Life in Germany: NEUSCHWANSTEIN

Oli and I decided to take a little day trip, and literally were gone all day. We left at about 7:30 in the morning and got back around midnight. We made a trip south to Bavaria, to Neuschwanstein, the castle that the Disneyland castle was inspired by. The trip was a lot of fun, of course =). There were 2 castles that we checked out. The first one, the smaller castle was the castle that King Ludwig lived in while his dream castle, Neuschwanstein, was being built. Our tour guide for the smaller castle really enjoyed his job and was very informative. Sometimes he would make jokes, and I didn’t get it, but Oli later told me that a lot of his jokes were German humor, and I guess I need a little bit more time around German humor lol. We weren’t allowed to take pictures inside of either of the castles, but the intricate details that showed up throughout both was amazing. It’s still crazy to me to think how they were able to construct such an intricate, yet sturdy building in those times.

After we were done with the first castle, we grabbed a bite to eat and then walked up to Neuschwanstein. We got lucky on this day, because the weather turned out great. It had been dark and cold and wet before, but it cleared up for our trip =). Neuswchanstein was a cool site to see, but it was hard to take pics from the outside, cause there were no good places to stop and get a good shot of the whole thing. Our guide for this castle wasn’t as good as our first guide, and actually, we spent less time in the bigger castle than the smaller one. We didn’t really like how you weren’t allowed to adventure out a little bit in the big castle, but hey, rules are rules I guess. Trying to get out of the castle was an adventure in itself. We kept walking and following the signs that said exit and it felt like we just kept walking and walking and eventually found ourselves in some random underground tunnel, that of course I had to stop and take a picture of.

Once we found our way out, we made our way back to the car and decided that we would drive to Munich for dinner. There was a “must go” restaurant that Oli wanted to take me to, with typical Bavarian food. Oh! Another exciting thing, I finally drove in Germany, and on the Autobahn! Hehe, needless to say it was a lot of fun and of course we got to Munich in great time =). We ate at the Hofbrauhaus. It is a famous restaurant that has been there for years and continues to display Bavarian traditions, from the food to the beer, the music and the dancing, the people both regulars and visitors. It was such a cool atmosphere to be in. There was a band and they played traditional Bavarian music and these older ladies, so cute, were dancing their little traditional Bavarian dance, it was great! Once we were done with our meal, we went and walked around Munich a little. The good weather continued through the night and walking around was awesome. I would have never imagined myself just taking a day trip to Bavaria, seeing the Bavarian Alps and then ending the day walking the streets at night in Munich. It was such a cool experience and I’m so happy that we got to take the trip.

Overall, the trip included great sights, great weather, great food, great talks, great company and just great experiences. Definitely two thumbs up and a big ol’ smile =D

the smaller castle, i forget what it was called