Advertisement
Published: October 28th 2014
Edit Blog Post
We woke up fairly early this morning and got ready to head to the Hopbanhoff for the tour. During my research, I came across a company called Radius Tours. For about 30 something Euro, you get transportation to Fussen, the city where the castle is at (2 hours away from Munich), a guide, etc. I thought it was a great deal. For 12 additional Euro, you can go in to the castle. I don't see why you'd take the tour without going in, but that's another discussion. The tour was supposed to leave at 9:30. There was only one problem. I noticed the main clocked in the Hopbanhoff all said 10:10am. What the heck? I know Katie and I both set our alarms properly. I looked at my computer, which was still on LA time and got a little worried. Luckily, it was ok. Apparently, it was daylight savings times and the clocks weren't changed yet. We bought our tickets and checked in. We met the group and went to the proper platform. Uh oh, another problem. Our train was canceled. Great. Our guide, Keith, who coincidentally was also from Detroit like Michelle, quickly formed a plan B. Unfortunately, we'd have
to wait an hour for the next train. We took a train to Augsburg, changed trains, then went to Fussen. It added an extra 30-60 minutes to our trip on top of the hour of waiting around.
Once we reached Fussen, the group convened at a small food stand. I have to tell you, I've never seen a more efficient fast food worker in my life. The stand that we stopped at only had one worker. He was blasting Metallica and other hard rock, but boy was he hustling. He was in his traditional Bavarian attire. Katie and I got some food and a beer. We also had time to check out the souvenir stands. I got magnets for Brent and Patty. Don't worry guys, I got you something from Germany! (They collect magnets from other countries).
Once the group reconvened, the guide said people could walk up the hill or take the bus up. Katie's shins have been sore the last few days from the all the walking on this trip, so we decided to take the bus up. It's only a 2 euro per person. I was up for walking up, but 2 euro was worth
saving a 30 minute walk uphill. When I say uphill, I mean "uphill". On the bus we met a nice couple from New York. The guy was from Colombia and the girl was Puerto Rican. We instantly hit it off talking about Colombia as my parents are from there. Once the bus dropped us off, we took a short hike to the bridge by the castle. This bridge gives you amazing views of the castle, the valley, etc. Strangely enough, I met another group of Colombians while taking pictures on the bridge. Apparently, we like to travel.
A funny side note, Katie tends to be scared of bridges. I don't know why, but she worries when we drive across bridges. When we walked up to this bridge, the wooden planks were pretty flexible. However, she wasn't worried at all. I'm not going to lie, I can't say the same for myself. Looking at this bridge with about 100 people on it made me worry a little bit. I wasn't worried until I felt the wooden planks under me flex a bit. I know I'm a big guy, but there was a 10 year old girl that made one of
the boards flex quite a bit as well. If you ever come here, you'll know what I mean. I pushed the worried thoughts aside and took some pictures. We also did a short hike past the bridge. All I could think of is how much Mike and Pat would love the scenery. For those of you that don't know, Pat is Katie's mom and Mike is her stepdad. They would absolutely love the scenery here. Mike, if you're reading this, Fussen is a place you'll want to take Pat to!
Once we were done with the bridge, we headed over to a rest area by the castle. Since we took the bus, we had significantly more time than those in the group that decided to walk. I took one look at the group and was so glad that we took the bus. Some of the most fit people in the group were sucking for air and were pretty tired. One girl, who said she runs marathons, said he might not me able to make it. Best 2 euro purchase ever! We stopped by the gift shop/stand and got some goodies. Once our tour group time came, we scurried to
the gate and entered the castle.
There were some pretty impressive views, furniture, paintings, chandeliers, etc. The tour lasted around 30 minutes. Katie absolutely loved it, even though she had already seen it. Apparently, they changed the tour a little bit from the last time she took it in 2008 so that made it a little more interesting. Once the tour was done, we had about an hour or so to explore, relax, etc. Katie and I explored a bit, took pictures, etc. We met the group back at the meeting spot at 5:15pm. The original plan was to take a bus back to the Fussen station and hop on a train that went directly back to Munich. As mentioned, that was the "Plan". Unfortunately, part of the train route was experiencing repairs, so we had to go to plan B. Our guide, Keith, came up with a plan B. Seriously, I think he more than earned the fee for the tour by coming up with the alternative routes. From the castle, we took a bus to the train. We then took that train to a stop about an hour or so away. We hopped on a bus and
then on a regional train that took us back to the Hopbanhoff.
We got off the train and grabbed dinner by the station. Our 9 1/2 hour tour turned into about a 13 hour tour. Katie was exhausted. I grabbed a quick bite and a beer and then we headed back to the hotel. I wanted to go to a beer hall, but we were both exhausted from the long day and all the travel. Katie said if she know it'd take 13 hours out of our day for a 30 minute tour, she wouldn't have done it. I kind of wanted to take a tour of Bayern Munich's stadium, but the castle was pretty awesome.
Katie and I went back to the room and hung out for the rest of the night. We got some drinks, watched the Kings game, and booked our tickets to Berlin tomorrow. For you hockey fans, the Kings won 5-2. Always a good day when the Kings win. I know I mentioned this before, but Katie and I love Munich. It's a very entertaining and livable city. I've been all over the world and Munich is one of the 3-5 cities I'd
consider leaving LA for. Anyways, we leave for Berlin tomorrow. I'm excited to see what it offers. Hope all is well back home and that you guys are enjoying the blog.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.061s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 7; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0402s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb