Day 2: Bring on Bavaria

Today, I left bright and early from the hostel in Clichy (an area just outside Paris proper) and headed for the airport. Luckily, I did get up so early because the process of finding the airport shuttle was confusing and then the line at the check-in was endlessly slow. My experience with Air Berlin improved though, once I got onto the plane. If I read German magazines or newspapers, I could have because they were provided free. They even had a sandwich for me! Not just the standard peanuts and soda for this budget airline!

The main drag in downtown Füssen

Upon arriving to Munich airport, I caught the train for Fussen, the city at the end of the Romantic Road in Bavaria. This is pretty close to the castles that King Ludwig II lived in, the more famous of which is Neuschwanstein, the inspiration for the famous Disney castle. The castle though was to wait for the next day, since the lines are less hectic in the mornings, when day-trippers from Munich aren't quite
there yet. Instead, I toured the city of Fussen, and found several gems there as well. The High Palace, Hohes Schloss, was particularly spectacular. It's a fairly large complex that used to house the Augsburg prince bishops, since Fussen used to be the seat of a bishopry. That history is still seen in the adjacent large complex of the St. Mung monestary and basilica. The basilica was very large and lavishly decorated in, what I think is, baroque period paintings and sculptures. There was a chapel downstairs that held several statues depicting the various stages of Christ's life, from him coming out of the desert on a donkey to him bearing the cross. One statue though that I felt was especially eerie was one of Christ lying on a bier or bed of some sort, with all the wounds from the crucification, covered with a real shroud. That room made me feel like I didn't belong, like I was intruding on someone's personal collection of life stories, and so I ended up not taking any pictures there.

My detour to a Franciscan Monestary

After that, I continued my wandering through the city. I strolled along the River Lech, which I found to be a really strange color. It was chalky with a greenish tinge to it. I'm not quite sure what would cause the water to be that way though. I definitly was not tempted to take a swim, or even wade in the water. On the way to food, or rather as detours from it since I'm easily distracted, I saw the Franciscan
monestary and the nearby St. Benedict cemetary. Afterwards, my stomach finally prevailed, and I sat down at a local German restaurant, ordered up some schweinschnitzl (pork cutlet) and home-made schpetzl (egg noodles). I also had some german off-dry white wine to go with it, one from Franken, I believe. After that, the wine kicked in, and I realized that the light sleep the night before was not nearly enough to recover from the complete change in time zones. I eventually returned to the hostel, and, as I write this in bed, I am so ready for a peaceful night's sleep! Gute nacht!