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Neuschwanstein, Germany
June 6th, Sunday - Hiking in the Alps, by DW
 The word for the day is “lush”. The adults
and AD started the morning earlier than the teenage girls, so
we had their breakfast ready when Geni went and got them up.
The feeding and clean up for 7 people, took until about 10 and
we then set off on a walk into the Alps. A path behind the
house at Cavadurli leads to a nearby lake and eventually Davos.
In winter this path is a sled run. The day was lovely and we
alternated between needing a sweater and wishing for shorts
depending on the amount of sun. The forest is thick in patches
and very lush. Spring flowers blanket the floor and the scent
of pine fills the air.
 After an hour hiking, we reached the lake and sat for a rest
to enjoy a drink and a snack. We had worked up a sweat but the
lake water is mountain fed, so I didn’t even put my hand in.
There is a trough beside Cavadurli that runs with mountain
water and we are using it to chill our beverages and it works
very well. Refreshed, we continued hiking for another half hour
to the Davos Wolfgang train station for a ride home. Since we
were early for the train, we stopped for a delicious cold
spritzer (beer and lemonade). Sitting in the sun surrounded
with snow capped mountains is wonderful.
 Arriving back at Cavadurli, we set about making lunch. While
TD and I chopped fruit and made rhubarb crunch, Magdalena
popped popcorn on the fire that Geni had made in the barbeque
pit. We sat outside enjoying the scenery and the sunshine. The kids were playing darts on a homemade board
against the shed. It's great to see the kids having fun even
with the language barrier and games are something that
transcend that barrier. Geni cooked brats on the grille while
Magdalena made spargle (white asparagus), green salad and warm
rolls. Eating outside, we enjoyed each others company and two
bottles of wine!
By the time we got lunch cleaned up it was time to take the
5:20 train back to Chur. The 1¼ hour ride goes quickly and the
walk to their house is short. Everyone was stuffed from our
lunch so we had a light dinner, chatted over another bottle of
wine and went to bed at 11:00.
June 7th, Monday - Neuschwanstein, Mad Ludwig’s Castle, by
DW
 The word for the day is “fairytale”. We
left Chur and started our drive to Fussen, which is the home
of the famous Neuschwanstein Castle. It was built by King
Ludwig II between 1869 to 1886. It is copied at the entrance
to Disney, as well as in all of their movie introductions. The
castle really is a fairytale fantasy in appearance.
Neuschwanstein stands for new, swan, stone. New because it was
new to Ludwig, swan because of the swans on the lake and stone
because of the rock mountain on which it sits.
It took us 4 hours to get there because of a 45 minute stop
with car problems, which is a pain in the patutie. The car has
had a change oil signal on and what it really needed was oil!!
Gads!! The Avis rental agency sent us to the Opel dealer to
have the car looked at and we were ready to wait for the rest
of the day. This is not America though and we were waited on
within 5 minutes. Can you believe it? The attendant said the
car was fine, so I guess the 2 quarts we put in did the trick.
The change oil light remains on, however.
Arriving in the village of Hohenschwangau, we found the castle
a little less dramatic than the pictures portray it, but not
much. We ate a quick lunch because the castle tours are timed
and we had only one hour to get up the hillside. TD bought us
bus tickets for the way up but we walked down. Once at the top
you walk immediately to a bridge overlooking the lake on one
side and the castle on the other. Views from here were
fantastic and you could really see the beauty of the castle
and why it is so renown.
 The tour began promptly at 1:30. The unfortunate thing for
poor Mad Ludwig is that he only lived in this lovely place for
180 days. He and his psychiatrist died questionable deaths
shortly after Ludwig was declared insane. His not-so-mad
brother took over ruling Bavaria. Ludwig was a fan of the arts
and his castle is dedicated to art, music and theater. The 4th
and 5th floors are the Kings quarters and they have beautiful
murals decorating each room. He has a fantastic auditorium
where all the floor is the stage. He and his guests sit above
on a second level. The first floor houses the kitchen and that
was of course my favorite. They even had a bakery room.
Leaving this town we proceeded to Augsburg to spent the night
at another Etap Hotel. We were surprised to find the manager
from the Dresden unit now servicing this one. Volker travels
to German Etap’s providing vacation relief for the resident
managers. Our location is as usual, located in an industrial
area but there was an Aldi for grocery shopping. Buying 1.29
euro bottles of wine makes TD’s day. It was more than
drinkable so we happily settled into our evening routine of
cards and wine. Dinner was Chinese and more than edible. Now I
am off to bed, Goodnight.
Strasbourg, France...»
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