June 23, 2010

Well, today the sun came out with a vengeance and we couldn't possibly be happier, especially since we spent the day driving through the most glorious Austrian and German countryside, ending up in a spectacularly beautiful valley tucked up in the Austrian alps. Unbelievable! Our new digs are unbelievable as well == I don't know how we got so lucky about the money thing. The place where we are staying is perfection and it's going to cost us $75 per night, including breakfast. We have a 180 degree view out our windows of the mountains, and even have a deck where we can lounge about and watch the sun set on these amazing mountains. Sigh. Such beauty. We're very much reminded of our trip to Switzerland a few years ago.

Our drive today took us through the countryside in Bavaria where we visited another of King Ludwig's castles -- this one finished and perfectly divine. Small, intimate and lovely. Also, we visited the small Bavarian town of Oberammergau, a village which sits on the confluence of two rivers but is famous for the beautiful paintings which adorn many of the town's buildings -- frequently depicting Biblical tales, but also
children's stories such as Little Red Riding Hood or Hansel and Gretel. The latter is painted on the facade of the town's orphanage -- a story which makes me squirm a bit when I think of its daily presence in the lives of orphans. That story scared me to death when I was little. I didn't want to end up in an oven!

That's it for today. Tomorrow we'll head off onto one of the many wanderwegs around here, aka hiking trails.

Ah joy. Sun in the Alps!

Love you all.

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