Appartementhotel Seespitz Füssen

We stopped on the way to the castles to climb to the top of the castle above our campsite, which gave us a nice view of the green lake below. We reached the castles in Germany after lunch but due to the fact that they both closed at 5pm, we decided to choose one to do a tour. My favorite by far was the Neuschwanstein, which I had seen in photos and heard that the Disneyland castle was inspired by. We learned a lot about Ludwig II ...

... The Schloss is the last stop on the Romantic Road in Germany. There were many Japanese tourists, which was fun for us to see. Unfortunately one side of the castle was under repair, but it was still beautiful to see the castle in its lush surroundings.

Today it was time to say goodbye to Beate and make our way towards Hungary. We had two stops on our route today: the Zugspitze and the Salzkammergut.

Our driving route took us along the north of the Bodensee (lovely but definitely an area to avoid on a sunny day at the peak of tourist season unless you enjoy heavy traffic.)

We approached the Zugspitze from the Austrian side near Reutte in Tirol. As we were weaving through the valley, I was trying to ...

... killed/commited suicide). This castle also inspired the castles in the Disney films and in Disney Land. The other castles and surrounding area were beautiful and it was a nice hike up to Neuschwanstein, and the inside was really stunning with all the walls painted with scenes from Wagner's operas. The only downside was that it was a huggge tourist trap (I had to walk through 2 gift shops before I could actually leave the castle tour).

This was a lovely little place we stopped at on the bus tour to the castles. Unfortunately, being Sunday, most everything was shut (except for the souvenir shops that is). They have a woodcarving school there that I plan to stop at for a weeklong course on the next trip. But of course it was shut that ...

... for an hour before I headed back to Munich. Let me tell you, this little town was absolutely gorgeous! You could have just spent a day there, yet at the same time, I think you could just spend a day anywhere in Southern Germany as long as the sun was out and there was a beer garden within reach. But honestly, this town was great. It was on a big milky green coloured river, had a huge old castle at it's center, lots of patios on the streets full of people enjoying today's ...

Another work conference for my parents brought us to Oberammergau for a week. We stayed in the cutest little wooden cottage - like the whole thing ceiling to floor and including flowering window boxes was made out of wood! Totally picturesque like you've read about in Brothers Grimm fairy tales. Aromatic town bakery. Absolutely enchanting.

Today we drove up into the mountains to see the fairy tale castle, Neuschwanstein. This is another of Ludwig's castles, this one unfinished, and served as the inspiration for Disney's Sleeping Beauty Castle. It ...