Neuschwanstein Castle and an Unexpected Surprise!

We were originally shocked by how many American tourists were in Rothenburg but it was the same story in Füssen where we went to see the famous Castle Neuschwanstein.

We hopped a train from Nuremberg and headed down into the beautiful southern Bavarian countryside, through rolling green fields with livestock and cute little towns along the rail. After 3 hours on the train we finally arrived at the foot of the Bavarian Alps in the town of Füssen.


A picture that pretty much sums up the town, cute buildings with the towering Alps in the background.

Our first stop was to the tourist office to get some information and a printout of local Pensions (bed and breakfasts) to stay at. We had 3 nights free that we needed to book up, so with list in hand and our packs strapped to our backs, we headed off to the first choices on the list. We stopped at the first place and were greeted by an old lady who hardly spoke any English. With my spotty German and her hand gestures we were able to find out that she had one room left and only for one night. Since we needed 3 nights, we headed off to the other places on the list to check their availability. 1.5 hours later and about 6 no vacancy confirmations at the places that the tourist office said had vacancies (great job guys) we decided to head back to the first stop to grab the room for the night. When she answered the door her facial expression said it all, "Die zimmer frei nicht mehr." (The room was taken!).

Having no place available to us we went back to the tourist office right before closing to see if they could help us find somewhere in a nearby town. Nothing was available. As we were about to give up the older lady called the tourist office to let them know that the room that was taken was free again. We rushed out of the office back to the house and came upon a gentlemen unloading his luggage in the driveway! She gave the room away again! We told her that we came right over from the travel office, and I think because she knew she had given us the runaround, she told the guy unloading his luggage that the room was taken (Great Success!).

So finally, we had a place for one night. We dropped our packs, freshened up, and went out to walk around the city. Our first stop (and most important) was dinner and we grabbed it at a local pub.


MMMM... I had fried meatloaf with an egg on top and Amy had a pasta type dish that was a local specialty. Both Delicious!

The night concluded shortly after with us passed out in bed from exhaustion.

We woke up the next morning, ate some amazing breakfast our Pension host prepared (breads, tea, cafe, meats, cheeses, eggs, etc.), got a locker at the train station for our packs and headed off to the castles before the tourist rush that would occur later in the day.

We arrived at the ticket office and bought the "royal ticket" (access to both castles). It was lucky that we arrived when we did because they were already selling tours at 10:50 and 12:55, meaning that the rest of the morning was already booked. Before our first tour, we wandered around the grounds, which were beautiful.





Our first stop was to Schloss Hohenschwangau, the childhood home of King Ludwig II and where the dream to build Castle Neuschwanstein was born! The tours are very regimented and very quick, you don't get to spend a lot of time inside the rooms, but it was still a good tour.


Outside Castle Hohenschwangau with Castle Neuschwanstein in the background.

This time with Kurtis!

View from the window!

Unfortunately we were not allowed to take any photos in the castles, but of course, Amy snuck a few in Castle Neuschwanstein though (see below!). After our tour of Castle Hohenschwangau we hiked up the hill to Castle Neuschwanstein (another big hill, another hike!) We had a little bit of time to check out the exterior of the castle and read up on a little history.


So big!

We entered the castle and were amazed by the interior rooms that were actually finished (the castle remained unfinished when Ludwig II died).


Sneaky picture taking.

This one we were actually allowed to take!

The best parts were the floors and ceilings!



The views out the windows were amazing!


After our tour of Castle Neuschwanstein we walked up to the Marienbrücke bridge which sits above a deep gorge and over looks castle Neuschwanstein.


View of the bridge taken from the Castle.

Views from the hike up:








The Marienbruke was packed when we got up to the top. The view was amazing however and we quickly found a nice spot to snap some pics.





After a few minutes Amy turned to me and asked if I was ready to go. I paused and said "I just have one more thing to do". Naturally Amy´s first thought was that I needed to expel some toxic gas (Uh Huh!). I got down on one knee and proposed! She said yes and then quickly followed it up with "You´re so dumb." Ha.


The ring is vintage (from 1924) with a large round brilliant cut diamond in the center, 8 shiny dark blue saphires and 10 additional smaller diamonds.  It is amazing and was a perfect choice!

We hiked back down the hill and caught the bus back to Fussen.  We knew it was going to be impossible to find a room in Fussen for the night so we just chose another town on the map and got on the train. On the train you could already see the affects that Oktoberfest was having on the whole region.  Tons of people on the train were drunk and many were wearing lederhosen and dirindle (the traditional Bavarian wear). When we arrived in Kaufbeuren, we were originally turned away from a hotel that was fully booked, but luckily we were able to find a nice hotel that put us up in a single room for cheap and it served a pretty amazing breakfast to boot.

We spent two very relaxing nights in Kaufbeuren, there was NOTHING going on in this town and everything was closed because we arrived after closing hours on Saturday and then it was Sunday.  We found a really great restaurant and we ate dinner there both nights... This little two day break is exactly what we needed before heading into Munich and OKTOBERFEST!