SUNFLOWER APRON
Finished this apron yesterday.  This pattern had its challenges, lots of pieces.  The pockets are huge.

Front of apron

Back.

Sunflower buttons that I had in my button box for maybe 20 years, now have a use.

RELIEF SOCIETY VISITING TEACHERS
I have the pleasure of having a visit from my Relief Society visiting teachers, Sister Friederun Siebert and Marianne Schrade.  We had a nice talk about what the RS is and how we can help each other and shared some brownies, nut bread and cherries from Friederun's tree.

TRIP TO BAVARIAN ALPS, SCHLOSS NEUSCHWANSTEIN and SCHLOSS HOHENSCHWANGAU

Not my photo, this is Newschwanstein, it wasn't clear weather for us.

   We took a weekend trip on a train down to south Germany to see the famous Neuschwanstein Castle.  This is the castle that was used as a start for the Disney Castle.   King Ludwig II built the Neuschwanstein Castle in 1886 as a summer home for himself.  He was raised in the Hohenschwangau Castle.  The two castles are pretty close to each other.   The King ran up a big debt and still decided he wanted to keep building so the government declared him insane and a few days later he was found dead in the lake.   The towns that are located close by are Fussen, Horn and Schwangau.  We stayed in the small town of Horn.  Most of the buildings in Horn look to be guest houses.  This is a real touristy area.  The weather was a bit rainy and foggy for us so the views for us where not as brilliant as some of the posters and famous photos.  So we did buy a poster to bring back to the U.S. and will frame it as a nice memento of this trip.
You can read more about the Neuschwanstien castle on this site:
http://www.neuschwanstein.de/englisch/palace/
You can read more about the Hohenschwangau castle on this site:
https://www.hohenschwangau.de/837.html
  This trip did have some things that didn't go perfect but we still enjoyed the trip.  The train leaving Mannheim was going to be at least an hour late so we got on another earlier train that was also late but leaving about the time our train would have left.  The weather had caused some kind of train problems further south so that  train was diverted on a route that added another 90 minutes to the length.  When we did get on the next available local train it stopped at a town we should have made a transfer on but we didn't understand that and stayed on the train.  We ended up going to the the train yard so the conductor had to wait until it was time to go back to the station and take us back.  We eventually got to our destination although a couple of hours later than planned.
  Next time we go to this area we would like to bring our own bikes as there are 950 miles of trails for bikes.  We tried to rent the bikes from the place we rented our room but the bikes where not working very well so we returned them and just walked everywhere.  It took longer to get places but it was nice walking and we enjoyed it.  It rained a good bit on the first morning so bike riding wouldn't have been too good as we would have been wet the rest of the day.

Schloss Hohenschwangau - The thing at the top of the photo is my umbrella, it is raining.

Schloss Neuschwanstien

More Details of the trip with photos.

This is where we thought, "why are we the only ones on the train?"
Not knowing that it was on the way to the yard instead of our destination.  OOPS.

We were suppose to change trains in Buchloe.
Instead we spent 1/2 hour in the yard until the conductor returned us to the station so we could continue on to Fussen.

The room we rented in Horn.

Cute with skylights.  It rained really hard during the night and morning

It had a small kitchen so we only ate out for one dinner.

The view from the back deck.
If that tree wasn't so big, we would have had a view of the Neuschwanstein.

We walked to a small local cafe.  This is a spinach noodle dish.

This is turkey schnitzel.

Schloss Hohenschwangau

The first castle we had tickets for was the Hohenschwangau.  This was the summer home for the King Maximilian II, the father of King Ludwig II.  Photos are not allowed on the inside.

Small gate to go down to the town.

The swan fountain.
I love the swans here in Germany so having a castle with the theme of Swans was wonderful for me.

Another swan fountain.
Must be baby swans, cause grown ones would be more than an armful.

Lion fountain, no lions in Germany in the wild though.

The front gate.

Steve looking at the "would be a nice view" if it wasn't raining.

The back of the schloss with the biggest swan on the top of the building.

These pretty slugs are found all over Germany.
After rains they are on the paths
They are found in browns, oranges, and black.
Some are up to about 3 inches long.

View of the Hohenschwangau Castle from the Neuschwanstein Castle.

Castle with the two lakes on each side and the town below.

Neuschwanstein Castle

We had the tour of the Neuschwanstein Castle second.  The actual tour is only 30 minutes and goes through the rooms that where completed before the King was murdered.  No building continued after his death.  The plans for the castle show he would have made it a lot bigger.  He only lived in it for a bit over 100 days before he was found drowned in the lake.

Now that is a handsome man.
The door is for Christina.

The top is in fog.
The drain spout on the side like a dragon is different.

This big courtyard was planned to have another building in it but it was never completed due to the Kings murder.

Mass of tourists waiting for their tour number.
About 6,000 people go on this tour everyday.

Clock still works, our tour was to start at 12:30.

Dogs are not allowed on the tour but Germans take their dogs most places and are welcome.

Susie with one of towers behind.

View of the Marienbrucke (bridge) and waterfall from the castle in the fog

Marienbrucke with people on it.

A model of what the castle would have been if it where built to the Kings plan.

We tried to get onto the bridge but it was too crowded.
We turned around.
Later I went back and had no trouble getting on.
Steve didn't want to try it again and waited for me to return.

View of the Castle from the bridge.

Looking up canyon and down into the waterfall from the bridge.

Another view of the castle with the town of Schwangau in the background, from the bridge.

Good bye Neuschwanstein.

Here is one of those pretty black slugs.
The good thing about walking is you get to see all the little details.

This snail was a pretty GOLDEN color and just look at its wonderful antennae or eyes or whatever they are.

This a very pretty black snail with a tortoise shell color house.

Not sure what these white flowers are but I thought they look like fireworks.
So pretty.

Delicate fireworks flowers

I love Columbine flowers and this is the first time I've seen deep purple ones.
Later I also saw some that where purple with white center flowers.

I've seen the Columbine flowers all over in the Sierra's.
They come in a bunch of different colors.

Sunset from our balcony.

Last morning walk showing both casltes in the foothills.
Neuschwanstein on the left and Hohenschwangau on the right.

The Forgensee

The Forgensee with the beginning of the Alps in the distance

The swan on the Lech river.  The color of the water is milky due to coming off of glaciers.

Swans in the milky color river

The castle in the Fussen city.
We didn't have time to go inside or tour  much of this one.

The city has all these pretty flower pots everywhere.

In this area, the buildings have 3D paintings on them for decoration.

Castle with 3D paintings

Infirmary with beautiful painting

Milky river water

Milky water and lower Alps in the distance

On the ICE train going back to Mannheim.