Neuschwanstein Castle

Bright and early Saturday morning we rose to get ready for our jaunt over to the Alps and visit Neuschwanstein Castle. This castle is known for a number of reasons, but the primary reason for Americans to visit this castle is because this is the castle which Disney based Sleeping Beauty’s on. The weather for this outing did not look promising. Our transportation was the train which lasted a few hours with some minor transfers. We arrived in Fussen to take the bus up to the castle. This particular castle was commissioned by King Ludwig II. Construction began in 1869 and was halted in 1892 when Ludwig was declared mad. To this day, the interior is still unfinished. To reach the castle, one has to walk a bit which gave us a beautiful view of the mountains, I felt like I was home in the Rocky Mountains! God must have answered our prayers because as we began to near the castle, the clouds began to part with the sun shining through them. This effect gave us a glorious view of the castle.

As we took the tour of the interior, we were told that Ludwig was not very responsible with money and resources and began too many projects. The people of Bavaria did not like this and declared him mad, which immediately stopped his projects. Supposedly, this castle was to contain around 200 rooms, but not more than 15 were finished. The rooms that we were able to tour were quite extraordinary. Unfortunately, pictures were forbidden and my descriptions are not going to give it justice. In one of the rooms, the floor was an entire mosaic which was hand laid with tiny shard of elements to compose the detailed pictures. I cannot fathom how much delicate planning and labor that took to complete. King Ludwig was obsessed with swans which was apparent in his room. From door handles to sink nozzles was based around a swan. This castle did not serve any concrete purpose for Bavaria other than the fact of appearance and a sign of wealth.

On our return journey, we made it to Regensburg safe and sound and was told the bus number to take us back to our hostel. This was our first bus adventure. Somehow, we either hopped on the incorrect bus or did not get off in time, but safe enough to say… we were lost. We were not lost to the point where we did not know our surroundings or location, but to the extent where we knew we had a ways to walk before reaching our destination. After some discussion, waiting at a different bus stop, we decided to walk back to the hostel. We were quite entertained and made it back to our hostel a little later than expected. But overall, it was a hilarious experience in which we learned to not trust Chris. Kidding of course.