man merkt oft nicht wie schnell die zeit vergeht
the kings of the world are growing old,
and they shall have no inheritors.
their sons died while they were boys,
and they neurasthenic daughters abandoned
the sick crown to the mob
the mob breaks it into tiny bits of gold
the lord of the world, master of the age,
melts them in fire into machines,
which do his orders with low growls;
but luck is not on their side.
the ore feels homesick, it wants to abandon
the minting houses and the wheels
that offer it such a meager life.
and out of factories and payroll boxes
it wants to go back into the veins
of the thrown-open mountain,
which will close again behind it.
-rilke
In the last installment our heroes managed to make their way to munich eat lots of food, nap, pick up a car and party the night away. When sunday morning came around we were all excited to make our way out to Hohenschwangau which is the town that has the fabulous castle Neuschwanstein which was created for Ludwig II of Bavaria aka the disneyland castle. The weather was rather unfortunate and the rain was coming down pretty hard. We had a couple of maps and some directions from the guy at the front desk but we weren't confident that what we had would really help us but we risked it for the first 30 minutes and chickened out and bought a detailed map when we needed to get some gas. This turned out to be a great call since it helped us out tremendously both on our way to the castles and back late at night. Driving in the rain was made easier with the car JT picked up and it handled exceptionally well. We kept ourselves busy with taking in the beautiful country side. Words really can't do justice to how pretty it is out there with rolling green fields and quaint farm houses. As we got closer to the castles we actually went a bit too far and ended up right near Austria which was 5 minutes away. We did a quick turn around and managed to make it to Hohenschwangau and proceeded to join the throng of tourists in their attempt to see Schloss Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein. If there was one fortunate thing about the rain was that the crowds weren't massive but still pretty bad.
The scene was rather surreal since we don't tend to see very old things in America and coming across these beautiful structures turns you into a child in a wonderland. You tend to come back down to earth when you realize how they are constantly trying to push various cheesy souvenirs on you. It turns out you can't actually wander around inside the castles by yourself and you have to buy tickets for tours which disappointed me. I like to take my own time looking at things and pausing when I need to. We ended up getting tickets for both castles and our first tour was Schloss Hohenschwangau. We had about 20 minutes to kill so we ended up roaming around the entrance taking pictures and video of the outside. The castles have a lake and mountain range right near them and on the rainy day everything looked really tantalizing like being in a movie. It must have been amazing to be there when they had just built the places and it wasn't so touristy. I can imagine on a sunny summer day the lake would be extremely pretty and well worth frolicking around. We lined up promptly for our tour and we spent 30 minutes getting some basic facts about the castle and seeing various rooms. I understand why the tours are so short but I didn't really feel I got a great experience. I love being able to check out various nooks and crannies but we were denied such experiences. Our tour group was quite a mix and I loved looking at the kids who didn't really get that they weren't supposed to touch anything and would go ahead and do something and make the tour guide agitated. The one interesting piece of gossip we learned was the king was a fan of wagner and it turns out that the only person stay in his guest room right next to him was wagnar. Oh-la-la what sorts of crazy things did the king and wagnar get up to? They probably spent many a night gossiping about girls and the latest sword fashions maybe even talking over the perfect place to take a girl on a date such as the grotto. Poor queen marie was relegated to having a floor for herself down a floor below where the king had a secret stairway to get to her. Part of me suspects that he never really used it that often besides the times he had to produce his two sons Otto and Ludwig II both of whom had problems. Otto was crazy and Ludwig had hearing issues (or maybe I did since this is what I believe the tour guide said). They also lived off in the children's wing of the castle isolated from their parents. What a lovely family indeed. With the tour over it was time to catch the local shuttle to get up to Neuschwanstein.
After taking a 5 minute bus ride up the hill we got off and walked another 10 minutes to get the castle. As we walked up we could hear the river rage down below us. There's also a bridge you can go to and see down to the castle. I have a general problem with heights and we would be late for our tour if we went there (yes, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it). When you see Neuschwanstein from a distance it looks very cool but up close it's hard not to fall in love. The building is gorgeous and you just want to eat it up when you see it. Neuschwanstein was the brain child of Ludwig II and he almost bankrupted the state trying to build the thing. He died under mysterious circumstances after his psychiatrist told him they were going to depose him and the next thing you know they go off for a walk and both are found dead. Mystery , intrigue and a bootylicious castle what more could you want in a story? They never fully finished completing the inside of the castle but there is enough in there to make you salivate and dream of times paste. The most interesting part is the grotto aka the cave of love which is right next ludwig's bedroom (he never actually go to stay in the castle). It's pretty weird when you go in there but there is this really nice balcony outside with a sliding door which would make for quite a nice romantic dinner. The one theme you pick up all around the castle is that this family really like wagnar. He was supposedly the muse for the castle. Maybe there was a little more going on if you know what I mean *wink wink nudge nudge*. Like the other tour it ended way too early and I was a little disappointed. One moment of comic relief and one of those you had to be there moments was when our tour guide said a joke that he's probably said on every tour and then 5 seconds later came this really awkward laugh from him. I burst of laughing and I was glad because other people had found the moment equally funny. We trudged down to the bus and headed back to the car. Our next stop was Austria for dinner.
Having almost gone into Austria earlier that day we were almost experts on getting there. Unfortunately we got lost on our way there but managed to figure it out eventually. The closest town on the map was called Vils which seems to be a place that has seen better days or comes alive during winter. We stopped at the first restaurant looking place and went in because it seemed like lots of locals were there. The owner kindly smiled and gave us menus and we proceeded to try and decipher the all german menu. My choice was easy since I knew the words for various meats and when it came time to order it turned out the lady didn't speak any english. I managed to vaguely place my order with the relevant smiles and laughs hoping I'd get the right thing. This was the only time in the whole trip where I had to attempt any kind of german everywhere else people spoke perfect english (much better than mine). The meal was more than adequate and it was fun to have dinner in another country. I love how close everything is in Europe. Having tamed our stomachs we proceeded to head back to our beloved Hotel Konighof. On the way back we got a bit lost and after a bunch map lookups and direction gathering we made it in time to pass out and await another day.
