Thursday ...not as much rain, but still cloudy most of the day

Today we had breakfast in the sunroom with a full view of the Neuschwanstein castle. Here's Leo at our table. The caption is "What, no beer??":




We had a smaller breakfast, but it included an (almost) hard boiled egg sitting in a little egg cup plate with a knitted cap over it to keep it warm. I haven't mentioned that the eggs here in Germany are always brown and the yolks are an almost orange color...really pretty...and really tasty. Leo says it reminds him of eggs from his grandma's farm...because they were all scratch fed and grain fed and as Leo puts it "not on some jack-ass diet". Here's a picture of the egg this morning:



So after breakfast we checked out and went to the Kristall Therme here in Schwangau. It has lots of quartz crystals around the room and crystals around the light fixtures and there was one post in one of the pools that was solid quartz crystals...big ones...that was about 10 feet tall and 2 feet in diameter. Anyway, hence the name of the spa. Also, this is a saline spa...the healthy part is that most of the pools have salt of varying degrees. It's supposed to be healthy by drawing out toxins and such.

So we bumbled through the entry. We really didn't know what we were doing, but finally decided upon 2 hours in the therme (the pools) - we could have gone to the nude sauna area, but we passed.

So we went in and it seemed like all couples were entering a room together...so that's what we did. So we ended up in a closet sized room and we had to change into our swimsuits. We were banging our elbows on the shelf in there...it was pretty cozy!

The spa contains 7 pools:
1. a 2.5% salt pool
2. a 5% salt pool
3. a 12.5 % salt pool (outside)
4. a pool with mineral water (outside)
5. a pool with crystals all over and mineral water
6. a pool with natron, which turns out to be baking soda and is supposed to be a curative pool
7. another outdoor pool that hooked up to the indoor 2.5% pool...this one had an oval shaped flume (about 15 yards long and about 5-6 yards wide) with a moving current (more on this later)

So our first pool was the indoor 2.5% ...we thought that would be a good one to ease into. It was really nice...very salty...like swimming in the ocean. It really makes you float easily. It was warm, but not hot like a hot tub...so we stayed in there a bit. Then we went to the outdoor 2.5% pool by going through a flap...sort of like a plastic flap that dogs go in and out of. So going into this pool...it had an area to just stand and then an opening in the tiled walls...about 12 feet wide...that opened up into the oval area with a current. Well, I had no idea what was to come, but as soon as I entered the flume with the current...I was catapulted into the wall and started crashing into people! It zipped me around like a whirling dervish! Leo was doing much better than me...actually more respectable fitting in with the other Germans that were in the oval. So after repeatedly saying "enshuldigen" (sorry) multiple times as I went sailing along like a fishing bobber on the end of a fishing pole (keep in mind not only was this crazy thing flowing fast, but you actually did float like a bobber because of the salt content). Anyway, I finally figured out to grab on to Leo's foot with my feet and off we went to the races! The inside lane was a bit milder, but if you got to the outside edge, you were whisked along at a really fast rate. Eventually, I got into the swing of things and had a blast half walking, half doing the dog paddle, half swimming, half floating and sometimes banging into the wall. Well, we really had a fun time in there and then decided to get out so we got to the opening to go into the non-flume area and Leo got out, but I couldn't break through the force of the current so I was slammed into the wall and stuck back into the oval flume! By this time I was laughing so hard I could hardly swim. Determined, I was prepared the next go around and so I attempted it again. Crash! and back into the current! At this point I yelled to Leo (who was staring at me dumbfounded in the calm area) "see you in the next life, brothah!" Well by this time most of the Germans (who are always under control) were a bit amused. So the next go around I told Leo to grab my hand and pull me in. So thankfully he did. Whew! That was a workout!

Our next pool was the 12.5% pool. You are only supposed to stay in there 10 or 15 minutes at a time. The saltiness is the equivalent of putting 6 teaspoons of salt into 1 C. of water...that's pretty darn salty! And so you remember what I said about the 2.5% pool and how you floated easily? Well with the 12% you can't sit or stand...it just takes you right off of any surface and again you just float like a cork. They have stainless steel railings that you sort of tether yourself to. And you sure don't want to get any of that water in your eyes! So after 12 minutes or so, we went to pool #3...the 5% one ...it had water jets going and again you just sort of hung on to a rail and felt like you were in 2001 a Space Odyssey.

The next pool was the mineral water with crystals all around. You didn't float so much in there. Next was the natron pool which was nice...it had jets, too. Then outside to the mineral water pool. It was fairly cool outside so it felt nice to be in the warm water out there. They had 2 giant water spouts that looked like water faucets and the water came out in a ribbon-looking stream...wide and narrow. There was some pressure as you stood under it!

Forgot to mention that Leo's swim suit (the standard kind in the States...that looks like baggy shorts) sort of stood out ...as all the Germans wear speedos...even the old geezers!

Our time was coming to an end so we went to the showers. We met back at our locker and then into the closet to change. Some of the old guys there didn't even bother to go into a closet to change...they just did it out in the middle of where everyone can see and it didn't bother them. They definitely have a different viewpoint on nudity here...I don't know what happened to people in America way back ...I guess it was the goofy Puritans that messed everyone up!

So we felt like we did pretty well...the only thing is you need your entry ticket to get out...you punch it in like on the Metro. I got out, but Leo lost his ticket...so they had to specially let him out! Oh well...we had a great time and we felt wonderful afterwards.

So off we went in our car down the road. We ran into some closed road and it really confused not only us, but Gwendolyn, too. Finally we had to stop and ask for help. Along the way we had to stop for gas...the car uses diesel...and Leo put in 3/4 of a tank of gas...it cost 72 Euros...or $94...yikes! Luckily the car gets good mileage.

As we drove along and got closer to the Bodensee (Lake Constance), we saw lots of orchards...apples and plums especially.




Don't forget, you can click on these pictures and it will enlarge them to see better detail.

Another sight we saw in the sky as we got closer to the lake was this:



Oh, the humanity!

Yes...this is a real blimp that was flying...actually landing. I can't believe they didn't give up this idea after the Hindenburg!

So we finally reached our destination today of Immerstaad on the Bodensee. We are staying at a gasthaus in a room with a bed that's not a Lucy and Desi situation! This is the first we have seen this! Right next door to the gasthaus is this:






A help yourself fruit stand that uses the honor code. No person there...just take what you want and leave the money there. Here is what we bought:


Apples and zwetchen plums! The apples are the best apples I have ever had!

Here's a picture of the cashier there:



You just drop your coins in the slot marked "kasse" (not to be confused with the word for cheese "kase" with an umlaut over the "a")

We went light on dinner with soup and a salad. We ate at an old house...in the basement...it's a restaurant...and it was built in the 1700's. The huge wooden beams were amazing!

By the way...not many people here speak English.

Oh, and I've been meaning to show you what the Euro coins look like. From left to right...2 E. (we call this a toony...like in Canada), 1 E. (we call this a loony...like in Canada), 50 cents (or a half E.), 20, 10, 5, 2, 1 cent. Then we have the paper Euros...that will be for another day.




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Location:from Bavaria to just the tip of the Black Forest