Castles of Bavaria

The Castles of Bavaria*

Green pastures of Bavaria with church in foreground
 and the "Cinderella" castle on the mountain

Vacation has begun. After a couple of months of intense language study, we needed a respite. We dropped my parents off at Geneva after a wonderful visit. Then we traveled through 4 countries and into a different season (summer became fall, then winter!) France to Switzerland to Austria and finally to southern Germany in a large area called Bavaria. They call it "The Texas of Germany" because it is so vast. Ryan certainly liked the comparison. As we were driving, Ryan commented that he felt like we were going past a lot of golf courses. The grass was so green against the blue sky, and it was short from the grazing of sheep and cattle.

We reached our first AirBnB location and were greeted warmly by a lovely German couple into the upstairs apartment of their home. (AirBnB is an internet-based reference of places to stay locally and in homes and empty rooms of people instead of in hotels.) We walked to the local grocery store (very tiny) to stock up on our food for our time here. 

 As I was paying for my groceries, Kathy, Nancy, and Sydney were outside. An older woman with a flag, looking like a crossing guard, marched up the street with her herd of cows! An older man strode behind the herd with a stick. They were saying something to Kathy and Nancy with urgency, and it was then that they realized that the cows needed to come through a narrow alley right where they were standing on the side of the grocery store. I guess when it is milking time, they come right to the store!

During the two days we spent in Bavaria, we went to 2 castles and a palace, all made by King Ludwig 2. Since pictures are worth a thousand words, I'll let you take a tour with brief snippets.

 In the winter, the area is very popular for Nordic cross-country skiing. Who wouldn't want to ski in a valley with those views of the castles? We parked our cars in the free parking lot and walked the skiing trails to get to the castles. 

Getting closer! Long walk.

The front courtyard

Main entrance (on the side) with impressive gate

Inside the main entrance looking at the castle

In the courtyard looking back at the main entrance

A view of the "photo op" bridge from the castle. Look above the waterfall for the bridge.

On the trail up to the bridge

Family photo from the bridge

Looking down from the "photo op" bridge at part of the waterfall below

And the sun peeked out for a bit!

The Neuschwanstein Castle (the "Cinderella" castle) seemed to be built just for the sheer beauty of the location and the building exactly for enjoying its magnificence

From the bridge, a view of the next castle (nestled in the trees on the left- orange)

We walked 8 miles this day to see the two castles. Best free day ever! Only inside tours cost money. If this were in the US, I think someone would block off the road and make us pay to go up further. At least they would make us pay to to across the gorgeous bridge where photo ops are without question, the best!



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Looking back at "Cinderella" castle when God put in His glorious display

On the second day, we went to Ludwig's palace. It was a jewel box. Tiny in comparison with the grand castles of the day before, but packed with gold, silver, porcelain, mirrors, vases. My favorite room was the room of mirrors which made it seem as if we were in an endless room. His bedroom was the biggest of the palace, with a canopy bed about 20 feet high and a view of a cascading waterfall and gazebo straight out of the window of this bedroom. My other favorite feature was the dining area where a table was raised and lowered from below so that he could simply sit and enjoy company until the table, all set with food and cutlery, raised up in front of him. Too bad we could not take any pictures inside. 

Outside, it was snowing, which made for a chilly sightseeing day but also very pretty as the green gardens had a fresh layer of snow on top.

In the evenings, we have played games, watched a movie, blogged, emailed, planned our solar power initiatives in Congo, planned some home improvements for our new home in Congo, and drank a lot of hot chocolate. It has been refreshing.

*A note to our generous supporters. 
It is hard for us to know what to think about how we should handle vacation time. What should we post? Shouldn't we be transparent? To be clear, we don't use any donated funds, but there is still some guilt associated with posting photos of vacation. I vacillate between thinking:

Many of our supporters have and are sacrificing a lot to help keep us here and to help us go to Congo to serve the people. What will they think if they find out or if I post about adventures and things they would love to do or dream of doing but cannot afford to do so. How would that make me feel?

and

Jesus spent time away from the people following him to refuel with His Father. We are trying to be wise with our time and money. We have only eaten out once in over 2 months, and it was while my parents were here. We are in a very cheap rental car, staying in other people's homes. And these castles are not too far from France where we are studying. Shouldn't we spend time relaxing sometimes so that we don't burn out and have to stop our mission work because of fatigue?

We believe that money is a gift from God, a tool to be used. So whether we are living based on donations or whether God has given us the ability to work and a job in which to work, we should strive to be generous in giving to those in need, take time to invest in our family during periods of respite, and pay off debts and invest wisely. So, I hope that you as the reader/supporter/family member will understand that even as we write about some amazing things we are getting to see and do, we don't take the blessing for granted, we are so grateful for these opportunities, and we recognize the sacrifices that have been made. We want to thank you.