- Idyllic day in Fussen yesterday – rose early, bought ticket, wandered around Hohenschwangau Castle and then climbed up to Neuschwanstein Castle for my tour:
- Byzantine throne room
- Bedroom with bed which looked like Notre Dame on steroids – only slept in 2 weeks before woken to be taken in as unfit to rule by reason of psychiatric imparirment. Died a few days later in Lake.
- Castle designed by stage designer as an homage to Wagner – included an artificial grotto and a huge reception room, all gilded and decorated in exquisite detail – all 600 candles would be lit in this last room whenever Ludgwig II fancied spending some time in that room, which he usually did alone as he didn’t much like people who weren’t Wagner by the sounds of things.
- King’s bedroom had all sorts of mod cons, including a toilet that flushed and a sink with running water - the kitchen was similarly ahead of its time.
It was a bit hilly. And yes, that's a castle.
Alpensee (the lake beside Hohenschwangau Castle).
One of the rooms in the vast Neuschwanstein kitchen. No photography was allowed in the more interesting rooms, hence the lack of photos from those rooms.
The castle had a view fit for a king. The yellow building on a little mountain to the left of the centre is Hohenschwangau Castle, where King Ludwig II spent much of his childhood. The lake to the right is Alpensee.
Alpensee (the lake beside Hohenschwangau Castle).
One of the rooms in the vast Neuschwanstein kitchen. No photography was allowed in the more interesting rooms, hence the lack of photos from those rooms.
The castle had a view fit for a king. The yellow building on a little mountain to the left of the centre is Hohenschwangau Castle, where King Ludwig II spent much of his childhood. The lake to the right is Alpensee.
- Walked up to Marienbruck (bridge high over the castle).
- By then totally over everything, so had a long sleep before going on a more detailed explore of Fussen – the church with the bodies in it, the old graveyard featuring a memorial to the young German men lost during the first World War.
Church and old town wall. The romance of the place diminished significantly when you peered into the tower on the left and found it was being used as a gardening shed.
The other side - the names of young men from Fussen who died in WWI.
- Sports day in Fussen – oldies running a distance race, the young ones running a relay through the town, across the cobblestones, in the rain, with changeover points marked in wood shavings on the ground. Quite a festival atmosphere!
- Decided to head to Munich – the drive through Bavaria in the twilight was really something, with the air as softly coloured as if it was a watercolour painting. Funny though, my instinctive thought to myself was that I should watch out for roos, driving at that time of night!
- Camped on the outskirts of Munich last night before moving to the campground where I’ll be the next couple of nights – showers, power, WiFi, who could ask for anything more. J
Church standing the fields outside Schangau, near Fussen
Note the cow bells. CG, I took this one on purpose for you! :)
Shuttered window down a tiny cobbled side street. (OG, I think of you every time I see a cobbled street, which is often!)
View over Fussen township.
Some church (Kirche St Stephen). The relics of saints are in glass-fronted coffins at the base of the ornate panels on the left and the right of this photo.