Day 11: Neuschwanstein Castle and the Alps

Doing a little reminiscing about my trip this summer today, so I decided that it was time for an update. Grad school is kicking my butt this semester what with taking two classes, teaching, applying for grants and fellowships, working on my own research, and making a poster for an upcoming conference I'm a little overwhelmed and haven't had time to work on my blog.   

On Day 11 Felix and I drove from Munich down to the Neuschwanstein Castle. It was built by this crazy kind Ludwig the II who was obsessed with the German composer Wagner. Most rooms of the castle have a theme based on Wagner's operas. 

Here I am in the courtyard of the castle. This castle is also the inspiration for the castle in Sleeping Beauty, which I believe I loved so much as a child that my Mom used to ask the librarians to tell me it was checked out even if it wasn't. 

We hiked up to see the view from the bridge that used to be the entrance to the castle. It was a little scary to be up there because the wind made the bridge shake, but the view was spectacular with the Alps in the background. 

May 31, 2010 

Happy Holidays Travis!

On Friday, we had a going away party for our friend Travis. He is going to be researching in Antarctica for the next 6 months, so my friend Kat threw a party for him that included every holiday he was going to miss while he was gone including: Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years.

Everybody had to dress up, and dinner consisted of a Thanksgiving type foods and desserts. We also played white elephant with gag gifts. The bubbles were a hot commodity. And finally we toasted with champagne at midnight. We'll miss you Travis!

Emily the midnight ninja

I have a little story to tell that cheered me up and may cheer you up as well.

My whole life I been rather active while I sleep...talking, flailing around...one time my friend Kyndal woke up, and I was sleeping with my feet on my pillow and when she woke up again I was right side up.

My other specialty is kicking. When I was little, my mom, my brother, and I went to South Padre with some friends. So of course my Mom and I shared a bed and my brother had one to himself as this seemed the most appropriate. Well I kicked my Mom so hard I left bruises, and she slept with my brother for the rest of the trip. Well on my recent trip to Cape Cod I was sharing a bed with my friend Kat. Now I thought I had grown out of this kicking phase since nobody has complained in a while, but apparently I was wrong. I  alternated between kicking and trying to cuddle with her. She has dubbed me Emily the Midnight Ninja, which she so kindly reminded me off at dinner this evening. =)

Amazing reasons for infrequent updates

Reasons why I have not been updating the blog =)

May:
Home to Texas
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Berlin, Germany
Nuremberg, Germany and surrounding areas
Munich, Germany


June:
Arusha and much of northern Tanzania

July:
Boothbay Harbor, Maine

August:
Palo Alto, California
Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Home to Texas

In the near future:
September:
Holbrook, Arizona

November:
Denver, Colorado
Napa Valley, California

December:
Home to Texas

All of this means I have more beautiful pictures than I know what to do with. =)

Day 10: Munich

So I've had requests to explain who this mysterious Felix person is... Felix was a foreign exchange student from Germany at my high school when I was a junior. We met because he was in the band, but mostly we met because my high school was the size of a teacup. Over the last 7 years we've kept up through email and instant messaging.

Felix had to go back to Munich for class, which was perfect as I got to wander around Munich while he was stuck in class. As I am of the opinion that wandering is the best way to travel, I didn't really plan anything.  As I only had the day, I went and found one of the tourist buses to take me around the city. The bus was nice because you could hop on and off whenever you found something interesting.

My favorite stop was Marienplatz, which has lots of cool architecture and shopping, but everything was closed because it was Sunday. I kept walking around just because it was beautiful and there were lots of street musicians, and I was enjoying myself when I came upon a street fair. I bought some chocolate strawberries and sat down and listened to the traditional German music for while. This really cute dog became my best friend as soon as he noticed my strawberries.

It had been threatening to rain off and on all morning and finally started pouring, so I made my way back to the Frauenkirche cathedral that I'd seen to get out of the rain. It's a big beautiful Gothic cathedral with lots of stained glass.








My final stop was to Nymphenburg Palace, which was built in the 1600s! There was a beautiful park behind the palace where people came to work out, or picnic, take a walk, you name it. I sat on a bench for a long time people watching and eating chocolate.

May 30, 2010