Doing Double Duty - Sunday (6/8) and Monday (6/9)

I apologize for not posting before today...it has been a very busy few days leading up to the trip. I actually tried to post last night, but I couldnät get into the blog..so tonight, I will have to post on the past two days we have been in Germany.

We arrived in Berlin at around 7:30 in the morning, due to a rain delay we had experienced before taking off in Chicago. We actually got through baggage claim in very little time, and rode coach buses down to Bietingheim-Bissingen. (I think I am spelling the name of the town correctly...) We arrived around noon, and met up with our host families. The host family I am staying with is actually quite large. There is Mr. and Mrs. Lowen, the parents, as well as one daughter (age 10), and three borhters, who are 16, 18, and 20 respectively. Their house is in the village of Freudental, and is very nice. Sarah F. and I are sharing a bedroom together.

After we arrived at the Lowen house, the youngest son, Cornelius, took us on a tour of the village with his younger sister. He showed us a street that used to house their Jewish popoulation, as well as the synagogue. He also showed us the village´s church, which is over 800 years old. After the tour of the town, the whole family sat down to lunch together. We had pork, salad, noodles, and sliced tomatoes with mozarella cheese. It all tasted very good!

After lunch, we went down to the town of Ludwigsburg. The town is best known for a very large castle that has a lot of gardens. I was particularly interested in their rose garden. The roses there all had different names, like Shneewittchen (Snow White) and Feuerwerk (Fireworks). I took so many pictures of the roses! Whil we were there, it started raining very hard...we had to huddle under a tree and try to stay dry until the rain let up. Once it did, we left the castle and went to the town square, where Mrs. Lowen bought us Italian ice cream. We then went home, had sausages and cheese for dinner, and went to bed.

Today, the entire band went, as a group, to Neuschwanstein castle. When we first arrived, I mistook another castle in the village for Neuschwanstein...and did not realize that the real castle was half an hour´s walk away! We took a guided tour in English at the castle. We were not allowed to take pictures, though I wish we had been able to. The whole castle was beautiful! My favorite rooms were the throne room, which featured a very detailed depiction of Jesus Christ and various saints, and the dining room, which had a swan theme to it. i decided to buy a stuffed swan in the gift shop as a memento of the trip. I went straight back to the buses after the castle, though some people stopped at a bridge that was relatively nearby. We ended up leaving late from the village because one of our students ended up in the wrong parking lot, but we arrived relatively on time and went home. Dinner tonight was spaghetti with meat sauce. (My mother might be pleased to know that I ate the spaghetti with the sauce today!) Now we are preparing for bed. Tomorrow´s our first concert -- I hope we do well!