After eating a good breakfast at our gasthof we drove the
remainder of the way to the Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles.
We toured both castles, and both were absolutely
amazing. We first toured the
Hohenschwangau castle, which is the castle that King Ludwig II grew up in. He lived in that castle while the
Neuschwanstein castle was being built.
He had a telescope set up in his bedroom so that he could watch the
progress.
The Hohenschwangau castle was stunning. The entire castle is decorated in the
medieval style. The walls were
completely covered with murals depicting typical events in the life of a Knight
or Lady. We thought it was interesting
that the King’s rooms had a small stairway leading to the Queen’s bedroom, and
also had a small bathroom. When King
Ludwig II was king, he had to room’s ceiling painted like the night sky and had
holes made in the ceiling. Then, lamps would be placed on the floor
above to illuminate the “stars.” I
thought it was awesome! We weren't allowed to take pictures inside (except looking out the windows), so here are some from outside:
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The view from inside the castle |
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A quick picture before they asked camera to be turned off |
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A gift to the Prince Regent Leopold on his 90th birthday |
After completing the tour of Hohenschwangau, we walked out
towards the lake and then made the hike up the hill towards the Neuschwanstein
castle. There were horse-drawn carriages
bring people up, and we definitely were walking faster than they were.
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The beautiful forest surrounding the castle |
The Neuschwanstein castle is incredibly large, and was never
completed. King Ledwig II (whom some
people considered crazy) died/was murdered (they aren’t sure…) and as soon as
he died all construction was indefinitely halted. Some think that he was murdered so that King
Ledwig II would some financially ruining the country.
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The nasty fly covered horse poop everywhere on the walk up - nasty! |
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Side view of Neuschwanstein |
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Front view |
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View from the front of Neuschwanstein |
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The inner courtyard |
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View from inner courtyard looking toward the front of the castle |
King Ledwig II was obsessed with theater and his castle was
covered in paintings from the various plays and operas. There was one room which was dedicated to his
favorite opera. Once he was banished
from the theater (supposedly because he was crazy) he would spent much of his
time in that room and would “watch” the play from there. One of my favorite rooms led off of that
room, and it was a hallway that was made to look like a cave. It had rock and stalactites and stalagmites
everywhere. It was our kind of room!
Some people say he was crazy for doing stuff like that…I just say he was
awesome!
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View of bridge from the "Singing Room" |
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Secret photos taken in the throne room |
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I love the style of the throne room! So pretty. |
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The massive golden throne was actually never finished from the throne room |
While we were in the final room of the tour of the
Neuschwanstein castle we heard a helicopter and could see from the windows that
it was doing a rescue mission by the bridge across from the castle. Totally freaked me out…I thought a little kid
had fallen off of the bridge or something.
We found out that it wasn’t someone who fell from the bridge, however,
but someone who (most likely) hiked around and tried to take a picture and fell
a ways. I don’t know what ended up
happening to the person. I hope they
were okay!
After leaving the castle we headed up to the bridge mentioned
above and also walked down to the waterfall.
King Ledwig II was a big fan of the outdoors, and I completely
understand. It was so incredibly
beautiful there.
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No wonder he wasn't happy with just one castle in this beautiful area |
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Waterfall behind Neuschwanstein |
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The view of Neuschwanstein from the bridge |
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I love the greenery here. It was absolutely stunning! |
We bought our first souveneirs at this point – a purse for
me, a little teddy bear in lederhosen for Emily and a wooden Neuschwanstein
sword for Danny. Kenneth didn’t want
anything. They we ate curry wurst at a
little restaurant on the way to the car.
We headed back to our gastof and ate German pancakes with
cranberry jelly for dinner which was wonderful.
We were so exhausted from walking so much and decided to just relax and
watch the 2nd half of Harry Potter.
:)
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