Getting Lost in German Villages!

Holly change of plans!
So originally, I was thinking that I would be somewhere in the Czech Republic right about now, but fortuanately I am instead in Germany. When we last left off I was planning on leaving Salzburg on Thursday and heading to Cesky Krumlov in the Czech, but on Tuesday I got an email from my cousin Ron (ok, third cousin if you want to get specific!) who lives in Germany asking me if I wanted to come visit. So I changed my plans, spent an extra day in Salzburg, and on Friday took the train to Rosenheim, Germany. Ron coaches the Rosenheim Hockey team there. He picked me up at the station around 1pm and we went and had lunch at the arena and got aquainted. I'm pretty sure that before Friday the two of us had never met before, however I have met his brother David at a family reunion years ago (and I mean years because I'm pretty sure I was only 8 or 10 at the time). After lunch I wandered around Rosenheim for a few hours, then Ron dropped me off at one of his player's appartments so I could go with his wife Jodie, and their two kids. It turns out that Jodie and Todd, her husband who plays hockey, met at the University of Guelph a few years back. Such a small world. Anyway, Jodie was fantastic and really took care of me, and so the least I could do was hang out with her awsome son Tye, who is 3, while she chilled in the stands with her little girl Taylor. Tye is the funniest kid I have ever met. He asks about a million questions a minute, but has the most impish smile that you can't help but love him and answer them all as best you can.
The game was really good, the fans are INTENSE, but their energy reminded me a lot of our old ND hockey games, especially since everyone was dressed in the team colours of green and white. There were drums beating, horns honking, chants being chanted, and flags being waved. In the end the team won, or should I say slottered the other team, with a final score of 3-0 (if memory serves me right). At the end of the game, some spectators are actually allowed on the ice and players skate by and high-five them, then head to the dressing room for a quick meeting, and finally come back out onto the ice to do a wave-type thing with the fans, who, according to Jodie, don't leave the arena until this little ritual has been completed. Gotta love the hardcore fans! After all the players have left the ice, Jodie and I went into the VIP room (yes, because I am a VIP!) and watched Ron give his press conference with the coach of the other team. Pretty cool to see. Jodie and Todd left with the kids shortly after that, and while I was waiting for Ron, some of the women in the VIP room (wives of the sponsors I can only hope, and not overage puck bunnies) called me over and gave me a beer and we all tried to communicate with each other. So funny.
Ron and I left when I was done my drinking, and headed back to Mittenwald, a cute German town about 1 hour away from Munich, right across the border from Innsbruck Austria. We were both so tired that by the end of the ride we weren't making much sense conversationally.
Ron's wife Tanja, her brother, and her mother all run a B&B, so when I got here I was given my own room!!! I loved it! To finally have some privacy. I used that room well too and slept in until around 12pm on Saturday. Yesterday afternoon Ron was playing hockey at the Mittenwald rink (outdoor rink) so I went with Tanja and the kids to watch for a few hours. Ron and Tanja have two of the cutest kids ever. Christopher is around 4 and so cheecky. He speaks German mostly, which is completely adorable, but will translate stuff for me. He is the typical older brother, and pretends to not like his little sister around, but then I catch him giving her a hug and know that he really loves her. Lucia is full of sass, and is still only 15 months old. She is in love with her Dad and want to hang aorund him all the time. She has a mind of her own and speaks it, and really well for her age. She looks like a little Cabbage Patch doll, and I just want to cuddle her all the time. The both of them are so much fun to play with, and I will be sad to leave them, but hopefully with return in the fall during Octoberfest for another visit.
Both Ron and Tanja have been so nice and have let me stay with them, have fed me, and lent me one of their cars today so I could go to Füssen...which is a fun story to share....
So this morning I set out for Füssen, a small town around 50km away where there are two castles (REAL ONES), at around 10:30am. I had a map that Tanja drew me, a map book that Ron gave me, and my uncanny sense of direction to guide me. It started out great...I made it through the first 20km or so without any issues, but then I made a wrong turn, or rather, I didn't make a turn. I missed the town sign for Oberau, where I was supposed to turn, so ended up on the A95. Now I kind of knew I wasn't supposed to be on this major highway, but it was just so fun to be driving fast without fear of getting a ticket! I mean I was going pretty fast and cars were just sailing past me! And then I noticed that I was getting low on gas so decided to get some more before heading back to where I had now figured out I was supposed to have turned. I took the next exit I came to, and drove for 20km in one direction, didn't find a station, so went back to the 95 and went 10km in the other direction, and was just turning around to head back again when I stumbled across one. I couldn't believe that I had gone through so many towns (or maybe they were villages) without seeing a single station!
Well I finally filled up and was back on my way. I stopped at a church in Wies that Ron had suggested, and it was so incredible. Most chruches are dark, but this one had huge windows and was all done in white, gold, and pastels, so it was SO bright. I walked around and took some pictures, then realized I was famished so stopped for lunch at a little place next to it. I had 'German Bread' (translation: pretzle), a salad, and some boiled saussages...yummy, but they looked really weird.
After that I got back in the car and headed to Füssen. The deal there is that King Ludwig II was born and raised in a big orange castel, and then decided to build his own up on a hill. It is so amazing, I had chills when I saw it. It is rumoured to be the castel that was a model for the Walt Disney one, with the big turrets. Because it was getting late, I decided to only do the one that the King had built (especially since it is said to be much more ornate than the other). So I bought my ticket, got on the bus, and headed up the hill to see it. When you buy a ticket for either of the castles, it includes a guided tour. Apparently the King started construction on the castel, but died before it was completed, and because he had no heirs, parts were left unfinished. The interior is hilarious though. Its all gold and swans and jewel colours, and everything is painted and guilded, and no wood is left as it, it is all intricately carved. If anyone is ever around here you need to go.
After my big day of driving, and singing out loud to my music (LOVED IT!) I came back to Ron and Tanja's, who are at a hockey game for the night with Christopher, played with Lucia, and am now going to head to bed in a few minutes.
Tomorrow I am going to go to Munich for the day with the family, but they are going to the zoo and I am going to just tour around, and then either spend the night there, or come back here and head to Plzen, Czech Republic on Tuesday.
Love to everyone!!