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Germany 2015 - June 28

Sunday was our Chiemsee day!

First we drove to Altötting to pick up Ethan and Maxi, and Nici, her mom and Cassandra met us and followed us in their car.  At the Chiemsee we got on a boat (well, about 4 times the whole time we were there) to go to the different islands.  It was a beautiful, sunny day, but also with some nice puffy clouds.  The Chiemsee is so beautiful, too - full of sailboats and other boats and with the Alps in the background...

First we went to Herren Insel, where King Ludwig's copy of Versailles palace is - Herrencheimsee.  We did an inside tour (which was free because we were students!) and there is so much gold inside it is ridiculous.  This one he also ran out of money to finish (and no wonder!).  There are 70 rooms and only 20 of them were finished.  So we got to see the unfinished staircase and rooms and so now I know what castles/palaces look like behind all the glitter they add on.  Also, we saw a 1/2 ton chandelier and a super-expensive (at least a half million) porcelain and fanciness chandelier.  Ludwig only slept there once and was never there for more than, like, 10 days.  He called himself "the moon king" and slept during the day and was up at night - and all the candles had to be lit only for him, because he never had any guests in his palace.  He said that he wanted to be a mystery to himself and everyone else (which was accomplished quite well, especially regarding his death!).  Cassandra and I took  a lot of pictures outside, and we got some with our hosts, of course.

The next island was the Frauen Insel (where the Abby is).  First we ate lunch - I got Wiener and french fries, basically eating a yummier hot dog.  Cassandra and I decided - after Elli had already left - that we needed to go to the bathroom, but since we didn't know where it was I asked a waitress (auf deutsch) and she spoke really fast (deutsch) directions and I understood them perfectly...I was pretty proud of myself, and we found the bathroom with no trouble.  Then we walked through the graveyard by the church and there was a cat.  There was a neat gift shop and I found crosses with Christian stuff on them, so I got some.  Then our hosts wanted to sit in the grassy park area, but me, Cassandra and Ethan wanted to keep walking, so they gave us 15 minutes and we managed to walk around the entire island!

Once we returned to the mainland, we kids all went paddle boating, Germans vs. Americans.  they said they were faster and won, but both groups admitted to not knowing where we were going, so we had friendly discussions over that. ;)  It was really fun, though.  Then we got ice cream...gotta love that German ice cream!

On the way home we saw about six hot air balloons.  Once home, Maxi was there (did I mention him? Julia's boyfriend? I think so), and he asked if I was excited to go home and I said, "Nur ein bisschen" (only a little bit).  We ate and then went to bed.

Herrenchiemsee

Elli and I

The fountain

Cassandra and I

A close up of the palace (I highly suggest you look up what the inside looks like...it's pretty crazy!)

The view from the palace of the grounds

View of the Chiemsee

Another view, this one with one of the boats we rode, "Ludwig Fessler"

Another view

Our hosts paddle boating

Elli and I hanging out in our paddle boats!

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