It has been a very busy Holiday season here in "das Haus Lewis". My mother and step sister, Catherine, came to spend Christmas with us, and we have tried to pack in as many activities as possible over the last three weeks. They fly home tomorrow and I am very sad to see them go.
One of the places we took Mom and Cat was Neuschwanstein Castle. We had been there before, but since it is only about 45 minutes drive from Rettenberg and it is such an "American" thing to do while in Germany, we took them to see it. It was beautiful, of course. (There are pictures in a post from November if you want to check it out.) Mom and Catherine really enjoyed seeing it and learning about Ludwig II, King of Bavaria.
After touring the castle we decided to eat at one of the restaurants in Schwangau (the village at the bottom of the castle). We chose the restaurant because: 1. We didn't have to get back into the car and drive anywhere. It was about 4:00. We had not had lunch and the kids were starving! 2. They had Kraut on the menu, and Mom was dying to have some. 3. It was warm inside. (Did I mention that the temperatures have not gotten above freezing in quite a while?) and 4. They had plenty of room for our large (8 persons including the baby) group.
So we entered the restaurant and undressed everyone; meaning coats, hats, gloves and scarves, (This usually takes a few minutes). Tommy found a nice table at the front of the restaurant with a nice view, but we were promptly ushered to another dining room at the back of the restaurant, to which Tommy's comment was, "This must be where they put all of the loud, obnoxious Americans." He was so right!
The group sitting behind us had to be the most obnoxious bunch of people I have ever had the pleasure of sharing a meal with. Yes they were American, and no one would have guessed otherwise because they were shouting to one another from across the booth. One of the teenage children was stretched out on the bench sleeping, and the smaller children were crawling all over the table and booth. I got to hear all about what everyone got for Christmas, including the new computer and the desk that somebody's uncle is going to build for it because the one they have is too big and nice for the children to use. No, I was not eavesdropping. Remember I have four hungry, tired and cold kids of my own making alot of noise, but even the "Lewis Clan" could not drown out the conversation from this group. Really folks, have some respect. This is not a Waffle House on a Saturday night!
The waiter was very patient and we tried to not make too big of a mess. I may have been offended by being seated in the "back" dining room, but we received excellent service, the food was great and the coffee even better. I was glad when the loud group was finally finished and WE were the only obnoxious Americans left in the restaurant.
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