Seeing Ryan and Emily at the train station in Garmisch-Partenkirchen was one of the best moments I have had all year. I arrived via train, having flown from London to Munich (ask me sometime about being mistaken for a native German by a group of Spanish guys and attempting to use my very poor Spanish skills). Ryan and Emily were there to meet me at the station - biggest hugs ever! How I missed them the last six months. We spent the whole evening talking and hanging out in Ryan's dorm room, eating pancakes and looking at their pictures from Egypt and Israel.
Wednesday, July 14
When I arrived, Ryan and Emily were in the middle of a 10 day working stint to make up for all their time off in the Middle East. So, that meant I was on my own every morning and afternoon until they got off work. The first few days I had limited access to the Abrams (the dorm complex where they live), because my passport had not yet cleared the access roster. The guards would only let me onto the base if I was signed in by someone who had permanent access. So, I took Emily's cell phone along and just hung out in Garmisch until they got off work.
The town is really a neat place - the Marianplatz has many cute shops, gelaterias, and backereis, which I definately took advantage of. The day was really hot (had I known that it would be the only hot day while I was there, I might have spent it differently), so after walking around town I wandered down to the river Loisach and read with my feet in the really cold water.
Hanging out at the Eibsee
Ryan and Emily picked me up when they got off work, and we went out to the Eibsee, a lake lying at the base of the Zugspitze (tallest mountain in Germany at 9,718 ft). Its a gorgeous place, and it was awesome to jump in and cool off. Later we headed back to the Abrams to make dinner. I think Emily made eggplant that night, thus beginning my love affair with grilled eggplant on this trip (I kept requesting it everywhere we went, especially in Italy).
Thursday, July 15
Although it was cloudy when I got up, I decided to go on a hike on Thursday. There were so many hills and mountains surrounding Garmisch that I wanted to get as much hiking in as possible while I was there. The path to the Kramerspitz began less than five minutes walk from the dorms, so that's where I chose to go. I had a map but was really just following along the signposts as I wandered around. The hike provides a great view of the valley on the way up - it was fun to see where things were in relationship to where I had been the day before. By the time I got to the ridgeline, however, I couldn't see anything but clouds. I was pretty much socked in and didn't know how much further it was to the top (plus I reached an area where I kind of lost the trail), so I stopped. I found out later from one of Ryan's friends that I had been about a half hour from the top - oh well. I was super tired, having not hiked like that in a long time, and it was getting to be late in the afternoon. I pretty much ran all the way down the hill (it took me just shy of 3 hours to get to where I stopped, and about 45 minutes to get down).
That night Ryan, Emily and I went to dinner at an Indian restaurant with three of their friends: Renee', Sam, and Ben. All of them are a part of the Bible study they attend. The food was great and the company was even greater - they have such great friends! I loved hanging out with them.
Friday, July 16
The day before I had decided to go to Dachau Concentration Camp, which is outside of Munich - an hour's train ride from Garmisch. Renee' was headed to Tollwood, a hippie-style festival (without the drugs), so we shared a train ticket to save money. Before we left I had time to explore the farmer's market in the Marianplatz, and came back with a bunch of fruit, vegetables, and bread. So much fun! And somewhat difficult when I don't even know numbers in German, let alone phrases.
Dachau was really hard. I don't have any words to explain what it felt like to see the same land, same buildings, same walls as held captive so many innocent and hurting people. Even though it wasn't an extermination camp in the same way as Treblinka or Auschwitz, so many people were robbed of their lives there. It was the first of the Nazi's concentration camps, and many of Dachau's prisoners were held for political or religious reasons. In the exhibit they have so much information - pictures, statistics, stories....it would be impossible to wade through it all in one afternoon, but it was an incredible experience. Sad and heartbreaking, and powerful.
Ryan and Emily drove up and met me in Munich that evening to go to Tollwood. We walked around, looked at all the random things for sale (and bought some of them), and ate a wide variety of food. It was so good! We bought and shared a waffle, crepe, falafel with tabbouleh, chocolate covered strawberries and bananas, a coconut with its top cut off so you drink the milk, and maybe something else I don't remember. There were a bunch of different music tents, including one where people were swing dancing, and several large structures made out of road signs. Emily LOVED it, and Ryan and I had an awesome time too.
After Tollwood, they took me to the Hofbrauhaus - a famous huge Bavarian restaurant and bar. It serves beer in liter size glass mugs called a mass (pronounced 'moss'). I'm not a great one for drinking beer, so when that mug showed up I thought there was no way possible I would finish it. But Emily had ordered me a Radler - a mix of lemon soda and beer, which was actually really good, and drinkable. The night ended with possibly the craziest, fiercest hail and lightning storm I have ever been in. The hail got so big on our drive home that Ryan and other drivers were pulling over and stopping underneath overpasses in order to get out of it. Emily and I were praying the whole drive. We eventually made it safely home with only a few unfortunate dents and scratches on Ryan's BMW.
Saturday, July 17
Ryan and Emily's friend Ben invited me to go hiking with him Saturday morning before he had to work - he's one of the RAs at the Abrams and works an early swing shift. So we took off around 9:30 and headed towards a ruined castle not far from the dorms. When we got there, we happened upon an alpenhorn lessen - a woman dressed in a dirndl, who spoke no English, was giving a middle-aged gentleman a lesson on the traditional Alpine instrument. It was crazy! The guy was pretty good for only having two days experience. The feel of where we were just made it seem like we had walked into Switzerland in 1600. Ben was really excited - he's a music guy and hadn't seen anything like that before.
We also made it to a small lake nearby, and then just kind of wandered around on trails until we had to head back. It was a great morning, and so much fun to get to know Ben a little bit.
When Ryan and Emily got off work, I think we began planning our Italy trip for when my mom arrived, and then watched Die Hard 4 or whatever the latest one was. For not being a fan of that kind of movie, I liked it - funny and not scary like I always think they will be.
This is what much of hanging out in Emily's room consisted of :)
Sunday, July 18
Ryan and Emily are never able to go to church on Sunday, because they always work weekends. But a bunch of their friends go to the chapel on base, and Ben is actually the worship leader for the chapel. So Sunday morning I walked to the base and attended chapel, which was a great experience. I think it was really refreshing to see an Army chaplain who truly believes the Word of God, and a community of believers who are committed to each other, to outreach, and to the Word. Meeting some more of Ryan and Emily's friends (including the couple who lead their Bible study), was also really neat.
That afternoon I hung out with Ben until he had to work, then did random stuff at the Abrams until my favorite couple got off work. It had by this point kind of become a routine - like being at home & spending time with family in the evenings. It was so nice to be able to stay in Emily's room and have a welcoming home base.
A bunch of their friends wanted to have a Boy Meets World marathon that night - I watched for a while (remembering how awesome a show it was when I was in jr. high). I also went for a walk that evening - the moon was out and it was a beautiful night. There was just a tiny bit of light coming over the mountains, and the silhouette was gorgeous.
Monday, July 19
Mom arrived today! But before that, I convinced Ryan to let me borrow his car (after dropping them off at the hotel) so I could drive to Neuschwanstein Castle. It wasn't that far away, but taking a bus would turn a morning excursion into a day long excursion and I didn't have that much time. For anyone who knows how Ryan feels about my driving (boats, cars, vans, video games), you know that it took a LOT for him to say yes (thanks Emily for backing me up!) - so I thank you dear brother! I took good care of it!
Ryan's GPS took me there without incident. I parked and started walking up the long hill - I had already decided not to pay to go inside. The enchantment for me with this castle has always been the exterior (plus several friends said its not worth it). It was gorgeous, but just so weird to see it sitting there looking over the plain - like it was slightly out of place. Hohenschwangau, where King Ludwig II grew up, was also just crazy to see - bright yellow and prominent, although situated at less of an altitude than Neuschwanstein. Behind both of them is the Alpsee, the small lake you always see in pictures of the castle. It was amazing to see in reality, and not just in my head, how these places exist.
I climbed up the hill beyond the lookout bridge to get these pictures.
Hohenschwangau with the Alpsee behind it
Once I got back, the three of us picked up Mom from the train station (a reunion much like the one I had - lots of hugs and smiles and estatic-ness), returned to the Abrams to get ready for Italy, and headed south.
More to come!
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