Three days in Bavaria... day one

I am sorry to have not been able to update all of you since we left Switzerland. The internet at our friends' house was incapacitated by a lightening strike and we have been handicapped due to the overwhelming Bavarian hospitality.

After meeting Crystal at the train station in St. Gallen we had an uneventful drive to Germany. The only issue we encountered was in trying to get through the corner of Austria without getting on the turnpike. There is a fee to drive on the turnpikes in Austria as well and Switzerland and for just a few miles it seemed hardly worth the expense. With directions from Sabine we made it through easily.

Thomas and Emmy's home is in Attenfeld, near Neuburg, near Inglostadt north of Munich. It is a lovely part of Germany with rolling hills and farm fields dotted with patches of forest. The fields are very different from what I am used to as the crops are planted in much smaller sections. Driving along the country road you could easily pass 5-10 different crops in less than a minute. They grow wheat (for beer), barley (for beer), hops (for beer), corn, beets, grapeseed, strawberries and more plants that we did not always recognize.

Upon our arrival Emmy came home and toured us through Neuburg. It is a lovely little medieval town with a castle (built by someone who also built the castle in Heidelburg I think) and there is currently a "Schlossfest" going on. I thought that this was a festival where everyone gets "sloshed" but as it turns out Schloss means castle. I think that my meaning may be more on the mark however.

The town also has an ancient wall around it, in fact the parking lot is in the moat (drained). There is an incredible library done in the rococco style that was actually originally at a monastery and relocated to a Neuburg church when the monasteries were closed (I think under Hungarian rule, but I am not sure) that we toured. We also visited the outside of the castle and St. Peter church. It is a beautiful town.

We topped off our visit with a peak at the baths that are a key component of the festival. Large wooden tubs are filled with hot water, oils, flowers and scantily clad guests that are scrubbed by the staff. There is also a large biergarten to watch the people bathing while you have a tall frosty beverage. Believe it of not you must make a reservation for the bath and it is difficult to get on the schedule.

We returned to Emmy and Thomas' house for the evening. They had ordered us a wooden barrel of beer. A barrel. Seriously. We tapped the barrel and toured the backyard that is connected to Emmy's family farm. They have apples, plums, raspberries and cherry trees. We ate raspberries off the vine and picked cherries from the trees.

Emmy's father also gave us cherries he had picked. He is in his late 70s and still farms along with Emmy's brother. He is truly a sweet man and at the risk of being disrespectful totally adorable. He was wearing blue overalls, a white t-shirt and a straw Bavarian hat to keep off the sun. I found him charming, but maybe the fact that he thought I was 18 helped a little.

We had a great evening finishing the barrel with Thomas, Emmy, Emmy's cousin Steffie her husband Reinhart and their daughter. There was a lot of food, lively conversation, jokes, chocolate and above all beer - from real beer steins. I always thought they were just for show and the lids were useless. As it turns out the lid keeps the flies out (or did in the old days) and the ceramic mug keeps the beer quite cool. We were up way past my bed time visiting with these lovely people.

I will be trying to get caught up today - hope to supply the details of our next days in Munich and visiting the castles of Schwangau soon.