August 3, 2010

So today we drove a whole bunch! Eventually we ended up in Garmisch, a city in southern Germany. King Ludwig II's castle (called Neuschwanstein) is located a little bit away from there. The Castle is only about 1/3 of the way finished, due to halt on work after the king's death.

King Ludwig was diagnosed with mental illness. After denying it, he was found a short time later dead in a small body of water, along with his doctor. Many say that his family was responsible for his murder, but to this day people still speculate about what actually happened.

Lizzy's friend Meagan and her daughter Rylee are coming along with us. Rylee's is one year younger than Riley...I found that ironic!

Did you know that there are poles scattered throughout Germany called Maypoles. They are usually blue and white striped. The tradition is that if one town can steal another town's maypole, then in order to get it back the town that had their pole stolen has to give a gift to the town that did the stealing. The maypole in Neuschwanstein is huge! I'd like to see another town steal it!

I miss you my polar bear parents!