Today, we headed out of Munich for the day for a journey to the castle that inspired Disney!
We fueled up this morning at a local cafe called California Bean where they make fresh-squeezed juices and delicious breakfast items. I had banana Nutella pancakes while Brandon got a very nice omelette. Our journey today was our first with an official tour group of any variety, and, luckily, the meeting place was only a block from where we’re staying (California Bean is basically across the street from us), so we had plenty of time to make our short initial trek. If you’re not sure what castle I am referring to in my initial statement, I will say our tour today was of Neuschwanstein. If that still doesn’t sound familiar, I invite you to Google it and I am certain your memory will be jogged :) Anywho, we were going with a company called Radius Tours, which is one of the longest-running English language touring companies in Munich. Additionally, it ONLY exists in Munich (it’s a “mom and pop” operation), is (I think) the only one “endorsed” by Rick Steves (you can also Google him; we’ve heavily relied on tips and tricks we have learned from his website), and is the first touring company to establish a relationship with the Dachau Memorial Site so that their tour guides are excellently trained in the history of the site. Additional fun fact: all their tour guides are freelancers and don’t run on any given scripts, so all the history you are provided is presented authentically by that individual sharing their knowledge! I highly recommend taking a tour, whether the Neuschwanstein tour or one of the other Munich-based tours, with them if you get here! There were a little over 40 people in our tour group today, so we had two guides that split the group between themselves. Their names were Michelle and Charlie. Charlie sounded like he is originally from England. We were in Michelle’s group and learned she is originally from Detroit but moved to Germany in 2012 because she fell in love with the lifestyle (mood). In our group, we also had folks from other parts of the states, including a couple from Pittsburgh(!), as well as a couple from Mexico and another who were from the Bremen area of Northern Germany and were taking the tour due to the knowledge it was in English, so they wanted to challenge themselves to improve! We hopped on a regional rail train that took us from Munich to Füssen. The ride was about 2 hours, and during that time, Michelle began giving us a history of the monarchy, specifically about Ludwig II and the events and decisions leading to the building of not only Neuschwanstein, but two other castles in the area. Michelle was a very good storyteller, and she kept us well engaged during our history lesson! When we arrived in Füssen, we took a 10 minute bus ride then to the “center” of town, near the castle. We had a little bit of time to eat and putz while Michelle picked up our castle tour tickets. After our break, she took our group by the Alpsee and Hohenschwangau, again giving us a nice history lesson as we walked. From this point, the option was given to those who wanted to split from the group and walk around town for a little bit before catching a bus up the hill to the castle, or, you could remain with Michelle and the group and walk. Brandon, myself, and one other woman from the group opted to use the bus. For all of us, the steepness of the hill, and for Brandon and I the fact we’ve been walking so much recently, it just made sense to give ourselves that break. About an hour later, we caught back up with the group by the castle where we were given our tour tickets and a reminder that we’d have some free time after the tour to putz before we needed to meet back with everyone to get ready to go back to the station by about 4:30. The castle tour was 30 minutes and went through 4 of the finished rooms of Neuschwanstein. Fun fact: it is technically unfinished as Ludwig II died before completion. Also, much of it was meant as a dedication to Richard Wagner, the composer, but he died before construction started, so rooms meant to be for Wagner when he visited are largely unfinished. We got to see the king’s bedroom, which has LOADS of phenomenal woodwork. We also saw his “living room,” the throne room (there is no throne as Ludwig ran out of money before it was constructed and the throne builder said “No payment, no throne”), and the singer’s hall. The paintings on the walls were incredible! All were inspired by the fairy tales that Wagner wrote operas of. Ludwig II was *kinda* obsessed. We couldn’t take any photos during the tour, so definitely check it out if you are able to get to Germany! After the “official” tour, there was still some sections you could walk through independently, including the gift shops (which take up some of the unfinished rooms meant for Wagner), the kitchen (SO MANY COPPER POTS), and one of the balconies on the essentially unfinished side of the castle. All were very cool! Leaving the castle, we found we were running at about 45 minutes to our meeting time, so we opted to try and start making our way back down the hill. One of the ways to do that was a horse-drawn carriage! Of course, that’s what we chose :) The ride lasted about 15 minutes, and the horses were lovely! We got off the carriage and headed to our meeting point to catch up with the group. Then, we took the bus back to the station and had another 2 hour ride back to Munich. We got back at about 7:30 and opted for an Italian restaurant around the corner from the hotel for dinner. It was delicious! I got risotto and Brandon had spaghetti with shrimp. Then, it was back to the hotel to settle. Tomorrow is our last full day in Munich, but we’ve got some plans in mind, so keep reading to find out what fun we can find!
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