Day 12:

We woke up around 7:30 to leave for a traditional Bavarian breakfast at 8:30am, and my headache from the night before was completely gone.

We boarded the bus and rode deep into the German countryside. We stopped at a place called Baindlkirch. Baindkirch is a small sausage place that is a less frequented destination by tourists, so when we went in we were surrounded by the local atmosphere. While we were there, I had a pretzel, a sparkling apple juice, and a sausage (I believe it was Weisswurst) with a special mustard, and all were excellent. The sausage came in links and with a casing, and we needed to take off the casing before eating them, which is something that I have never had to do before.

One thing I thought was interesting that I noticed there was what a lot of the locals were having for breakfast. A lot of them had pretzels, a lot of them had sausage, and a lot of them were drinking beer. It was just extremely weird to see that being eaten as a normal part of breakfast, but it is just part of the culture here. There have been multiple occasions that I have heard beer referred to as “liquid bread”.

Once we had finished our breakfast, we hopped back on the bus to Wieskirche, a church that on the outside was relatively underwhelming, but from the inside was breathtaking. When you walked in, everywhere you looked was decorated as intricately as it could possibly be. It was amazing. Our bus ride there was especially scenic, crossing the river Lech.

As we walked back outside, even the surroundings around the Wieskirche was amazing. All around you were wide open fields with cattle grazing. As a group, we walked around one of the pathways that were there to unwind a little before the next stop. We were supposed to be able to get some amazing donuts at a little shop there, but much to our collective dismay, it was closed.

Following the Wieskirche, we boarded the bus again, this time to Neushwanstein. The ride took a little while, but the views were amazing. It was a little cloudy so you couldn’t see the peaks of all the mountains, but that almost made it better because you could imagine them to be whatever height you wanted them to be. Eventually, you could just make out Neuschwanstein on one of the mountainsides, and it was stunning.

Once we arrived at the base of the mountain, we were able to explore a little bit. I made my way over with a few others in our group to the Alpsee, a lake below where Neuschwanstein was positioned. If I am honest, I could have spent the entire day at the Alpsee. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. The water was crystal clear, and the wildlife surrounding the lake was immaculate. I was more in awe of the Alpsee than I was with the alps themselves.

After a little bit, it was time to walk up to the castle. We started up the path to the castle, which by itself was an amazing experience. We were surrounded by mountains and forest, and every so often there was an outlook where we were able to see the lake with the town below us.

We eventually made it up to the castle, which from up close was relatively underwhelming, but nevertheless impressive. It was not nearly as intricate as many of the churches we had seen. I can’t exactly pinpoint it, but it just wasn’t nearly as spectacular up close as some of the other structures we had seen on the trip. What was even more impressive was what came later.

Before that though, we toured the castle. It was a quick tour and very well presented and organized as there were a ton of people visiting the castle. We were shown through the third floor, which was the only one finished before Ludwig, the King who appointed the construction of the castle, mysteriously died. On that floor was the his throne room (without the throne because that was not finished either), his servant’s room, his bedroom, and a room that was a cave. We weren’t able to take photos, but I can say that the rooms were incredible. Every wall, ceiling, and floor was packed with different paintings, carvings, and mosaics. It was almost too much to take in at once. While all of that was amazing, the most interesting room by far was the cave room, which was essentially a room designed to look and feel as if you were in a cave. It was really well done, and I thought it would be really cool to have one of those in my house.

Once we were finished with the tour, we went down another path to a bridge overlook of the castle. This is when I truly was able to appreciate the beauty of Neuscwhanstein. It was breathtaking. We were up hundreds of feet on this bridge, but I couldn’t be afraid because of how amazing the views were.

Once we were finished there, we made our way back down the hill and boarded the bus to Füssen. Füssen was a really nice small town that we visited and grabbed some gelato and looked at some nice watches in a shop that was there. We were only able to be there for a little bit before we needed to head back to Augsburg for the night. Once we got back, Frank and I finished planning out our trip to Stuttgart for the next day.

Takeaway of the Day: Nature is amazing
Riding the bus through the countryside of Germany was absolutely incredible, but even more incredible was the Alpsee. I have always loved lakes and rivers, and seeing one so clear and clean was amazing. That combined with the reflections of the trees and rocks off of the nearly still water was breathtaking. Even the ducks, which some may have found annoying, I thought added even more to the whole experience. Watching them fly around and land on the lake was so peaceful, and it felt like I could have spent years just sitting on the edge of the lake and studying it.
All of this was before we even went up the side of the mountain to the Marienbrücke, where the views were spectacular. Today, along with the day we visited the Alps, proved to me that nature is amazing and needs to be taken care of, and seeing all of the wind turbines and solar fields on our trips, it’s apparent that Germany is doing everything they can to take care of it.

Car of the Day: Audi RS4 Avant

This is a brand new Audi RS4 Avant, just like the ones we saw being produced at the Audi factory in Ingolstadt. The RS6 Avant has always been my favorite, but this model is giving it a serious run for its money. The 2019 RS4 also not sold in the United States, but instead of a twin-turbo V8, the RS4 is powered by a twin-turbo V6 producing 450 horsepower, and while Audi advertises its 0-60 mph time being 4.1 seconds, it actually can reach 60 in just 3.5 seconds.

Runner Up: AMG C63

This was less about the car and more about its positioning, being able to see the beautiful car in the foreground and Neuschwanstein through the trees in the background. This is essentially the same car that I featured yesterday, except it is the four-door and the C63, not the C63S, so it only produces 469 horsepower instead of 503.