Quiet

Most of us are gone, a few remain. Final exams are finished, final papers are not. Unfortuately I fell for the paper scam. I have two to complete. So today I did research for most of the afternoon. It is slow going.

It is quiet here, as most students left this morning. The few of us that are here traveled up to Schloss Nymphenburg, one of Germany's largest baroque palaces, and then to Hirshgarten, to finish the evening with some hendl and apfelschorle. Sadly enough, nothing is novel anymore and it is shame that tonight at Munich's largest beer garden, a couple of us didn't even have any beer, and we all headed home before the fireworks. As is becoming the pattern tonight we said goodbye to another friend. This will repeat itself tomorrow and maybe the next day. Sad really. Most of them traveled from D.C. and are already making plans to see each other again. I am the only student from Minnesota.

But enough of that! Maybe if I shut off this Yanni (what the heck?!) that is streaming over my online radio I'll be able to pull out of this mood. As James would say, I am being way too "emo" : ).

Above is what we all looked like after Session I finals: happy, with beers. This is the Seehaus Beer Garden, and my favorite beer garden so far. From left to right, me, Andrea, James, C.J., Trent and Kate.

That evening, was Munich's 850th Birthday Celebration. Pretty much everyone in the program enjoyed some part of the celebration/festival that night. If you scroll down, I've posted some videos of my experience. Above is the giant ferris wheel you could take a ride on. Right down from the ferris wheel was this crazy band, Chicks on Speed... and that is exactly what they sounded like .... I didn't get too close ; ).

The next day a bunch of us traveled to "the castles", Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein. It is a day trip and two hour train ride but its worth the ride. Above is Schloss Hohenschwangau, King Maximillian's family castle.

Here it is, the famous Neuschwanstein Castle, from afar. This picture was actually taken from Hohenschwangau. 'Mad' King Ludwig commissioned this castle and watched it being built from Hohenschwangau. He actually hired a set designer rather than an architect to design th castle. He was in love with Wagner's operas (and perhaps Wager himself?) and wanted to build a fairytale castle to make the fantasy world of his operas come alive. Walt Disney fashioned the famous (and trademarked) Cinderella Castle after Neuschwanstein.

After visiting Hohenschwangau, you have the option of walking or taking a horse drawn carriage up to Neuschwanstein. Here are Denise, Corrina, Andrea and C.J. starting up the long and steep path. Notice the smiles... they were gone when we reached the top. I think we all burned off a couple of beers that day! I have more pictures of the castle trip, but they will have to wait. I am tired and am picking up Tom at the airport early in the AM : )!