Neuschwanstein Castle

On our way back to Germany from Austria, we stopped at Neuschwanstein Castle, which is the castle that Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty's Castle was designed after.  Ludwig II had it built as a retreat and homage to the composer, Richard Wagner, but it was never finished in Ludwig's lifetime (and actually never completely finished at all).

A view from the road of the castle nestled in the mountain...

Ludwig lived in Hohenschwangau Castle, which is across the way from Neuschwanstein.  This is the view from the parking lot below where we ate lunch (Nutella sandwich, anyone?  Thanks, I'll have two.) and where Mary Anne and I squeezed through the turnstile together to use the public WC because we didn't have the right amount of euro coinage for both of us.  Such rebels.

On the Amazing Race a few seasons ago, the contestants were given a clue that took them to Neuschwanstein.  I remember at least one of the couples went to Hohenschwangau Castle and found out they were at the wrong one and had to make the long trek up the hill to Neuschwanstein Castle.  Then there was another couple where the girl had a total meltdown on the way up the hill, threw down her backpack and told her boyfriend (husband?) to carry it.  It was fun to BE where that actually took place and laugh about the whole scene.

It was quite the hike up to the castle, which was probably good since we had those Nutella sandwiches to burn off!  We kept pace with the horse carriages that were hauling people up so we felt pretty good that we made it up in the same amount of time PLUS got in some sweet exercise (and saved some money!).

We got up to the castle a little before our tour time so we took some pictures.  You enter the castle courtyard from archway the middle of the reddish section ...

Totally washed out but this spot was in high demand for photo ops so we didn't stay long to get the perfect lighting  :)

Some pictures as we were closer to the castle...

You couldn't take pictures during the tour....sad!  It was so cool inside.  I loved it!  After the tour, we walked around the castle and up over to Mary's Bridge which shows the famous view of the castle.  So GORGEOUS!!

 

Some more views of the outside...

Rob liked the faces on this side of the castle (just above the scaffolding)...

A view of Hohenschwangau Castle on the walk to Mary's Bridge...

Before heading back to the car, we had to stop for a bite to eat...

I was so glad we made this little detour on our way back to Germany.  Definitely a highlight of the trip!