Road Trip – Day 7 (Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein Castles and Fuessen)
We are sitting at midafternoon resting our feet in our hotel room. This is the quaint view outside our hotel window. Nice, isn't it?
Atticus requested that Mommy and Daddy talk and plan our afternoon while him and Milayla play together and crawl on the floor. I love how much they enjoy spending time together.
The morning was incredible. As soon as we finished breakfast we headed for the Hohenschwangau Castle.
The weather was not the most accommodating to allow for the spectacular views of the mountains and castles that we were hoping for, but we were just grateful that it wasn’t raining. Besides, all that fog sure did look beautiful settled on the lake and around the foot of the castles.
(And it certainly helps that we also got to see the castles lit up in the nighttime sky as we drove into Fuessen last night in search of our hotel. It was a beautiful sight. Unfortunately, the camera was packed away in the trunk, so no photos.)
After doing what was supposed to be a 30 minute climb up to the Hohenschwangau Castle in a little over 10 minutes (with a stroller), we checked out the fountains around the entrance.
Certainly not the most beautiful castle gardens we have been in, in fact they are nearly nonexistent, but we’re pretty certain that the view (when it isn’t foggy) would certainly make up for that.
Because we made it up quicker than anticipated, it gave us plenty of time to relax. The kids were pretty excited to head in though and Atticus watched the ticket numbers on the screen with high anticipation. Milayla clung to the tickets as tight as possible.
At the first sight of our ticket number on the screen, Atticus ushered us up the stairs and into the castle.
Inside the castle was stunning, and surprisingly homey. Well, as homey as excessively expensive ivory and gold birthday gifts, extensive wood carvings, gold light fixtures and secco paintings adorning every wall can be. Not too shabby for a remodeling of a former Knights Castle that was in ruins when the king decided to purchase and remodel it.
It was a little strange to be surrounded by so many English speakers as the tours were grouped by language selection. As a result though, we did chat with quite a few people, typically with them commenting on the kids (“look at her eyes!”, “wow, he is a chatterbox.”, “she is so well behaved”, “wow, he has a lot of energy!” etc.). It was a great tour through the castle due in a large part to a very good tour guide. Sorry, no inside photos allowed.
After the tour ended, it was time to descend from Hohenschwangau and ascend to Neuschwanstein Castle; it was a trek that was to take an hour and we did it in 20 minutes (with Milayla sleeping soundly in the wrap on me. I love getting in extra cuddles.). And we even stopped enroute to take some pictures of the lake and some rather stunning light filtering through the trees. It was gorgeous!
I can't believe how many people were just walking by this gorgeous light without even taking notice of it's breathtaking glow, and the soft colors bouncing off the leaves. Maybe they forgot their cameras.... :)
We’ve decided that the time allotment that they list is allowing for a very leisurely stroll up the mountain, and we were trying to go quickly for fear that we would miss our assigned tour time. By this point, the people traffic was really starting to pick up and I felt very grateful that we were not here during peak season. No thanks. Even as it was our tour time was quite full. We waited in the castle courtyard and snapped some photos before heading in.
Once inside we climbed plenty of stairs, and just when we thought we were done climbing, we climbed some more. All the while Atticus was counting the stairs and dancing up them. I really need to start working a little harder to help him count past 11 as I can’t imagine counting to 11 that many times in a row is all that interesting, though he didn’t seem to mind. He was a very big ball of energy today. I will not forget the happy dance he did when we left the first castle and we told him that we were going to another castle. “TWO castles!?!?”, he exclaimed. Yes, Atticus, two castles. And then there was a dance, followed by Atticus relaying the itinerary for our day being sure to emphasize how lucky we are because we get to see "TWO castles". He is a very organized little boy.
The inside of the Neuschwanstein castle was certainly more ornate than Hohenschwangau, even verging on eccentric in some places. It is a little sad to think that Ludwig died before he was even able to finish his castle. Even unfinished though the castle is still quite the spectacle, at least in the finished areas. That said, the guided tour inside is quite short and it felt like we wound our way through more of the castle in order to exit than we did during the actual tour. Very strategically, you must wind through two souvenir shops and a café before exiting the castle. I regret to report that the souvenir shop got me; they had a beautiful Christmas ornament with a handpainted Neuschwanstein castle on it (Jason was very happy to oblige me and we will be adding two decorations to our tree this year as we picked one up in Salzburg as well). And we gave in to an overpriced viewfinder with photos of the castles on it for the kids (we have a 4.5 hour drive in the car tomorrow during which time I fully anticipate that view finder to give us a complete return on our investment.).
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| A model of the castle as part of your journey out |
And with that, we ate lunch on our leisurely decent back down the mountain and to the car. I shared an interesting moment with another mother as we were heading down the mountain; coming up the mountain towards us was a young German family, situated very similarly to us with a child in a stroller and a small baby in a carrier on the mother. As we passed this family the mother and I smiled as we both seemed to simultaneously note our similar circumstances and then we nodded. It was a small moment, but for me it was a reminder that no matter the cultural differences there will always be common threads that knit us together as mothers and there will be times when finding those common threads will be important to buoy one another up instead of tearing one another down. After all, we are all trying to do our best for our families. On our way down we also met a lovely couple from Canada. And no, they were not lovely simply because they were from Canada, that was just a coincidence. They were quite eager to learn about the kids and talked to us about their own kids and grandchildren. It was a very pleasant, laid back, enjoyable conversation. When the time came for us to depart ways, Jason remarked about how nice it is to meet other people while traveling as everyone seems so much more laid back and social. As I thought about that, I wondered if that is just our perception or if people really are different when they have left the daily stressors of life behind them. Are we different, too?
Speaking of leaving the daily stressors of life behind, we are really looking forward to having absolutely no agenda this afternoon, just wandering around the quiet, charming, little town of Fuessen, before coming back to the hotel to finish watching the last session of General Conference. For now though, the giggles of my children in the other room beckon me to go and enjoy a world of wonders from their ever-curious perspective. An adventure awaits.
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| Atticus took a photo in the post office and wanted it preserved :). |
These two shots are easily some of my favorite photos from the entire trip. These guys are awesome and so incredibly charming (and handsome, to boot!).
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| We passed this cute little church at least three times before we finally noticed it when coming up from another street. Just goes to show the importance of a new perspective :) |
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