A Magical Day in the Land of Germanic Castles
So its been a week or so since weve posted. Sorry its taken so long. We have had a whirlwind couple of days and visits, so we will try to play catch-up in the next week. So much has happened its hard to know where to start. We left off as we were in Vienna, which was awsome. Our next stop was back to Germany, to a little town called Fussen. We chose this destination because of the two wonderful castles located in the nearby town of Schwangau.
Southern Germany, close to the Alps, is a beautiful alpine place, with lots of hills, farms, lakes, wildflowers, and most of all, beer and castles. As luck would have it, the rail lines on the way to town were being worked on. So after being dropped off an hour south of Munich, we loaded up onto a bus. At first we thought this was bad, since the bus was crowded and slower than a train. However, it turned out ot be a blessing in disguise, since we got a "local" sightseeing trip through the surrounding countryside. We took a bunch of pictures, some of which turned out nicely and are posted below.
valley floor below.
We took yet another bus from the town of Fussen up to the castle site. We were crunched for time, so we couldnt make it to our hostel to drop our bags off before needing to pick up our reserved castle tickets. So, we hopped on the bus to the castles, backpacks and all. Thankfully, a nice guy at the ticket counter allowed us to leave our bags with him for the day, free of charge - score!
After dropping the bags off, we had a traditional german lunch of sausage and french fries. While sitting on the steps of a small fountain, we ate lunch and peered up at the castles, which were beckoning to be explored.
Eric at the fountain.
Let me explain a bit to clarify what we were doing in Fussen. King Ludwig II of Bavaria was a great lover of castles and romantic tales. He built a number of expensive palaces and castles throughout the land of bavaria. Perhaps his greatest was Neuschwanstein, which is situated across from his fathers castle, Hohenschwangau, where the small Ludwig grew up. We went to Fussen with the goal of visitng these two castles. Unfortunatly, pictures are not allowed inside the castle, so you will have to use google images, wikipedia, or you imagination to see the inside. I can tell you that they were each wonderful and romantic. We even took a horse-drawn carrige up to Neuschwanstein, whi ch is situated on the side of a mountain!
Laura in front of Neuschwanstein Castle.
Eric and Laura in front of Hohenschwangau Castle.
Laura and the horse.
Laura and Eric in front of the Neuschwanstein Castle wall. Our Joby tripod rocks!
Laura spotting a bridge and waterfall from the courtyard of Neuschwanstein Castle.
The interiors of both castles were decorated with germanic romantic stories, with great artistry and clarity. The paintings were very beautiful, and piqued the curiosity of both of us. So, our souvenier for the day was a book which recounted the stories depicted on the castle walls, which is the perfect reading material for a honeymoon.
Once we left our final castle tour for the day, we suprisingly opened the exit door and found a huge downpour ongoing outside. I guess thats why so many other tourists were crammed inside the gift shop! It seems springtime Germany was showing us all of her sides. However, we were totally prepared for the situation with our supercool REI raincoats. We were high and dry while so many others were stranded in the castle walls. We walked down the path in the rain, whiole singing some beatles songs so loud and in key that they echoed through the mountains. Once reaching the bottom, we boared a nearly empty bus back to Fussen to go to our hotel.
After a long day of travelling and touring castles, we retired back to our hotel. That night we stayed in a locally run place, where we got a private room with a view. We could actually see the castle from our window, which was amazing. After checking in, we went out for chinese food, and got what Laura calls, "the best chinese food she has ever had." It was huge portions and quite tasty, both perfect after a long day. The prices were excellent as well. We then retired for some excellent sleep.
The view of Neuschwanstein from our hotel room.
Laura eating oodles of noodles
T-shirts for sale in Fussen. Apparently both Che and Obama are very popular political figures in Germany.
Comments
by the way, I finally caught up with all your blogs! They're all absolutely amazing! You guys must be having loads of fun. It was a really great idea as a honeymoon trip. I give you props! haha. I got your postcard! I like the stamp. haha. I hope to talk to you later! Much love, Ashley