenstein castle which was the basis for the Disney castle. It was built by the mad king Ludwig to be more of a dream than a castle, and was never finished. Nearby was also castle obermagau, where the knights of the swan that used to rule the valley resided in before the state of bavaria came along. He dedicated the castle to Richard Wagner, and wouldnt allow him into the castle until it was finished, and they both died before Richard ever came near it.

Finally we saw Ludwig's mansion, which was incredible. He was so antisocial that he had a dinner table in his quarters that could be raised and lowered from the kitchen so no servants would have to come near him when he wanted to be alone, and he sat across from a mirror for company.

He also had a gigantic artificial cave grotto created near the property that was very cool and he would hold parties and listen to music there.

Salzburg, Austria 7/21 -7/26

So we checked into a hostel that was a loooong hike from the city, and with the amount of stuff we have acquired at this point, not easy, but we were rewarded when to my surprise it was located inside of an old fortress that had an overlook of the entire city.  First day we just did laundry and shopped for food, getting ready for my mom and her friend Diana's arrival the next day, at which time we would join them in some hotels and countries for 18 days in a trip planned by Diana to coincide with our country itinerary.

Next day they arrived and we met them at the lobby of hotel sacher, a pretty amazing hotel, and my mom was extremely happy to see that we were still alive and not taken hostage.

We all went on a driving/walking tour the next day that took us through the history of Salzburg and Mozart, who was born here, and gave us some of the history of the town including the famous Salzburg red limestone, Mozart's house, red bulls headquarters, and the sound of music(which was filmed here).

The amount of sound of music tour buses was ridiculous BTW. It's a huge attraction apparently. Also, apparently Mozart was very short and ugly. :)

The next day we were taken on a drive of the alps and Salzburgs mountain lakes on our way to the largest ice cave in the world. They were amazing. It was a 20 minute hike up steep mountain trail, through a cave, up a gondola, 20 more minutes of hiking, and we were at the tunnel mouth that was blocked by a door. Some of us were given old gas lanterns, a tour guide grabbed about 40 of us, and the door was opened and cold air came rushing out so hard it almost knocked everyone over.

We were ushered in and the door (which preserves the tunnels temperature of below freezing, since outside was above 50) was shut, and our lanterns lit.  Pictures weren't allowed, so naturally I took a lot of them, but none of them came out anyways as it was dimly lit and my camera sucks in that situation.  We went up and down 700 stairs while the guide explained the different formations. Very awesome.

On our last day as we got in a car to take us to Fussen, our next destination, we made a pitstop at the eagles nest, Hitler's old home that was gifted to him by the Austrians(although he didn't like it). The view was spectacular.

Munich, Germany 7/16 - 7/21

Initially we stayed in a hostel that was...pretty dirty and poorly managed, as well as 30 minutes out of the city. My bad on this one. The farmlands we were around were very pretty but we ended up bailing and checking into a hotel in the nearby town of germering which was pretty damn awesome and had a pool and sauna we used before heading on to the next destination.

I discovered my new favorite beer here of course (weissbeer). The best thing about the hostel was a dog that looked like a bear and is probably one of the cuter ones I've seen in my life.

We went and saw the royal palace and gardens of munich which were pretty impressive. Other than that we hung around the hostel and hotel and rested and drank beer at some beer gardens.

Lucerne, Switzerland 7/10 - 7/16

Since I'm writing this blog a few days before the trip is over I can say with firmness that Lucerne was the most beautiful of all of our destinations. A small city next to a lake, surrounded by the alps. Every angle seemed like a postcard. Including on the train ride over.

It came at a price, however. Because of a lot of factors such as high minimum wage, being landlocked, and not being part of the European union's schengen zone, prices are astronomical here.  We stayed in a very average hostel that was the most expensive place we stayed in all trip(aside from hotels of course), and the average sit down meal was 20usd per person. A big Mac meal, for instance, was the equivalent in swiss franks of 9.80usd. We didn't eat out once, but we're used to cooking now anyways.

We were informed of a free boat ride for visitors and took advantage and it turned out to be a 4 hour lake cruise visiting different towns that was unexpectedly awesome. We also took a peddle boat out onto the lake for a little while as well as hiked the ancient towers and walls that are part of the city.

Naturally there were swiss army knives in almost every store. To which I say: Get over yourselves swiss people. We get it.

Milan, Italy 7/7 - 7/10

We only had 3 days here so not as much as usual and it was a very nice rest in a private room in a hotel that boasts 2.5/5 stars proudly on its door hahahaha. Was very nice though, and had a pet turtle on the premises that we named tartaruga.

We had fast food for the first time all trip at a place called chicken choice, and visited the golden triangle, which is the fashion district of Milan which is a fashion capital. It'd actually called the quadrilateral d'oro locally because its a square of 4 streets and apparently whoever named it the golden triangle was retarded and couldn't count.

The cathedral was also gigantic and very pretty. Also the train station was gigantic and pretty ornate. That's about it for Milan. It was a pretty modern city and fairly similar to home.