Neuschwanstein, Hohenschwangau, and Linderhof

    Over General Conference weekend in October, we made a last minute decision to go see Neuschwanstein Castle and a couple other surrounding castles. We stayed in a little apartment in Füssen, and saw some castles the next day. After settling into our place and eating a fancy dinner of warmed up Dinty Moore stew (yes, this is how we roll), we decided to go out on a little walk around Füssen. It was pretty stinking cold, and a bit rainy.


Sadie is the family expert umbrella holder.


We came across some sheep grazing on a hillside. Nothing better than running into live animals on your walk.





And I guess that's all the pictures I have from our walk. We did also stroll past the train station and walked through the pedestrian shopping district that was very quiet because everything was closed. But it's always fun to be the only people somewhere.   The next day we woke up to lots of fog, but soon we had bright blue skies! We bought our tickets to tour Neuschwanstein, and then walked the long uphill road to get there. On our way, we were behind a horse-drawn carriage, and I kept thinking to myself how sorry I felt for those horses carrying so many people up that huge, long, steep hill.    This was the view greeting us at the top!


Just inside the main castle gate


Since we had plenty of time left before our tour started, we decided to walk up to Mary's Bridge for a different view of the castle. On our way there was a lookout point where you could see Hohenschwangau Castle and the Alpsee. The fog on the mountains and the fall colors were dreamy.


On Mary's Bridge we found a nice looking Asian guy with the same exact camera as me, so I figured he was a safe bet to take our family picture. Quality family photos on our travels seem to be a rare thing. I am so happy with the picture he took of us.


There was a little bit of scaffolding when we went, but it wasn't as bad as I was thinking it would be. Just the back side, which isn't all that noticeable, and the tallest tower, which is obvious. It has probably been worse in the past, so I'll be grateful!


In Rick Steve's book he mentioned going a little further past the bridge, ignoring the "Do Not Leave Path" signs, and getting a different view. I was intrigued. Naughty. This is what I got. Not sure it was worth it, but I do like this view a lot with the fog and the fields and the lake in the back.


On our way back down with all the pretty colors around. The castle is blown out, but you get a view of where all the scaffolding was. So really, if there was going to be scaffolding, that is the side to have it, because that's not even a great view of the castle.


Walking back up to the front gate.


The kids outside the main castle gate. They kept standing that way all day. They make me laugh.











We couldn't take any pictures inside the castle, so I had to get lots outside of it, right? The stairs made some cool angles and lines, but with all the people on it they kind of got lost.

Canon's favorite thing of the day? The small trickle of water that made a little puddle. I can still hear his little sweet voice saying "WATER! Look Mom! WATER!"


   No really, do you see this?


His sneaky, sneaky face. Love that face.

We took our tour (remember, no pictures allowed), and it was incredible inside! Like way more awesome than I was expecting. Every surface of every wall was a mural. The detail on everything was extravagant and beautiful. The entire castle was an effort to pay homage to Richard Wagner. It's too bad that King Ludwig didn't get to enjoy it for very long. The tour was relatively short and we moved from room to room pretty quickly, so the kids did really well.   So, sad story. After we got done with the tour, we heard ambulances and wondered what had happened. As we were walking down the mountain, the tragedy kind of unfolded. From what we could tell, one of the horses had gotten injured, possibly broken a leg, and had fallen out of the harness on the carriage to which he was attached. It may have been empty (no passengers) at the time. I saw a few people laying on the ground with blood and scrapes on their legs, one person was being covered up by blankets so no one could see. Maybe they were in the path of the runaway carriage. Later down the road we saw the other horse who had run into the side of the mountain and was laying there looking so broken and his legs were bleeding, too. The empty carriage was off to the side of the road. I didn't take any pictures of any of that. I was afraid I'd get in trouble, and it also felt a bit wrong, but I did snap a shot of all the emergency vehicles that had come. As we got to the bottom, they were closing the road and telling everyone who was going up to come back down. So it must have just barely happened. So sad. I decided I would be a basket case in the event of a natural disaster. Oddly enough, we were able to keep Sadie distracted somehow and she never even seemed to notice the horses. Such a blessing, she would have been crushed.


Hohenschwangau Castle. We did not go inside this one. A tour of one castle was enough for the day.


A Bavarian Maypole. This is what my friend from Germany said about them: The pictures on the pole represent which services the city had to offer or show the traditional clothing of the region and of partner cities. They cut down a tree from a nearby forest and decorate it and put it on top of the pole as a tradition to show their independence and celebrate the beginning of May. My German friend said "there are a lot of traditions going along with a Maypole that also differ with regions. Here we have the tradition that if one town manages to steal the Maypole of another town BEFORE they put it up - they will have to pay with a beer keg and a "Brotzeit" - usually some pretzels - to get the tree back." Ha ha. I love that.





The Alpsee with lots of little "neu Schwan"s (or new swans).


After this stop we grabbed a couple ice creams and a pretzel and drove down to Linderhof Palace, another of King Ludwig's residences.


We didn't stay long. Just walked around the grounds a bit, got a few pictures, and headed back for home. You can always tell when you've started to push the limits on your children. And husband. They are such good sports to hang around with me.


I think I can see why a king would choose to build a palace here. Look at that scenery. I mean goodness gracious. So incredibly beautiful.

Between General Conference, the Heroes Ball, and then this quick vacation, it was a weekend that left me feeling truly blessed.