13. August 2022 · Comments Off on European Vacation Day 14: Neuschwanstein Castle · Categories: Uncategorized
This is probably the best photo of Dave and me from the entire trip. I love it so much!

30 July 22: We took a guided tour — arranged through the Edelweiss Resort — of Neuschwanstein Castle, King Ludwig II of Bavaria’s fanboy ode to the composer Richard Wagner. The king perished mysteriously before it was completed, in the 1880s, and the castle was left unfinished.

Our tour guide, Kristen, made a funny comparison: “Pick the genre you’re most a fan of and imagine building your dream mansion with each room themed after part of that genre.” Star Trek? LotR? Harry Potter? Naruto? Kristen picked “Avatar, The Last Airbender”

In this case, the rooms were modeled after Wagner’s works: “Tristan and Isolde”, “Parsifal”, “Lohengrin”, etc. The stories from those works were told in paintings around the rooms. (No photography allowed inside the castle).

The castle is pretty amazing, and you get quite a glimpse into Ludwig’s isolationist personality during the tour. As many of you probably know, Walt Disney’s inspiration for Disneyland’s Sleeping Beauty castle was based on Neuschwanstein.

In addition to seeing the castle, we saw the Wieskirche, built around a miracle statue in the 1700s, and is now part of the Romantichestraße pilgrimage route and is a UNESCO World Heritage site. We stopped for some special “Wies Doughnuts” after seeing the church.

We did a LOT of hill walking today and I’m definitely starting to feel the 2 weeks of walking around. Ow…

We had a late lunch at the base of the castle before heading back to the hotel.

Tomorrow we bid farewell to Garmisch-Partenkirchen and we head a few kilometers up the road to Oberammergau for our next adventure.

The Vatican gave money for a stunning church to be built in honor of a statue of Christ.
The statue is in the center. It’s an image of Christ just after coming down from the cross.

One day, in the 1700s, the owner of the statue saw a tear running down the face and the Vatican approved it as a miracle. Now people come from around the world to see it.
You can see the woman inside making the donuts.
It tasted good but kinda sat on me like a lead weight. Like The Donut Mill‘s donuts…
More bell-ed cows.
The hike up to the castle. For €3 per person you could take a bus but we decided we needed to walk off the donuts…
There’s a bridge from which you can get some magnificent views of the castle.
A view of the bridge we were on…as seen from the castle.
My one and only photo from inside the castle: going up a spiral staircase to the start of the formal tour.
These two got matching steins…they’re pretty badass designs if you ask me…