Day 7-Today was the day we went to Castle
Neuschwanstein. The fairy tale castle, Walt Disney fell in love with. We went with a tour
group, and it was like a 2 hour train rideto get to Fussen. We had 3 train cars booked exclusively to us,
but the train was so packed, that some American and Chinese tourists invaded
our cabin. Our tour guide Jeff, was very
knowledgeable about the story of Ludwig and other members of the royal family during
the train ride. Our cart was full of
Americans from California to Ohio to Texas.
We ate a shack his friend runs once we got to Füssen because it was very
fast service. It was storming outside,
and we were given the option to walk up the hill or take a bus to get to the
Marienbrucke, or bridge that overlooks Neuschwanstein. We decided to walk, and
our legs paid for it dearly. It was
raining hard at the time, the hill was a non-stop uphill on some sand/gravel/dirt
path, so the traction was decent. It was
also hot as hell wearing a jacket trying to hike up the hill. But once you got
to the Marienbrucke, the view was absolutely gorgeous.
That view made up for the pain the legs felt, but they became
rejuvenated after that view. We got another view of the other castle, Hohenswangau, where King Ludwig II spent his summers as a child. (NO THAT'S NOT A BOOGER, JUST A PERFECTLY PLACED RAINDROP! LIKE, COULD IT GET ANY MORE WELL PLACED? BAD TIMING ON THE PHOTO DAD)
We then
went to our guided tour of the Castle.
They’re very strict about when you can come in, and it really is every
10 minutes. It sucks that you can’t take any photographs in there, because some
rooms were insanely decorated. Ludwig II
only completed 1/3rd of the rooms before he died, and they stopped
building after that. My favorites were the throne room, and his bed room, which
were both beautifully designed. I bought a guide book just for interior photographs of the castle. A lot of the artwork is dedicated to Richard Wagner's operas, and his bedroom was full of Tristan and Isolde artwork. The tour
itself was pretty short, and only lasted
around 30 minutes. It’s funny,
that once you get down, you go through a gift shop, then the former kitchen, and
then another castle gift shop.
We then had to
race downhill to make sure we would reach our bus stop in time. The train ride back was pretty slow, and I
could eavesdrop on the conversation this kid was having with an old lady
because he was trying to speak German to her.
Once we got back into Munich, we ate at an Italian restaurant nearby our
hotel, which was a welcome relief to all the German food. We cruised the Statue of Bavaria again and the Theresienwiese (Oktoberfest area) because it was nighttime. Tons of kids also go long boarding down a hill there and carve and do that crazy power stop around the statue. I guess on Monday nights, it's skate night in Munich (roller blades that is), and thousands of Munich citizens go roller blading and meet behind the Statue. I had never seen so many roller blades my entire life. Apparently you can rent roller blades for free with a valid id, or you can make a 2 euro donation and get a free beer when you return your skates. I had the same awesome concoction of Paulaner Wheat beer topped
with Coca Cola at the hotel bar before the night ended
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