I come from the land of the ice and snow...

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I could not escape singing this Led Zeppelin song when traveling up the hill to Neuschwanstein castle. If you look at the pictures, it will be easy to see why. I truly found myself in a winter wonderland in the Bavarian alps and the continual repetition of the Zeppelin song in my head reflected the fantastic mood I was in. On my way up, I passed by scenes of families riding in horse carriages and children making snowballs, some left as messages to their father as he was lagging behind them. On its own, the newly fallen snow was beautiful...then I reached the castle.

What makes Neuschwanstein so famous is that the Sleeping Beauty castle in Walt Disney World is based off of the design. I can certainly see why they used it as an example, since as I crested the hill and was finally able to see the castle amongst the snow and mist I felt as though I was in a fairy tale world. I also have to say that even though Neuschwanstein didn't have the Space Mountain roller coaster, it trumped any Disney World experience. Amongst the other awed visitors, I grabbed a mug of glühwein (delicious spiced wine) and soaked in the atmosphere for the twenty to thirty minutes I had before my tour of the castle.

Although the tour was ridiculously overpriced at eight euro for a twenty minute tour, with no photographs, I did learn a bit more about the castle's construction (even though I am sure I could have easily found it out on the internet) and got to see how astoundingly ornate the interior was. The man behind the castle was King Ludwig II, also known as The Mad King. If not mad, Ludwig was certainly eccentric, for example he was obsessed with swans and fairy tales... both of which inspired the construction of Neuschwanstein. There is an entire room dedicated to swans, with over 60 images of the bird and even a swan pond (no, it was not open for the winter...). The woodwork in the bedroom was so intricate that it took fourteen woodworkers four and a half years to complete it and Ludwig even had a fake cave constructed through a secret passageway. What I thought was the best addition, was that Ludwig had a washbasin in his bedroom which had water piped directly from the mountain streams above. Unfortunately, King Ludwig II was never able to see his castle completed, due to his being found drowned in a nearby lake...in waist deep water (and there are rumors that years later an autopsy found bullet holes in his back). Regardless of the creepy and/or weird circumstances of his death, it also meant that all the rooms on the third floor were never completed.

After my brief foray into the interior, and partially due to my feeling of paying too much for the tour, I decided that regardless of the big, red, well-marked signs that explained that the road to the bridge was closed, I would hop the fence to find the “best” view of the castle. Having seen many people on the bridge, I figured that it would be safe. Although I, of course, had to chuckle to myself thinking that my mother would have reminded me of the cliché, “If everyone else is jumping off a bridge, would you do it to?” This was especially funny to me considering that at that time, I was indeed heading towards a bridge. Even though the path only brought me a little higher in elevation, the snow seemed as though it was much more encompassing. My mood, perhaps a little due to a mischievous feeling, was hitting its peak, and then I turned the corner to see the bridge covered in fog, with no view of the castle. I laughed to myself, and took the requisite pictures, with help from others on the bridge and plodded back down the path.

The next day, I moved farther into the heart of the alps, this time on the Austrian side, to Innsbruck. When taking the bus through town from the train station, I saw a sight that had been avoiding me for weeks, an open Christmas market! As I had been traveling in Vienna, Salzburg, and Munich, each city was setting up for their Christmas market which would “conveniently” be only a few days away every time. I was so pumped to see that I would actually be able to enjoy the splendors of a Christmas market. Essentially, Christmas markets are what they sound like, lots of stalls set up in the city center selling a variety of crafts and foods. Most tend to go beyond this to create more of a celebration, for example, in Innsbruck they had a merry-go-round, a marionette theater for kids, a petting zoo area, a fire for roasting marshmallows, and musicians performing (If you look in the links to my videos, you can see the marionette theater as well as the musicians). This creates a great community atmosphere, where people of all ages come down to enjoy various aspects of the market. I went down for some glühwein, food, and wandering through the stalls. The food they had was traditional Tyrolian (that region of Austria), which included the good ol' wursts (sausages), nudeln (noodle dishes), shnitzels, and even chestnuts roasting on an open fire (yes, I had to phrase it that way). My choice for the night was a shnitzel burger, but I came back the next day and had some really delicious noodles.

Before my delicious noodle experience on the following day, I was adamant to get up into the higher elevations for some sightseeing and hiking. Sadly, it seemed as though I came at the exact wrong time for hiking in Innsbruck. The regular hiking trails had closed at the end of October, and the special winter hiking on the rim above Innsbruck didn't start for another seven days. My options were severely limited so much so that the guy working at the tourist office told me I had really only one option: to go up to the Stubaier Glacier where everyone goes for skiing. Of course, he informed me that I could easily incorporate renting skiing or snowboarding equipment and I instantly regretted the fact that as an illustrious member of the great state of New Hampshire, I had never learned to ski... I held this feeling on the one and a half hour bus ride to the glacier when it seemed as though endless skiers and snowboarders continually piled on to the vehicle.

I was listening to my iPod on shuffle when out of the thousands of songs I own, the Audioslave song “Be Yourself” came on. I figured, Chris Cornell, you are correct, I will just be that random kid traveling up and down the ski lifts without any gear... and so I was. As you can see in the pictures, being up two to three thousand feet above sea level in the alps is pretty gorgeous, even if the distance you can see is limited by clouds. I would highly recommend checking out the videos I posted, since they do a much better job of showing you the scale of the mountains. I really enjoyed walking around up in the mountains, but one of the coolest spots, I actually found right near the parking lot, where you had to walk through some deep snow to get to a bridge in front of a glacial waterfall. I enjoyed the spot so much, that even with the cold, I took out the “lunch” (of an apple and some peanuts) that I had brought with me and had a little picnic right on the bridge.

The last thing I had on my to do list was to get pictures from the top of the city tower back in Innsbruck. Knowing the hours they were open, I had to go immediately from the bus stop to the tower, which actually worked perfectly since it was just turning to dusk and the lights of the Christmas market were coming on. The view was so nice that night, that I decided to return the next morning (when it was a clearer view of the mountains) on my way to the train station. It was at this time, that I was finally able to take in the whole panorama of Innsbruck, without the thick clouds filling in the valley.

Videos:
Neuschwanstein Castle:

Bus from Fussen to Reutte:

Innsbruck Christmas Market:

Marionette Show:

Stubaier Glacier:

Stubaier Glacier – Gamsgarten Station:

Glacial Waterfall:

Innsbruck – View from the City Tower:

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Photos

View of the Valley
You can see the bridge in the distance

Comments

[anonymous]

My grandchildren, Rachel and Ben Cilley, were with me when I went to Neuschwanstein in 1994. Maybe you know them. Rachel was just 10 and Ben was 8 so it was fun to see the castle through their eyes. I loved the comment you sensed your mother would have made. I remember making similar remarks to my children. Christmas markets are fun because all the people there seem to know each other like the farmers' markets which have finally taken hold around here. I hope you brought back a Christmas tree ornament although backpacking may have limited available space. Jean