Europe--Day 2

On Monday, we woke up to clear, crisp skies. We decided that it would be a great time for a cable car ride up to the top of the Zugspitze, the tallest point in German at 9,700 feet. We packed into the car with an insane number of people, and swooped up to the top.



It was FREEZING...below zero degrees, plus wind chill. After a few pics, we headed inside for a delicious treat with fantastic views. (I made fun of Brady for the shot of the hot chocolate, but it's now one of my top 5 pics from the trip.)




This shot was taken on the way down. It's amazing how fast the cable car goes!

We had a few minutes before we were picked up to head back to the lake we checked out on Sunday. This is also one of my top favorite pictures.

Chrysta carted us over to Fussen, where the castles of King Ludwig II are located. We missed the tour of Hohenschwangau Castle--the one with the tan color--but arrived in time to take shots of this 12th century wonder.

We were able to tour Neuschwanstein Castle, though. This was the castle that King Ludwig spent 17 years building, and only actually lived in it for 172 days. (He was declared mentally unfit to rule Bulvaria, and found dead in a lake 2 days after his eviction from Neuschwanstein. Was it murder or suicide???) Incidentally, this is the same castle that the Disneyland castle is modeled after. Not that I would know...

These are views from Mary's Bridge--a hike marked with "No Trespassing" signs.

"Karen's Kitchen"--taken for our VEM family.

We had only a short time to view Wieskirche, a pilgrimage, Rococo-style church (meaning lots of curly cues and fancy decor), but it was definitely worth the stop. Supposedly, the statue of the scourged Christ actually wept in 1738. This was the first church we saw with paintings coating the ceilings, and it blew us away.

Next stop...Paris.