Hello today was another full day. We had read that it was a good idea to reserve your tickets for touring the Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein castles. So we reserved them on Wednesday. You have to arrive an hour before your tour time or they charge you and give your tickets away. That meant we had to be out the door and on the road by 8:30 a.m. We encountered a few slow cars along the way and I was a bit worried we weren’t going to make it. When we arrived, Jacob let me hop out to get in line while he parked the car. I was able to get our tickets with 8 minutes to spare, but ran into a new issue. My phone wasn’t getting any service and I wasn’t sure where Jacob was.
Luckily, I had heard him say he was going to try and park in lot 4. I headed that direction and was happy to see he was carrying my coat and flagging me down. From there we decided to walk around a bit and find a bench to sit on so we could enjoy some snacks.
Our first castle was the Hohenschwangau which isn’t actually a palace but was a summer home for the royal family. It was a small building but still pretty cool.
The tour lasted about 30 minutes and we got to see the entire inside. They don’t allow photography so I don’t have any photos to share.
What is really neat about these two castles is that they were untouched by World War II so pretty much everything inside of them is original.
Next up was Neuschwanstein Castle the home of King Ludwig the Second. Apparently he built this castle to be a private refuge. The castle took 17 years to construct and was only a third finished when he died. The family chose not to complete the castle and opened it to the public for viewing shortly after he passed away.
This is the fairy tale castle everyone thinks of when they think of Germany and it really is amazing.
Again, photos are not permitted inside.
But you can take photos from the balcony…
In this picture you can see Hohenschwangau Castle.
After touring Neuschwanstein Castle we were off down a rocky trail back to the car. I slipped a few times, but survived!
We decided since we were making good time that we would turn in the rental car today instead of tomorrow morning. Parking near the apartment has been a hassle. We cleaned out the car at a rest stop and got to the rental car place with two-minutes to spare!
It was sad to say goodbye to the car as this is just another step toward us ending our journey. Although I’m looking forward to being home, in my own bed, with my little kitty Oscar, this has been an incredible experience.
Also – I’m not looking forward to that 10 hour flight! Ugh!
Can’t believe I’ll be back to work on Tuesday.
Tomorrow we are doing more Munich exploring and picking up some souvenirs!