Hey everyone, Well the rest of my time in Munich was lots of fun, after checking in to the hostel we headed back into town to buy some tacky souviners then met at the old town hall at 4pm for our bike tour. Our guide was a crazy south african, funny but crazy and very entertaining. Before our tour started he told us that everytime we saw a statue of a lion (and there are 100's in munich) we were to give a huge 'roar'...also if we were to see anyone with a mullet (for those of you who don't know what a mullet is, it's a hairstyle that is typically short at the front and long at the back and was in fashion in the 80's, for example; McGyver had a mullet), anyway if we saw anyone with one we were to point that person out to the rest of the group and yell 'MULLET', then every other member of the group would have to also. It was a crack up because there are quite a few european males still stuck in the 80's. The Hofbräuhaus, I found out on this tour, is the oldest beer hall in Germany and used to be exclusivly for the royals, then it was opened to the public in the 19th century. Also in the 1920's; Hitler would come to this hall around 11pm when everyone was drunk and stand on the tables and practice his nazi propaganda speeches on everyone, but they were too plastered to care what he was saying. I also went to the church where the current pope used to be bishop of or whatever, and funnily enough it's also known as the devil's church. We rode through the English garden, a massive 900acre park in the middle of munich, it's 3 times the size of Hyde park in London and 4 times the size of central park in New York City. In the English garden is the 2nd largest beer hall in the world, which is where we stopped. It suprised me that the atmosphere was more of a family one than I had expected, most of it was outside and it's full capacity is something ridiculous like 16 000 people and there was a traditioal Oompah band playing in Ledehösen again. I had a stein of Apfelsaftschole (apple juice with soda) and the biggest pretzel in the world. While we were there someone was playing ACDC on the radio, and this american guy who was on the tour with us (he was also the ditsiest and blondest american i've ever come accross), he says "yeah it's great to hear some american rock!"...now being the only aussie around I wasn't going to let him getaway with saying something like that, so I said "Excuse me, no they're an Australian band" and he says "well they probably spend more time in america". Stupid yank, as if he'd know where ACDC spend most of their time! Anyway, after the beer hall, but still in the english garden is a man-made river (everything in the garden was designed or man-made, even all the trees were planted by special design), and this river creates a constant 3 foot swell...so naturally where you find a 3 foot swell you find surfers in wetsuits also, even if it is the middle of europe. So we got to stop and watch these surfers, it was quite entertaining, especially when they stacked it and floated halfway down the river. No, but it was cool seeing them up close because thats not always possible in the ocean. I also got to see where the german police had a shoot-out with Hitler and the nazis, 5 police were killed and 16 nazis, Hitler was arrested at this point and was suppost to serve a 5 year sentance but only served 14 months and then was released for "good behaviour"...big mistake if you ask me, those few years made a crucial difference in his rise to power. So the bike tour was heaps of fun and very informative and i'll probably do one in Berlin in a few weeks. Early the next morning...like 5:30am, I was awoken by some very, very, loud drunks in the street. I was on the 4th floor up and could hear them, so i'm guessing not many people were happy, and it got so irritating I was going to get up and stick my head out the window and yell "Halt dein mund und gehe weg jetzt!!" which means "shut-up and go away now!!", but I didn't. So Paul and I decided to make the trip to Neuschwanstein castle. There used to be a picture of the castle in my high school language classroom, and ever since I started learning german, I wanted to visit that castle. It was a two hour train ride from Munich to a little town called Füssen which is in the Bavarian alps and right on the border with Austria. It was a freezing cold day (lucky I packed my scarf!) and officially the coldest i've ever been in summer. But the cloud and mist added to the beauty of the alps so I didn't mind so much. The down side was there was heaps and heaps of tourists. We actually got to go through two castles, the first was Hohenschwangau which was built by Maxamillion the II, it was a really nice castle with all the original wall paintings and furniture. After that we headed to Neuschwanstein who was built by Maxamillion's son King Ludwig II, who was also said to be mad...and possibly gay. Ludwig died mysteriously, he was found drowned in a 1m deep lake with his psychiatrist also drowned, no one knows what really happened to this day. The mystery could easily be solved with an examination of his body, but the family won't allow it because they make too much money off it. So it will remain a mystery. At the time of his death in 1886 the castle was not fully completed (work began in 1869). And get this, the castle was open for public visits just 6 weeks after he died. The castle was the inspiration for disney's sleeping beauty castle you can see at disneyland, but nothing beats the real thing. I don't know how high it is, but it would be at least 15 stories to the tallest tower, it is just massive...actually it kind of reminds me of the castle in Shrek. The interior is just gorgeous, there is so much detail, it's just the sort of fairytale castle you imagine living in as a kid. I got to see all the completed rooms, many of the rooms aren't completed, and it doesn't supride me because there must be 100's of rooms. So i'm glad I got to see it finally. Bytheway, the pic in the corner is not neuschwanstein, but of similar style to it. The rest of the afternoon was spent getting back to Munich and Mannheim. So that sums up Munich, my eastern europe tour starts in 10 days so i'll keep you guys posted on where i'll be. Take care, Tschüss. Sarah xoxo.