(picture taken from the bus, the castle in the hills)
Neuschwanstein
Neuschwanstein in Bavaria was just as fairytale castle as I had hoped. It is the inspiration for Cinderella's Castle in Disney World. I loved it!
It is a pretty steep climb to get there (we luckily took a shuttle over the steepest part).
(Map of the area)
Once dropped off, we detoured to Marienbrucke (Mary's Bridge), which provides the best views of the castle.
(view of the bridge from the castle)
We backtracked to the main road to start the walk up, with gorgeous views.
(Hohenschwangau Castle--would have liked to have seen this one too)
(of course, some scaffolding)
The castle was extremely ornate inside, and filled with imagery of knights. Built in the late 1800s, it's a pre-Raphaelite wonder, a romanization of the middle ages in grand scale.
Lindau
Next a longish drive to Lindau on lake Constance, where we had a lunch break to eat and take pictures. The first place we went was of course down to the harbor to see the lake.
We stopped at this little place along the lake for a sausage and roll sandwich (delicious) and walked through town.
We were seriously rushing at first because of a mix up in our return time--Katherine had the return time wrong and it took me a bit to figure out why she was so stressed about what we could fit in. After realizing that we did have plenty of time left, we left the lake to wander a bit through town.
Next more driving to Birnau, also on Lake Constance
Birnau
Birnau is the location of the Wallfahrtskriche, a baroque church, built from 1746-1749.
God the Father,
thanks be brought,
You make the lake so beautiful
in the middle of your creation.
You are the Lord of the whole world,
who created and sustains them,
Praise, praise and honor to you.
(rough translation via Google Translate)
Back on the bus for another hour and and until we were at our hotel.
Black Forest
Our hotel is in the Schwarzwald (Black Forest).
Dinner was in the hotel tonight (which was kind-of in the middle of a forest, anyway).
(sliced pork, spatzel, veggies, and a potato soup).
Next for a quick walk around to see a bit of the grounds before it got too dark,
then off to sleep! Only one day left in this trip.
Ugh, this area is so pretty. I would love to spend two weeks just exploring Bavaria at a pace that actually does it justice. This is one of those entries that really makes me realize how much time we spent on the bus vs. exploring the actual destinations.
ReplyDelete• I'm glad Neuschwanstein lived up to your expectations; I know it was basically the reason you wanted to go on this trip! Again, I wish we'd done this solo and visited both castles. It was kinda painful to be able to SEE Hohenschwangau from where we were, know that it was only a 20 minute walk away, and then get on the bus and leave. :(.
• I remember literally NOTHING about the inside of Neuschwanstein. This is why they should let us take photos because honestly at this point it's as though I was never there.
• Lindau was such a disaster and it was TOTALLY my fault because I am an idiot. I will feel bad about that forever, haha. :(. Your photos are pretty, though! And I do remember the lunch being delicious...if super-rushed because, as I mentioned, I'm an idiot. I feel like this would have been a cute area to stay for an overnight, just because it had such a different vibe compared to everywhere else. (I am once again lamenting not being a lottery winner with the luxury of vacationing 24/7 because I know the likelihood of actually making it back to somewhere completely random like this is relatively minimal. :(. Sigh.)
• Photo No. 29 is an illegal photo...but I have one, too. :-P. This was essentially a glorified bathroom stop, as I remember.
• Wait, maybe THIS dinner was the one where the waitstaff were dicks. I honestly can't remember. It was definitely one of the two ~rustic hotel dinners~.
• That spatzle looks delish, though. Have I mentioned that I miss spatzle? It's probably not even that difficult to make but we both know I'm never going to actually cook anything, so it might as well exist only in Germany. :-P.
I'm sad there's really only one day left. :(.