Neuschwanstein - 12th May, 2002

One thing about going out on the piss is that you often make great plans for stuff to do the following day. The hard part is actually doing it when you wake up the next morning with animal from the Muppets playing drums inside your head. At about 10.30 I mustered up as much energy & enthusiasm as humanly possible and called Martin & Paul to arrange meeting for out trip to Neuschwanstein. It was a pretty motley crew who gathered on Adalbertstraße.

To get the ball rolling, this is a fire hydrant, and in my humble opinion, a rather nice one.

Anyway, we headed off to take the walk up through the gorge to the castle. Not really sure what to say about the gorge except that it's beautiful. Here's a few pictures to prove it.

The intrepid trekkers. Or should that be 'the insipid feckers'.

Watching me, watching you.

After the initial climb, you can get to Marianbrucke which is a bridge over the gorge offering a fantastic view of the Castle. Plus, if you put a spring in your step as you walk onto the bridge, the timbers bounce quite well and you can basically scare 13 types of shit out of whoever happens to be standing on the bridge in front of you. I got shouted at by an Italian woman for that one. Oh well.

It's Paul & Kathrin, the sarcastic twins.

The official line on Neuschwanstein is as follows:

This is King Ludwig's magnificent and most famous castle, built in the neo-late romanesque style. With its turrets and mock-medievalism, its interior styles ranging from Byzantine through Romanesque to Gothic its a real fairy-tale fantasy come true. It was built between 1869 and 1886 for the Bavarian King Ludwig II. A splendid and imaginative "fairy-tale castle" high above the Alpsee lake with the Alps towering above it. Only about a third of the building was actually completed. The 15 rooms you see on the tour show astonishing craftsmanship and richness of detail. Woodcarving in Ludwig's bedroom took 14 carpenters 4 1/2 years to complete. Wagner's operas feature everywhere in the form of murals. The best view of the castle and a 45m waterfall is from the nearby Mary's Bridge (Marienbruecke), which spans a deep gorge. On the path between this bridge and the castle is a wonderful view of Hohenschwangau and the Alpsee. Guided tours take about 35 minutes. You have to walk 170 steps up and down, a lift is not available. The castle (like Hohenschwangau) is open daily April to October, 8.30-5.30, November to March 10-4.

However, this 'official line' fails to mention two very important facts. The first is that it was this very castle that Walt Disney copied to create the Disneyland Fairytale Castle. The second is that this castle can be seen in the movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I think these facts are much more interesting than some toss about what 14 carpenters got up to.

This was taken in the courtyard of the castle, right beside where Chitty took off from.

This next picture was taken from the aforementioned viewing point about halfway between Marianbrucke & the castle. You can see the lakes and the castle Hohenschwangau. It's the older of the two castles near Füssen. Built in the 12th century, it was destroyed by Napoleon and restored by Crown Prince Maximilian 1832-1837 in romanesque style. Ludwig II spent his early years here. The interior is troubadour style, with wall-paintings of Bavarian knights and folk heroes.

And a close-up.

It wouldn't be a tourist destination without a few Japanese tourists.

Chilling out after the long walk.

Kathrin's lunch. Although I got the rasher

These are a couple of shots from the village down by the lake. Incidentally, King Ludwig had a serious swan fetish. That is to say that the fetish was serious, not the swans. They may well have had a great sense of humour.

This photo of the lake was taken by Smithy using his camera. Much better quality than the ones I took of it.