Castles, churches and stuff... oh my!

Today we got up early and ventured thru AUSTRIA see the Lindhoffer Palace. It was pretty cool but it was a guided tour that was very crowded. We like the self guided tours better. The only way that you can see this palace and the other more famous castles here is to get a guided tour. The neatest thing about the Lindhoffer is that this Ludwig guy built his own Opera house. But it is not just any old opera house, it is a grotto which is basically a manmade cave with a lake and boat in it. It is freezing, so when Ludwig wanted to use it the servants would need 3 days notice to heat it to a very warm 72 degrees F. The doors to this place are also huge fake rocks that swing and close to completely disguise the grotto as the side of the mountain. It was very cool, but the other stuff we have seen up until now was more amazing. Driving thru Austria was neat, although it looks EXACTLY like driving from Calgary to BC. Exactly. Yesterday after our day of local sight seeing, we went to see some AMAZING Castle ruins. This is by far the coolest thing we have seen, and we all enjoyed it immensley. We were the only ones there and there was a thunder storm brewing, so all around us were these big omninous dark clouds and below the ruins were medeival town nestled in the green mountain side. These ruins were very well preserved and marked, and it was just so so incredible. LOVED IT !! We also had a very late dinner, and Ellie and I had a huge salad. We just have not been eating anything green here. Then we finished with a giagantic sundae that is very prevalent in Fussen. Tomorro we go to see the Neuschwanstein, and then we will be doing more quiet stuff on Sunday. We are getting a bit burned out on the major touring and need a day of just moseying. Last night was so much cooler and our room was tolerable. While we were in Linderhoff today, it started to pour rain while we were in the Grotto. I mean HARD. And of course the only one with a raincoat was Ellie. The rain has been very little in the day on our trip, so we didn't mind. Now I am on my way to pick up some donairs for dinner to have in our room and then we are heading downstairs of our hotel to have another massive sundae between us. All in all still having a great time, and Regans driving is fantastic!! And we rented a GPS system for our car and have rarely had to consult a map. The lady's voice is funny, she sometimes sounds like she is getting annoyed with Regan. "Turn left NOW!" My favourite feature is when she reminds him to "Obey the speed limit please." I think I am going to have one permanently installed in our car.
Ellie is e-mailing her class back home. Yesterday they each sent her a little note in an e-mail. How cool is that!! We love her teacher!!! She is amazing for that sort of thing!!

Anyway, must run as I am on the free internet and there are people waiting. Much love to everyone!!