Four countries in one day!

We got up bright and early so we could go and see the other castle, Hohenschwangau. After packing the car and checking out of our hotel we hiked up to the castle. We roamed around the beautiful gardens and the gift shop while we waited for our tour to start. 

This castle was King Ludwig's father's castle and also the place where Ludwig spent most of his childhood. Neuschwanstein looks out over this castle because Ludwig loved this area growing up. This castle is of course finished so the inside is much more interesting than Neuschwanstein but not as impressive on the outside. King Ludwig lived in this castle, after his father's death, while his own was being built and he could watch the construction from his bedroom. He spent most of his life in this castle and the inside was gorgeous. Everything is so ornate and almost all of the walls have murals depicting different stories. Inside of Ludwig's bedroom is a starry night sky on the ceiling with small lights inside all of the stars that actually light up. 

Both castles have swans depicted everywhere because the area is known for them. Everything either has a swan painted on it or it is carved in the shape of a swan. After leaving the castle, we walked past the lake where there were swans along the shoreline with their babies. It was very picturesque. 

After getting back to our car we fired up the gps and set off to Lucerne, Switzerland. We made a pit stop in Lichtenstein for lunch, which is the smallest country! There really is not much to Lichtenstein but I can now say I have been there. We bought some sandwiches at a grocery store and ate on some park benches because we couldn't find a restaurant plus driving in the area was very confusing. We kept crossing back into Switzerland without even realizing it. 

We eventually made it to Lucerne where we got super lost because we did not realize how big the city actually was. Luckily we made it to our hotel where we could park the car for the night and not have to figure out the streets! We chilled at the hotel for a while because Dad had a conference call for work. Once he got done it was around 7 o'clock so we ventured out into the city to find a good restaurant. However, it was pouring rain! So we crossed one of the famous bridges in the city and found a restaurant on the other side. We had some local specialties which we delicious. I had a hash of some sort that include hash browns, cheese, apples, and bacon. Mom had a mac & cheese that had potatoes and apples in it while Dad had some trout. The meal was one of my favorites of the trip! Plus we had some good wine so what could be better! After dinner we headed back to our hotel since it was still raining and decided to explore Lucerne tomorrow morning. 

If you are wondering how we managed four countries in one day, we started our day in Germany, had to drive through Austria, went to Lichtenstein, and then arrived in Switzerland! Four countries in one day! 

Zugspitze!

After having another hearty German breakfast we put our gps to the test and drove to the Zugspitze, which is the tallest mountain in Germany and the peak boarders Austria. The drive was about an hour and we only made a few wrong turns but luckily they have roundabouts! We made it Eibsee which is where you park your car and can ride either the cogwheel train or a cable car up to the top. The lady in the ticket office convinced us to take the cogwheel train because there were really long waits to take the cable car up. We listened to her of course and took the cogwheel train up and decided to take the cable car down. The train takes you up the mountain and most of it is in a tunnel inside the mountain. I believe it was about a 45 minute train ride. 

It was the most beautiful day and there were hardly any clouds in the sky. We could see for miles up there and it was absolutely gorgeous!

The cogwheel train drops you off at the first level and then you can take a cable car to the peak of the mountain. On the first level, there is a very small church which Pope Benedict has blessed. It was pretty amazing. After exploring around the first area we got on the cable car and headed to the peak of the mountain. 

There was a restaurant up there which was a good thing since we were starving. We grabbed some spots at a long bench table on the patio at the restaurant only to later find out that flocks of birds dive bomb you while you are trying to eat and relax. Since I hate birds this was a semi horrible experience. It was straight out of the movie "The Birds". Basically my worst nightmare! Fortunately, we met a very nice German couple that sat at our table. The man was named Harry and he worked at a knitting needle company. It was a good distraction from the horrible birds. 

After finishing out lunch, we headed out of the restaurant to the top floor that was an observation area. We had the best views up there of the mountains and the surrounding areas. There is also a giant gold cross on part of the rock mountain which is very picturesque. 

We then went to go get on the cable car to descend down only to find out you have to have reservations and the next one was in two hours. So unfortunately, we decided to take the cogwheel train down. We then headed back down the mountain and once we got to Eibsee we then headed back to Hohenschwangau to spend the night again. 

Just your typical visit to the real Sleeping Beauty Castle!

After another great night of sleep (our hotel rocked!) we packed our bags and headed back to Munich to get my bags and head to Hohenschwangau. At the train station we grabbed a quick breakfast which included fresh squeezed orange juice! There are these awesome machines in the groceries stores and cafes where you press a button and put your cup under it and the oranges are cut and squeezed fresh for you! It is quite tasty! We also had some very good croissants. 

We made it safely back to Munich and we had about 45 minutes to get my luggage and catch our train to Fussen. This doesn't sound that difficult but because my big pink suitcase doesn't fit in the overhead area, we wanted a spot by the luggage rack. Which is easier said than done; however, we managed to hurry and get all of the luggage and grab the seats we wanted just in time. As soon as we sat down a bunch of "reggaers" got on the train. This past weekend in one of the small towns south of Munich was a giant reggae fest. Since it had rained all weekend, they and all of their belongings were all covered in mud from head to toe. There were so many "reggaers" that they filled the entire train and many had to stand. Thankfully, they all got off at a stop to catch other trains shortly after leaving Munich. It was definitely an interesting group of people. 

Once we made it to Fussen, we had to figure out where the rental car company was with all of our luggage. We luckily got a taxi that was an SUV and the driver knew exactly where we wanted to go. The car rental place was part of a gas station on the boarder of Austria so we were very glad that our driver knew what we were talking about. Surprisingly, there were no issues getting the car and everything worked out perfectly. 

We then broke out the gps for the first time and started to navigate our way to Hohenschwangau. We made it there in no time and found our hotel really easily because there is only one road in the whole town. This is really surprising considering there are two gorgeous castles that you can see but it is not built up at all. After checking in our hotel, we headed to the ticket office so we could try and get ticket's for the castles. We weren't able to go to both because it was late in the day but we were able to get tickets for 6:00 pm for Neuschwanstein, which is the more famous of the two and the most popular. We went back to our hotel for a quick lunch and then started the 45-minute hike up the mountain to the castle.

 It was very grueling but totally well worth it! Once we got to the top we took pictures and went on another hike, this one only about 15 minutes, to Mary's Bridge. This is the bridge the King Ludwig had built so he could go and look at his castle. It has the best view of the castle and is worth going on it ( it is very narrow and made of wood that may have not been replaced in a very long time). Mom was scared but ventured out a little bit so she could get her picture taken. It was truly amazing! 

We hiked back down to the castle and looked around while we waited for our tour time. Since our tour was one of the last one's of the day it wasn't super busy up there so that was really good. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside the castle. Since King Ludwig had an unexpected death in his 40s, the castle remains unfinished. We had a tour of the finished areas of the castle and the details are amazing. It is really unfortunate that the castle was never finished because it would have really been something to see. The outside of the castle is the most amazing part. Disney's Sleeping Beauty Castle is designed after Neuschwanstein, making this the real Sleeping Beauty Castle. It looks like it is from a fairy tale book because it is just so unreal looking. It is hard to believe that places like this even exist in the world. Everything about it is so ornate. 

We went into the main hall area first and then his throne room which is made completely out of mosaic art work. His bedroom is a carpentry masterpiece and our tour guide said that they spent four years carving everything just in his bedroom. The canopy of his bed had all of the Bavarian church steeples carved out. Everything is so ornate and unreal looking. Our tour was quite short since most of the castle is not finished but the parts we did see were absolutely amazing. 

It was wonderful being able to be some of the few people up at the castle because everything was so quiet and we were able to take pictures without other people in them. We then hiked back down the mountain and headed back to our hotel to have dinner. They had amazing food and we ate all of our meals there! Dad had a red deer meat goulash that was amazing and very tender. Plus they had great wine! After dinner, we headed up to our room which had an amazing view of the castle out on our porch.