Neuschwanstein Castle

Last weekend we went to see one of the coolest castles in Germany, in fact, probably one of the coolest in Europe or the World.  It's called Schloss Neuschwanstein (schloss is castle in German) and its situated in the German Alps, near the border of Austria above the shores of Schwansee (Swan Lake).  It was recently a candidate to be one of the NEW 7 wonders of the world, but didn't get enough votes.  The new 7 wonders were announced on July 7th.  There's a small little village called Hohenschwangau at the foot of the mountain and there's another castle, Schloss Hohenschwangau between the village and Neuschwanstein.

This was our first impression as we drove along "The Romantic Highway" on our way to Fussen which is a small town at the foot of the alps where we stayed in a hotel.  Fussen means foot in German, which is not a coincidence. 

Here's Collin in Hohenschwangau as we were getting ready to head up the path to the castles.

A view of Schloss Hohenschwangau which has been there since 1538.  It was destroyed during the course of the Tyrolean War, but Maximilian II ordered the ruins to be rebuilt in 1832 in Neo-Gothic style.  You can go inside the castle and get a tour if you like, but because we had Collin, we only wanted to do one the first time, so we decided to see Neuschwanstein instead.

A 10 minute horse-drawn carriage ride brought us to a steep winding road at the foot of Schloss Neuschwanstein and we walked the rest of the way up.  Here's some shots from the road.

 

Ben showing that he can handle his big camera

Here's the main entrance to the castle, it's hard to appreciate the size of this place from these kind of shots..but be patient.  :)

Once we crossed into the lower courtyard, there was a place where you lined up to begin your tour, depending on the language.  Collin wasted no time in ducking under the ropes...

And was quickly scolded...

Here's Collin and Malisa blowing kisses from the Upper Courtyard, as seen from the below.

This region of Germany is called Bavaria and it used to be it's own kingdom.  There's an interesting story of the eccentric Bavarian King Ludwig II who decided to build this fairy-tale castle and used up most of Bavaria's money to do it.  This was in 1869-1886 and around the time that Germany was unifying.  He wasn't interested in unification and mysteriously died in 1886.  As soon as he died, construction on the castle stopped and 6 weeks later, it was open to the public.  There were plans for a 295 foot high tower with a Gothic castle church to be built on the upper courtyard, but it was never completed.  In 1988, its planned position was marked in white stone.

King Ludwig had this bridge built for his mother, who loved the spectacular view from the bridge.

Ben and Sheri..

Our attempt at a family photo was cut short by the wiggleworm

Ben was able to get some great shots with his fancy camera.

Shots from the upper courtyard where the huge tower was supposed to have been built.

Sheri, Malisa and Collin taking a timeout to eat some Trix.  Who says they're just for kids?

More courtyard shots

You're not supposed to take any pictures inside the castle for copywrite reasons, but my camera accidently went off a couple times while I was looking at some paintings that I liked...

 Must be nice to be in your castle and look down at your parents castle...you can also see Schwansee (Swan Lake) and Hohenschwangau village.

The view of Schloss Neuschwanstein from the bridge that Ludwig built for his mom.

The bridge was very crowded and swayed noticeably as you walked out upon it
.

We headed back to Fussen after checking out Neuschwanstein and there was a little playground at our hotel.

Fussen town center, where we went to eat dinner

We saw some traditional Liederhosen being worn...

After dinner we went to the lake to take a boat ride, but we missed it by about 20 minutes so we just hung out for a little while.

I love the mountains in the background

The ducks were brave...coming right up to see if you had food to share.

Sharing a laugh

Muscle Man

After hanging out at the lake, we went back to the hotel, had a late dinner there and then hung out on the balcony outside the room and drank beer and schnapps into the night while Collin watched DVD's on "Sheri's bed".  As we're sitting out there on chairs...feet propped up on the rail, staring at Castle Neuschwanstein, my cell phone starts ringing.  I'm like...ughhh and I look and it says "Anonymous".  I'm thinking that sounds like work to me, but I answer it anyway and it's my mom.  She says, "Hi Jim, watcha doin?".  I proceed to tell her that I'm sitting on the balcony of a hotel, drinking delicious German beer and schnapps on the Austrian border, gazing up at a fairy tale castle on the side of the German Alps and the phone gets a little quiet as I counter with, "What are you doing?"  I love you mom, you've got to come check this out!

The next morning, with a tiny bit of a headache, we climb into our rented 5 series BMW and head over to see "The White Church", the Weisskirche and also King Ludwigs "Royal Cottage" Linderhof.  Stay tuned...

EDIT:  Lastly, this is a picture I took of one that they were selling...not to be cheap, but just to share with you guys on my blog.  I think it gives you a good impression of the Castle's beauty.