Keri Goes Abroad: Konstanz, Munich and Neuschwanstein

Oh my goodness, I have so many posts to do! The weekend before Pentacost break, IES took us to Konstanz and Munich. I was actually upset at first, because they originally told us that we would be going to Lindau and Munich. Oh well. Konstanz is also beautiful, and we had fun. IES hired a bus to drive us from Freiburg to Munich, which was gorgeous and gave us a chance to see the countryside (when we weren't sleeping, because the bus left at 7 am).
Our bus took us to some little town outside of Konstanz to see churches, then Konstanz for an hour, Meersburg for two hours, and finally into Munich. Konstanz is right on the Bodensee, across the lake from Lindau. We just kind of wandered around there. In Meersburg we saw the old castle, which I actually saw the last time I was in Germany. Somebody still lives there! It's crazy - I would never want to live in a castle that gives hundreds of tours every day!

Munich was gorgeous, as usual. This was my second trip to Munich this time in Germany, my third time overall, and will be one out of four trips to Munich! Crazy. When we finally got there that night, we all jumped in the shower and went out to the Hofbrauhaus for dinner. It was probably my favorite part of the trip. The Hofbrauhaus is HUGE. It was like being at Oktoberfest without actually being at Oktoberfest. We sat upstairs at one of the long tables, while a polka band played in their dirndls and lederhosen. And then the dance group came out with their whips and silly German 2-step, and some other silly looking dance that involved jumping. The food was spectacular, and the beer was incredible. We made friends with the silly dance group, and they taught us how to crack whips (I didn't try it, but I took pictures). And then my friend Justin grabbed Kiersten and made her dance the 2-step on stage. It was so much fun!

The next morning we were taking on a city tour, which was actually very good. Our tour guide was animated, and conducted the tour in slow, clear German. We watched the glockenspiel, then broke up into smaller groups to wander the city. My group had no clear destination, so we wandered until we got to the English Gardens. Oh my. If I wanted to sunbathe naked, I would not do it in a garden in the middle of the city, and I certainly wouldn't be playing frisbee. But this is what happens in the English Gardens in Munich. And most of the people who are naked are older German men who are not in very good shape, and stand up and stretch...

After our English Garden experience, we went to a sportsbar to watch some of the FC Bayern soccer game. There my friend Kelly and I ordered nachos, but got.....not nachos. Doritos with dip. Hmm.

At the end of the day, we went back to the Biergarten in the English Gardens, enjoyed good German food, beer, and the fact that the naked men were gone since the sun had gone down.

The next day we went to Fußen to see Neuschwanstein. I've already done that trip too, but the castle is still gorgeous, so I took pictures.

Pretty German countryside

St. George and the Dragon statue in the St. George church

Paintings in the church from the late middle ages (I think)

Boats in Konstanz

Some of the silly fountains/statues in Konstanz

Countryside out of the Meersburg castle window.

The group at Marienplatz on our way to Hofbrauhaus

Hofbrauhaus

Each of these giant beers is called a Maß. They're huge and really heavy, and the waiters/waitresses can carry up to 16 of them in their hands at once.