Chillax @ Schwangau (Part 1) - Die Kirchen

Note: I apologize ahead for this Great wall of Yak yak.

Duckie boo sits at the window sill to Cafe Gerlinde

I thought I'd better complete writing up the German trip blog entries before my memory loss gains *haha sorry for the pun* on me. Lack of sleep coupled with stress have made me quite dumb dumb. Learning German has become an exponential curve- like climb. As it is, memory loss has claimed the Vietnam, some of the Taiwan, all of the Japanese, and most of the South Korean trips before I can commit them to word. So I will be carrying out a one-time exercise to write up everything and schedule the posts.

Pension Gerlinde specializing in afternoon cakes!

As I am typing this I am starting to forget what was the name of the fantastic place we stayed at with Onkel und Tante H (just sounds friendlier than saying Herr and Frau, isn't it? Even though I haven't asked them whether I can greet them in such close affection *hehe*. H, if you are reading this, is it ok? Our Germany trip was definitely made 10X more awesome while we were travelling with you, that B1 and I didn't even bicker once).... Ah yes, Gerlinde.

We stayed at Pension Gerlinde with Onkel und Tante H, who love the place so much that they stayed there 21 times in the 14 years that they have visited Schwangau. After staying there, I must say I love it just as much. Ok I love the entire Schwangau area (not including nearby Füssen which is overrun with tourists).  I also think that of the 14 days we spent in Germany, the 5 days we spent in Schwangau was the best. I wish I can go there again. It was incredibly restful and idyllic (not including the crazy day we decided to cycle around Forggensee, it was nearly as bad as cycling to Desaru, except that we had decent bikes in Germany).

Swans swimming at Lake Forggensee

The awesome views, the FOOD (it needs another post by itself), the duckies and swans (schwangau means swan country in German but I saw more ducks while I was there), Forggensee, Tegelsberg and the nearby attractions like Wieskirche. I didn't even mind that there was a cemetery so close by. Normally I would be creeped out but German cemeteries are pretty and restful, unlike the others I have seen (e.g. Japanese, Singapore), which are rather scary. I didn't understand Anne of Green Gables' fascination with cemeteries until I saw a German one. The one in Salzburg was scary though...ok sorry for being so morbid.  Anyway the one near Gerlinde, Pfarramt Waltenhofen, has a war memorial attached to the cemetery which we saw when cycling past. I checked it out before leaving Schwangau, but am not uploading the photo out of respect for the dead. 

Pfarramt Waltenhofen

Schwangau has another pretty church in the middle of nowhere, the Baroque Church of Saint Coloman. It looked quite stark and lonely in the middle of the fields against a mountainous backdrop. Damnit, I want to live in Schwangau. It was there and then I decided that if I could retire there, I would die very happily. Well, until Onkel H told me that houses there are very expensive. Just imagine the SGD- EURO exchange rate...

Baroque Kirche of Saint Coloman