Today we left Munich and heading south towards Austria, the Alps and Neuschwanstein Castle. But first we had to make a minor detour. The playing shirt Cameron had purchased at the stadium was a size too big, so we needed to loop around the city and head back to the stadium to swap it.
On the way out of Munich we passed the Siegestor (Victory Gate), a three arched memorial that was built in 1852 and dedicated to the glory of the Bavarian Army. It was badly damaged in World War II and rebuilt as a peace memorial. The new inscription reads Dem Sieg geweiht, vom Krieg zerstört, zum Frieden mahnend, "Dedicated to victory, destroyed by war, urging peace"
We felt a little guilty that we hadn't seen too much of Munich, but our goal for this trip was to see some of the smaller towns in Germany.
After making the exchange at the stadium, we headed towards our next destination, Neuschwanstein Castle.
We firstly had to drive south past a few more of the 'Romantic Road' towns and then towards to Alps. This made for some nice scenery, but slightly frustrating driving with drivers overtaking then slowing right down in the fast lane or squeezing into gaps between cars that were way too small and causing a chain reaction of slamming on brakes.
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| We got stuck behind this guy who had a max speed of 35 km/h in the 70 zone |
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| First sight of the Alps |
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| Maypole |
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| Austrian Border |
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| Ehrenberg Castle |
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| Highline179 - the longest 'Tibet-style footbridge' in the world |
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| This is the town we are staying in - Heiterwang |
Castle Neuschwanstein is situated just on the German side of the border and coupled with Hohenschwangau Castle just across the mountains.
Neuschwanstein Castle was started in 1869 by King Ludwig II of Bavaria, but never completed. When he died in 1886 the castle was opened to the public. The castle served as the inspiration for the Disneyland Castle "Sleeping Beauty's Castle".
When it arrived, the first thing we noticed was how hot it was. 32 degrees C in Germany felt pretty damn hot and coupled with the humidity it wasn't terribly pleasant. We took a few pictures from the carpark and then headed up to the ticket booth to buy bus tickets up to the castle.
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| Kris liked the fact you could buy beer and Jack Daniels and Coke in vending machines |
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| Hohenschwangau Castle |
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| Neuschwanstein Castle |
When the bus dropped us off we had the option to either take a road to the left or one up the mountain. Kris chose the upward one and we started up the path before coming to a big queue. We weren't sure why there was a random queue to get up to the castle, but instead it turned out to be for Marienbrücke (Mary's Bridge), which spans Pöllat Gorge.
King Maximilian II ordered a wooden bridge built in 1845, which was replaced by an iron structure in 1866. The bridge allows a perfect view of Neuschwanstein Castle, but it was so packed with people we didn't really get to spend much time taking photos. Rather than continue to whole way over the bridge, and climb the mountain to a lookout, we turned back and headed over to the castle.
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| The final part of the line and the overloaded bridge |
We followed the other path up the Neuschwanstein castle and got some more good pictures. Unfortunately the tour was sold out, so after a few more pictures we headed back down.
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| Map of the area |
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| Hohenschwangau Castle |
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| View from the castle |
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| Faces on the wall of Neuschwanstein - According to Tom they are the heads of all the giants they killed making the castle |
After the castle we headed to our accommodation in a small Austrian town - Heiterwang. Located 1000m above sea level, the town is the entrance to the Tiroler Zugspitz area. The name comes from "Ayterwanch" meaning meadow of nettles. The town had a population of 524 in 2009.
We stayed at the Haus Tauern am See, which was a nice two bedroom apartment with an awesome view. Haus Tauern am see means "Tauern house at the lake" with Tauern meaning a high mountain pass in the Austrian Alps.
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| View from the front of the house |
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| Panoramic of our back yard |
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| The road to the lake |
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