FAIRY TALE.....OR.....NIGHTMARE?????

NEUSCHWANSTEIN (FAIRY TALE) CASTLE WAY UP IN THE MOUNTAIN AS WE DROVE IN FROM THE VALLEY. I ZOOMED IN A LOT TO GET THIS PICTURE.
THIS IS THE CASTLE AS WE WERE DRIVING INTO THE REGION. I EVEN ZOOMED THIS!
BEAUTIFUL VALLEY RIGHT BEFORE WE REACHED THE VILLAGE BELOW THE CASTLE.

I CAN SEE IT UP THERE- MY BODY FEELS IT ! I THINK THIS IS THE SAME PICTURE. WAS JUST SO GLAD TO SEE IT.
THIS IS A WATERFALL AND WALKING BRIDGE OVER FROM THE CASTLE ON ANOTHER MOUNTAIN. PEOPLE ARE WALKING ON THAT BRIDGE TOO.
FINALLY! LOOKING AT CASTLE FROM COURTYARD INSIDE GATE.

GERMAN TRADITION: SAUSAGE, SAUERKRAUT, MASHED POTATOES!
HORSE AND BUGGY TOOK US HALF WAY UP MOUNTAIN FAIRY TALE CASTLE- HALF WAY UP THE MOUNTAIN. HORSE DUMPED US OFF.

VIEW OF VILLAGE WE LEFT AS WE CLIMBED THE MOUNTAIN

ARE WE THERE YET? ...NOPE, HALF WAY UP...OR DOWN.
IT JUST KEEPS GOING UP...SEE THE SNOW MOUNTAINS!
ALMOST THERE! I SEE IT BUT STILL A LONG WAY TO GO.
RESTAURANT/HOTEL WHERE WE ATE LUNCH. PEOPLE WALKING UP HILL ARE GOING TO THE HOHENSCHWANGAU CASTLE (IN BACKGROUND)

We got up early Friday, May 2,2008 to discover castles in Germany. We left at 8:00am thinking it would only take 2 hours to get to the castles in Germany. It ended up taking longer because "Miss Gips" had her own route to take that was longer. John S. kept arguing with her that she wasn't taking us right. We were right outside Munich and he was getting upset. She finally had us turn off the right direction. Uhhhhh! it was going right toward the huge snow covered Alps. I kept asking John if the castles were in the snow covered mountains and he said he didn't think so. He had been to these castles on a previous trip to Switzerland and I kept thinking he just isn't telling me. We kept getting higher and closer to those monster mountains covered in snow. Yep! sure enough - they WERE up there. Right in the smack dab middle of them. We saw beautiful green rolling countryside on the way going through ski villages and around lakes. I can't describe just how gorgeous everything was. BUT, the fact still remained, here I am, going through those mountains again, only this time we were going up to them. When we arrived in the village where the fairy tale castle, Neuschwanstein, built for King Ludwig II and his boyhood castle, Hohenschwangau under the dad, King Maximilian II was, it was awful. I think half of Europe had the same idea as we did to go there on that day. We waited in a long line to get into the parking lot. Finally, we got to the gate and the guy apologized but said it was full. Said it was crazy there that day. Well, we drove around for another hour and got in another line for a parking lot. It was worse. They would let a car in as a car left. That took forever - 1 hour 45min. We finally got parked and headed for the ticket window. It was over 1 hour wait in line to get tickets. We got up there at noon and finally got our tickets at 3:00pm. They told us our tour (in English) would be at 5:50 pm. You could see the fairy tale castle way up above us in the mountains. I asked if we had to climb all the way up there. The answer was YES or, you could ride the horse and buggy, BUT, it only takes you up half way. We decided to each lunch at 3:00pm while we waiting to ride the horse and buggy(at least I got to ride half way). I didn't realize that the last half of that trip would be the worst. Even the dumb horses wouldn't go up that steep. We ate at a neat outside cafe/hotel and decided to eat traditional German food. We had sausage and sauerkraut with mashed potatoes. Let me tell you, they do know how to make sauerkraut. It was not sour and was delicious. We stood in another line to get on the horse and buggy. Finally we were off to see the castle. Those horses did not want to pull us up that mountain and any minute I just knew they would rare up and go nuts on us. We did not go very fast at all, people were passing us walking, in fact. We got half way up and I looked up the mountain and that castle was still a long way off. I didn't think I would ever make it climbing that far. I DID though. Oh my gosh, it was worth it. The castle and the story behind it are remarkable. I have learned so much history since I have been over here. I can't show you pictures of the gorgeous inside (not allowed) but I bought a book with some in it. We got in line for our tour (50 people). It started to rain up there. We forgot our umbrellas of course. When we got inside (we were in the front of everybody) we had to climb one long flight of spiral marble stairs in the tower. My legs and body hurt so bad. We saw that floor and the guide said ok, now we will climb 3 more flights of spiral stairs WITHOUT STOPPING. uh oh! I did it everyone, and the only reason I did was thinking about 50 people right behind me and if I stopped, we would all go down in a circle like dominoes. My whole body was burning when we got to the top. When we went through all the rooms, we had to eventually go down all those stairs. The bad thing was, you couldn't take your time and stop to rest. Now I know why I kept seeing the signs " tour is not for disabled persons". I AM NOT DISABLED" I kept telling myself but, I think I am now. We came out of the castle and it was getting later. NO HORSES. It was one of the last tours and the horses had gone home. Oh my gosh, we had to WALK ALL THE WAY DOWN THAT MOUNTAIN. It is just as bad going down a steep mountain as climbing up. Needless to say, when we got back to the bottom, everything was closed, including the father king's castle. I wanted to spend the night, but there were no rooms to be found. Sooooooo I missed seeing the other 2 castles of the mad King Ludwig II. His story is so neat and when I get home, I may journal the life of that king. Pretty interesting. He was crowned king at the age of 18 and died at the age of 23. He spent all of Germany's money on building extravagant castles. Believe me, they are getting every bit of it back now from all these tours. We drove down out of the mountains and it got dark. I am telling you, when it gets dark up there, IT IS DARK. We got home about midnight. Every bone in our body was hurting.