Hotel Maximilian Schwangau

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 ...

... foot we have great fun on the Sommerrodelbahn, a toboggan run. We head back to the campsite, the boys take a dip in the See and I manage to produce a macaroni cheese! We need the carbs after all the day’s exertion. Go to bed exhausted, rain storm beating against Moby’s roof. Tomorrow we make our way towards Austria, then Italy. Still debating whether to stopover in Austria or carry on towards Venice. The Alpine mountain passes beckon. Wish us luck.

(67 miles) 1087 total Well it turns out Germany is beautiful as well. We spent a lot of the day climbing as we began at 400 m from sea level and ended at 800 reaching close to 1000 in the middle. Our legs are the sorest they've been since the first two weeks. Lucky thing we planned a rest day here near the Neuschwanstein Castle. I broke a spoke on my ...

... too.
The rest of the tour took us to Linderhof castle and Neuschwanstein castle. What magical looking places they were. Neuschwanstein is the castle Walt Disney uses the sillohette of at the start of his movies. Anyway, after the trip it was back to Munich for a day or so and then on the plane home.

... After making a quick snack stop (more bread, cheese and cookies!) we hiked back up to Mary's Bridge. This was probably the best part of the whole tour and it's not even on the tour...technically, you can go up there for free. The view was amazing from there (I think I'm using the word amazing a little too much...must break out a thesaurus!). The bridge spans a canyon with a rushing waterfall below and Neuschwanstein out ...

Castle Neuschwanstein When we arrived we were taken up the hill to the castle in a horse drawn carriage, the ride lasting 30 minutes. Many people walked this but after yesterday's walk there was no way we would take this on! On reaching the upper "terminal" we discovered we still had to walk another long section uphill until we eventually reached the castle but boy, was it ...

... useless factoids: Ludwig II died with only 1/3 of the interior finished. Within 6 weeks of his death, people were already visiting the castle as a museum, so it has never been finished. The "throne room," which has no throne (never got built), was designed on the model of a Byzantine Church. Behind the throne pedestal are paintings of 6 kings who are also saints. Above them sits Christ as King of Kings. Ludwig was really trying to tie himself in with the greats of history ...

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.

... gorgeous and the views of it and from it are breathtaking.



After our tour we drove to Kempten and stayed at the Peterhof downtown. This was our first room with a tv...all German stations, of course!

We went by car to Mittenwald and got at room at the Hotel Post. It was a nice room, but very narrow. It reminded me of a train compartment. There was a hail storm and it was rainy and cloudy. I bought ...