And down go the Canadians
Austria – Tour Day 7
Well, today started a bit later, around 9am. Nic and I made our way downstairs to grab a quick breakfast at the hotel before we headed out to see the castle. Breakfast was fairly normal aside from the gargantuan amount of smack talk from the Canadians. It seems they think the luge is their countries sport and that I can’t possibly lose. Well I held my own and let those Canadians know that no one is going to beat me at a luge, ESPECIALLY Canadians! We all had a good laugh, it’s great that the group is loosened up enough that we can all tease one another and just generally have a good time.
Nicole here! Kevin wanted me to fill in the blanks between the intro and the luge. He really just wanted to write about the luge I guess! After breakfast we hopped on the bus and headed to Newschwanstein (I have to check the spelling later, too tired to do it now) Castle about 30 minutes from our hotel. As always, the drive was gorgeous.
It was a bit frigid out in the morning, but we warmed up pretty quickly walking around and exploring the castle. We took a bus (a crazy, scary, Mr. Toad’s wild ride bus!) to a spot above the castle called Mary’s Bridge. We walked a few minutes and were on the highest bridge I’ve ever been on! Not only was it high, it was ricketey. The floor was big wooden planks and when you walked on them they bowed beneath your feet. SCARY! But the view, wow, it was worth it. Unfortunately the castle had scaffolding up on our side, but the great weather we’ve had and the incredible views made it breathtaking none the less!
We took some photos on the bridge (of course) and then headed down for our castle tour. This place is Disneyland in real life! Mad King Ludwig had awesome taste! It took 17 years to build the castle, and it was actually never completed. Ludwig only lived there for 6 weeks before he was drug to jail and deemed insane. It is a long story, but you should look into the Mad King’s story…it is an interesting one if nothing else.
There were no photos allowed while in the castle (bummer) but we got some great shots of the outside (and I MAY have snuck one or two while inside, this one ceiling was amazing and I wanted to be able to remember it!). The castle was built with Ludwigs good friend Wagner in mind and so there are opera themes throughout. There is a singing room, a gigantic kitchen and even a cave! So very cool! Ludwigs bedroom itself took 60 men 1.5 years to complete, the woodwork is astonishing! Also, the castle itself was designed by a theater set designer instead of an architecht which gives it the amazing “fairy tale” look.
This is THE castle that Walt based Sleeping Beauty’s castle on in Disneyland! Walt did good!
I’ll let Kevin take it from here! (Oh, Sharon, the scary cave elevator totally made me think of Thunder too! It even smelled like it!!! There have been so many Disney moments on this trip!).
Colleen and Ben were nice enough to go to the store to get us food for a picnic lunch at the lake near the castle. She remembered that Nicole is a vegetarian and brought her a cheese sandwich which she set aside so no one would take. Last night someone jokingly asked if there would be wine at the picnic. A few days before that Colleen asked us “do you know what you call a meal without wine? Breakfast!!!!” So, they reminded her that if she was providing lunch she should provide wine. It was all done very nice and we all had a good laugh. Well, to our suprise, lunch shows up with wine. Colleen brought back 4 big bottles of wine for all of us to share along with chocolate bars, chips, veggies and fruit for everyone. We sat out by the lake, talked about the trip, the Canadians upcoming loss at the luge and other junk. One couple even took a row boat out on the lake, very cute!
So, I know you’re dying to know, what came next. Was it the luge? Please let it be the luge. Yep, it’s the luge. Let me start by saying the luge is friggin awesome. As Nic mentioned, I was warned about going tooooooo fast before we even got there. Let me describe this luge: It is a stainless steel track that winds down a hill. Nothing major, it doesn’t go down a mountain or anything crazy, just a small hill. Something you would ice block down. The ride takes just over a minute depending upon how fast you go. I did it in about 1:15, some people take 2:00 (they are slow and lame and ruin it for the people behind them). Okay, so the track, a half tube (kind of like a water slide) that holds your luge and gets wider on the turns. It has a couple dips to help speed you up. You get on the luge at the bottom of the hill and they connect you to a wire that drags you up. The luge is a simple plastic sled with an e-brake in the middle. You don’t want to use the brake too much, luge is a speed sport, not a slow scenic jaunt through the country side.
When we get there Colleen hops off the bus to buy tickets and meets us at the enterance. Those of us that want to haul ass go first, the slow pokes take up the rear. Being that I am one of the taller, larger guys here (not by that much, there are a couple bigger guys, but they are older and want to go slow) I get to go first, Colleen follows me and the Canadians follow her. I sit in my luge, the friendly gentlemen lets me through and up the hill I go. Colleen reminds me to not go too fast in the turns to which I reply “yeah yeah yeah.”
Well, the luge starts out fairly slow but by the middle, you’re hauling ass! Colleen, who is 5’2″ and may way 120 lb soaking wet CATCHES ME. She didn’t even TOUCH her brake. She laid back and let her luge loose. Well, I felt a bit silly so on my second run, I let that luge have it. I used the break only a couple times, leaned into the turns and had a blast. The luge may not be the most historical or pretty or magical thing we’ve seen in the past 2 weeks but it was damn well the funnest. We all felt like little kids. And, for your viewing pleasure, I videod the entire thing. It’s on Flickr under the set for Austria. I recommend you take a minute to watch it, it’s pretty cool and will really show you what the luge is like. If you can’t find it it’s because it’s not up yet and uploading here can be a pain, so, check back.
After the luge ended the entire group sat down in a beer garden for a .5 liter of beer and some quick conversation about the days events. A few people had ice cream which they purchased for only 1 Euro. The Canadians ran ahead of us to the bus where they broke out some small plastic cups and a huge bottle of Crown Royal. Yes, the Canadians wanted us to all take a shot together. They poured bout 24 of the 29 of us small shots (about half what a bar sells), we took a few photos together before the group (Colleen included) downed our shots. Even though I HATE brown liquor, it was a lot of to take a shot of it in the parking lot with our tour group.
Back on the bus and Colleen pops in some good old fun music. Brown Eye Girl, some Beatles, Jimmy Buffet and others to keep us alive and kickin. 30 fun, relaxing minutes later and we’re back to the hotel. Everyone splits up, heads back to their rooms for a little r & r before dinner.
Canadians…just love them….I drank more in Canada then i could accoutn for…. but I’ve got to go stomp grapes….so I’ll be blogging later…
http://www.harvestfair.org/stomp.php
WE MADE THE STOMP PAGE!!! WE have NO IDEA!!!! So excited!!!
Haha. That is awesomme!!!
So sorry to be late on my replay, was volunteering this morning. The luge video is great!! Wish I was there with you. Thanks again for the great tour info.
FYI!!!!
WE ARE GOING TO THE FINALS!!!
We Beat-out 4 repeated Champs!!!
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ps. We’ve got to head out for our Stomp…but I Can’t wait for the pics later….a video!!! Too Fun!
did we serious just blog eachother at the same time!?!?! 1:53pm….crazy!
Congrats on the finals! Must have been easy to get in seeing as we weren’t there to kick your arses this year!!!
Win those southwest tickets…you need to get going on HowesAboutTheUnitedStates.com!
We did blog at exactly the same time! Crazy!!!
OMG!!! where were the “oh Sh#ts” during the Luge!!!-Shelly
Yeah ! Yeah! Yeah! Luuuuuuge! What a stud. Damn that looked like fun. So stoked for you! Very cool Bro. – D
Hi!
I was finally able to watch all the videos that you posted. My comp at work is sucky, so I couldn’t watch there. Very funny. My fav was the comments from Nicole as you guys were going up the elevator!
Here’s my blog for the day… I am sitting here, in my American house, eating American carrots with American Ranch dressing… jealous?!?!? No? Didn’t think so. The reason I am sitting here is because my German car will not start and my American husband is in class. Sure wish I could look at some Austria pictures ight now, but nooooo, they are not posted yet! I bet you had no idea we’d be following this blog of yours so religiously, huh?!?!?
=)
P.S. The twins are 3 today!!!!!!!!
Aw, had I known I would have sent the a card from Paris!!!
WE ranked right in the middle…had a blast, great gift basket full of goodies and 2 Syrahs!!!
You’ll love this…..Jane’s Mom (super senior) watched Clark and Dacey for us!!!
Still checking the blog…congrats on today…Auntie
Both Syrahs GOLD WINNERS… $40 and $24, wow~!
Wow is right….Syrah is great!
Me again! My car still won’t start! So I have Mark’s. He was due back on the 30th, but got really sick and was bed ridden. He’ll be there until the 7th…
Hope all is well! Looking forward to reading about your next adventure
Hi there, Mom here: WOW we just got caught up on your blogs and pictures. Sorry, we were CAMPING and lost touch for a couple of days. I was excited about CAMPING in the high Sierras and thought I was having fun and thought it was beautiful until I saw all your pictures and realized I really need to get out the USA and see some really beautiful sights.
Everything you have done sounds so wonderful. Thank you for taking all the time to write for all of us. Also, like Kev said today (thanks for the phone call) it will be nice to have the blogs for the two of you to read when you get home. Thanks also for the post card. Love the pictures and the luge ride. How fun. Nicole I loved the picture of you in the meadow with your arms spread out, just like in the “Sound of Music”.
Love to you both and THANKS again for the phone call it was a wonderful surprise. Now here’s Dad.
Love Mom
Hi there: Great restaurants, awesome scenery, good wine and beer, great weather, castles, cow bells, the Mona Lisa, a luge ride, how are you going to top all that on your next trip? We are having fun right along with you thanks to your blogs and photos. Love Dad
Hi there, Mom here: A B-day card all the way from Paris, how special was that. I thank you so much for being so thoughtful. It really made me happy. Now just a quick note about my B-day lunch and I will try to describe it how both of you would.
We went to a new French cafe in town that was amazing. I decided to not think about the calories today when I was ordering. The soup was a potato base with delicious vegetables cooked just right. I loved it. The grilled sandwich was on a baguette with smoked turkey and some amazing cheese and it was grilled just right. Now for the dessert (yes, I even had dessert, I did say I wasn’t concerned about the calories). I know this is getting long but hang in there to hear about the dessert. It was a chocolate little cake with a layer of cherries under a chocolate layer of frosting. It was soooooo good. My only regret is that Dad and I shared it and we each should have had our own. How did I do? We aren’t in France but we had French food.
Love to you both, Mom
BRAVO! What a fabulosu blog and a wonderful birthday!! We’re glad your card made it to you on time. We were going to mail it from the top of the Eiffel Tower but, well, I chickened out! Ha. Mom, one thing I’ve learned, French calories don’t count!! So no worries, your lunch probably actually made you skinnier!!
Happy birthday again! xoxoxoxox!
Your pictures are just fabulous. Uncle B. and I just went through most of them. Wow…what an album you can make when you get home.
Thank you!!! I hope there are some that I’ll be able to blow up and frame. Fingers crossed.
Tonight….a celebration…we started the evening creating masterpieces with crayons. From there a quick stop a local library for new reads…then off to a quaint dinner at a pizzaria.
We dined on delicious pigs a la bread, a fresh crisp salad full of veges and protien.
A short drive back to our Casa’. For a tart topped with whipped cream, fresh rasberries from a local fruit stand, warm melted chocolate, and sprinkles for a splash of color…one for each of us…as we do love our desserts.
Now that the night is soon over, the children are tucked into bed…a glass of wine from Rhone Valley (France) and slide show of HowesaboutEurope to finish off the night….”so long, fair well, we hate to say goodbye..to you and you and you and you and you….”
-goodnight, or shall I say, bon soir!
You kill me! You absolutely kill me. I crack up at lest once a day b/c of your comments! And now we’ve got the “Shelly blog”…you made it sound so fancy! Impressive!!!
Sounds like you had a good day!
This is great…makes me want to watch “sound of music”.
Nicole and Kevin…is there something wrong with the people reading your blog talking to each other?? I guess we could use regular email. Seeing Jersey Boys (because you said it was good) for my b-day.
You all (shelly and darren this means you too) are all invited to LV in Feb.