Our second day in Germany was my favorite of the entire trip and definitely one of the top three travel experiences of my entire life. We boarded the bus early in the morning, trying to avoid the guy who circle-breathed while vaping so the bus driver wouldn't notice, and we headed southwest toward the Austria border. Deep in the Ammergau Alps, on the edge of the Ettaler Forest and just two miles north of the Austria border, we came around another stunning bend in the valley to see a striking white castle perched low on a dark green and blue mountain. Just outside the town of Schwangau, the Swan District, sits Schloss Neuschwanstein, famous for being the inspiration for Walk Disney's Cinderella Castle but so much more stunning than any animated film could show. The region was known as the Swan District for its distinctive wildlife, and in the Middle Ages, it was guarded by the Swan Knight, who ruled from the ancient fortress of Schwanstein, meaning "Swan Stone" or "Swan Castle". Eventually ruined by time, the Swan Castle was rebuilt as Hohenschwangau ("above Schwangau") in the 1830s by the ruling Wittelsbach family, who used it as their summer retreat for a century. King Ludwig II of Bavaria was raised in Hohenschwangau, where he could look out the window, across the town, and up to the next peak over to see the medieval ruins of two other castles, creatively named "The Front One above Schwangau" and "The Back One above Schwangau". As a grown man, he would demolish these ruins to build his dream home - the New Swan Castle, Neuschwanstein.
Ludwig II was not a particularly popular king. He suffered from a variety of emotional illness and likely mental illnesses, and he had a tendency to not be a very dutiful king. Emotionally fragile to say the least, he preferred to spend his time away from Munich and his responsibilities, focusing on his obsessions with various contemporary celebrities and even holding dinner parties for his imaginary celebrity guests. It was his obsession with Richard Wagner and Wagner's operas, which presented dramatic and romantic interpretations of the mythology of the Middle Ages, which inspired him to built a towering while palace, soaring out of the forest and mountain.
We were bused into the lower part of the town in the valley between Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau. Because of the rain and slick conditions, we opted to take a shuttle partway up the mountain to the Marienbrücke, a pedestrian bridge sitting 300 heart-pounding feet above the stunning Pöllat Gorge and waterfall. The views were stunning. The mist from the massive waterfall hovered up around the bridge and created a lush and humid valley around the base of the castle. From the bridge, you could see all of Neuschwanstein from the height of its tallest towers.
We hike downward toward the castle, following a spiraling path around its base to get to the entrance. Once inside the castle (where no photography is allowed due to ongoing restorations and attempts to complete Ludwig's unfinished vision), we wandered though a maze of increasingly ornate rooms. Ludwig had built himself a throne room inspired by Byzantine cathedrals, including a jewel-toned mosaic floor, gilded tiled arches, an enormous chandelier in the shape of Byzantine crown, and a fully gilded dome ceiling with paintings of Jesus and a rainbow that ended right where the throne would sit. The bedroom was tiny and felt tinier thanks to the ornately-carved dark wood panels covering the walls. In a room designed to evoke some of Wagner's most romantic operas, the bachelor king's twin bed was definitely an ironic feature.
We followed the guide through the narrow doorways into the drawing room, covered in swans, and through an innocuous little door into, inexplicably, a cave. The Grotto, as it is known, is a passageway from the drawing room to study that looks for all the world like a real cave. Fashioned out of stone, concrete, and immense creativity, it even has rough stone floors and a little waterfall.
We followed a servants' hallway toward the Singers Hall. Ludwig, in one of his many bouts of paranoia, was disgusted by the physical features of any person of a lower class than him and became irate at the sight of any of his servants. As a result, he had hallways with opaque windows and concealed staircases constructed throughout the castle so he would never have to look at his servants.
He wanted an elevator under his dining table so it could be lowered into the kitchen to be set with food, but it wouldn't fit.
The Singers Hall was mostly under restoration, but we were able to see the Singers Bower, a stage-like area at one end of the room painted to look like a clearing in a forest. We stepped through a doorway concealed in the fake trees and descended a narrow spiral staircase to - you guessed it - the gift shop. And just when we thought we'd cleared the kitsch center of the palace, there was, astonishingly a second gift shop.
We finally escape the never-ending gift shops and enjoyed a very pleasant downhill stroll into the town, where we had a delicious late lunch and some espresso. I finally got to have some spätzle, which I'd been looking forward to for quite a while. After lunch, we walked toward the edge of town to see the stunning alpine lakes that the region is famous for. Alpsee is really one of the most gorgeous places I've even seen.
Three hours, two pee stops, and an espresso later, our bus rumbled into the heart of Munich, and we were more than ready to eat and sleep. We tried to go to a biergarten for dinner, but it was a weekend night and everything was so packed that we couldn't even get a seat, so we stayed close to the hotel and found a fabulous little restaurant called Münchner Stubn. It's sort of a toned-down biergarten. It's got all the culture, beer, delicious food, and waitstaff in traditional outfits without the crowding or the sticky floor. My mom enjoyed each enjoyed a pint and a traditional pretzel plate, complete with veggies, homemade potato cheese, and traditional season Obazda. It was absolutely delicious. Very full and very content after a long day, we decided to turn in early to get plenty of rest before tomorrow's big adventure.