Neuschwanstein & Innsbruck

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Before we left Munich for good and headed off in the direction of Vienna and Prague we wanted to get a trip into Innsbruck and the famous Neuschwanstein Castle, which was effectively in the other direction (well due south from Munich as opposed to East) so we decided to take a day trip.

As you might recall from our recent blog, Vicki (aka The Navman Saleswoman) had been trying to persuade us to buy our very own male or female voice from the box that would effortlessly guide us along the remainder of our trip without any need for poor old Rach to have her head in the map whilst I am enjoying the scenery. Would we be convinced that Sat Nav was all she was making it out to be.

Well we decided to take it to Austria for the day to test it out, so after sitting in the car for all of 2 minutes whilst we told it we wanted to go to the Neuschwanstein Castle, we were off, and "Navman", or Navwoman in our case was politely telling us which lane to be in and when to turn, etc, when suddenly we were on the freeway heading out of the city. That was the easiest exit from a city we had ever made.

A couple of hours later and a few more polite instructions we were pulling up at the castle, relaxed and stress free from not having to battle the european road signs.

The castle itself is quite spectacular and was the inspiration for Walt Disney's fairytale castle in Disneyland, although I reckon a few Americans thought it was in reverse. The castle was our first experience with full on tourist season as it was packed - summer was definately getting into full swing. You had to buy tickets to go on a tour as you couldn't walk around it yourself, and the next available times were nearly 2 hours away - they went every 5 mins.

Anyway, we got on and then headed up the hill to the top. The tour itself was really disappointing as you got herded along in a massive group, given hardly any commentary and then after about 30mins when we were at the top of the castle the tour guide announces that this is the end of the tour and can everyone make there own way out. Well you could see people laughing to themselves, and thinking, your joking aren't you - that's it. Someone did even say, which way was out? Anyway it was worth the visit despite being very touristy. We made our way out, got a few more shots and then got in the car and told Navman to take us to Innsbruck (you don't actually talk to it - just to clarify, it's not like you get in and say take me home James).

Innsbruck was everything we thought it might be, a small town famous for its ski resorts and mountains with a massive Ski Jump tower almost in the middle of the town. It was great. Headed back to Munich and arrived just after dark (about 10pm). Thanks Navman!!!

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