We Made it to Austria!

Today was another travel day for us.  After a nice breakfast in Rothenburg, we started off at our usual 8:15ish to get on the bus and get on our way.  Onkther than the usual rest stops we take every two hours or so, our first activity was a visit to the Dachau Concentration Camp.  What a sobering experience. Seeing the pictures and artifacts that were evidence of the atrocities of extremism really gave me pause.  When I was reading the itinerary for this trip I didn't have a lot of interest in this particular activity; it didn't affect me, why should I care?  As a matter of fact, I wasn't even born yet.  But the visit to the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam a few days
ago really opened my mind to experiencing things
outside my comfort zone (other than food!)  Viewing
the artifacts and photographs of that horrible place
really drove home again how dangerous extremism
really is.  I think some of the a-holes spouting off on
TV and radio, trying to work people into a frenzy
could really do with a dose of this kind of eye-
opening.  I don't know if it would help, but it sure
couldn't hurt!

Ok, I'm getting off the soapbox now.  Our guide
Stephanie really shone today...one of our activities
for tomorrow was to ride a luge down a part of the
mountain, but if there's even a sprinkle of rain, it gets shut down, and the weather has been very wet and cold for this region at this time of year.  She moved us up a day to avoid that, and did I ever have fun!  If you're not familiar with luge, think Olympic bobsledding, then think of the one-man sleds that they ride down the same course laying on their backs.  Now picture a course made out of stainless steel with the same banking in the turns and no steering, only brakes, only you ride sitting up.Talk about fun!  I could have ridden that thing all day!  I wiped out on the first run when I came off the seat a little bit and couldn't get situated for the next turn, but
I wasn't hurt at all, got back on and finished the run.
I then immediately got back in line for another ride,
and by the fourth time down, successfully completed
the run without touching the brake at all.  I would
have gone again, but the ride tickets were all used up.  And no, I wasn't the only adrenaline junkie...there were several of us all geeked up and ready to keep riding!

Following that adventure, we drove another half hour or so and checked into our hotel for the night.   It's a really nice place and they served us a great dinner.  If you can't tell by the pictures, our group is really starting to come together.  Everybody seems to be having as good a time as I am, and we all tend to be looking out for one another.  A very nice group of people to travel with...I think I hit jackpot on this escapade!

Tomorrow is castle day.  We go to see 2 of Ludwig's castles, one of which is the inspiration for the Disney castle.  I have been looking forward to getting shots of these castles since the planning stages, so I hope the weather cooperates.  That's all for now.  See ya later friends!

PS.  I just previewed this post and have no idea why it's formatting the way it is, but I've been at this stupid thing for an hour or more.  The heck with it, I'm posting it the way it is now...sorry about that folks.