Lots of hot

Today was the big bus ride of the trip. Here is our bus driver, Oskar, and our tour guide, Joachin. Oskar is from Bavaria and was representing today! Joachin is not, but he was game to fit in.

We had four hours from Czech woods to the Bavarian forest. The bummer part of that is that we have the hottest seats on the bus. We are in the back row (cool kids and all), so it is tough for the air conditioning to get all the way back there. The real drag comes from the fact that we seem to be on top of something that makes HOT. There is a radiator looking thing along the floor that heats up hot enough that if I touch it with my foot, it feels like it might actually burn the skin. It really heats up our seat. I have to admit I cried yesterday, after I used a handful of napkins to wipe down the sweat (I am a GIRL! I don’t sweat. I glow) and I just couldn’t take it anymore. Luckily, my body was mostly out of water, so the tears didn’t get too sloppy. Keith is the one who fell apart today, but not until later in the day, so SPOILERS!

We arrived in Munich about 2:00 and had until 6:00 to wander around. We went to several churches. The first one, the Asamkirke, was suggested to us for its ornate interior – but we were warned not to miss it because it was plain outside. Um. We didn’t miss it.

The next one was Stadtpfarrei St. Peter. It was almost as fancy AND it had a decorative skeleton (reliquary?). For those in our group seeing their first fancy skeleton, it was very exciting.

The group split up, with the others going to the Hofbrau House to see the servers carry seven liter-glasses of beer at a time (strong women were expected; strong men were actually there carrying the beers. I am unsure why strong women were expected). Since we weren’t there, I didn’t take this picture of Jenny, but I sure am glad someone did, because she is ADORABLE.

Since we had no interest in beers, we headed to the train station. We enjoyed the sights along the way.

Why the train station? Well, when we were here 9 years ago, we stayed right by the train station and we became addicted to the Döner sandwiches there. We have found many European locations to have Döner since then, but this particular place had amazing sauces to choose from. We know that nine years is a long time to expect to find the same place, but hope springs eternal and a couple blocks walk is not too far not to have any regrets. We also knew that there is an accessible fountain on the way, and the temperature was 92, soooo….POTD

There have been a lot of changes to the train station and our spot was now completely changed. We enjoyed wandering around – talk about hustle and bustle!! I now have a good mental preparedness for when we train next week – I hope to be ready!! We walked through a department store going and coming – just for the air conditioning. We thought we were being clever and used the restroom there, but there was a fee there as well as everywhere else to use the restroom. It is not that we mind the money, but having coins every time you need a restroom gets challenging. We bought candy before we headed out into the heat. We each got a Milka bar – Keith has had several from gas stations

OH! I totally forgot we stopped at a gas station rest area on the way to Munich and had pretzels and found an outdoor laundry mat!! Loyal readers will remember the excitement we had in Wales when we found an outdoor laundry. This one was just the same – ish. I was very excited.

Back to the candy… Keith has had several Milka bars, but I haven’t. I knew it would melt really fast, so I told Keith to eat his and he did. Snip snap and it was gone. I thought I would put mine in the room refrigerator tonight, because it was too hot to eat chocolate. Or anything. We also found Haribo wine gums for Alexander (they are okay, but not great). When we got on the bus, Keith put the candy in the rack above us, because it is COLD there. Eighteen inches down and I was roasting, but the little luggage area is frigid. My softened candy solidified into an awesome shape.

We went to the food market and got some fish and chips (Munich, not UK, but it sounded good. The greatest part was that the ketchup came in not only recyclable containers, but edible (therefore compostable) containers! There have been little cups that looked like ice cream cone bottoms at the some of the breakfast and I had no idea what they were. Compostable cups! So cool!

I got cherries from the fruit vendor. They were really, really good.

We had two more hours to ride to Füssen, our stop for the night. When the Alps first came into view, everyone was very excited. When we could see Neuschwanstein on the hill, far away, everyone was clicking away. We were on the wrong side of the bus, so squint and tip your head to the side and imagine!

This last two hours of bus riding is when Keith got really overheated. He was NOT happy to find out our room has no A/C. There are two hotels in the area with A/C – they are both sold out (he was on Expedia immediately). The bummer part is that we can’t open the windows because the mosquitos got us when we were out walking and looking for drinks. Also, we have no little refrigerator. Also, we couldn’t find anywhere to buy any cold drinks anyway, so it doesn’t really matter. He was just practicing his cornet with his feet in cold bathtub water. He is feeling a little better. I don’t know what the nighttime will bring as far as sleeping in this heat. The last hotel at least had a fan in our room.

We did go out and about, looking for beverages, and enjoying the super cute town. Keith had gelato and we found Dan and Stacy having gelato, too. I am so glad they are on this trip and that we get to hang out with them. It is the best!

There is lots of cute in Füssen.

I got ‘skeeto bites on both of my wrists. Bummer. And weird. I am doing some sink laundry and the water is really nice and cold, so that is good. I hope you are all having a nice time and that you have air conditioning if you need it.

OH my goodness. Our guide, Joaquin, said we can bring our swimming costumes and go in the lake after our castling tomorrow. I DID NOT BRING A SWIMMING SUIT.

AAAUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHHHH