Family Trip to Africa via Munich – Day 5

Day 5 only really had about 1 hour of real activity and the rest was eating and drinking. And when you are on vacation isn’t that really enough? Please don’t tell the folks though at Orange Theory about this though 🤫 — this eating and being merry is costing me my 6 pack!

And quick social commentary. What is up with restaurants starting to use cave man talk when advertising their menu? 🤷Words in all caps like EAT. DRINK. SNACK. Seem to be everywhere now. Is this supposed to get me to spend more? Seems like some angry German is yelling at me and telling me in a Bavarian accent to gorge myself. “First you vill SNACK ja? See? And then you will DRINK, ja? Ja? You vill. Then I vill expect you to EAT and EAT. Ja? Make sense fat American? Gut!” My only response is “Ja mein commandant!”

Ok to explain the food of the day and how it is possible to gain 1-2 pounds a day. First the Hilton here offers an “all ya can eat” breakfast buffet complete with several sausages, egg choices, and tons of brot (bread) options.

Each day we have been eating 3 times more in the morning than we would normally eat. The gigantic sweaty meet on the spindle was not consumed but I thought worthy of posting. That is the meat used in gyros (doner kabobs in Germany).

We ate at a German restaurant in Schwangau and had lunch. My sweaty meat with what looks like cereal flakes on it was Zweibelrostbraten (beef supposedly) and the other picture is my son’s schnitzel. Both were greasy and void of flavor.

While most of our meals on this trip have been excellent this was subpar. However the desserts definitely quality as Mount Bellyache portions and effect. We devoured them.

My son Nathan is pictured with a beir giving us a toast but don’t worry kind reader he did not drink any of it!

In proper German fashion we went to Italian food for dinner and matched a ton of carbs and gluten to the enormous amounts of animal fats we consumed earlier in the day. The pizza and pasta were delicious. I kept telling myself about all the fad dieting I was going to do upon my return as I continued to finish off my son’s pizza. Sometimes dieting is best dreamed of while gorging oneself.

We took a double decker bus to Schwangau in order to see Schlosse Neuschwanstein.

This literally means Castle of New Swan Stone built over 20 years starting in the 1860s by King Ludwig II of Germany. You will notice it as the inspiration for the Cinderella/Disneyland castle.

Indeed Walt Disney once toured the castle and fell in love with which is why he used it as his design for the theme park and in his movies. Indeed one of the backdrops in the theater of the castle served as the backdrop for the opening scene of Bambi. We couldn’t take pictures in the castle but we got plenty outside.

It was a clear and beautiful day but man was it cold. Probably in the upper 20s. It takes about 20-30 minutes to walk up the steep road to the castle. There are bus and horse coach options but we needed to do something other than sit and stand so we did the easy hike up.

The tour was a quick 30 minutes which I am glad we did but will probably never do again. You get to see about 10 rooms which are pretty cool and beautiful but that is about it. The rest of the time you go up and down stairs and down long hall ways (they only completed 1/3rd of the castle before the King died). We stood in line for almost 2 hours to get our tickets.

HELPFUL PARENT TIP: Need to kill time during a long wait and can’t stand hearing your kids ask constant questions or fight with each other? Make them do exercises! We had each kid do 100 jumping jacks and 100 push ups (thanks again Orange Theory coaches). Not only did it tire the kids out but it provided a lot of entertainment for our fellow tourists.

We took the bus back to Munich.  I highly recommend Flixbus.  They were affordable and were the best direct option from Munich to the castle.  For a small fee you can reserve your seat too which I found to be worth it because both buses were very crowded and the best seats fill up fast.  We got to both the destination and Munich 15-20 minutes ahead of schedule.  I love Germans!  They are strict about being on time!

Tami and I ended the evening with a beverage each in the hotel bar that was comped by the good folks at Hilton. She had a Moscow Mule and I enjoyed a Asbach (German brandy) Manhattan. Prost!