Ok, last time I updated folks, I was waiting for a train to Salzburg. That all went well. I met Rick at a hostel there and we went to the big fortress on the hill.
Here are a few photos from within.
And views looking out FROM the castle.
We went to the chapel in the cliff side and Sound of Music Cemetery.
And this sign just calling out for someone to do it anyway.
The hostel shows The Sound of Music every night, so we watched and sang along, while drinking free shots of some concoction they were handing out.
From Salzburg, Rick wanted to keep biking, so he headed off in the direction of Munich, while I took a train to Munich, then another train to a town outside of Munich called Erding, home of Therme Erding, a big water park and spa.
They were giving out facial treatments.
Oh, and I got a massage. I don’t know if it’s Germany or that the massage lady was from Thailand, but it was a different experience. In the US, the masseuse will typically explain to take off your clothes, get under the sheet face down (or up), and then they duck out of the room while you prepare. In this case she started by saying, “Take off your clothes” and I said “Yes.” And waited for further instructions. And she repeated, “Take off your clothes.” And again, I said “Yes…” And one more time she said, “Take off your clothes.” And I realized she meant right then and there! I said “Wow! That’s not how we do it in the US” and I proceeded to strip off my bathing suit, and she told me to lie face down. Then she put a towel over my lower half and then pulled it down, so it just covered my legs. I don’t know, to keep me warm??? So, it was different!
So anyway, on Thursday I got here to Therme Erding, the largest thermal bath complex in Europe. I played while Rick biked. Friday, Rick arrived in Therme Erding around noon, dropped his bike and gear off with me and took the train into Munich to begin the search for bike boxes to pack the bikes for the trip home. He spent all day and went to 13 bike shops and by the end of the day felt that there were several good options, so he came back to Erding and we played at the water park until about 9:30 pm. And got up this morning and played at the water park all day.
Some highlights included one where you enter a metal tube sitting on a rubber tube with water shooting you along, then you DROP into a huge half cone and shoot up one side, down the up the other, back and forth as you’re being funneled toward the next segment of metal tube. My first time doing this, I went back and forth and wound up aimed backward and went down the rest of the ride not knowing what was coming next! Here is a picture of this ride from the internet.
There was a similar water slide I only did once. In this one, you don’t ride a rubber tube; you just lie on your back and slide. This one spits you into a downward oriented funnel and you spiral down, like being flushed down a toilet. I asked Rick (who had tried it once) whether he thought I might wind up heading down this one backwards. He didn’t think so. But when I spiraled into the middle, I hit it butt first, like a breach birth! Fortunately, I wriggled myself around and managed to go into hole feet first. Here is an internet picture. (They call it the Space Bowl, not the toilet bowl.) The opening where I breached is on the other side of the knob in the middle.
There was also a really fun ride that was set up like a race, with 6 lanes. Each person got a mat, like a thick yoga mat with handles on it. You lie on the mat, head forward, gripping the handles, and off you go, first spiraling, then going down the straightaway, but with drops as you go. I think I caught some air during that ride!
Oh, and there was one with virtual reality headsets. I went down this one a couple times without the VR headset to get a feel for the course, which was a twisty metal tube. Then I tried the VR. You could pick different scenarios: a forest theme, a space theme, or a sky theme. My favorite was the space theme. And you just see planets and stuff and you’re flying between them while in reality you’re going down this water slide. It was pretty crazy. And again, one time I managed part way down to get turned around backwards! Although I generally got better at orienting myself as the day went on.
So tomorrow, Sunday, we’ll take the bikes with us on the train back to Munich. We’ll do sightseeing and stay in a hostel. On Monday, we get boxes and pack up the bikes. Tuesday is hopefully more sightseeing, but if we have any glitches in finding boxes, we have Tuesday to work that out. Our flight home is Wednesday morning.