Get up early and scoot the back way across the Austrian border into Germany. Buy our tickets for the castle as soon as the office opens. Then get tix to ride up the mountain on the bus, instead of hiking uphill for an hour. Voila! That puts us up on the Marienbrucke (bridge above the castle) before the crowds arrive.
Neue- schwan- stein was the inspiration for the Disney castle. It's new, as castles go, at only about 140 years old. Built by "Mad King Ludwig" as a fantasy remembering castles from medieval times, it was incomplete at the time of his death.
Within weeks, tourists were going through it, just like today.
Mystery and contro-versy surrounded the king and his castles. Once engaged but never married, was he just a reclusive eccentric with creative ideas, or was he truly insane? Tall and handsome, he used to ride through the country- side on his white horse. The people loved him.
He, on the other hand, wanted to be alone. He invented a table which could be hoisted through the floor, already set for dinner, so he would not have to see the servants. He was at odds with the government.
He built 3 fabulous new castles at tremendous cost. Government said he was bankrupting the country. They had him declared insane, though the psychologist who certified it never examined him. Two weeks later, he was found dead, floating in a lake. Was he murdered? No one knows. It was declared to be suicide, but there is no evidence. Books today are still being written about him.
No pictures are allowed in the castle, but it's tall and vertical and definitely not wheelchair accessible! Some of the rooms are ornately decorated. Some are still unfinished, and you can't go there. My favorite is the ballroom on the top floor, which is often used today for musical concerts. You can, however take pictures from the windows.
Rather than walk down the mountain, I hired a carriage ride for us.
The driver wanted us to load and sit waiting for departure, but I was busy taking pictures. "Sit down!" he said loudly in a com- manding voice. I just cheerfully replied, "OK," and kept taking photos. This was repeated several times and my group thought it was pretty funny.
1 comment:
Lovely pictures about a lovely castle. Just a quick note though, there is a typo, the castle is spelled Neuschwanstein instead of Neueschwanstein . You can check www.neuschwansteincastle.net too if you'd like.
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