Seegasthof Weissensee Füssen

... free camping ahead :) We drove towards Munich and parked once again on the street in a small town, which has by far been our most common theme for free camping but is usually the safest choice for us. The best part about Fred is that he is small enough to park on the street and does not look like a campervan, so anyone who sees him most likely would think it was a mail truck or something…at least that is what we tell ourselves :)

... took about 35 minutes to make it through. Short for a CASTLE. But it had incredible views of mountains and lakes and lower Germany. Another castle stood nearby but we didn't have time to see inside. Our long train ride back got us to Munich just in time for one more beer and then the longest train ride of our lives. We took a night train to Berlin which should have taken 8 hours by our schedule...but no. It was 11 hours stuck in a cramped "couchette" which we thought ...

... 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.

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 ...

... the other hill and check out Hohenschwangau Castle as well. We didn't pay for the tour into this one but we checked it out from the outside & got a few snapshots. Then there is horse drawn cart, hiking & walking paths will all get you to the top where Neuschwanstein sits & it takes a good 20mins of exhaustion for those of us that are incredibly unfit to get to the top. But I made it...just. The tour was for about 45mins & as there were ...

... affluent Moroccans. Being in both social circles is apparently quite rare because of the vast disparity between the rich and the poor. She attended both a "rich" and a "poor" wedding recently, and found it pretty bizarre, how two groups of people from the same country can live such different lives. Anyway, this girl's story was pretty interesting ... I found it even more interesting when she mentioned she was meeting up with her twin sister ...

... it was designed by King Ludwig and only 60% of it was finished as he died halfway through making it and they decided not to continue as it was very expensive. The walk back down for 40 minutes is gorgeous I really get to tune out and think as I am walking, as much as I love this travelling by myself sometimes I think its a shame that there is not someone to share it with, to discuss the amazing things I see and also the ...

... is correctly, situated below Neuschwanstein and next to the little makeshift town of tourist shops, beer gardens, hotels, and restaurants. It was great for a few hours just hiking around, breathing the fresh air, and taking lots of pictures (which I will get up hopefully in the next few days when I can find a proper computer). After I was finished at the castles I took the bus back down to the main town where I had gotten the train to, Fussen, and just wandered around ...

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 ...