Sunday 9/23
We took an early morning train to Fussen to visit the Nueschwanstein Castle built by King Ludwig in 1886, better known to us Americans as the Disney "Sleeping Beauty Castle". The two hour train ride passed quickly, and the landscape was beautiful, especially since we were heading into the foothills of the Alps.
A short walk from the train station brought us to the ticket office and we had a 2 hour wait until the next English tour was available. We walked back down into the town and visited a few shops before picking a restaurant for lunch. The weather was perfect so we sat outside on the patio and enjoyed some Bavarian wine (gotta mix it up a little) and again, more sausages/brats! Mine was served with a potato salad instead of sauerkraut and it was a pleasant surprise! It was no a mayo/mustard base like our American style, but instead had a sweet taste and chunks of cucumber. The patio gave us a great view of the nearby mountain and the castle we were about to visit. Sadly, (what the brochures and tour guides don't tell you!) is that there was scaffolding covering 75% of the exterior which makes for some really bad pictures!
I'd say the process of getting up to the castle could have been a little smoother. You can either hike (40 minutes up a mountain, no thanks!), take a bus, or ride a horse drawn carriage. In hindsight I'm wondering if the carriage would have been best, but we took the bus. The tourism office did nothing to stagger the people going up in regards to your tour time, and the bus was off schedule, and the other tourists not very considerate, but we made it on the bus and had just enough time to literally run almost a mile to the actual castle to make our tour time!
Pictures were not allowed inside but take it from me, it was gorgeous! The highlights included a bejeweled chandelier in the King's throne room, pretty spacious and elegant servants quarters, a "cave" hallway located on the 4th floor (now might be a good time to mention he had some mental problems), his bedroom which had the most intricate woodwork on his bedframe resembling the exterior of a gothic styled church, and the concert hall.
The views from the castle and almost mile walk to the bus stop were breathtaking as you saw a quaint and colorful town below surrounded by lush, green fields and then the Alps to the other side. We headed back into town and had just missed the train back to Munich so we waited about an hour for the next one.
We got home with enough time to stop by the house, change into our Oktoberfest T's, and try one last time to get into a beer tent. We started at Paulaners and easily found a spot in the outdoor beer garten. Beside us was a couple from Berlin and 2 men from Denmark. The Danish men were quite talkative, and had been drinking all day, so once they started to get unreasonable regarding American politics & religion we left.
We passed by Pschorr and didn't see any lines waiting to get in so we stopped in and I quickly spotted a table with enough room for us. It would probably be more appropriate to say that I spotted a bench, as at this point of the night everyone was standing on the benches singing, dancing, and cheering! We climbed on up, made friends with 2 young German guys, and joined in! If you ask me, a lot of the songs sounded more Russian than German, but it was fun and occasionally you'd catch on and join in on the singing...or at least the toasting! We stayed for a few rounds, then headed home. Suddenly the crazy/spinning fair ride lights weren't so pretty anymore, and being jostled by the crowd as Tonya (who had a spurt of energy) literally ran us home, with her mom between us, linking her arms through ours so we could all stay together! (Oh Momma G, thanks!) I won't go into details, but let's just say I was SO thankful to have a mom along with us as that night I didn't feel good at all and she was so kind to take care of me!
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