Great Friends, Great Fun

Last weekend the wonderful Alyssa Johnson and Haley Smith stopped through Munich to visit me on their tour through Europe. And of course, we had an awesome time! Alyssa and Haley were tri delts with me at A&M - I know a lot of you knew that but for those who didn't. Alyssa and I were room mates sophomore year in the delta shelta. Haley and Alyssa were room mates at the Holick house senior year. The Holick was another home to me as well in college so it's almost like Haley and I were room mates anyways. So, we took on the town this weekend! And what did we do on Friday right when they arrived?.... Went to a Biergarten (beer garden).

We went to the famous LowenBrau Keller beer garden where Hitler gave a famous speech to his Nazi party during his power. This beer garden has been a landmark in Munich since the late 1800s and is the popular choice of beer during Oktoberfest.

On Saturday we took the 2 hour train ride to Fussen to see the Neuschwanstein Castle. You know, the Disney Castle. Well the one Walt Disney apparently created his empire icon after. Yea, that one! It was magnificent, fit for the inspiration of the Disney icon. The castle was never actually finished thoguh. King Ludwig II died long before his project was completed. Since this King was a little koo koo (really), the stories during the tour were very interesting. And there are swan statues everywhere. It was an odd and overdone decoration. My favorite room was the cave room and the King's toilet (it literally looked like a throne, comfy, cushion chair with a hole in the middle).

Really my favorite was the view.

This looks photoshopped but it's real!

This is the view from the other side of the castle of another castle on the back lake. No big deal.

And coming back from Fussen was a lucky adventure. Since we missed the original train straight back to Munich we had to take whatever train was next and switch a couple of different times along the way. We only had to run across one platform though. But we made it, luckily haha

On Sunday, the rain only made it more fun :) We went to church at an English speaking Methodist church and then took a walk to the Alte Pinakothek (the old art museum in Munich). On our walk through the rain we stopped at a cute bakery for a yummy snack.

Outside the museum. The paintings here are huge! It is incredible the talent of these life size graphic paintings. You had to stand in the middle of the room to even be able to see the top of the frame.

And then we had American Pancake night at the house with the family!

We had to say our good byes on Monday. I am so happy that Alyssa and Haley could visit and I wish them well on the rest of their trip through Europe - and special safe keepings as the come to London this weekend. I was so happy to be able to share all of this in Germany with them. It was so nice to have such great friends visit. It was like wearing your favorite pair of jeans, with a comfy Tshirt, taking a walk in the sunshine listening to Ben Rector on your iPod. It was a great weekend! Full of laughter and good company. Love you girls! I hope more of you can visit too!