and we're back

made it back to the states a few days ago. have been re-organizing and re-adjusting. it was actually very difficult to get back on that plane. i was tempted to chain myself to the tube, but thought better of it. we caused enough commotion on that particular form of public transportation, and i didn't want to add to it. oh wait, i didn't tell that story yet..

left off at nurnberg, which was quite interesting. to see where the war crime trials were held, and also the tribune at the nazi fairgrounds where hitler held his mass rallies was just a bit surreal. and eerie. next up was rothenburg, which is basically known for a christmas shop and gingerbread. we spent about 10 hours in the christmas shop. well, not really, but it felt that way (sorry mom). though i did get a real gingerbread man cookie that will harden into an ornament out of it. score! from there, we drove on the romantic road, supposedly one of the most scenic in germany, and europe for that matter. there were quite a lot of hills, villages, castles and monasteries, or so i'm told. i tried my darndest to stay awake, but as soon as i'm a bus - or some type of moving vehicle that i'm not driving - i'm asleep. why did i go on a bus tour of germany, you ask? i asked myself the same question every day..

the next morning we drove to neuschwanstein castle, which is where disney got his inspiration for the cinderella castle. it looks exactly like a fairytale castle should look. we had to take a separate shuttle up and then walk for about 10 mins afterwards since the roads were too narrow for our coach to go on. there were a couple hairpin turns along the way. i think both mom and mommom thought they'd go off the side of the mountain. made it eventually to the entrance. and what a grand entrance it was. here's how it works: you put your ticket in a slot, the machine reads it and spits it back out, you take your ticket and walk through the turnstall. well, mommom got a bit confused. forgot her ticket, pushed halfway through the turnstall, then backed up to get her ticket. when she went to push through again, the machine wouldn't let her. so what else could she do, but crawl under the turnstall. yes, i said crawl. my 79 year old grandmother got down on all fours and crawled her way into the castle. classic.

the castle was nice, though most of it was unfinished. and they made you walk through not 1, but 2 souvenir shops to get out. very clever. afterwards, we made our way to munich, our final city on the tour. the next morning we took a bus tour of the city. unfortunately it was rainy, so the pictures are quite crummy. although i can't complain - we've had excellent weather the entire time. saw a ton of museums and a palace or two. very grand buildings, and nicely restored. too bad i don't remember their names. drove by the olympiapark, where the 1972 attacks occured. also passed a few leftover tents from oktoberfest... there's always next year..

took a day trip to dachau, the first nazi concentration camp. now, obviously a memorial, it was very informative, albeit depressing. that night, returned to munich for our dinner at the hofbrauhaus. oh, what a night. turns out the restaurant/beer hall over booked our group - as well as a few other tour groups that night. so of the 40 that signed up and paid to go, only 20 had seats. our poor tour director. i seriously don't know how she didn't run away and leave our group to fend for ourselves. it all worked out in the end, for us at least. turns out, a lot of people got confused and thought no one could go and so cancelled and got their money back. so eventually there were only 20 of us left, so we all got seats. sweet! it was a fun night of drinking and eating and being entertained by the german folk. mom (yes, my mother) even tried beer. it had lemonade in it (yeah, i thought that was gross too). she sipped it, and asked "do you taste the lemonade in this? i only taste beer." i tried it. i could only taste the lemonade. i proceeded to make her try mine. she tasted her lemonade after that.

our hotel was nice enough to hold our luggage for us so we could walk around munich before flying to london. we took a tour of the residenz. it was huge! over 130 rooms on display. we almost missed our taxi to the airport. well, not really. we were perfectly on time. though 2 panic attacks were had. i did not have one. you do the math. flew to london and arrived at night. took the tube into the center. didn't see a lift and dragged very heavy luggage up 50 steps. not a good idea. did see the lift on the way out. would have been more helpful earlier..

did the whole red bus tour and saw the major sites, including trafalgar square, parliament, buckingham, etc. went into westminster abbey (10 gbp!). made our way to leister square to try to get theatre tickets. there were about 20 shows up on TKTS, but none were must sees, for me at least. so we walked to where mary poppins was playing to see if they had any available. we got center aisle, about 7 rows back. you couldn't ask for better seats. and the show was fabulous. it will definitely be a hit when it comes to broadway. the next day i showed mommom where i lived on high st kensington. then we went into kensington palace (11.50 gbp!!). next we headed to covent garden to walk around. definitely bought a hat from accessorize! well, mom did. but it's for my birthday ;o) then it was onto harrods. who doesn't love walking around that food department?! finally, over to 35 harrington gardens to show mommom where i went to school.

almost forgot the 2 tube stories. once when going to our big red bus tour, i got on the tube but mom and mommom didn't make it. i thought they were right behind me. they weren't. so, they proceeded to pound, literally, on the doors and claw at the slit to try to open it. the look of pure panic in their faces was almost priceless. the security guard telling them to stop was actually priceless. i shouted "marble arch," held up 3 fingers and hoped for the best. a man next to me said "oh, they'll make it," but i assured him they would not. i knew better. so i just got off at the next stop and waited for the next train. luckily they were on it. i was half convinced they would just be standing at the original platform waiting for me to get back to them.

the second story was getting back on the tube to heathrow. we used the lifts this time, and all was going smoothly. too smoothly as it turns out. i didn't realize it was 5:00 - rush hour. and each train that stopped was jam packed with sardines, err people. and there was no room for luggage. eventually we just had to force our way on because it was getting late for the airport. so mommom went first, and mom second (no person left behind was my motto). mom managed to completely flip her luggage over making it impossible to move easily. then she ran over her foot. then broke a nail. thankfully a man helped her out. i barely squeezed in with my pack, daypack and mommom's suitcases. but we got there eventually.

the airport fiasco is a whole 'nother story.