Kiefersfelden & Kufstein

I took a little train ride (12 hours..."little train ride") from Bonn to Kiefersfelden--a small city in Bavaria, right on the Austrian border--where several of my USM friends were singing in a summer program for opera and musical theater. Though both cities are in Germany, it was like I was on a whole different planet. I could still understand and be understood, but it took my ears a bit of time to adjust to the 'southern accent' that people had there. [Sidenote: I'm pretty sure this is the first time in my life that I have had a "normal accent" in any language, as opposed to a drawl. Personal victory!]

The food was...really something! Delicious, but...

After spending a morning walking in what is essentially Sound-of-Music country, and a brief hop over the Germany/Austria border into Kufstein (whose unofficial motto was apparently deemed 'KEEP ON ROCKING IN KUFSTEIN', which I'm pretty sure is just one giant pun), I listened to the final showcase in which my friends were singing, which was a lot of fun.

The hills are aliveeeeee.

Kufstein, such a beautiful place.

The next morning, a few friends and I got up extremely early to take a 3.5 hour train ride to Hohenschwangau in order to see the most famous castle in Germany, Schloss Neuschwanstein.

Don't let Disney fool you, this is where Cinderella grew up.

After almost being too late to take a tour (the only way that you can see the inside of the castle), I begged the lady at the counter (in German) to let us into an English tour that was already full. Luckily for us, she was able to let us in, otherwise I would have started sobbing/throwing a temper tantrum on the spot. 

It was beautiful and amazing, and I definitely took the opportunity to sing a few notes in Ludwig's orchestra room. And thennnn it took like 8 hours to get back to Kiefersfelden, due to some train delays (thanks, Deutsche Bahn) and some farm animals on the train tracks. I kid you not. Farm animals on the train tracks.

The next morning, I headed back to Bonn for my final week in Germany!