Monday, May 10, 2010

The Germany Chronicles 3 - In which the hills are alive

Hi from Germany to you all!
I am happy to announce to all (because I only wrote it in the comments so far) that I successfully passed my Japanese class! And with a B- at that! And here I thought I'd get a C... *sigh of relief* I won't have to retake it after all... I am never taking another language class again!

In other news, I went to visit Linderhof palace with Michael on Saturday. I decided to wear my gorgeous new dirndl for the occasion. In other words, I was dressed in a way that would have honoured our dear King Ludwig II if he were still alive (I want to say he would have "liked" what I was wearing, but seeing as he was allegedly gay, I highly doubt that a low-cut bodice would have attracted his eye at all...) Anyways, I was dressed in the whole and complete outfit and I looked absolutely awesome! I promise some good pictures. On the palace grounds (gorgeous gardens!) Michael and I became a photo opp for several tourists. Notably a French guy and an English one decided to take a picture of us because we looked "so traditionally Bavarian" and two people from Nürenberg also spoke to me about my outfit and how wonderfully traditional it was... I got a LOT of comments and it was great fun! The palace was a really nice visit. My mum and aunt used to be tour guides in there. Linderhof is the palace in which Ludwig II spent the last eight years of his life (until his very mysterious death) and it was allegedly his favourite palace. I understand why: STUNNING VIEW! And a beautiful place at that. It's actually a very small palace... just a cottage to a king, but I'd like to live in it nonetheless. Michael mentioned that he'd like to sleep in the king's bed: it seems to be the first that is long enough for his feet! XD

I also must mention the single, most terrifying experience of my life so far. As you all know, I have a frightfully vivid imagination and it tends to run away with me at the most inopportune times... I mean, I can get lost in the woods because I spent too many hours staring at a tree stump and picturing fairies living in it... *sigh* anyways...
So, after going to this cool restaurant in Oberammergau, where a family friend (and the owner of the place) does cool magic tricks at your table, Mike and I walked home in the dark (it was 9:30 at night). We were not scared when we were walking until we reached the church. Curious (as I always am), I decided to have a look into the churchyard. In Germany (and I suppose most of Europe), the cemetery is located in the churchyards and laid out all around the church. Which means that Michael and I walked into a dark church ground with very little light and some candles lit on a grave here and there. It was super creepy! There was also some slight haze from the rain and the paving sort of glittered in the faint light of a streetlamp. Neither Mike nor I could get ourselves to move further into the graveyard, as the dark shapes of tombstones were terrifying and foreboding. My imagination made me see figures lurking behind the stones... And Oberammergau is famous for the plague epidemic that hit it in 1633... which suggest many angry ghosts from centuries passed... The headstones closest to us stated years of death from 1908 to 1932... so right during the period of the first World War as well... But that's not the creepy bit yet. As Mike and I are standing there, shivering with fright at the thought of the many souls lying beneath our feet, the church bell starts ringing the bloody three-quarter of an hour!!! That meant three blood-chilling rings of a low-tone bell. It sounded like a warning or a death omen or something. Mike and I screamed and bolted. My heart did not stop pounding until we were safe inside with lots of light!

Oh, and the weather improved somewhat the next day. We went hiking. Michael said it was his very first hike! That made me very happy!! We hiked three mountains and back! A grand total of a seven hour walk!! My arse hurts a lot today. We hiked the Kofel, including the rocky tip of it, which consists of some rudimentary climbing: the rocky path is so steep and narrow (and rather dangerous) that there is some thick cable bolted along the path and you have to pull yourself up to the top, where the cross stands (because we are good Catholics here in Bavaria). We got great pictures from the top and Michael bolted a sandwich right beneath the cross. There were also HUGE raven-type birds up on that mountain. I swear, they were the size of a slender hen, but they looked like ravens: completely black and ominous looking! And then we walked through Bavarian woods (real fairy tale forest!) across two mountains! At the top of the last one was an inn where we had some soup and Michael had a beer. We reached that third mountain just in time because it started to pour and to hail down (yup, chunks of ice falling from the sky!). We waited out the rain at the inn and then went back out. When we finally came back down into Oberammergau, great thunder rolls could be heard behind us... so we were REALLY lucky with the weather! We did not get hit by lighting, though we saw ominous storm clouds pulling in... (Sorry, gotta finish this quickly!) It was a great (long!) hike and we had loads of fun! We also have many great pictures of it! And the hills WERE alive with the sound of music (Michael sang loudly on the mountain: the sound echoes beautifully up there!) It was AWESOME! I promise pictures soon!

For those wondering about the pictures, I cannot send them from the internet cafe, so it'll have to wait until we're back in Canada. I promise I'll put them up though!
Tomorrow: Munich!

I wish you all the best! Tscüß!

1 comment:

  1. Omg D8 Germany's cemeteries seem so scary!!!! D8 (Well, is there a cemetery not scary at all? XD) Once, on a Halloween night, the shortest way to my friend's home was to pass right next to the cemetery, I was so freaking scared XD I walked so fast and was telling myself: I hope no one will try to scare me >< I hope no one will try to scare meeeee i-i. But yay XD I was a really short walk but still, will never try that again on a Halloween night of all time XD (or any time, I am so easily scared XD)

    The Hiking and the visit of the castle look so awesome <D And I am sure you two are on a couples of pictures on facebook right now lol xD

    Enjoy Munich <3

    Ryu =3

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