Fussen

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On Thursday 23/9 we travelled from Paris to Munich on the 8.45am flight and arrived around 11.00am. We went to pick up our pre-arranged Hertz rent a car, a Ford Focus automatic or similar but to our surprise it must have been Wal’s birthday as he was handed the keys to a brand new (1900kms) black Mercedes 220 diesel automobile which also had inbuilt GPS (see photo) for the same price. Wal managed to drive on the other side of the road, while Carol drove Wal mad about his driving. We arrived in Fussen around 2.00pm had a quick lunch and drink and booked into Hotel Christine a very comfortable place and very friendly owner. We were given a welcome Cocktail drink and to our surprise a Chocolate, biscuits and nuts platter was delivered to our room.
On Friday 24/9 we went to have breakfast in our Hotel and it was just fantastic, fresh fruit salad, plates of cheeses, smoked salmon and meat, yogurt a sausage with orange juice and fruit cocktail all presented with a silver service style. We drove out to visit the Castles only 5 kilometres away. We took the horse and carriage transport up and back to both castles which was really exciting. We first visited the old castle Hohenswangau with a guided tour of 30 minutes through the main rooms but unfortunately you couldn’t take photos inside, but that didn’t stops us taking magnificent scenery pictures of the surrounding countryside of lakes, mountains and villages. We had a small lunch and then went to visit the Neuschwanstein castle using the horse and carriage up a steep hill which took longer than the first castle to reach the drop off point and a further 10 minutes of brisk walking to reach the castle. Another tour of some of the magnificent rooms showed us the grandeur of a castle that was never completely finished but what was done was fantastic. The King died an early age and only lived in the castle for 6 months and was bankrupt with this castle which was sold to the State. Carol took many pictures of the surrounding, stunning scenery of mountains and villages. What a great day! We went out that evening to have dinner overlooking a lake about 5 kms away.

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