TRAVELING TO FUSSEN.......

Sunday, October 1st, 2000 Travel Day to Fussen

Woke up at 5 am and went back to sleep until 7. Up and packed, we had breakfast about 7:30 am. Paid the bill and got on the road by 8:15 am. Drove past the church in Bingen as it was too early for their 9:30 Mass. Raining steady all morning. As we drive we’re listening to an American Radio Station.98.70 FM…a broadcast from an American Air Base somewhere in Europe. It goes in and out!

Sun is trying to peak out of the dark clouds. About 10 am we stopped in a town called Pforzheim for Mass. The town is all very new which indicates that it was probably bombed rather drastically during WW II. Near Stuttgart so is probably highly industrialized. It took us a few minutes to find the church; first one we went to was Evangelical! But made the Roman Catholic Church in plenty of time. They were having a children’s Mass and also a celebration of the Harvest. Children were putting on a play when we arrived. As the mass continued we had still not done the Creed. But, due to the play, no sermon! Very modern church. Back on the road about 11:30 am. Lunch on the road with our sandwiches made at breakfast saved us some time. We’ve started adding carrots to our sandwiches…makes them nice and crunchy. The German breakfast is a full meal with meats and vegetables along with the normal breakfast items.

Arrived in Fussen at 2:30 pm after nearly a half-hour traffic jam on a country road caused by an accident. We were nearly there when it happened. Weather has been fairly good most of the afternoon, but it started to rain just as we were checking into the hotel.

We spent several hours resting from the trip and enjoying a TV in the room. Our beds are so beautifully made it's a shame to take them apart...but we did! About 5:30 pm we walked two miles each way to a McDonalds for Martha’s weekly fix of a Big Mac and Strawberry Shake! It was only raining lightly so the walk was good for us! Back at the hotel we wrote postcards, yes even Jim wrote three of them!

Now it’s early evening. We’re going to have a busy schedule during our stay in Fussen as we’ve got lots to see in Bavaria over the next three days. We have tickets to attend the new musical, “Ludwig II”, being performed at their new theater on Lake Forgensee with a view of Neuschwanstein Castle. This is the first year this new musical has ever been performed. It opened in March of 2000. It’s the thing to do other than the Passion Play in Oberammergau, which we’re going to try for but it’s been sold out for years as it is only performed every ten years. Will try from returned tickets tomorrow morning!