We traveled by train from Vienna to Munich, rented a car (navigating major construction in the city), and made our way South to Schwangau. Land of King Ludwig II’s castles. WOW! The beauty of Bavaria astounds. Gorgeous hills, the mountains soaring beyond, the farms and flowers ...all of it. And we arrived ready for our days here, as we got our first views from afar of the castles. Neuschwanstein is the one he built and died before it’s completion. The Disneyland castle is modeled after this; guessing Walt had been here (I haven’t looked it up). And Hohenschwangau was Ludwig’s childhood home, especially during summer. We visited them both our second day. Just incredible!! The views, setting, the scale and workmanship inside...pretty incredible! Ludwig seemed rather unstable; it’s a sad story really, but he created beauty within the beauty around him remarkably even still. It was really neat to see it all. His childhood home is gorgeous, too, and we had a tour guide who was fantastic. Just a wondrous day!
Then, we headed over to the Tegelberg toboggan run—a metal sled you control that’s on a 700 meter curvy course...too FUN! We all made runs. And commented about how in the states, the rules would be far more strict...they simply had a sign with a few rules about not sticking out your feet, holding onto the gear thing, and you ride at your risk. No helmets, no waivers...just fun. And it was!
The other big adventure was the next day to travel to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and go up the Zugspitze—highest mountain Alp in Germany. At just under 10,000 ft, the air was thinner and cooler up there! We rode the train partway, then Josiah, India, and I took the gondola—cable car to the top. Eli and Clark continued on train, which included nearly 5 km (3+ miles) in a tunnel. We all met at the glacier and enjoyed the amazing views. Then, we headed back to the top to walk on up to the summit view. We went to the Austrian border side, too, up there. Eli and Clark rode the train back. And we met up for the last part of the ride to G-P to get the car. The mountains are breathtaking, reminding me of the Rockies some. It was a great day’s journey!
Our time included good restaurants for Bavarian food (hearty!) and even Italian one night, also. We
loved all that we experienced and then turned our thoughts to our last big stop—Berlin. I’ll post some pics, too. See FB 😀.
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