The Castles of Bavaria

What a Fun Day!!

We got up at 6:00am to have an early breakfast, and to fight the commuter traffic in Munich to get to Neuschwanstein Castle by 9:45am to check in for our tour. Charlene had purchased combo reservations back home for us to see this Castle, as well as the Hohenschwangau Palace. The location is about 1 hour 45 minutes southwest of our hotel in Munich, and the the rain was pretty heavy this morning. Our trusty GPS got us there without a hitch (and we had several road changes on the way - I would have been lost with a traditional map). Took lots of pictures on the way down there as the countryside was absolutely beautiful - lots of farmland with backdrops of dramatic mountains (still containing some snow). Got stuck behind a couple tour buses on the smaller roads, and we quickly realized this was probably going to be a major tourist trap. Filled up with diesel on the way ($92 Euro - ouch!), and got to the parking lot at the site about 5 minutes late. Charlene ran to get our confirmed tickets, and we tracked down the only Water Closet (that's the bathroom) in the area. This was by far the worst public toilet we'd seen this far, and they wanted $0.30 euro to use it (and it had to be in dimes). The change machine was busted, and it was a hassle to get change from a local vendor. We ended up getting Charlene and the kids into the bathroom - I found accomodations later

We headed up to Hohenschwangau Palace first. A short walk of about 1km up the hill. Tours are fun every 5 minutes or so in different languages. Our tour guide was very good, he described the Palace in great detail, and kept our group moving well. We were allowed to take pictures outside the Palace, but the inside was off limits. The tour lasted about an hour, and was very interesting.

We completed the tour, then headed back down the hill to the start our climb up the next hill to Neuschwanstein Castle. Rhiannon wanted to take the shuttle tram, but we ended up taking the 1 mile hike up the hill. It took about 30 minutes (with a little Pretzel break near the top), and we again waited about 30 minutes for our tour group to get called. There are probably 40 people run through this Castle every 5 minutes (probably from start to finish). This was a VERY popular site to visit, and the we could see why. The views are absolutely mystical, and the history of these buildings are simply amazing. Both of these sites share common foundations with Knights Castles dating back to the 10th Century, and most of the current airwork and furnishings are the original pieces (dating back to the early 1800's). The Neuschwanstein tour lasted about 90 minutes, and was very interesting - we all highly recommend it...

After the tour, we headed back down the hill to the parking lot. We grabbed a quick snack before heading out - it was about 2:30. On the way out, we did a little 4 wheeling to find the back entrance into Tegelberg, which looks to be a small ski resort during the winter, but has a gondolla that can be taken to the top of the mountain. We skipped the gondolla (was a little pricey at $15 euro each), but instead Tyler and I tried this little luge course that was pretty cool. Took a bunch more pictures, then hit the road back to Munich.

Got back to Munich about 5:00 (much lighter traffic coming back), and decided to rest a bit. Headed out to dinner after 6:00, and had a nice meal down the street. Got back to the hotel to watch more soccer (Russia vs. Sweden). Oh, by the way, Italy beat France last night, so hopefully the town mood will be good when we get to Florence.

Tomorrow it's off to see Munich on foot and by Metro (we turn in the S-Max in the morning - ).

More to come....

Doug

---

---