10/06/2010 Update

Greetings from Salzburg Austria, birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.  Salzburg is a fun little town that would be way better if it weren't for all the touristy stuff.  As I told some friends in an email, it's the former home of Mozart and the current home of everyone trying to make money off of Mozart.  Mozart chocolate balls, Mozart cafés, Mozart coffee, etc.  It's everywhere.  Come here sometime and you'll see what I mean.  I've been pretty disappointed because I like Mozart, but the abundance of cheesy gag gifts cheapens the name.

Again, much has happened since my last update.  Hard to believe it, but I've been gone 24 days already.  We left London on September 30th for Munich.  Leaving London turned out to be a bloody hassle.  We had booked tickets months in advance for our journey from London to Paris in order to catch our train to Munich.  Without going into all the details, Rail Europe, whom we purchased our tickets from, inexplicably "auto-cancelled" our tickets (yeah...I have no idea what auto-cancel means either) the day after we left Tulsa.  They didn't refund our money, they had no explanation of what happened, and they didn't help us at all in leaving London.  Luckily we were able to negotiate with the rail line themselves and were able to get to Paris a few hours late and for a few dollars more.  The joys of traveling abroad!

Saint Pancras Train Station

We arrived in Munich early in the morning of October 1st via an overnight train.  Not the most comfortable ride for a tall guy, but it could've been far worse.  We went to Oktoberfest straight from the train station.  We made our way to the Spaten tent, drank a few liters of beer, talked to random people and had a blast.  Oktoberfest is like nothing I've ever seen.  Oktoberfest starts before you arrive in Munich.  I've never seen so many drunk people riding the train and chugging beers at 10 am.  People were passed out in the train station from the night before (I think), fights were popping up everywhere, and add in shoulder to shoulder traffic throughout the entire park.  It was pretty intense and despite the craziness it's worth checking out for a day.

Spaten Oktoberfest w/ a Pretzel

Aside from Oktoberfest, Munich is gorgeous.  The parks are impressive and a must see.  The city center was neat too, but I'm not a huge shopper of Gucci and Prada bags so I didn't really spend much time there.  It's one of my parent's favorite cities and I can definitely see why.

On October 3rd I made my way to Füssen, home of a Ludwig II castle that Walt Disney modeled the Sleeping Beauty castle after.  Wow!  Good choice by Walt, because the castle is unbelievable.  I really wish I could post pictures.  The castle sits on a cliff several hundred meters up and overlooks the city of Füssen and a huge reservoir.  The only thing that could've made it better is snow which the Bavarian Alps get plenty of during the winter.

Ludwig II Castle

I've felt pretty bad the last few days.  Got some kind of virus which is "bugging" me pretty bad.  Sleep is a precious resource on this trip, and I haven't had much the last 3 days.  I hate stating the obvious, but I'm ready to feel 100% again.

Hope everyone in the states is doing well.  If you are reading this blog regularly and want to know about my latest adventures right when I post them, use the "subscribe" link on the top right hand side of the page and you'll be emailed whenever I post.  It would make me feel more popular too. :)

Prost!