Neuschwanstein Castle: fairy tale alert!

Before this trip took shape, a picture of Neuschwanstein was the stimulus that dictated the rest of our destinations. We needed to be there. So Bec and I left as early as possible Bec and caught the morning train out of Munich…barely. After buying our requisite coffee and breakfast sandwich at the station, we waited under a sign reading “Trains 26-35” where we thought our train, train 31 to Fuessen, ought to be. Becca noticed the station was a bit larger than anticipated. The sign was actually saying “Trains 26-35 this way.” We were standing on track 36, I now realize. Without any real warning, and three minutes to departure, Bec’s travel anxiety kicked into overdrive . For those that don’t know Becca is a former college soccer player and probably in the best shape of her life. When she leans over and her arm swings start getting larger that apparently provides some sort of turbo boosters and allows her to separate as quickly as possible from her helpless and groggy fiancé. She was getting on that train. I was a tentative maybe. But after a brief moment of panic, we both made it (shout out to the doubters who didn’t believe in me), and awoke in Fuessen, the most adorable town Becca says she has ever seen. Except for the other 20 times she has said that.  

Every street = this

The forecast for the day, for the 3^rd day in a row, was “overcast, 80% chance of rain, thunderstorms throughout the day.” I don’t think there’s a language barrier issue in weather forecasts, that’s a fairly ubiquitous forecast and would be interpreted as grim everywhere in the world, and as a sunny day in Seattle. As it turns out, I have concluded that European weathermen are, without a doubt, the worst on the planet. This is a good thing, as the last three days have had predicted thunderstorms, and each of the three days were pure blue skies until the evening hours. It was perfect. 

I did see a few clouds, so they were right about those

We caught the 10-minute bus to Schwangau, a small Bavarian alps town where Hohenschwangau Castle, a quaint Munich royalty/Wittelsbach family lakehouse cottage, resides. Neuchwanstein Castle is about a 20-minute walk up the mountain. How could that have ever been necessary, you ask? Well it wasn’t. But King Ludwig II, affectionately known as “The Mad King,” was heir to his father’s throne, and he wanted a castle. And another. And another. So Neuchwanstein Castle was the third in his castle rampage, and he probably would have uselessly spent more of Bavaria’s tax dollars if he didn’t “mysteriously” turn up dead in 1 foot of lake water at the age of 40. Ludwig II was basically the Donald Trump of the Wittelsbach royal lineage: he inherited his fame and riches from his father, he preached insane ideas with no real basis, he divided the country, and he wanted to spend billions on structures (i.e. walls) that had close to no purpose and created more problems than they solved, and he had an atrocious spray tan. Ok the last one is just Donald. So Ludwig II started building the most majestic castle in the world in 1869, despite already having at least 4 others to live in, but only lived in it for 172 days after 17 years of construction. Years later, the castle actually inspired Walt Disney’s Cinderella Castle.

On arrival, we were convinced that this tourist hot spot was actually modeled after Disney World: there were lines to get on buses to take you to more lines which took you to another line for a line for the tours and a tour of the lines, and throughout the entirety there were aggressive Asian photographers crawling the premises. Seriously, pictures of every square inch of that place. Selfie sticks were hitting me in the head. More peace signs than a Woodstock concert were being thrown up in poses. Pictures of people taking pictures. You get the idea. Nonetheless, we took a horse and carriage up to the castle, and nothing could ruin this moment. Not even the Asian gal that asked me to move so she could take pictures of herself in not one but seven different poses from the same spot. I counted. 

Apparently we were the last ones on earth to hear of this place?

 It is indescribable. And it was never even finished. The surrounding scenery features rock faces, lush forests, waterfalls of the purest water imaginable, and due to its perch on a cliff, breathtaking views of the red roofs of Bavarian towns and glistening lakes below. The inside contains a cave, naturally, gold trimmed walls, bejeweled chandeliers, bed frames made into wooden sculptures, and every face of every wall was painted with epic scenes by artists of the day. One room contains over 120 swans, hence, NeuSCHWANstein, and Becca Swanson insisted that she has a claim of inheritance to the castle, particularly if it is wrongly pronounced ‘new-SWAN-stein’ instead of ‘noy-schwan-steen.’ Plan didn’t work yet, but still working on it.  

We hiked around, and attempted to take it all in, standing or sitting in silence a lot of times just to absorb it. Impossible. Impossible to take it all in, and impossible because an overly aggressive photo-obsessed tourist suddenly invaded our romantic sitting spot on a cliff, risked his life and our lives while losing his footing at one point to take 100 pictures of the same thing, then left. Just us and our new friend standing awkwardly close and holding a pine branch for support, camera in the other, trying to take it all in. 

Seriously

 Going to need a trip back for that. But here’s an attempted photojournal that will be disappointingly short on details, and contain marginal photography skill, but I will do my best to do it justice.

 

 

Lots of blooming photographers up there^

Mary's Bridge + Waterfall + Forests + Castle Pillar .. I'm a blooming photographer myself

The view of the little Hohenschwangau shack below

Just hiking, and found this

"Hohenswanger," as Becca calls it

Alpsee Lake...where you can see the Alps. I get it!

On top of Hohenschwangau. Swans everywhere. Some percentage of this is Becca's.

Currently training through the Swiss alps down to Lucerne. Becca is trying to beat level 65 in Candy Crush, which we have been attempting to pass since our Brazil trip in 2014, so if anyone can throw some tips our way for sanity’s sake that would be great. Other than that, life is pretty good.