Munich - day 2–Neuschwanstein Castle–Fussen, Germany

Cool and sunny.   Mid 60’s.    Went to the Underground train station which is just a short block from the hotel.   In a vending machine, purchased a “Bayern-Ticket” (which our hotel clerk told us to buy).  $29 EU for all day for up to 5 people and includes trains and busses in Bavaria.   Took train to Fussen, where we picked up a bus that brought us up the mountain to Neuschwanstein Castle.   This is the castle that Disney used as a model for Cinderella Castle in Disneyworld, Orlando.     When we reached the ticket center, we purchased our tickets $12EU each for a guided tour of the castle.   We received a number and had about an hour wait.  Then, we had a choice to walk one mile up the mountain to the castle, or take a horse drawn carriage – which is what we opted for.   Another $6 EU (one way).   We still had a ten minute walk uphill.   On the way up we stopped to have a bratwurst sandwich at one of the vendors.   So good.

A tragic figure, Ludwig III (aka “Mad King Ludwig” ruled Bavaria for 22 years until his death at the age of 40.  Bavaria was weak.  Politically, Ludwig’s reality was to “rule” either as a pawn of Prussia or a pawn of Austria.  Rather than deal with politics in Bavaria’s capital, Munich, Ludwig frittered away most of his time at his family’s hunting palace, Hohenschwangau.   He spent much of his adult life constructing his fanciful Neuschwanstein Castle -  like a kid builds a tree house – on a neighborning hill upon the ruins of a medieval castle.   Although Ludwig spent 17 years building Neuschwanstein, he lived init for only 172 days.   Eventually, in 1886, he was declared mentally unfit to rule Bavaria and was taken away from Neuschwanstein.  Two days after this eviction, Ludwig was found dead in a lake with his psychiatrist.   To this day, people debate whether the king was murdered or committed suicide.

After our tour, back on the horse carriage to the bus and finally to the train.   A 2 hour ride along the rural farming area of Bavaria brought us back to Central Station.  We then took the underground to Marienplatz where the Glockenspiel chimes with a display of a victorious jouster after which we found our way to the Hofbrauhaus.  More bratwurst and beer and traditional Bavarian music.