Neuschwanstein: December 3, 2006

You know that famous Disney castle? You know, the silhoutted one at the beginning of every film, the Sleeping Beauty castle? Well, I've seen the real one. The one built by a real German king as a manifestation of his illusions of grandeur.

And grand it is. Not many castles can top this fairy-tale structure built on the lower border of Bavaria, Germany by King Ludwig II. Construction began in 1869, and the inside was never fully finished. I traveled with Priscilla, Agneta, and Josh to visit this amazing castle built on an even more stunning backdrop.

After being on the train for over 5 hours, we took a bus to the base of the mountain where Neuschwanstein is situated. From there, we hiked up to the castle, getting gorgeous views of the nearby lake, the Alps, and another, less spectacular castle also built by King Ludwig II.

As December is not tourist season, we hardly had to wait for our tour of the castle. (We saw the poles for directing tourists during peak season. It was worse than Six Flags on Labor Day!) On said tour, we learned that a few days after King Ludwig was informed he had been declared mentally unstable, and that he would no longer be king, he was found dead, accompanied with the physician who had declared him mentally unstable. Yes... perhaps mentally unstable was a sound diagnosis.

Then we left the castle and walked to Marienbruecke, a bridge that offers exceptional photos of Neuschwanstein Schloss and the surrounding landscape. The views were postcard-worthy and definitely worth the extra hike.

After visiting the castle, we all walked around the nearby town of Fuessen, but didn't stay long as we needed to catch a very long train back to Bamberg. Well, I would offer more details, but quite frankly, I can't remember much other than it was a fun, long day trip with some really good people!