Deutschland – Tag 2

Today I got cleaned up and headed across the street to the Kopfelsberger’s to pick up Katie and head to the bakery.  We walked down the street to the tiny bakery and bought the breakfast items: 15 semmel, 1 brot, 200g kase, 200g salami.  Of course, there are 10 different meats, 5 cheeses, 15 breads – I need to study more.  Breakfast was amazing as usual, consisting of the freshly bought items as well as hausgemacht (homemade) jams, Nutella, coffee, and more.

Today we went to see one of Kind Ludwig's castles on the Chimsee. We took a ferry to the Herrinsel (man island). The castle was modeled after Versailles in France, although it was never finished because he ran out of money. It is as oppulant as the Neuschwanstein, although the king only spent a total of 10 days in the castle - the rest of the time it was on display similar to a museum.

After the castle we had a snack at a biergarden on the island. When done, we took the ferry to the neighboring fraueninsel (woman island) and walked around. It has a convent and several buildings mostly for tourists and lots of flowers. The island is fairly small, so it is a short walk around. We then took the ferry back to the main land and headed to Tortensberg(?).

In Tortensberg(?) we shopped for a bit. I bought a Krug (stein) and mostly looked around. We then ate at the Hex'n Kuche (witch's kitchen), which had awesome food. I had the Bauernfilets "Scharf", which is the farmer's filet (spicy). It was pork medalions in a spicy cream sauce with vegetables and a homemade potato salad. Excellent. A sign hung up saying "Gift-Kammer", which translates to poison room - so I learned that I should not write "gift" on a German present :-)

After dinner we returned to the Kopfelsberger's. I eventually crossed the street to get my gifts to wrap. I ran into Dolfi (short for Adolfina), who is Caroline's mother. She invited me in for Zwatschgenditchi (?), which is a typical Bavarian dessert. Julia (the "J" is silent) joined us in the kitchen and we talked (as best I could) and ate. Julia speaks English well, but I was surprised with how much we could converse in German...and with writing various words on paper as mini-lessons for me: muhle, muhler, mule (with/without umlauts). Eventually an hour passed and the Kopfelsbergers called to see what happened...time flies when having fun.

I returned to the Kopfelsberger's to have some beer with Susi and all the night before her wedding. We had beer with the locking tops and we had to knock it open in a "manly" way, which in the end was just a trick - must be explained in person. Either way, it was a wonderful evening and all are excited for the wedding in the morning. I also learned that red and white colors would not be appropriate, so I am glad I plan to wear a blue shirt with my liederhosen. I am still a bit nervious, I don't want to look ackward - and I will also be setting an expectation about my ability to speak German. Either way, it should force me into some good conversations! I have very excited for the Hochzeit (wedding). Bis morgan.