When Disney built his castle at Disneyland, he modeled it after "Mad" King Ludwig II's Schloss Neuschwanstein (the new swan stone). Ludwig II, according to all reports, modeled th
e castle after his fantasy obsession with Richard Wagner, his friend and who knows what else.Be that as it may, (Wagner was the man) the castles of Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau near Fussen, on the Austrian border, was our destination on Monday.
We wanted to do a little different tour of the region than most folks do, so we booked with Mike's Bike Tours, recommended by Rick Steves (our European savior for the most part) and who offered a bus ride to the castles, a hike through the waterfall gorge below Neuschwanstein, a bike ride to Swan Lake (Schwansee) and the chance to ride an alpine luge. Expecting disaster? Knowing us, you should. But, it was awesome!
First sign that this would be a different kind of trip was the guy behind the signin desk at the Discover Bavaria desk. Guy was wearing a UT cap and an Academy fishing shirt. Called himself Tex, and in fact, had grown up in Houston and attended UH. Throughout the two hour trip down to the Fussen area, he quoted Kinky Friedman (REALLY!) and told rather offcolor jokes, which caused the chaperone of the 25 high school students from Washington to kick his ass rather unceremoniously.
Once we arrived, we were dumbstruck by our first real sight of the Alps... dotted with two majestic castles and a bunch of similarly dumbstruck tourists.
Up we hiked... huffing and puffing... and Tex suggested that older heavier types take the bus up the mountain. Stubbornly I resisted until we got to the cutoff into the vertical part of the trail. Tucked tail and ran back to the bus stop while Genevieve intrepidly climbed with Tex and the younger, fitter hikers. She wasn't very happy at the top, sucking wind and disappointed that the hike up didn't have any kind of view. She should have taken the bus.
After another 200 vertical steps through Neuschwanstein, (I think now that they called him "Mad" King Ludwig because he didn't build an elevator in the place. Hell, I'd be mad too! I WA mad!) we were both winded and happy to be hiking down. That's my specialty. Aided by gravity, we tracked a long waterfall all the way back to the base of the mountain. Of course, after all the water we drank (and a beer!) the waterfall had a predictable effect on me. Could have made a commercial for Flomax!
Next came the luge. Whoopee. I would say that I soiled myself, but I already had. So we needn't elaborate.
Next came the bike ride to Swan Lake. Very nice, marginally challenging ride to a freezing cold Alpine lake. Poured down rain all the way back. They provided us with "emergency rain ponchos" as you can see on Genevieve at left, but they didn't keep us dry and quite frankly, I felt like dry cleaning.Dried out in the bus on the way back. After a couple of German beers, the Kinky Friedman jokes didn't hurt any more.
Enjoy the photos!
Wrapped up the day with dinner at the Augustiner Brauhall... a well antlered restaurant but subdued compared with the rowdiness of the Hofbrauhaus. It was perfect.
Next stop, Dachau.
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