Before we left on the trip, my mom had said that this trip would be good for us; it would be a test of our relationship and how well we worked together.
She was right.
But, like a well-trained duo of super heroes, we leapt into action without the slightest bit of panic.
Perhaps there was a little panic.
We grabbed our packs and were soon sprinting full speed through the crowds of people separating us and our precious train to the majestic castle. Regulars in Munich might have wondered what two slightly scruffy looking people with backpacks and ball caps were doing dashing down the street, but we arrived at the Haptbahnhof with 6 minutes to spare despite Libby stopping to tie her shoes at least twice. We still had to get tickets and actually arrive on the train, however. We plowed through the station, bypassed the ticket lines with English speaking staff, and made it to the machine to order our tickets in German. We got what looked like what we might need, dashed to our platform, leapt into the train, and sat just as the doors closed. Giddy at our accomplishment we settled in for our train-ride.
(This is Lib taking over for the rest of the post, Steven has decided to read).
Fussen contains the summer childhood hunting home (Hohenschwangau) of King Ludwig the Mad, and his fantasy castle based on Wagner operas (Neuschwanstein). The town is very well set up to lure tourists to spend money. Once arriving in Fussen you must wait three hours before you can visit Neuschwanstien Castle but you only have to wait one hour until you can visit Hohenschwangau Castle. The idea is that one will then decide to visit both, going to the smaller castle first than the larger. Also, enough time is scheduled between the two to keep tourists in Fussen longer. Somehow, this commercialized marketing scheme took away from the majestic nature of the place, although it was still impressive. We decided to rent bikes once we arrived and forgo the tourist buses to the castles. We biked the 5 kilometers to the base of Hohenschwangau along a nice scenic path that crossed several bridges, until we reached the point where only foot travel or shuttle bus was allowed. Deciding to hike, we were soon in the courtyard of Hohenschwangau. This castle served as a summer hunting lodge for the kings of Bavaria around Ludwig II’s reign. Only a small part was open to the public. It was impressive but the rushed thirty-minute tour didn’t give the time to process much of what was seen except for swans in all forms throughout the castle. We then walked on to Neuschwanstein, on what was supposed to be a 40 minute hike, and found that we were there in 20. Waiting around we read up on the castle in our handy Rick Steve’s guide. Ludwig was a huge fan of the composer Wagner and designed the interior of the castle after Wagner’s compositions. The castle contains an original Wagner piano (which we saw!) and a small concert hall. Many of the paintings and statues reference Wagner’s operas. A theatre scene designer designed the castle and painted the backdrop for the concert hall. Disney used the castle as inspiration for the movie Sleeping Beauty. Ludwig only lived in the castle for 172 days. He was declared mentally ill and was not allowed to rule. The next day he was found dead in a pond under shady circumstances and the only witness was his doctor. (If you’re thinking about Michael Jackson, don’t worry I was too). Six weeks after he died the castle was opened for tours. It’s almost like this place was destined for tourists. On the way down from the schloss (castle) we decided to take the scenic route that Rick Steve’s mentioned. It was incredible; instead of following the road the dirt trail wandered down the backside of the mountain. We found that we were the only ones on the route. We hiked the past an incredible waterfall and flowing streams. This route also provided the best view yet of Neuschwanstein. We made it back to our bikes and realized that we had 12 minutes to bike the several miles back to bike store, return the bikes, and catch the train back. It was an eerily similar situation to this morning. I hopped on my bike to lead the way. I pushed the hardest gears while pumping my legs at incredible speeds. Steven then took over near Fussen to navigate us back to the rental store. Suddenly, I heard the screech of brakes and saw Steven’s bike skidding to a halt without warning. Panicked, I slammed on mine as well and tried to figure out what was going on. By this time Steven was already ordering his second scoop of ice cream and telling the merchant that it was “sehr gut”. Unfortunately I was too out of breath to scold him, so we hopped back on the bikes, now with Steven juggling his bowl of chocolate and cherry cake ice cream, and headed on. We made it back to the rental store, locked the bikes up, and once again hopped on the train 2 minutes before it left. Giddy again at our accomplishment we started wondering if catching a train seconds before the train leaves is something to be proud of or if maybe we should pay attention to the time. Exhausted we made it back to our pension (bed and breakfast) for a good night’s sleep.

Traveling question of the day: What type of tourists are more obnoxious than American tourists? We know.
Signing off-
Lederhosen Libby and Streusel Eating Steven
PS: You should be able to click the pictures on the blog for bigger versions.