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| Erin's Journal for 10-07-02 Monday was our day trip travel day, as all museums would be closed in Munich. We wanted to go see the fairy tale castle of Neuschwanstein, which Glenn had already seen but wanted to show me. It was a 2 hour train ride, and we barely made the 9:18 train. If we'd missed it, it was 2 hours till the next one and we wouldn't make Fussen until afternoon! So we were happy to have made it, though we had to run and worry. Glenn wants us to get better at leaving early so as to avoid these pulse-quickening rushes. I tend to underestimate the time it will take to get places! The sun was shining in Munich, but the train took us straight into the gloom south of the city. Sigh. We arrived in Fussen to light rain and lots of fog shrouding the castes. We took a bus ride to the top of a hill, then had to walk further to the ticket house where we were assigned tours for each of the two castles (we'd chosen to view Hohenschwangau as well, since the two castles are so close and comprise the history of the life of Ludwig II, or "Mad Ludwig." He'd built a total of 4 very romantic, stylized and hugely expensive castles before he died mysteriously at age 41, so his is an interesting story. First we went to Hohenschwangau, the family's 'weekend getaway' castle. It is smaller and less impressive than Neuschwanstein, but has wonderful views of the lake, hillsides full of autumn trees, and the alps in the background on clear days. The tour was 35 minutes and showed some pretty nice furnishings. This castle is still owned by the royal family, who nowadays is headed by a duke who lives in Munich. Nice little income for that guy, too, with tours running every 5 minutes for about 30 people each, paying minimum 6 Euros to get in! Neuschwanstein was next, but not for 2 more hours according to our tour schedule, so we took the bus up the hill (it was really cold out, and a steep long walk). At the drop-off, we headed up to Marien's Bridge for a wonderful photo opp of the castle. I took tons of photos, some to be deleted later. Then we headed to the castle itself and waited for our group to be indicated by a very modern system. It listed group numbers at the front of a row of 3 queues for groups to assemble on call, allowing very quick, efficient assemblies and starting tours promptly. This castle was never finished, as only 15 rooms had been done by the time Ludwig died and his uncle, the Regent, turned it into a tourist attraction. And although a number of cost-cutting efforts had been made due to the bankrupting of his family's fortune, the finished rooms are truly opulent and fantastic. The throne room and Ludwig's bedroom in particular had fantastic workmanship in woodworking and mosaics. It was a cool tour for me, although Glenn later admitted he was not as impressed as on his first visit. Probably this was due to the lack of sunshine and the 'already seen it' thing! We made a tight connection from the return bus to the train to Munich, and relaxed till we got back into town. Then we played my first game of chess while eating take-out pizza, as Helena and Andreas didn't expect to get home till late. It was a pleasant day! |
| The overly romantic castle looked even more mysterious in the mist |