Camels?

When I visited Abu Dhabi in the UAE for a weekend in high school, I was on the look out for camels and the possible opportunity to ride a camel.  Unfortunately, I never got closer than thirty feet to a camel while in the UAE and even then, I was only vaguely able to see the camel because it was almost pitch black in the desert that night.

But on Friday, I not only saw camels (several of them!), but I also got to ride one.  And of all places in the world, this happened in Germany.  That's right, on Friday afternoon after lunch, I headed out with my lab to the foot of the Alps where someone has been running a camel-riding business for the last twenty years.  The idea came about as a Christmas present for my PI and his family, and it was a huge hit with him and his kids!

There weren't enough camels for everyone, but we took turns riding the camels on the two hour excursion through the forests in the Alps.  While we weren't riding camels, there were plenty of llamas and mules to lead through the trails as well.  By the end of the day, we were all soaked from the rain and smelly from the animals, but we had one more thing we could cross off our bucket lists.

I also got to know Munich a little bit better by finally taking a walking tour of the city on Saturday.  This was the same free tour that Melanie took while in Munich, and she was right!  The tour was fantastic.  I learned so much about the history of Munich, the traditions that are still alive, and the cute quirks of this city.  I also met some other tourists from Australia and New Zealand (and some students from Marburg!!) and we spent the rest of the day exploring more of Munich.  We went to Tollwood, one of Munich's largest summer music festivals, where we sat and enjoyed the music of some local bands.

I can't stay away from the gorgeous countryside surrounding Munich for too long, so on Sunday, I went to the Chiemsee, the largest lake in Bavaria.  On the biggest island on this lake, the mad King Ludwig II built a fabulous palace modeling the Palace of Versailles (he also built the neuschwanstein, the Cinderella castle).  I've never seen so much gold and such extravagance.  Too bad he didn't finish building the palace because he ran out of money (although that's probably a good thing).

Water, mountains, and forests--what more could you ask for?  Too bad the weather wasn't very nice that day.

Outside the palace the mad king built.  It's much smaller than the real Palace of Versailles since he ran out of money.

Spectacular fountains :)

Anyway, I'm headed off to Heidelberg tomorrow for a DAAD-RISE conference.  It should be interesting and exciting to hear about all the other research going on in Germany and the employment and academic degree opportunities in Germany.