Finally An Update

Yes, I know I have been slacking. SOOO let's start with last Monday...
Monday June 20th:
    I went to one of the most famous castles in the world, Schloss Neuschwanstein, which Walt Disney used to model the famous Disney castle after.  I took this lovely trip with Sonja, her friend Mark, and the daughter and mom of his host family from when he lived in Australia (didn't quite catch their names, oops!). We got up early in order to go because Sonja and I had to be back for the second team practice at 6pm. The drive took about two hours and thankfully most of it was not on the Autobahn. Within ten or fifteen minutes before arriving  you could see the castle on the mountain/hill that it is located on (pictured right).
    Once we parked we got our tickets for the tour. Sonja reserved the tickets so we didn't have to wait in the ridiculously long line (my dad would be proud!). Once we got our tickets we headed up the hill  to King Ludwig II's castle. The trek took about 30-40 minutes. It was a gorgeous walk and it didn't seem like it took that long. We finally reached the castle with plenty of time to spare for our tour. Naturally this down time was used for a photo-shoot. Finally, the tour started. Unfortunately I was not allowed to take pictures inside the castle so sorry I cannot personally show you all how amazing it was. I was in awe the whole time, everything was incredible. For example, fourteen carvers worked for over four years just on the King's bed canopy!!
 Here are some pictures of the interior from google (http://www.google.com/search)

       The castle was built to look medieval, even though it was built in the late 19th century. At the same time it had all the latest technology such as a flush toilet, a telephone, etc.
   The tour was very short, it only lasted about 15-20 minutes but it was definitely worth it. After the tour we went to the bride (pictured  left). From the bridge was the most spectacular view (pictured right)!! Again, I was in awe. We did some exploring under the bridge, saw a waterfall or two and then made our way to where we started to grab some food. We ate at this little restaurant and Sonja made me try a typical Bavarian dish (Bavaria is the Munich area). The dish I had was called Schweinbraten. It was meat and this potatoes ball thing. Delicious! We had a little more time to kill before heading back to Munich so we decided to explore the town that was close by. It was a cute little town with old buildings (which are all shops now) along a winding street. We took a look inside this huge church which turned out to be quite impressive. It had beautiful architecture and gorgeous paintings on the ceiling. After walking around for a bit we headed back to the car. From there we drove the two hours to Haar and made it just in time for practice. It was a great day !!

The rest of the week did not compare to Monday so I will not try to explain the events in detail. Although the English Gardens, a party for one of the family's friends, no German class, and softball all contributed to the weeks events.