I woke up the next morning with a nasty sore throat and runny nose. Apparently a night out in the snow and cold after not sleeping well for several days will do that. Darn!
It was pretty hard to get moving and get out the door, so we had to book it to the station. We made our train to Munich with only a few minutes to spare -phew-
It was pretty hard to get moving and get out the door, so we had to book it to the station. We made our train to Munich with only a few minutes to spare -phew-
When we arrived in Munich we were completely overwhelmed by the immensity of the train station. So overwhelmed, in fact, that we forgot to take any photos. Just take my word for it, that station is ginormous! If you don't speak a lot of German, be prepared to get lost a few times.
We decided to ask for help at the ticket office and ended up getting the least helpful person in all of Germany. We kept saying we wanted to catch whichever train would take us to Neuschwanstein Castle, the person kept nodding and saying, "Hohenschaftlarn". So, we said danke shoen and found our way to the part of the station that looked like it would take us to Hohenschaftlarn.
Oh dear. Bad move.
Feeling a bit uneasy about the directions we were given, we found some nice looking workers in a booth near one of the platforms. Our poor German and their complete lack of English made for an absolutely wonderful comedy. We would say, "Bitte, wir wollen der zug zu Neuschwanstein... ist dies der zug zu Neuschwanstein?" (Please, we want the train to Neuschwanstein... is this the train to Neuschwanstein?) and the guys would smile, look at us, and say something in rapid fire German that sounded like "Der classen hassen pfeffer schnitzel ich bahn blah blah blah". Seriously, if they weren't smiling, I would have thought they were throwing out death threats. German is super harsh! But, in hindsight, I'm sure they were probably saying something like, "oh, you poor things. You look so lost. No, that's not the train to Neuschwanstein. You want to go to platform such and such."
All we could do was reply with blank stares.
Classic.
After lots of awkwardness we just decided to go with the original directions and hope for the best.
Off we went to Hohenschaftlarn!
That darn head cold I picked up in Austria knocked me out on the train ride to Hohenschaftlarn. Not my best picture. Thanks Scotty!
It was only a few minutes into the train ride that Scott realized we were completely heading in the wrong direction... the castle is nestled in the Bavarian mountains and we were headed towards flat, forested countryside. Oops!
We found this adorable inn/pub near the train station shortly after arriving in Hohenschaftlarn . We asked the bartender how we could find our way to the castle and, after lots of hand gestures and English/German hybrid words, he basically told us our best bet was to head back to Munich and start over. Sigh.
We got the shaft in Hohenschaftlarn.
Long story longer, we eventually found someone who gave us legit directions to Neuschwanstein. (and found a pharmacy with Nyquil and cough drops. Take that, stupid head cold!)
We found out we needed to head to a town called Füssen, take a bus to the tiny town of Hohenschwangau, and walk up a hill to our hotel. Piece of cake!
We had about an hour before the train to Füssen, so we decided to get a bowl of soup and relax in this really cool cafe.
We also picked up the greatest treat of all time... a dark chocolate and Nutella stuffed croissant. Are you kidding me!?! Why can't we get these things in America? Seriously delicious.
Scott decided to nod off for a while. Adorable.
While he was sleeping we passed by a BMW dealership... in Bavaria! (FYI, BMW = BAVARIAN Motor Works). I was pretty excited.
We arrived safely in Füssen and got the chance to snap a sweet photo of our awesome train conductor. Best German hairdo ever.
We caught a bus just outside the station and headed for Hohenschwangau.
We got our first view of the castle right off the bus. Spectacular.
We picked up our tickets for the castle (BTW, super lame... you have to buy your tickets for the castle at the bottom of the huge hill the day of your tour. Wish they had a ticket booth at the castle. Oh well.)
Behind Scott is the beautiful Hohenschwangau Castle, the childhood home of crazy king Ludwig.
We met some really cool people from Spain on the bus to Hohenschwangau. It was really fun to hear Scott speaking Spanish with them as we made our way up the hill towards Neuschwanstein castle.
Our hotel just down the hill from Neuschwanstein. A bit of background: This is where all of the people who worked on the castle lived during construction. It's obviously since been converted into this adorable hotel called the Schlossrestaurant Neuschwanstein.
Walking up the hill we could smell fresh, delicious pastries... so of course we had to get some before catching our tour.
gorgeous.
Disneyland modeled Sleeping Beauty's castle after Neuschwanstein. I can see why.
Ludwig may have been a little nutty, but he sure had great taste in scenery. Beautiful!
I completely fell in love with all of the amazing doors all over Europe. I probably took over 100 pictures of just doors. I have a little design project in mind for those pictures, hope I can eventually find some time to put that together!
Inside the courtyard of the castle.
We ate chocolate, pastries, cheese, etc. by the kilo but didn't gain any weight on our trip. Why? SO many stairs! We climbed and climbed all over castles and cathedrals and probably walked around 7 miles/day.
There were lots of things not allowed past this point... sadly, no photos were allowed inside the castle. Guess you'll just have to go there yourself to see how amazing it is.
After the tour we went back to our hotel for some dinner. Good thing we didn't lollygag, the hotel restaurant closes at 6! We made it just in time for some traditional Bavarian food. Yum?
We ended up falling asleep at 8 or 8:30 and slept in until almost 9 the next morning!
It snowed an inch or two overnight, so we woke up to this gorgeous view.
Wow!
The 12 year old inside me laughed a little every time we saw a sign that said "Ausfahrt, Abfahrt, or Einfahrt". Very lowbrow, but still funny.
These Germans are serious business.
We got to walk around Füssen for a bit before heading for Switzerland.
The German version of The Tooth Doctor logo.
We stopped by a diner on our way to the train station where we ordered the now infamous sour liver dish. Yuck! One of the worst things either of us have ever eaten. Ever.
We made several station transfers on our way to Switzerland.
I particularly liked this station because Scott and I occasionally call each other Beeso and Beesa. We loved that there was a town named after us. We are the Biessen!
Saw this bit of graffiti while waiting for our next train. Ironically, the tagger wrote this message in English.
We got to see one last little bit of Austria at the Feldkirch train station... where we got on the wrong train. Again. Oops. As Derek and Mary didn't have a cell phone we ended up sending my Mom a text message to have her Skype with them and let them know we were going to be a couple of hours late. I love technology!
Up next: Part 5: Switzerland!
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