Neuschwanstein

We had to get up early in the morning to pack, eat breakfast, and check out of the hotel before walking down town to catch the tour bus. 

The ride out was about two hours long.  We saw a lot of agriculture.

Our first view of the castle from the highway.

The tour brochure said they could save us an hour or two of waiting in line to buy tickets, and it was true.  The ticket line stretched way down the road around the corner.

We opted out of the bike ride in favour of seeing Hohenschwangau castle, the one that king Ludwig lived in as a child during his summers.  As you can see, he built his own castle within sight of the old one.

The Hohenschwangau castle tour was fairly extensive.  This was the queen's bed room.

After the first castle tour we walked down to the Alpsee.

We had an afternoon snack beside a bunch of Italian boys. Phyllis was happy to eat with young men again.

We met up with the rest of the tour group and walked up the mountain for about 45 minutes. 

We took the steep route up the back which features some water falls.

There are a lot of steps.

Way up on the ridge is a bridge with a great view of the castle. The castle was never finished, so the tour was short.  No pictures were allowed, so we will leave you on the outside.  Ludwig lived there for six months before his untimely demise, so we did get to see the one floor that was finished.