Neuschwanstein Castle was built about 130 years ago by King Ludwig II. He only got to live in the castle for 172 days before he was told that the doctors had declared him crazy and he would no longer be able to rule. So a couple days later he and his doctor went out to some river and drown. Happy story huh? He was 40 years old.
The kids were great on the drive to the castle. It was a 2 hour drive but they did a good job of minimal complaining. I think it may have been partially due to Michael's threats. All in the name of Mother's Day.
When we got to the castle I really had to go to the bathroom...Molly got the pic of me paying to use the bathroom. That just never stops blowing my mind. It's so funny. They even had a sign that if you need change go ask the parking attendant. However, the bathrooms are very clean.
Michael went to buy tickets to go to the castle. There was a bus you can take up and down (which of course costs extra). So we got tickets, got the kids ice cream (to try and keep the whining to a minimal for at least 30 minutes) and scouted out a biergarten. Our tour started at 2:25 at the castle and the buses come every 20 minutes. After the bus drops you off it is supposedly a 15 min. walk to the castle. It was 1:25...so we find the nearest Biergarten and try to order a beer at the bar. To which the very nice man said "ONLY TABLE SERVICE". Ok, so we sit and wait, and wait, and wait. No one comes and they all ignore us. So reluctantly we have to leave to go get the bus tickets. Right next to the bus line is another biergarten. Hmmm, so Michael gets the tickets and the kids and I head over to try to order a beer. Meanwhile directly behind where Michael is buying the tickets the whole country of China is lining up for the bus 20 minutes early with their cameras.
We finally sit to enjoy a beer. However, I'm only midway through and the bus we need to catch to make it to the tour we already paid for is pulling up. So we pay, I leave my half drunken beer on the table and the hop into line. The first bus fills up quickly and we don't make it on. Being a good man Michael offers to stay in line and I can go back to our table and finish my beer. (Hence the picture of Michael standing alone in line).
We catch the next bus and make it to the top at 2:20. We make the mistake of following the crowd and end up on a VERY high and VERY scary bridge (Mary's bridge) that has an amazing view of the castle. So we are practically running across the bridge and Michael figures out we are going the wrong way. We stop for the photo op...look closely you can see how freaked out the kids are. I got a picture of the bridge from the castle so you can see just how high up it was. It is the 9th picture. If you look closely you can see the bridge in about the middle of the picture.
So we run and find the castle at 2:35. We are all sweating (especially Michael who had to carry Jack on his shoulders). Gracie is complaining of chest pains and Molly says her legs are going to fall off. No time to whine, we need to find the line. Ahhh we made it!
The tour was well worth it. You are not supposed to take pictures of the inside of the castle but I took a couple from inside the castle. Michael had what he called his most scenic pee of his life. The 11th picture is the view that he enjoyed at the urinal. Lovely huh?
After the tour we decided to save a couple Euro and walk down. It was a beautiful hike. The weather was great, view was gorgeous and the highlights for the kids was horse poop (which Jack accused Gracie of leaving on the path to which Gracie responded, "sorry guys, I had 6 pieces of bologna, I couldn't help myself") and a slug bigger than my thumb.
At the bottom we did some shopping. The girls picked out German dolls and Jack picked out a walking cane with a whistle attached. We tried so hard to sway his decision, but he stuck with the cane. God love him, he knows what he wants.
Great day and it was good to do some traveling again. We are still trying to come to grips with the Navy's new plans for us. So after a little recovery time we're back to traveling as much as we can!!
Love you all...and we will see you much sooner than we planned:)
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