August 24

After checking out of the hotel and loading our junk on the bus, we walked the whole group down to the Rothernburg Criminal Museum. It’s a pretty intense place, chock full of devices of torture, shaming, and execution. Kind of hard on the freshly pastry/meat/cheese laden stomach. I tried out real life Japanese for the first time. A bunch of Japanese tourists were crowded around a sign that I wanted to read, so I said “Excuse me” in Japanese. Amazing, huh? That was the extent of our conversation.

"Come and get your lollipops! All free today!"

"But I don't wanna go in the iron maiden."

Next we drove on to Neuschwanstein Castle, Mad King Ludwig’s craziest creation and the model for the Disney castle. Don’t be deceived – this castle was built in the late 19th century! This was a horrible stop, really, because we were running late and the students were not moving.

Neuschwanstein

After finally herding everyone back onto the bus, we drove another hour and a half or so to Ettal to the Kloster Ettal, a Benedictine monastery. The monastery itself is a beautiful building, in its own very Baroque way, as is the church. Dr. Rust and Erik went off on a small adventure to have Erik’s St. Benedict medal blessed while we were there. Erik was able to practice his German both with the priest and later with the cashier at the attached shop where Erik bought a variety pack of the monastery’s beer.

Kloster Ettal

Fr. Timothy's idea of a confessional. (Ha)

After the monastery, we made our way into Austria to stay for the night at a ski resort hotel in St. Anton. The hotel was amazing and 4 stars, but the rooms were reasonably priced since it’s the off-season. Séverine and Dr. Rust had dinner with us in the hotel restaurant. Erik made the best choice – Variations on Alpine Pork. Yum.

The view from our hotel window in St. Anton.