Trip Report -- Day 4

Thursday morning we sampled the buffet breakfast that was included with our stay. The spread included breads, cheese, cold cuts, cereal, muesli, yogurt, assorted fruit juices and more of that amazing butter. Like the dinner, everything on the buffet was first rate.

We scheduled a tour of Neuschwanstein early in the day and a late tour of Schloss Hohenschwangau leaving us most of the day free. The plan was to drive up into the alps and get lunch in a town on the Austrian side of the border. It was raining, so I checked the weather. Sure enough, it was snowing just a bit farther up. The X3 isn't afraid of snow, but some of the snow falling on the local weather cams looked quite heavy. I wasn't sure what the road conditions would be like and I didn't want to get stuck, even for a few hours. Debbie agreed and we decided to spend the day in Hohenscwangau.

After breakfast we hiked up to Neuschwanstein. It is a pleasant walk with fantastic views.


Hohenschwangau castle overlooking the town. Alpsee in the background. Hotel Müller is the yellow building in the center of town below the castle. As always you can click the photo to enlarge.



The tours leave exactly at the scheduled times. There is an automated queue system that admits you to your tour at the precise time. Very German.



Cameras are not allowed inside. I took a few photos while we waited for our tour time. The tour itself felt very rushed. I was not impressed with the tour guide either. Schloss Neuschwanstein is bizarre. Ludwig built it as an homage to Richard Wagner. Left unfinished by King Ludwig's death (likely murder) it is a reflection of his personality.

After the tour, we hiked in the area around the castle. While the castle is very crowed, as soon as we got 10 meters out on a trail the crowds were gone and we had the woods to ourselves.





We went back down into town for some warm tomato soup and a ham and cheese sandwich. After that we went back to the room to relax a bit before touring Neuschwanstein.



Me on the patio of our hotel room.

The room has a great view of Neuschwanstein but this photo Debbie took came out better.

We caught the last tour of the day at Neuschwanstein. The guide makes the tour and this time we did much better. Funny, informative and we learned a bit more history too. After the tour we ran into our guide as she walked down to her car. She is a Human Biology graduate student as was working as a guide only during the German fall holiday.



After dinner at the Müller we watched German TV. There was a Stargate SG-1 marthon on. Having already seen the show, we know enough German to follow along. Stargate dubbed into German was so funny I nearly threw up. The dubbing was just terrible. I have no idea why they couldn't just subtitle it and leave the dialog alone. I do have new respect for how good the Stargate cast is. Christopher Judge really stands out as someone who excels in subtle body language.