Germany

Poor King Ludwig. All he wanted to do was live a Michael Jackson-like fantasy life, listen to great music performed by his famous, good friend and spend his money building castles. Instead, his lifeless body mysteriously ended up at the side of a lake at age forty. His nickname was the Fairy Tale King. Little did he know that his castle would be the inspo for Walt Disney and both the Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella castles decades later. And the king only got to live in the fabulous palace he had built for 172 days. Despite some dark history (Another dark mark on the castle…Hitler used it to hide stolen art during WWII), the castle is fantastic! I had seen pictures of it…the majestic white castle perched high on a hill, but I never thought I would actually get to see it, much less tour the inside! It was just as magnificent in person as it is in the famous photos. We were not allowed to take pictures inside, but that’s ok because the outside was the real dazzler. Getting to the castle was a bit of a hike, mostly uphill, but hiking through the German forest was not so bad. It was beautiful! And then laying eyes on the castle from Queen Mary’s Bridge just took my breath away! From that high up, you could also see the town of Schwangau and the other castle that Ludwig grew up in, Hohenschwangau, pretty remarkable in its own right. The castles, the forest, the views, the horse-drawn carriages, the crisp mountain air, Lake Alpsee and the charming little town at the bottom of the hill all came together to make for a magical day. I did not know this was on my bucket list, but I’m so glad I got to check it off. Our next stop was a picnic at a park nearby where we could see the big white castle up on the hill, as well as hang-gliders overhead and green pastures dotted with farm animals. We had snacks…chips, pretzels (Germany after all), nuts and sandwiches with ham and melted cheese. The setting was really nice. On to the next activity, a luge park. Everyone seemed to enjoy it. Many in our group were doing it for the first time and had fun. And the scenery was beautiful with the mountains, trees, flowers, etc. Then off we headed to another great little German town, Füssen. We had a couple of hours to walk around and explore. I discovered a monastery and a castle on a small hill, not as majestic as the castle we just left, but still….a castle This one was called High Castle of Füssen. It had a big clock tower and beautiful grounds. Then I strolled through the town and again, it was as charming as could be with the pastel colored buildings and flowers everywhere. I just love the vibe of these little towns. There was a really cute fountain with statues of 3 girls playing in the water. Charm all over. Tonight we had dinner at our hotel in Reutte, Austria. I had a white fish with some kind of pink foam on top, over creamy risotto. Pretty good way to end a fun-filled day.