European Vacation: July 5, 2006

Day 14

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Garmisch, Germany

View of Neuschwanstein Castle

Today is our day to see the Neuschwanstein Castle (affectionately known as the Disney castle). After our 1-hour drive, we arrive at the base of the mountain that the castle sits on. What a beautiful picture from this vantage point. It looks just like a fairy tale castle. King Ludwig II had this castle built but we learn that he died before it was finished and remains in this unfinished state today. He never really had a chance to live in it.

We decide to walk up to the castle instead of taking the available rides (horse & carriage or minibus). We find out that we overestimated our abilities and underestimated the difficulty of the climb. But we trudge on, taking many rest stops along the way. Luckily, we don’t have to hurry since our tour didn’t start for 90 minutes. We finally arrive at the top of the mountain and then decide to punish ourselves further by taking the walk over to the Marianbridge, which again is much more strenuous that we had thought. But the view (and picture) of the castle from the bridge is well worth the hard climb.

We finally arrive at the entrance to the castle and start our tour. It is so beautiful inside. You have to see it to appreciate it and since pictures can’t be taken inside, you’ll need to see it for yourself. The first room we saw was the throne room – it was huge and had an enormous chandelier. Then we walked up the tower stairs to the king’s bedroom, dining room, and office. It’s sad that he never got to enjoy his beautiful home.

By the time our tour is over and we walk back down the mountain to our car, we are exhausted. We had planned on seeing the Linderhof Palace on our way home but decide that we don’t want to do any more walking today and head back to our lodge.

Scenes from Garmisch, Germany