I am seriously behind in the recap of our European trip! I started off well when I blogged about Kaiserslautern and the Rhine River Cruise, and I will have posts all week (and maybe a few next as well) on the rest of our fabulous trip to Europe. While still in Germany, we took a day trip to see the Neuschwanstein Castle. Fun fact: it’s actually the castle that they used as inspiration for Cinderella’s Castle in Disney World! It sits in the small town of Hohenschwangau, where there isn’t much going on and you should make sure you eat dinner around 5:30 before everything shuts down! We took the windy road up, and on the way, had some amazing views. Despite the castle being under construction, it was still really beautiful.
I was bummed that you weren’t allowed to take any pictures inside the castle, which has rich colors and over-the-top extravagance. I mean it’s a castle, what do you expect? We learned that the King actually died before the castle was finished being built, and about 30 days after his death, they turned it into a museum. A few times a year they hold performances in one of the larger rooms that the King built for entertainment. The acoustics in there were amazing!
This was our view on the train ride, just beautiful countryside as we traveled to Hohenschwangau.
This is the view of the castle from our quaint little hotel in the village. Many Debbie Downers on TripAdvisor were complaining about the repairs being done to the scaffolding of the castle, but it’s still gorgeous and worth the trip!
You have the choice to walk up, drive up, or take a carriage up. We walked. And this is also where I learned that the little zoom attachment I had for my camera was not a good choice.
We walked up the long winding hill and spent some time snapping photos around the castle before the tour inside.
Seriously curse that zoom lens – looks so weird/distorted and you can’t tell this at ALL when you are flipping through the pictures on your camera. Oh well, still a cute picture – maybe we can find a circle frame? :)
I have noticed that I am drawn to photographing interesting light fixtures, or basically anything cast iron. Can you see the brothers in the background? I made them wave in front of everyone while I took a few pictures. Worth it!
This is the view of the bridge from the castle. After the tour, you can walk for about 15 minutes up and around a winding hill where you get AMAZING views of the castle…and of the town. After this picture we went inside to see the castle. Very interesting and I really wish they allowed photography.
Afterwards, we decided to walk over to the bridge to get some great shots of the castle. Another winding road, and more views!
The bridge was a little scary…I’m not afraid of heights but it definitely moves a little, so I focused on snapping pictures, and then getting a few taken of us!
And one of Jake and Megan.
And here is our silly picture, as Erik gets tired of taking adorable smiley ones with me and wanted to do something different. :)
And then we wandered back down to the little village for some dinner. Awesome day trip! If you are in Germany and considering this as a day trip, it is DEFINITELY worth it.
Yay for more Europe pics! Love them! :)
Thanks, Lindsay! Only 3 months later, right? :)