Day 7: Land of Enchanted Castles
Castle Magic: This was a day we were really looking forward to . . . and chance to visit two of the most famous castles in the world. It was an overcast day with low hanging clouds that intermittently swallowed the castles. For a moment, I was disappointed that I wouldn't get the "classic" picture of Neuschwanstein, but then reconsidered when I heard a local photographer celebrating the fog. "This makes the pictures much more interesting." He was right; the clouds added another layer of mystery and magic to an already breathtaking scene, and when the tour had finished, the fog had lifted enough to still see some dramatic scenes from the bridge that overlooked Neuschwanstein.
Castle #1: It started wtih Hohenschwangau, the castle of Crazy King Ludwig's parents. Actually, it was just their summer home. With its billiard room, pianos and decor, it was actually more livable and comfortable than we anticipated. According to our guide, it took 5 painters one full year to decorate this castle. Wow. Castle #2: Neuschwanstein is the classic fairy tale castle. Indeed, Crazy King Ludwig spared no expense in building this castle which he intended to outshine his parents' castle that rests lower in the valley. Although a relatively new castle that is only 1/3 finished on the inside, Neuschwanstein was an achievement of excess. Nearly every inch of every wall is covered in paintings. The throne room had a floor of 2 million tiles which took 2 years to complete! Wildly ornate wood carvings decorated the bedroom, and the castle featured a state of the art kitchen and a telephone that could only call the post office because no one else had a phone. We almost felt like we were part of a fairy tale as we walked through the extravagant rooms. A Close Group Gets Closer: Almost every spare moment at our hotel was spent on the cozy deck where we would circle up the chairs and bring everyone into the conversations. For supper, our typically excellent group dinner was made even better by our partner introductions. We thought we knew each other well already, but we learned even more fun facts as we introduced each other, laughed and genuinely enjoyed each other's stories. |
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