Neuschwanstein Castle

On the way to Munich, we stopped at Neuschwanstein Castle on the edge of the Alps. This is one of the many famous places built by the 'mad' King Ludwig II. I think the most interesting thing about this castle is that it was opened to the public seven weeks after Ludwig's death. They didn't waste any time opening it. And it's unfinished. They said we saw all the finished rooms on the tour and there were a few really spectacular ones. They unfortunately didn't allow pictures inside.

The Bavarian countryside is really beautiful. It's seems to be a lot of rolling hills backed up against the Alps. Hard to go wrong. As you can see it snowed the night before. It snowed us out of going to see the lake village site and museum, which was sad, but it was nice to have a morning off.

Still a lot of snow down here by the mountains. In Ravensburg it had mostly melted by the afternoon.

There is it.

I guess they should have been happy he didn't want it up there...

This gorge and nice little waterfall are right next to the castle.

This isn't the view from the castle, mind you. This is the view from the large terrace before you go up to the castle.

The views from the castle were better.

Seriously, I didn't look out of all the windows, but every one I did look out of had an amazing view.

The road back down from the exit. There were a lot of people walking both up and down.

This is the view from where you can walk up the steep hill. Or take the horse drawn carriage for six euros (only three back down). We took the horses of course.

These horses. The drivers really seemed like an interesting group of guys.

Bavaria

Here is a distant picture of the other castle that was very close to Neuschwanstein.It's called Hohenschwangau Castle (Schloss Hohenschwangau in German). It was 'Mom and Dad's place' and looked like more of a fortress, which makes sense since it was older. I'd like to tour it too if I ever go back there.

It's also made out of yellow stone, which I like.

We had a great meal and drinks at a restaurant there in the little town. I must say, all the food we had in Germany was amazing. I don't think we had a bad meal while we were in Germany.