On the way. I think this place is in Illinois.
Louisville buildings. tulips! @ The Art in the Garden exhibit. Lynn's Paradise cafe. AWESOME!

We walk down teh street, grateful for being able to move our legs after traveling in the confining quarters of planes and the bus (which Ktjo named "The Silver Bullet". I winced and explained why. "I can't beleive Rachel knows something perverted I don't!" It's a shock to me, too, trust me. I tell Miranda I'm worried about Deep Vein Thrombis. "It's Deep Vein THROMBOSIS! And you don't have it. You just read that article & now you're paranoid." she says.

We are taking everything in- the lack of humidity, the slight chill in the rainy air, the houses colored in pastel egg colors, flowers bursting form gardens and window boxes, trellises full of roses. Perfect cobblestone streets. The houses are half-timbered, gothic & borouqe style, while the shops have swirly decorative signs hanging above the entrance doors.



Everything looks picture book fairy tale perfect- it's undertandable why the Grimm brothers wrote tales of enchantment- how could you live here & not? Later on way to sleeping beauty's castle (Neushwanstein) we'll see houses painted with fariytale murals, wolives and forests, and candy houses and fairy forests.
 
I have twinges of homesickness mixed in, but I'm trying not to feel it. I have my best friends with me, Henrike is meeting us for dinner at this lovely restaraunt- I wish I could remember, but all I know is that the emblem for the restaraunt & hotel is a lamb & wreath. Our room is lovely as well-it looks almost like a little apartment complex, the way its set up. We have a big king sized bed with two twin beds in another part of the room, a little table with chairs, a little deck, a fancy bathroom, a huge armoir, and a big bay window that Miranda & I liked to sit in & watch the rain fall outside. When we got back from our soaking wet tour, Miranda & Henrike & I gave massages like we used to do when Henrike was in our Anatomy class & we'd get bored (but we always got good marks =) and talked about ridiculous things. Ah, fun! That took the edge off of the homesickness, as did the sleeping aids, cushy duvet blankets & huge pillows. 

Neushwanstein, misty & foggy, unfortunately. Still, it's breathtaking. There are huge murals inside and a chapel that is golden and garish, but so detailed you could look at it all day & still want to look more. The King's quaters had murals of Tristan & Isodole (I can't spell for crap) and a huge bed with intricate woodwork & a swan vanity sink, & (gasp) hidden secret doors. It looks just like you would imagine a castle to look like, but it's almost beyond words in a way.

This is long long long overdue- & it will take forever to accomplish, but I'm going to attempt to upload some photos of my trip to Europe and describe some of my trip as well. I wrote a lot while I was over there & filled an entire notebook with doodles and writings, so maybe I can eventually upload those as well. In some of my older entires during the summer I described what Germany was like, but never got a chance to write in detail about Austria, Italy & Switzerland. Hopefully, as long as it may take, I'd like to do that- it was something so amazing, I don't want to forget a second & the only way I'll ever come close to reliving & through memory & words & photographs, so here they are:

My first airplane trip! I was absolutely enthralled...the floor shaking beneath your feet and the take-off feeling like a rollercoaster. The business man beside me just closed his eyes...I was so entranced!

Traditonal German breakfast! This is after our night out at Hofbrauhaus, which had to have been one of the most memorable nights (that's another story for other photos). German breakfasts are yummy- good, filling bread, fresh fruit, & oatmeal, with REAL good coffee.

A beautiful poppy field from my view on our big tour bus, driven by the amazing Udo. We loved Udo to pieces. He was handsome & burly & had an amazing German accent. I can't think of anything he said to us besides "Bye" and "Hi," but we passangers loved him. I think he nothinged us. I wonder if I have a picture of good old Udo...I'll have to check on this for later.


Rothenburg was our first taste of Germany, & it was absolutely picturesque. It's an old medaval town with half-timbered houses and flowers everywhere and pastel houses the colors of easter eggs.


This was our tour guide of Rothenburg, the Nightwatchman. He was hilarious! He was something like a German Johnny Depp with an interesting accent. That's me in the green tanktop with the baseball cap (It rained...a lot).







So this was something of the equivalent of our first day in Germany, mind you I took about 800 pictures during the trip, so this is a very diluted version. I'll have to get back to this later. Hope it does something of a justice to this amazing country!

So everyone said it was going to be "the trip of a lifetime," and I had no idea that it really was. I just feel like bursting with so much enthusiasm about Europe, and I've strarted going back over photos and names of little towns & putting names to buildings and history with towns. I usally journal when I have something on my mind I can't get out & it almost always comes out convoluted & completely off the topic I thought I was going on. I've found that concerning this trip, that when I try to write about what I've seen it's just impossible. When I show people photos I just wish I could pull them inside the four corners & really show it to them. Everyday was breathtaking. And going with some of your best friends from High School made me have the most fun imaginable. =D So I'll try to explain some of it, but it'll be hard. 

I've never really been anywhere before this trip. I've never seen the ocean, been in an airplane, or seen historical buildings and monuments that really made me stop & stare. So after thinking about this trip, paying for it, and dreaming about it for about a year and a half, I was ready come June 3. I'll try not to bore you with too many details, but I love airports. I love flying, how suddenly you're off the ground and getting closer to clouds & the floor vibrates beneath your toes while business men beside you sleep through the whole thing. I was entraced! And all the handsome business men made me happy. Not many people know this, but I like older men far more than boys my own age. (This gets me into some trouble later on during the trip, but that's for later).So my friend Ktjo & I would sneakily people watch & wink & she'd take photos with her camera, usually utilizing the zoom. 

So after a long long flight (9 hours & something min.) we landed in Frankfurt, exchanged some cash for Euros, got our first taste of German food (they aren't a afraid of carbs & everything is yummy), took some ridiculous pictures by the German loos with the funny signs & then got on our tour bus & waited for a couple of hours for 2 other tourists. I feared getting Deep Vein Thrombosis. We met our bus driver, a focal point of all our bus journies because he was quite handsome with big arm muscles and a certain burly Germaness to him that almost made him seem more like a secret agent than a bus driver. His name was Odo, and while he barely blinked at us, everyone LOVED Odo, especially when he made 4 lane u-turns in the street, much to the delight & uder fear of everyone inside the bus. 
Eventually we took off to Rothenburg, prounounced Rottenburg. It is absolutely beautiful. It's an old midevil town with half-timbered houses and cobbled streets and glowing streetlamps. There are flowers everywhere and fountains are bursting with fresh rainwater. The rain made us shiver but it gave everything a look that made it even more beautiful. We took a tour with this hilarous man dressed up like a night watchman, but he acted more like Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribean, except with a hell stick. He guided us through the town and told us about how it survived the 30 years war way back when Martin Luther started the Protestant Reformation & how it avoided getting bombed during WWII. After the tour we were soaked through and through &  got back to our hotel room, which was AMAZING! I roomed with my best friend M, Ktjo, Liz and the one I missed so much, Henrike!!! =D She was an exchange student last year & my best friend & I got so close to her so we arranged to meet while we were in Germany & bless her heart, she found us! She is absolutely just as adorable as ever. We stayed up late despite the yet lag & gave each other massages & talked & had fun.

So....end of day 2. Holy crap, this will take forever. =D