In Old Bavaria

 

Typically, once a tour Blue Lake will cover the costs of a day trip from one of the towns in which we are staying, and this year they were not. messing. around.  A couple of hours bus ride from Augsburg is located the Neuschwanstein castle, planned retreat for Ludwig II, homage to composer Richard Wagner and eventual inspiration for Sleeping Beauty’s castle in Disney Land.

For a nice little overview on the history of this late 19th century castle:

 

The BEST thing about this little day trip was that, as luck would have it, my brother and sister-in-law were in the country for a friend’s wedding.  Though Joanie was busy with bridesmaid duties, Matt was able to drive down from their town near Heidelberg to take the tour with me!  As neither of us had ever been to the castle before it was a bit hard to decide where to meet up. “Ummmm… the front?” was about all I had to offer, but Matt was smart enough to look for where the buses parked and greeted me once I got off the bus. (With the permission of the director) I high tailed it out of there so I could get a little one on one time with Matt and we took the steep walk through the woods up to the castle, first stopping at one of the restaurants to grab a quick drink and small bite to eat.

Oooooohhh, nature!

 

 

Just down hill from the castle is an observation area, perfectly suited to taking in the Bavarian countryside.

 

Besides the countryside, it’s also a great place to get your first real good look of the castle; or, if you’re so inclined (we were), get a picture with the castle:

 

 

The tours are planned out in five minute increments and, with a group as large as the combined orchestra and choir, we naturally had to divide up into several different times.  Matt’s ticketed time was about ten minutes after the last Blue Lake group, but he was able to join ours so we could do it together.

 

 

Unfortunately, pictures are strictly verboten inside the castle, so you’re missing out on the opulence that is the interior of Neuschwanstein.  Ludwig II had quite affinity for Wagner and his music, and most of his rooms are elaborately themed with stories from Wagner’s operas.  It’s always one of those tenuous lines to tread as a classical music lover: Wagner’s music is absolutely, undeniably glorious but, you know… Nazis.  I’ve actually been working my way through Curb Your Enthusiasm for the first time these last couple of months and couldn’t help but think this scene when doing the tour.

(Slightly nsfw language)

 

Visitors were provided one more great view at the end of the tour, and luckily pictures could be taken from the balcony.

It’s all about location, location, location

 

A short walk away is the Marienbrücke, a bridge which affords an unbelievable view of the castle.  I wasn’t exactly sure if I had enough time to make the trek and still catch the bus back, but Matt was able to go over and get the view for both of us!

 

A view of the bridge from the castle and vice versa

 

As far as castles go, Neuschwanstein is unarguably amongst the most beautiful in the world and I ‘m so glad that not only did I get to see it, but I got to share such a cool experience with Matt.  That’s just how we roll these days.

 

Artist: Mel Books / Album: The Producers

Bonus!  I also couldn’t help but visit a castle and think of the clip from Eddie Izzard's Dressed to Kill special:

As is typical for one of his routines, beware the salty language!

Back to Where I Was

 

Oh well HELLOOOO there ladies and gents!  A little over three years ago I set up this site as a kind of half journal / half repository for the myriad of interests which I find intriguing, enlightening and entertaining (you know, as opposed to all those other blogs out there that are nothing like that at all).  At times I feel as though I was quite successful and others, well, let’s just forget about those, shall we?

One of the greatest gifts the blog has given me is a detailed memory of my many summers working at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp and touring internationally as a soloist for their oratorios.  For those tens upon tens of readers who used to regularly check in, you’ve probably noticed I have been an abysmal failure at updating for nearly a year.  Well weep no longer, faithful followers: I am thrilled to once again be returning to BLFAC for another European tour and reviving the blog in the process!

With a little more than gentle prodding from friends and fellow soloists, Sabrina Laney Warren (returning this year as blonde) and Zach Vanderburg (promoted to soloist from his previous years as section leader for our Elijah and Brahm’s Requiem tours), I have decided to once again take up the mantle of mediocre travel blogger. Selfishly, it’s so I can have another great account of my travels, but I don’t have any problem fudging the truth and saying I’m doing it for you, the people.  YOU’RE WELCOME! :)

This year the orchestra, choir and soloists will be busing all throughout Germany performing Joseph Haydn’s masterpiece, Die Schoepfung (The Creation), which, as you clever people might have surmised, follows the Biblical story—with a little bit of John Milton’s Paradise Lost thrown in for good measure—of God’s creating light and darkness and heaven and earth and plants and animals and Adam and Eve and everything and everything.  Well, I say everything, but we all know that caffeine, carbs and chocolate are the Devil’s work, okaaaaaay!

Just sayin’

 

During the holidays of last year I had the pleasure of going up to Dallas and spending some good, quality time with my brother, sister-in-law, nephews and the whole Friess family clan, taking an excursion to the Fort Worth zoo in the process. I snapped the following picture and immediately sent it to Leah, my boss (and good friend) at the international program, joking that it should be used for the promotional poster for the Creation tour ‘cause it looks just so darned creationy.  *Shock and awe* they decided to go in a “different direction,” but I excuse it by telling myself that they couldn’t afford my royalty fees.  At any rate, here it is for posterity’s sake so that future generations can revel in it’s Instagramed glory.

Seriously, though… that zebra is rockin’ some creation realness

 

And for those of you inclined to hear a bit of the piece itself, here’s the prelude to the oratorio, entitled “The Representation of Chaos.”  This is, like, music history 101 right here for you peeps.

Also… puh-LEASE notice the zebras and rainbow at 4:40!

 

Artist: Eric Hutchinson / Album: Sounds Like This

King of the Dairy Queen

 

When spending the 4th of July at Josh and Leah's this past week I overheard him talking to his parents about their trip to Country Dairy, a family owned processing and bottling plant nearby that produces milk, cheese, ice cream and other dairy derivatives.  So naturally I piggy backed onto his family plans and invited myself along!

I shall call you "Bessie"

 

Before the official tour began it was required of us to attend Moo School, where we learned about this history of the farm, the dairy business and how their myriad of products are produced.

 

FYI: Milk comes from cows.  <----- VALEDICTORIAN OF MOO SCHOOL! (Other acceptable names could have been Halstein Moo-niversity, the Michigan Moo-ntesory School or Bovine Cow-llege.)  Myself with Josh's parents and some random family who totes failed Moo School.

 

In true farm fashion we were carted about in a trailer pulled by a tractor from location to location.  At least the breeze was nice!

 

Our first stop was the bottling plant, which also housed the cheese aging room.  Before we were allowed to enter, however, it was incumbent upon us to wear hair nets… I'm pretty sure I rocked the look as best I could.

 

Primpin' for some cheese with Josh!

 

 

Learning about homogenization and the bottling process from our guide, whose name I can't recall.  Let's name him "Pepper" Jack, shall we?  Side note: my one complaint about the tour was that he kept on pronouncing milk as "melk." WTF dude, this is your industry!

 

 

The aging room… with cheddar so sharp they might as well call it "Joseph's Wit"  (wah wah)

 

Country Dairy takes great pride in the fact that all of their products are completely bovine growth hormone free!

Puns are both my most and least favorite form of humor

 

Our next stop was to visit the baby cows… I mean, seriously!  Luckily, with the help of Josh, you get to see the same view from two different angles.

 

Yes, that is the most attractive photo I could take of the calf

 

And finally, we were able to visit the milking room itself in all it's mechanically induced glory!

 

Yeah, so let's be honest: I'm a little less interested in the process than the final product :-/

 

After the tour was completed we were given free cheese samples and a "bottom-less" cup of milk/chocolate milk.  (Not to mention that giant cup of the freshest of fresh ice-cream … sorry body!)

 

Artist: Cooder Graw / Album: Live at Billy Bob's Texas