Southern Germany Sampler: Castles and Schwangau

Ugh...how horrible is it that we took this trip over a month ago?  Hopefully I will post all of my pics before this time next year!

So, in case you had forgotten, this was day three of our trip down the Romantic Road and throughout Southern Germany.  We had breakfast at our hotel, which included omelets made to order and a variety of yummy cereals, sausages and other items you would expect in a breakfast buffet.  We could see Neuschwanstein Castle from the dining room, which was pretty cool.  They also had a "kinderstuhle", or high chair, which always makes life much easier.

I ordered tickets for our castle tours online at this website.  There was no waiting in line for our tickets; Matt just walked up to the counter and we were on our way.  Our first tour was of Hohenschwangau and it started at 9:50am.  This was our view from the parking lot.  It was a gorgeous day.

 It was a short but steep hike up to Hohenschwangau.  The bright blue sky was the perfect backdrop for my pictures.

 There are two castles in this area, Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein.  Both castles were properties of King Ludwig II.  Though the oldest written record dates Hohenschwangau to have been around since the 12th century, it was acquired by Ludwig II in the 1800's.  He restored it to it's medieval splendor and used it as his summer/hunting home.

I only have pictures from the outside, as photos are not allowed inside the castle.  Our tour of Hohenschwangau lasted about 30 minutes and was very interesting.  We had to keep Kellan in his back pack the entire time because you cannot touch anything in the castle.  For this reason, I would say to not bring little ones who can't follow the rule "don't touch" for everything around them for a half hour. A stroller is a rather cumbersome option as you have to climb literally hundreds of stairs throughout the tour.  Fortunately, we were able to keep Kellan happy in the backpack throughout both tours.

 The views of the towns below from Hohenschwangau were beautiful.

This lake was about a two-minute walk from our hotel.  So pretty.

 Next stop was Neuschwanstein.  You can hike 40 minutes up to the castle, but we weren't feeling it, so we crammed ourselves into a bus with a large number of folks from North Korea, who were all madly in love with Kellan.  While we were standing in line, about 10 of them were just staring at him, smiling and waving.  Being the ham that he is, he loved it.  Out of the blue, without asking, one of them actually walked over and just picked him up.  Just like that.  Didn't ask us or anything.  Kellan was so confused.  Though clearly functioning on a completely different set of social rules, they were very nice.  Two sides of the castle are undergoing repairs, so there was scaffolding blocking some of our views.  :-(

Even from the shuttle stop, it is still a pretty decent, steep hike up to the castle, which is magnificent.  Much more impressive than Hohenschwangau.  It's no wonder Walt Disney used it as his inspiration for his theme park's castles.

K was a little sleepy after performing for his admiring North Korean public on the bus.

Unfortunately, no photos were allowed to be taken inside of Neuschwanstein, but it was spectacular.  It was actually built in the late 1800's by King Ludwig II.  It was never completed; Ludwig died before it could be.  He was also deemed insane by the German government.  Here is a picture from the website, click here for a picture tour of the inside of the castle.

After our tour, which was very cool, we headed over the Marienbrücke, or Mary's Bridge, which precariously stretches over a massive gorge.  (Quick note for those visiting Neuschwanstein with young children: strollers are not allowed and nothing can be touched.  We are really grateful we brought our backpack for Kellan for this tour as well or it would have been a disaster!  He actually fell asleep during the tour, which was nice.)  Marienbrücke is the place where King Ludwig admired Neuschwanstein Castle.  It is tiny and wooden and terrifying.  We stood on it long enough for a photo op and then exited quickly.  

There were more friendly North Koreans at the stop for the shuttle that would take us back to the hotel.  They liked Kellan so much they wanted to take photos with him.  I had to get a photo of that.  Look at Kellan's face, "Ummmm...what is happening right now?"

We checked out of our hotel before our tours so we could immediately headed over to a park in Schwangau afterwards that boasts a gondola ride up to the highest peak in the area, a playground, restaurant and luge.  Here are Kellan and I preparing for the gondola ride.

Going up...

Lots of snow at the top...

And amazing views in every direction.

 It was a little chilly and I was little nervous at the top. It was a long way down...

We spent about 15 minutes at the top and then headed back down.

After that it was on to the luge!  Kellan was too little, so Matt and I took turns and had a blast!  It was basically a huge metal slide and you rode on a cart with wheels and a brake.  Pretty sweet.

They warned against going too fast.  They warned against keeping your limbs inside of the cart.  They did not warn against what a huge dork you look like if someone takes a picture of you as you ride down.

Super fun.

After our romp at this playground for all ages, we headed hopped in the car and headed to Meersburg.  K fell asleep almost instantly as we exited the Alps and entered the Bodensee.