The Adventurous Ramblings of a Wanderer

Two years ago, my family and I decided to try out something different for our summer holiday. Instead of sun, sea and tourist attractions, we wanted to test a new idea - road tripping across Europe. We decided to go from our home in Germany, and picked various places that we wanted to go to and see how many we could fit into a two week period. We visited many countries - Bavaria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria and Italy. One of the more interesting moments occurred in Bavaria.

Once we had arrived in Hohenschwangau in Bavaria, we dropped off our bags at a youth hostel and set off to explore. My dad and I were desperate to see Neuschwanstein Castle after a friend of his had told us that part of the movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was filmed there. The picturesque and stereotypical Bavarian town of Hohenschwangau was crowded with tourists and horse drawn carriages, and the Castle was no exception. We took a guided tour around the Castle and Marienbrucke. Both of which were beautiful and interesting; I was happy to discover that people in Kind Ludwig's day were even shorter than me! However, there were more interesting things to come.

Whilst I was waiting for my mum and dad, I noticed that the crowds had parted around something. I ran to check it out, and discovered that they were watching a one man circus show. This man was incredibly talented, for not only was he juggling many balls and skittles as well as fire-breathing, but he was translating what he was doing into five different languages 1 English, German, French, Spanish, and Romanian! He also invited some small children in the crowd to throw balls for him to juggle, instructing them in their native language and translating in the others, which was very sweet.

After he had finished he show and began to pack up, I approached the man and congratulated him on his performance and his skills, and asked what he was doing in Hohenschwangau. He told me that he and his girlfriend were travelling with a circus from America, and that whilst she did shows he would perform at tourist attractions to keep himself occupied and earn some more cash. After we chatted about each of our travels, he had to leave to meet his girlfriend. We shook hands and said our goodbyes, and I went to meet my parents feeling excited that I'd met such an interesting person.