The Castles of Ludwig II

Sunday dawned, and I was pretty excited to start our day.  Because even though the girls and I have been here before and we saw the castles, we did not have a chance to tour the insides.  I was a little too excited though, and we found ourselves with a bit of extra time as our tours started an hour after I had thought they did.  No problem at all as it allowed us to stroll back down to Alpsee and catch the view before the hoards of people (and the mist) set in.

Located right next to the lake is the Museum der Bayerischen Könige (The Museum of the Bavarian Kings).  Our tour tickets included a visit, so we popped on in for a quick look around.  The girls (and I) were kept amused by counting the plastic Easter eggs that the staff had hidden all over the exhibit.  Sadly, after finding 49 of them, we will never know if we were correct as no one, save the person who hid them, knows how many were actually hidden.  At least we had fun.

As with all sites here in Hohenschwangau, no cameras are allowed (they even use video surveillance to make sure that there is no one trying to sneak a photo on their phone).  You will just have to take my word for the fact that we actually toured the inside.

Back outside, we had a short walk to our first castle of the day, albeit one that wound straight up.  We had a little time though so we took it at a leisurely pace and I got some exterior shots of the castle Hohenschwangau.  Because again - no photos inside (except for one particular spot).

Hohenschwangau is the less famous of the two castles located here but was the one actually used and lived in by the ruling family, the Wittelsbach's, after they purchased the dilapidated building in 1832.  Still known as Schwanstein then (the two castles switched names late in the 19th century), Maximillian II renovated the castle against his fathers' wishes and turned it into the summer residence of his family which included his wife Marie and his two sons, Ludwig and Otto.  The boys spent much of their adolescence here, and after Maximillian's death, Ludwig succeeded him as king and moved into his father's rooms.  It would be his love of this area and its stunning views that would lead him to tear down the old Schwangau castle on the opposite hill and begin building his masterpiece, Neuschwanstein.

The castle was gorgeous - not overdone, not underdone - and the views from every window were out of this world.  In fact, there is only one spot where you can take a picture, and it is out of the window of the King's old office...

Could you imagine getting any work done with that view?

A quick 40 minutes later we were back out in the sunshine (Ah, sunshine!) and headed to our appointment at Neuschwanstein castle.  We got in line to take the horse and carriage up the hill, but when I went inside our hotel to ask if we would make our tour if we waited, the bellman assured me we would not.  So, we headed over to the bus stop and took it up once again so that we would not be late.  And thankfully, we were not.  In fact, we even had a few minutes to spare, so we walked down to get a snack of the amazing beignet style donuts before capturing a few pictures of the view from the castle grounds.

Remember the bridge we stood on yesterday to get the view of the castle?  Yep, that is it.  Makes me dizzy just looking at it in this way.  Balanced over that crevasse and waterfall!  Yikes.

I turned around and took pictures from a few different angles, but since I already had taken so many last time, I spent a bit more time just looking around and catching the details I missed when we were there 2 years ago.

Tour complete (again, no pictures inside) we walked down the hill for lunch.  Ironically stopping at the Hofbrauhaus München for beer, a bite to eat and the views!

We had a leisurely lunch, but it was getting time to get down and to the bus station so that we could catch our train.  We decided that since we had not gotten to ride the horse/carriage on the way up, we would do it on the way down.  The line was shorter this time, and we were situated in just a few minutes...

Front row!

Turns out that our favorite lonely church in the middle of nowhere is actually used to bless the horses that pull the carriages up and down the hill.  Once a year, the horses gather in the fields, and the minister says a prayer of protection for them.

We all said a quick thank you to the horses and headed to the train station.

And this is where it gets interesting.  We picked up our luggage, caught the bus, and made it to the train station about 10 minutes before our train was scheduled to depart.  By the time we got to the platform, we had approximately 7 minutes until our scheduled departure so we hustled to catch the train, worried that we would not be able to find seats together.  But then B mentioned that this might not be our train.  While he went to check with the conductor, he told us to stay put - which we did.  Nana, Grampa, and the girls were on the train by the doors.  I had stayed outside so I could see what B said after talking to the conductor.  The doors closed.  We opened them.  The doors closed and we opened them again.  This time Grampa got off with me to see what was going on.  B was waving us off the train so we turned around to help Nana and the girls get them and the luggage off as the doors closed again.  And this time they would. not. open.  We pounded, and we pressed, and we tried our darndest to open the doors again but to no avail and we watched in shock as the train took off - with Nana and the girls inside.  And they had no idea where they were going to have to change trains.  And they had no tickets.  And we weren't even sure that Nana had her phone charged or on or if she would even get a signal.  But at least Nana was with the girls!

B, Grampa and I got to work.  We tried to get the station to call the train and let them know what happened.  It was Sunday, they were closed.  We talked about catching our original train and hoping to meet up with them at our changing point, but we didn't know if they would know where to change and if anyone would help them.  We made a quick decision to hop into the nearest taxi and ask him to speed us to the next stop that we could catch them at - about 15 minutes away by taxi, but our driver assured us that he could make it.  We hopped in and held on for the death-defying ride at high speeds through country roads, all the while trying Nana on her cell phone.  Grampa finally got through and told her to get off at Lengenwang Station (where we were heading) if she didn't see us on the platform, ready to get on.  

Deep breath after that as we had finally made contact.  

We jumped out at the station (he had missed the train by only a minute or so) and the girls rushed up, Stinkerbell dissolving into tears and fierce bear hugs stating how much she missed me.  Even grown up MadHatter hugged us all hard.  Nana recounted the fact that there were a lot of people that offered them help and seats and reassurances.  And that the ticket taker really wanted the tickets she did not have and wanted to charge her for them, but she couldn't pay for them anyway as she had no money.  I think when she told him she was getting off, he reluctantly let her go.

We had about 20 minutes to wait until the next train came by.  Ironically, it was the train we were supposed to have been on all along.  Until then, we took a selfie and a few pictures of our surroundings (it was remote but beautiful)...

And then Bunny hailed the next train home.

It added a lot of excitement to an already exciting weekend, and it was just too much for Stinkerbell to handle as she tried to sleep through dinner.  It was a lot of fun, but I think we could have done without stranding the family on the train.