Anyway, the plan was to get to ski lodge near Neuschwanstein. We would then bike for a couple of miles to Swan Lake and back. There would be options to paraglide and ride an alpine slide. Following that, there would be a hike through a gorge to the castle and a tour of the castle. I did not get to do all of this.
Scaffolding on the castle.
Ezgi preparing for the bike ride. We each had purchased a poncho due to the torrential downpour. When we started the tour, it was raining pretty hard. The showers were intermittent for much of the morning.
Jen is ready to start.
Jen had an epic helmet. I told her she belonged in the Sons of Anarchy.
Phil is focused on the trials ahead.
The bike ride was pretty fun, but strenuous. I rode a bike for the first time in more than 10 years on the previous bike tour. So, I'm still a bit rusty. You could see the castle from the bike path we took.
Swan Lake was beautiful. Jen and I wanted to dip into the lake. It's not often you get the chance to wade into an alpine lake, you know?
Jen and I wading in Swan Lake. It was not nearly as cold as I expected; the water was quite comfortable, really.
Phil, Ezgi, Jen and I.
The wolf messiah is not welcome at Swan Lake.
Phil laughing.
Jen is an epic adventurer.
Ezgi amused by the wolf sign.
Jen and Ezgi.
We eventually biked back to the lodge, and had lunch. After lunch, we headed to the alpine slide. Phil, Ezgi, and I wanted to ride it; Jen had already been on one in Salzburg, so she offered to stay at the bottom and take photographs.
Phil ascending the alpine slide.
Ezgi on the alpine slide.
Me on the alpine slide.
Getting ready to go down the slide. I was initially confused. While a chain pulls you to the top, unlike a roller coaster, it doesn't push you out. I thought it was because I was holding the brake, but when I released that, nothing happened. I eventually had to scoot forward a bit to get the slide started.
Phil coming down the slide. I like this picture just because Phil was probably going quickly at this point, yet it looks like he had stopped for a chat with this random person (or that he is surprised to see them).
Ezgi and I coming down the slide.
Wooooosh!
After successfully surviving the alpine slide, we headed back inside. Our guide started up his "close magic" show. His show consisted of a set of card tricks.
Magic show by our awesome guide, Brad (of Mike's Bike Tours).
The tricks were pretty impressive, too. I have no idea how he could've done some of them, because they required crowd interaction / input.
Jen and I were each astounded and delighted.
We hopped back onto the bus. At this point, we were given two options: a hike up a gorge to the castle, or catching a bus up to the castle courtyard. My friends and I all chose the former. The bus let us off at the road where we would start our hike, and the group set off.
The closest I was to get to the castle.
Shortly after that picture was taken, the bug-ear hit.
So. We were walking along a dirt path. It was slightly muddy from the rain that morning, but otherwise the trek was going fine. All of a sudden, I felt something in my right ear. I originally thought it was an insect, so I sorta brushed at the ear. The sensation persisted. After a few seconds, it stopped... only to start again ten seconds later. It felt as if something was rubbing inside my ear. I asked Jen if she could see anything. She said she didn't see anything. The sensation continued to come back at least once a minute. There was no pain, but I had become worried.
The column had gotten further ahead while my friends and I had stopped. I ran to the front of our tour, told one of our guides that I think I had something in my ear, and asked her where to find medical assistance. I probably sounded manic, as I was out of breath from my run, and, honestly, it felt like something was frantically buzzing in my ear every thirty seconds. I was somewhat distracted, and probably not very coherent. She directed me back to the road and the visitor center. So, I bid my friends farewell and headed back, my ear continuing to buzz all the way there.
At the visitor center, I learned that there was no medical staff, and was directed to take a taxi to the the hospital in Fusen, the nearest town. The hospital was nearly empty. The receptionist spoke English. She directed me to "emergency." I followed her instructions, took some stairs down a floor, and came to an intersection of deserted hallways (none of which were labeled emergency). I saw a woman pushing a cart towards the intersection. I asked her where emergency was. She led me down a half-lit hall where two men and a woman were casually strolling in our direction. This is not how I imagined an emergency ward to look.
The woman with the cart told the trio that I spoke English. They asked me what was wrong. I described to them, as best I could, what I was feeling. The woman in the group led me into an examination room (lit only by light from the windows). I described the sensation to one of the doctors.
I think the doctor thought that I meant a constant ringing sound, because I said "buzzing." He told me that it could last a few minutes, or the rest of my life. Then he mentioned something about how these kinds of problems can be treated with intravenous drugs. I was somewhat shocked; I thought there was something in my ears. I honestly just wanted him to shine a light in there and look around.
The woman then explained how it was saturday, and there weren't any specialists working. She wrote down a phone number for me, told me to call, and ask for the location of the nearest ear, throat, and nose doctor who was working (i'm guessing it was some sort of rotation for "on-call" doctors in the region). I called, listened to a recorded message in german for a minute, and told the woman "It's all in German." I probably looked so miserable that took pity on me and offered to call for me. So, that was helpful. She found out that the nearest specialist was 40km away (now, I'm used to Ohio distances. Less than 30 miles away is not close, but it isn't really that far. Apparently, the German doctor and nurse thought the idea of taking a taxi for this distance seemed crazy. Perhaps it would have been prohibitively expensive) (just to remind you, this entire time, it still felt like something was moving in my ear every minute or two).
Anyway, at this point, the German doctor finally chose to look in my ears. He pulled a light over, and looked in both ears. He said he didn't see anything, maybe some random detritus. No insect, though, like it felt. I told them that I was staying in Munich, so he wrote down the name of a hospital in Munich and told me to go there. I thanked him and the woman, and they left the room. I called after the woman, and asked how much I owed, if I needed to pay anything. She smiled, shook her head, and wished me luck.
So, that was cool. I can't help but imagine that, in the US, I would've had to fill out forms in triplicate, and that it would have cost a couple hundred dollars for the brief visit.
I made my way to the train station in town. Several times along the way, I thought "you know, maybe I should just head back to Neuschwanstein and try to reconnect with my group." Inevitably, each time I had that thought, the moving sensation would start up again. So, I caught a train back to Munich by myself. Halfway back to Munich, the sensation stopped. Argh. I chose not to bother with going to the emergency room, since I wouldn't have gone to emergency in the US with how I was feeling at that moment.
I met Jen, Ezgi, Phil, and another guy from class for dinner when they got back (about an hour and a half after I did. I really should've just stayed with them). We joked about bug-ear, among other things. We said they should have signage up (similar to the "no dogs in the water" sign, above), of a man holding his ears to prevent bugs from getting in. Also, in addition to ponchos, the tour group should sell ear-protection to people.
My ear has felt fine the past couple of days. I mean, it feels like there is some pressure there, and in the morning I feel a... cracking when I move my jaw. However, this fades as the day goes on. So, my thoughts, now: I doubt it was an insect of some sort (though that's what it felt like). I wonder if the pressure of being in the mountains affected caused it. Also, I have been having sinus issues the past week. I wonder if that's connected somehow. It's hardly an emergency - I'll see how it feels over the next couple of days. Likely, I'll just wait until I return to the states to get it checked out.
Since then, I've been describing bug-ear as a condition that is endemic to southern bavaria and western austria. I told one of the new students yesterday that he needed to pick up ear muffs if he was planning to go into the mountains. Bug-ear only affects a very small number of the population, usually tourists, but you don't want to have it ruin your vacation. An ounce of protection is worth a pound of cure.
Hmm. I don't want to end this entry on an ominous note. Aside from yesterday, everything has been great here. Finals went alright. I think I passed both of them, so that's cool. The people remain awesome, and we're getting a new group coming in for the next session of classes. I don't know yet what I'm doing next weekend, but Ihave plans to go to Belgium at the end of the month.
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