After our train ride to Fussen from Munich, we headed to our little town Hohenschwangau and checked into the Hotel we got a special deal on for $60 euros a night that was at the base of the walk up to the castle!
After checkin we walked to nice locals restaurant and had an awesome typical local German dish with different meats and potatos
We then walked home in the rain and before sleep I proceeded to charge 4 things at once with 1 plug. Thats what you call a rockin charge setup!
The next day we were up and at ticket office 7:59am ready for them to open and for us to guarantee us a spot and tour to the castle. We had an amazing breakfast from our hotel with Brie, an omelet, meats, cheeses, breads, juices, fruit, and cereal.
The castle from our seats in breakfast (see just above Candace's head):
Location, location, location. Unfortunately at the time we were there the side that we could see from our place was under construction because some of the foundations were getting a bit weak after a couple hundred years.
This is what it would look like without scaffolding and such (a model I grabbed a pic of while in the castle) -
After the hearty breakfast we took the Bus up close to the castle and walked the 10 minutes to it with beautiful views along the way (Note the castle you see in this picture is the castle King Ludwig II spent much of his youth in)
Soon we were in the castle and on our english tour!
The inside of the castle is the coolest I've ever seen, same as the overall architecture of the outside as well.
The inside of the castle was almost entirely dedicated to the ancient classics. Stories of the Iliad, of dragons and knights, and so on painted the walls beautifully and shined in their original condition still. Also cool was Ludwig's use of modern technology of the times. He mixed his love for the antiquities with running springwater in his chambers, flushable toilet both diverted from natural springs, both extremely new and advanced ideas of the time. He also utilized the heat from the ovens in the Kitchen and created pipes in the walls that took heat to other rooms in the castle. His chambers had crazy woodcarving.. It took 14 woodcarvers 4 years to complete it, many working at the same time. No pictures were allowed so it was difficult to get any pictures and I had to limit them.
There were cavern-like rooms, and garden type rooms, along with the rooms dedicated to swans and little reading areas, made this the most interesting and diverse castle yet.
King Ludwig bored and tired or scared of the dangerous and manipulative political world took a route of escape in his creation of his castles and other works. He loved nature, and found himself happiest when immersed in it, in a kingly fashion of course. These "personal leaves" away from the "real world" and his Kingly necessities were likely his downfall. Probably due to his castle building and time spent in nature and non-interest in politics Ludwig II was declared "mentally ill", his kingly powers removed, and a few days later died mysteriously while hunting. Many claim it was murder. Though his death at 40 years old is still a mystery hundreds of years later, and being titled "Mad" King Ludwig, his legacy reaches, in person, 1,000,000 visitors at his castle per year(I figured at 12 euros a pop thats $12 million annual gross income..). It also inspires millions more around the world to think to themselves "someday I want to go there and see that", and in the meantime allow their imagination to be inspired as it inspired Walt Disney and formed the roots for his legacy and his own fantasy world. So gaze on and, child or not, and be inspired as well.
After the tour we hiked up to the bridge, met an interesting musician
And got the awesome view of the castle you can get from the vantage point. We snapped some photos(above pic above musician). Hats off to you "Mad" King Ludwig, you've got me thinking..
After the castle we booked an overnight train out of Munich for that night to take us to Budapest, then went into the lovely town of Fussen for some relaxation. Dropping our bags in a locker in the station, we strolled through the town
shopping, enjoying the bells ringing from the church, and the chill culture. This fountain we liked and I used it to soak my shirt and then throw it back on after wringing out to keep me cool.
I also attempted to jump up and move that stuck one, but it was in there pretty firmly. I was going to climb and try it, but knew I'd get everything soaked so we just moved on and passed some old men that were playing a game that looked like bags but different and with a ball instead of hole. We strolled into a little shopping/plaza area and Candace possibly just might have found her YEB Dress, while I found a nice spot around the corner to enjoy a fine Cuban Cigar with a good view of some local architecture, a bridge and river, mountains, and those church bells still a ringing. Candace soon joined me.
We ordered some food, a special mac and cheese as well as a dish that was different - toast with ham and eggs on top with some veggies on the side. Looked like something my dad would make. Anyhow, I'm always making special bites for Candace when we eat, since one of her love languages is gifts, so here is one I put together for her -
The view -
After the interesting and good food from the little spot we were at, we took a walk down to the bridge that I had looking at from my seat and we checked it out. Beautiful.
(Our spot we ate at) -
We strolled on back to the station and caught the train to Munich, then to Budapest overnight on the train!
No comments:
Post a Comment