KLW +2 Fussen but it's all about Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau Castles.

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Our hotel even encouraged us to take a couple of rolls and even provided some lunch bags. So it was out the door and down to the bus station with half our breakfast tucked under our arms. And that was 7:15 in the morning! Some of you probably didn't realize there is a 7:15 am as well as a 7:15 pm. So we arrive at the castles, do the quick sprint in order to queue along with 50 or so others that somehow managed to get there before us. But we managed tickets at reasonable times. Neuschwanstein at 9:50 and Hohenschwangau at 12:50. Doesn't sound reasonable but with the distance between castles and lunch that isn't too bad and I wasn't paying for a horse to pull me up in a wagon (not at €4.50 up and €2 down) because well you all know why.

They push people through (not literally but close). Tours run every 5 minutes from 9:00 until at least 5:20. And that's a lot of tours and that's even more tourists! And at at least €14 per castle that's even more Euros. The scale of the enterprise is staggering. We had guides that were informative but curt. They, and consequently us, can't spend extra time anywhere really because they know there's another group immediately behind. The only room where we could linger was the kitchen which was fascinating. Full of beautiful copper pans and bowls it had 2 huge tree trunks that they used as chopping blocks. It would not have been possible to wrap your arms around these blocks they were so wide. The mortar and pestle was the size of a washtub (not a small one either). They had large and small spits, ovens, fish cookers, huge marble slab for pastries... It was impressive. The 2 castles are quite different, one being KL's ancestral home, the other being his 'folly'. It is good to see the 2 together as they play important roles in KL life.

We then spent some time in the recently constructed Museum of the Bavarian Kings. Lots of impressive stuff but better for us was the information content was high and you could take your time and listen to the commentary properly. The museum is not dominated by KL and dedicates itself to the reign of kings over time and in fact goes right up to the Prince Regent during the late 1900‘s.

We caught the bus back. Buses were running every 6 minutes at that time of the day. And the buses for tourists are free. Hotels provide the cards all we do is ask. The cards even give discounts of a couple of euro at the castles.

So that's the castles.

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