There comes a time when a couple is faced with a tough decision. Times like this is never easy. The point of discussion can be so big that it ends in an argument. Sometimes these discussions can be drawn out and permanently damage a relationship. Other times, this decision can bring about one person being submissive to the other. No matter what the outcome is… big decisions are big decisions and they are never easy. Today, we were faced with a big decision (hope your getting the sarcasm), and together we worked through it and the result lead to “the best view of the whole trip so far.”
Let’s start from the top. We arrived into Munich at 730 am. As soon as we arrived, rain started to fall. This was not what we were planning on. In times of dismay, whether through frustration of events or grumpiness, there is a time when the couple must rise and make educated decision… and hope for the best. We did so at this time. When we checked to see if this rain weather was going to persist, we receive bad news. Now only was the rain going to fall the next three day, but the weather was going to drop significantly in the next couple days. Hmmm.. what should we do? The original plan was to hang out in Munich for a day, take an excursion to some castles for a day, and then hang out in Munich for a third day (luxury huh?). Once we saw our weather forecast, we were in dismay. With only less than an hour to decide was to do, we found ourselves in that “tough decision.” We dropped off our bags and headed back to the train station. We were desperately hoping we could check a train to Fussen, a city near the castles. With our luck, we got there early and found a “hard to get seat.”
-insert relative information- 
Soooo there are a ton of companies that want you to buy from their tour guide packages. This will include transportation to the castles, a tour when your there, and a ride back. This is very much true, but after days of reading blogs, we decided we could wing the castle trip. That means we would have to find our own 2 hour transportation to a city 5 km away from the castles, walk the steep steep STEEP hill to the castle, take a tour and find a way back to Munich…. Oh and the current weather in Munich looks like crap……………………….. Like I said, a couple in dismay that has a tough decision – hang out in Munich or go visit some castles (hence the sarcasm – but not really). –end relative information-
As I said, we were very fortune to find a seat on the train. We had our breakfast on the 2 hour ride and took a little nap. When we woke up the skies were blue, the rain was gone, and someone wanted us to hang a memorable day (remember, we had the best view of the whole trip so far). With our fingers crossed, we landed in fussen and had to figure out a way to the base of the mountain. We knew there was a bus that would take you there, but we stumbled upon a bike rental place. After another big decision (more sarcasim) we took the bikes. It was a dream of Steven’s to bike in the countryside. So we made it happen. After the soothing ride to the base of the mountain, we got our tickets and had another decision to make, “How do we get up the mountain?” The main options are to walk up a steep hill for 45 mins or pay to take a horse drawn carriage…. BUT.. we had our bikes. Thus, we biked a mountain in Barvaria!!! … to a castle!!! How awesome does that sound?
So we walked around the peak of the mountain where the castle lay. After following many tourists, we found the bridge. So let’s take a minute to describe this bridge. Let’s pretend there is a huge cliff that falls into a deep dark black abyss. Then let’s say the other side is 50 meters away. Connecting the 2 sides is a bridge that is only 4 feet wide. It’s a bridge that squeaks with every step. The boards that comprise the bridge move and bend when someone steps on the same board a ways down. It’s a bridge you seen in movies where you say to yourself, “meh, that’s not bad, I could do that.” We have all said that. But it’s totally different when you are there. Anyways, we walked onto the bridge. With knees buckling, we inched… in mean inched are way toward the middle. Echoes of motivation or advice of not looking down came to, but it didn’t help. The bridge was scary. It was stupid. It was a very nerve reckoning thing but………. it led to the best view of the whole trip so far. Period. 
There are memories in life no one can take away. You alone experience them and you alone will cherish them. However, when you experience them as a couple, you cherish them together forever. Once on the bridge, the first glace to our left was simply breathtaking… I mean, it literally took our breath away. Sitting proud at eye level was the mighty Neuschawnstein castle. The beast rose high upover the valley below and sparkled white. We are not going to attempt to describe the feeling. But it was something we will never forget. 
Add in the fact that the bad weather in Munich may have canceled our castle trip, us winging the trip and not paying for a tour guide, and the thrill of the stupid sky high bridge, brought the experience to a whole. WOW. Simply amazing.Now the simple stuff… After roaming around the outskirts, we took our tour. We’ve heard it wasn’t special, but went in anyways. Overall it was really cool, but they rushed you though it, and there wasn’t anything mind blowing. But hey, we visited a castle.
After Neuschawnstein castle we visited a second one, Hoegenswagha castle (the yellow one). We didn’t go in, but visited its gardens and surrounding areas.
After our castle trip was over we used our bikes to pedal around an aqua colored lake. The lake was crystal clear with white sand. It was similar to the color of a Mexican beach.
Next we biked back to Fussen and biked around the small city. It was very similar to Brugge; tiny, cobblestoned, and old. We biked around this historic place for awhile before we got some dinner at the supermarket. It’s a great time to mention that our streak of sausages for our meals is still going. For lunch we had a currywurst before we biked up the mountain and for dinner we got some sausage salami thing that went well with pretzel bread. Our direct train back to Munich was at 7. However, the bad weather started to come at 6. Unsure of what to do, we headed back to the train station. As we did, a train arrived. It was not a direct train back to Munich but after we quickly talked to some people, we realized we could make it back. So we jumped on and saw the rain pour as we took off. Now that was great timing!! Great “wing it” day.
When we got back to our hostel people were watching Eurovision. It immediately caught our eye because EVERYONE was watching it. We talked to some locals and they gave us the low down. It’s like combining Miss Europe with American Idol. It’s a singing competition held only once a year and each European country selects one band to sing their song. It’s a one shot deal. It was pretty neat to see everyone get into it. I guess ABBA and Celina Dion both won back in the day. So we watched some for a bit. We wanted to finish watching it, but we had to head out to an official Munich Bier Garden (fyi – thy Oktoberfest is in Munich). We knew of a great one only blocks away. They are known for the best Munich beer but you can’t get it in the US – Augustiner Keller. Since it was raining, everyone was in their bier hall. And guess what everyone was doing??? Drinking? Yes…. But they also had a big screen of Eurovision… haha it was crazy. Just imagine a drinking hall similar to the one in Beowulf (John (Steven’s brother) would know, because we just watched it together recently) and everyone watching American Idol – and taking it seriously. Haha It was funny. The bands were great. We were impressed. In the end, a boy band from Sweden won.
It was a great first night in Munich.
I showed these pictures to Steve. He was really impressed and a bit jealous. He thought that one of the castle pictures was a drawing and couldn't be real.
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