Schloss Neushwanstein

The whole reason we ended up as far south in Germany as we did was because I really wanted to see the Neuschwanstein Castle.  We got into the town of Fussen the evening before the day we were going to tour the castles.  We got a quick view of the castles as we drove past them on our way into town.  It was still raining lightly and overcast.  We could just see the bottom of the Alps and I hoped desperately that the weather would clear up enough the next day so we could see the mountains.  We were at a little higher elevation now and it was cold.  We woke up the next morning to temperatures in the 30's and rain coming down hard.  I was suddenly wishing we had brought our winter coats instead of light jackets!  After a quick breakfast we headed to the parking and ticketing for the castles.

Our first tour was of the Hoenshwangau Castle.  It was the childhood home of King Ludwig II who built Neushwanstein, and was built by his father King Maximilian II.  It was quite an amazing castle although it is overshadowed by the more spectacular Neushwanstein Castle.  We had a short hike up to Hoenshwangau and the rain seemed to be letting up a bit.

Hiking up to the castle.

A view of Neushwanstein from Hoenshwangau

The small town below the castles (and the most we ever saw of the mountains.)

The lake below the castles.

The hike back down from the castle.

By the time it was time to take the longer hike up to the Neushwanstein Castle the rain was really coming down.  We pulled out the ponchos and umbrellas and attempted to stay dry.  The temperature really hadn't warmed up much from the morning and we were starting to get really cold!  Skyler was really good through the whole ordeal and Andrew didn't complain much.  There really wasn't anything to do but make the best of it.

Finally at the entrance to the castle just in time for our tour.  The only problem...notice all the people behind Andrew?  In an attempt to stay dry people had packed the entrance to the courtyard.  There wasn't even an inch to squeeze between people to get through and we had to be in the courtyard at the time our tour started or we would miss it.  After several attempts of trying to politely get through I decided the only way I wasn't going to miss the tour was to push.  I'm sure I made several people mad but we managed to get through somehow.  The inside of the castle wasn't nearly as spectacular as the outside.  Especially since it was never finished.  King Ludwig II was considered mad and unfit to rule the kingdom and left the castle less than a year after moving in and mysteriously died shortly after.  You can see why all the fairy tale castles have been designed after this one though.  What an incredible building in such a majestic location.

Can you tell how cold we are in this picture?  The wind was really whipping through this canyon and it was frigid out on the bridge!  Skyler's poor little red nose!

See the bridge over the ravine in this picture?  That's the bridge we were standing on in the last two pictures. Because of the rain I had put the camera around my neck under my rain jacket.  When we got on the bridge I lifted my jacket up to take the camera out of it's case.  I didn't realize that my jacket pockets were unzipped and my heart about stopped when the key to the rental car went clang hitting the bridge!  I'm not sure how but miraculously they came to rest on one of the wooden planks instead of falling between them to the bottom of the ravine!

Even though the it was freezing on the bridge, the rain was finally letting up a bit so we headed back to the courtyard and the front of the castle to take a few pictures before heading back down the trail.

I hope it make it back there some day when the weather is nicer!