May 6/Friday turned out to be busier than I anticipated. I accidentally slept through my alarm in the morning, despite the fact that I had set five alarms to avoid this. I ended up waking up at 10:30 with a text message from HM listing all the chores I needed to get done that day. I had to leave the house at 1:30pm to pick up One, so I had to jump out of bed and start immediately. I spent nearly an hour and a half ironing, then I had to vacuum, organize the kids rooms, and pick up the kitchen and living rooms. I just barely had enough time to shower and eat before I left for the recycling center, where I dropped off a bunch of stuff (this was another one of the chores HM asked me to do). I continued on to pick up One from school. I brought him home and we rode our bikes over to his Ballschule. I dropped him off there and then drove to the store to get a few things. I picked One up again from his class and we slowly made our way home, stopping for ice cream and then later at the park. We got home just before 5pm to find that HP and Two had beat us home. The four of them left almost immediately to go have dinner with the neighbors. I stayed home to finish the ironing and then I got ready and headed into town. Adam and Eddie had decided to make a trip into Nürnberg and I had to meet them at the train station at 6:45pm. We walked around for a bit, chatting and eating street food. The weather was gorgeous and we wanted to enjoy it. We went to Finnegan's for a drink, the over to Molly's to see Meg. We had intended on only staying for one drink and then leaving again for somewhere else, but one drink turned into a couple and we stayed until Meg got off work at 12:15am. The four of us walked to the Hauptbahnhof. The guys opted to catch their last train back to Ansbach and Meg and I headed downtown. We first went to Finnegan's, decided it was boring, and then went over to the Shamrock, which was also boring. We had a drink there anyways as I waited for my train. I caught the 1:31 train home and was asleep by 2am.
Saturday was simply beautiful outside. I worked in the morning, taking the boys to the playground while HM went grocery shopping and HD went for a bike ride. It wasn't too warm, in the low 70s, but I still managed to get a pretty bad sunburn on my back. The sun is stronger here than I expected. We came home at 1 and continued playing outside while HM finished cooking lunch. We all ate together sitting on the patio because we wanted to enjoy the weather. The boys went down for a nap after lunch and I skyped with some family and friends. I went for a run in the late afternoon. We all went over to M and T's for dinner. M's sister, brother-in-law, and nephew were in town and they'd been cooking big dinners each night. All the food was simply delicious, and I even enjoyed stuff I wouldn't normally eat. I came home early to get ready for my big day Sunday. HM and Two got home shortly after me and were standing in the foyer as I walked by. Two pointed at me and said, "Farrah!," or more like, "rar-rah!" It made me smile from the inside out.
Sunday was yet another gorgeous day. I was up entirely too early, at 6:30 exactly, to be out the door by 7:45. I caught the train to Ansbach and Adam picked me up from the train station. We left immediately for the Neuschwanstein Castle, about a 2.5 hour drive south of Ansbach and just 15 km above the Austrian border. The drive was uneventful - there was no traffic or delays. Once we got close to the border, we could see the mountains and they were breathtaking. We arrived right on time, just after 11:30, and parked without any issues. We met Marc and Christina at the ticket office, and the four of us immediately continued on to the castle. It was about a 25 minute walk uphill to the castle from the ticket office. The only other way to get up there was to pay for a horse and buggy, something we obviously were not interested in doing. Marc had bought our tickets on Thursday and our tour time was 12:35. We ended up having about 20 minutes to wait once we were at the top. The castle itself was a little underwhelming from the outside. It was never completed and was missing several of the original design elements. The parts of both the outside and inside which were completed were amazing. The detail was exquisite and there was always something new to discover. The tour itself only lasted 30 minutes. Entire floors of the inside were never completed and the castle was just barely inhabitable. All in all, I'd say our walk to and from the castle, as well as our time spent there, lasted just shy of two hours. We decided to get a late lunch in a town nearby, Füssen. We walked around for a little looking for a place to eat and exploring the cute town. We had lunch at a delicious German restaurant and then walked around and ate some ice cream. We all parted ways around 4pm. Adam and I made it back to Ansbach at 7:15, as we had to make a few stops and also ran into some traffic on the highway. I caught the 7:32 train back to Nürnberg and went directly to Molly's to see Meg. There are few days now when I don't see Meg for whatever period of time. She got off work early and we went into town to see if any of our friends were out, but none were. I was exhausted and caught the 11:13 train back home. The day was fantastic. I'll post some pictures soon!
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