Parking was really horrible around the hotel/castle area so we decided to leave Sommerrodelbahn for the next morning. We got there around 8:45, right after we took the car pic with the castle in the background, but the Sommerrodelbahn wasn't open until 10:00. I suggested we walk around and check out the other stuff around the area, which we did for about 10 minutes but the boy just wanted to wait...literally, by the gate...for about an hour. Yes, he was excited about this. Good thing I had my old iPhone loaded up with some games. He played Fast & The Furious.
Here's a short clip where the boy explains how I almost fell off my sled, hehe. I was too busy trying to find him in front of me to film and not paying attention to my own sled. I could have sworn I let out a yelp when it happened, but according to the video, I kept my mouth shut.
Good stuff.
Here's a couple of pics taken from “the spot” recommended on Bimmerfest with Neuschwanstein Castle in the background. This just happens to be a private road but we got there pretty early in the morning so there was no one around. Worked out well. One guy came riding by on a bicycle – I think to check up on us, making sure we weren't doing anything weird – but other than that, it went pretty smoothly. I worked fast, hehe.
The car actually had a bunch of dew on it since it was parked outside the previous night and some birds decided to use it for target practice so I was a little worried about how the pic might come out. But for the most part, you can't really see any of the “flaws” (except for that reflection of the dork in the bumper of the second pic).
Every once in awhile, the boy sleep talks. Twice, it happened on vacation and I was able to jot it down on my iPhone since I usually have it on for the next morning's alarm. I'm transferring them to Posterous so they can reside in a more permanent place.
LAST NIGHT:
Location: Hotel Alpenstuben in Hohenschwangau
Time: Around 12:23am
It started off with some gibberish which I could not make out. Then he did say a phrase that I understood but couldn't remember what it was by the time I wrote this down. After awhile, he started making some angry moaning sounds and then started kicking his feet in rapid succession. I couldn't tell if he was awake or not so I started asking him what was the matter. All he said was, "keeeeeychain!" in a slow, low grumbling angry voice. I asked what was wrong with his keychain and he went back to his moaning, tossing and turning. A couple minutes later, he mumbled, "chapstick..." which I couldn't quite understand so I asked him what he said. He then responded with a more emphatic "chaaaaaaaptiiick!" in an even angrier voice. I thought he was awake at this time because he sat up, swiped hard at the chapstick he had on the nightstand (one miss, and the second time he got it), put some on, and slammed it back on the nightstand (right side up) and went back to sleep. Funny thing is, when I asked him about it this morning, he had no recollection. Like last time though, he was busting up when I told him and couldn't remember any of it.
PREVIOUS TIME (documented on iPhone):
Location: Carnival Cruise Ship
Date: July 23, 2008
Time: Unknown, but it was late at night.
In the middle of the night after he had been asleep for awhile, the boy sat up, looked around and raised his hand. I asked if he was awake and he nodded "yes." I then asked why he was raising his hand and he said, "I want to volunteer." This struck me as odd, so I asked him what he wanted to volunteer for. He then closed his eyes and went back to sleep.
Little bummed out they didn't allow any cameras inside (except for the last few pics which were in the café), but I ended up with a few shots I felt ok about from the outside.
The last pic you can see our hotel. It's the first yellow, peaked-roof building you see down below.
The boy sure looks small in that first pic, doesn't he? These pictures were taken when we went by Walchensee.
The hilight of today's drive was Kesselbergstrasse. It's a super-windy mountain road, but unfortunately, there was a speed limit and a decent number of cars so we didn't exactly get the FULL experience...but it was fun anyway. We had also planned on driving Wallbergstrasse as well, but I missed the turn so we just skipped it.
The lowlight was definitely the extra traffic and 2 detours we ended up taking. I tried to map the original and new drive out here.
Original:
Revised:
The two don't look THAT dis-similar, but it definitely felt longer than it should have. Both times, a road I needed was closed, and the second time, I actually got pretty far down the road before the closure came up, so I had to backtrack all the way. That was a bit annoying.
Needlesstosay, the drive today was pretty anti-climactic. However, it was fun to test out the M Mode :D
These are very detailed models. He keeps saying he thinks German toys are better than Japanese toys, LOL.
The balcony overlooking the lake was so nice we decided to have our dinner out there. These were some of the biggest cheeseburgers I've ever seen.
Took a horse carriage up to the castle...otherwise the walk would have been 40 minutes. Boy probably would hve started complaining after 5.
{ Sent from my iPhone }
My car is equipped with Comfort Access. A convenient time-saving feature.