GUYS! LOOK AT THIS CASTLE!
Ok now forget you saw that. We'll get there! But that's not how this excursion starts.
It starts here:
A couple hours south of Munich is a small town called Schwangau, tucked away in some incredible mountains. In this town, you'll find an Schloss Hohenschwangau, (or as I like to call it, my future vacation home):
The castle was the house that King Ludwig (yeah, the crazy one) grew up in. He probably slept in one of these rooms up there:
From Hohenschwangau, you can take in some (insert adjective equal to "incredible") views, like this lake:
From another window, you can see another ridge in the valley a little ways away. "That seems like a great place to build a new castle," thought Kind Ludwig. "You know, for when I get bored of this one."
And so he spent a ton of money and years of labor to build this:
That's Neuschwanstein. Yup, it's the castle that is the inspiration for Cinderella's castle (or, as I like to think of it, the house that I probably grew up in during a previous life when I was a Disney prince).
But like I said, it's on another ridge in the valley, so it's a hike to get to. But don't worry, Dad is up for the challenge:
And though the hike takes a while, there are plenty of beautiful views along the way. Like this one:
(For the record, if anyone ever asks why men where lederhosen, THIS is the reason)
Oh look! We made it to the castle!
They don't allow photography inside the castle, but damn is it (umm... yeah, another "incredible" word. who needs a thesaurus? not me!). There is literally a hallway and a couple rooms made to look like a cave, an elaborate throne room, the most intricately carved wooden bedroom furniture (the furniture alone took years to carve), and a top-floor acoustically perfect (or something) concert hall, built especially for concerts by the composer Richard Wagner, who was a family friend.
The castle was never lived in (except for the gatehouse for a while) because Crazy King Ludwig died before it was finished. And his family, realizing that he was crazy and that they probably didn't need two castles in the same valley, immediately opened it up to the public for tourism.
I snuck a couple shots of the views from the castle though. How would you like for this to be your balcony?
Or for this to be first thing you see each morning:
Look out another side and you'll find this view:
Did you see the bridge over the waterfall? If not, look back, look closer. That bridge is the destination of our next hike.
Oh look! I made it to the bridge!
But I didn't stop there (though most of the tourists did). The brave few of us who wanted an even better view (and had read the suggestions in our trusty copies of Lonely Planet) continued past the bridge, even higher up the mountain, scaling (yes, actually scaling) steep, path-less mountainside for views like this:
From up there I could look back down at the bridge, where dad was waiting. He wasn't too keen on crossing the bridge. Or standing on it, for that matter. There were a lot of people standing on that small metal contraption suspended over mountainous waterfalls.
BUT HE STOOD ON THE BRIDGE ANYWAY!
My dad is a badass.
The end.
Ok one more picture of my hous-- er... the castle.
