Word of the day: Danke

Today, Jenna Evans, Kyla Manske, Holly Larson and Darla Schroeder headed off to Neuschwanstein Castle -- it turned out to be a bit longer than we anticipated -- 7 total HOURS one way!!! and Ms. Evans was even going 95mph (and still getting passed...). But it turned out to be a nice drive along the autobahn through the construction, mountains, and countryside. On one of our detours, we found school that had children going home around 12:30. When we were on the right trail, we were enthralled with the breathtaking scenery -- lush valleys, Bavarian Alps, quaint villages, rolling farmland, and placid lakes. Our first view of the castle was awe-inspiring. We toured the village, visited shops (and bought a few things to use in our classrooms), ate at an outdoor cafe, and paid to use the bathrooms. In order to get up the mountain to the castle, we rode in a horse-drawn carriage. Up on the castle grounds, it felt like we were on top of the world looking down...it was a bit scary! Once inside the castle's stone walls, no pictures were allowed, but we were too busy taking everything in that I don't think we could have taken a picture if we were able to! Simply AMAZING! We ended the day with dinner at an outdoor cafe, with the castle and Alps as our background view. Oh yeah, Ms.Evans hit her top speed of 103mph on the autobahn home! Our German word/phrase for the day: danke (thank you) Translation Time: (please comment your best guess) "ausfahrt"