The church bells are tolling out the window. The bells must be coming from several churches because it is a pleasant cacophony of sound. We are about to set off to enjoy our last day in Munich. Maybe I can get in a few words about previously seen sights before we leave.
The only thing on my don't miss list was a visit to a castle in the Bavarian Alps ... specifically, the Cinderella/Disneyland castle that is the epidomy of castles. It was going to require a two hour train ride to get there and the guys graciously said they wanted to see it too. The night before we found out which train to take & bought a special family discount ticket. Early the next morning, we stopped at our now favorite pastry shop for coffee and pastries to go and headed to the station. On the way we realized we never checked what TIME the train left. We hurried to the station holding our hot coffee and bag of pastries, searched for the track, and discovered that the train was leaving NOW. We ran-- not just a little run but about two train lengths at full speed--holding our hot coffee as it shloshed out of the lid. The conductor saw us running and took pity (the white hair has its advantages) so we actually got on board. Breathless--at least me and Ernie--but we made it. It was only 8something in the morning and after our heart rates returned to normal we decided we were off to a great start. After traveling several miles on the train, drinking the 1/4 cup of coffee that was left, and getting pastry crumbs all over ourselves the conductor came by to punch our ticket. It's wonderful to have our own translator in events like this. Like when the conductor says your special discount ticket is not valid until 9 am and you can either pay 40euros each (the original ticket was 29 euros for all 4 of us) or get off the train at the next stop and wait for the next train which will come an hour later and therefore will be after 9 am. Guess what choice we made? Here is a picture of us after we got off, asking ourselves "whot happen?" (reference Christopher Guest).
When we arrived at the little town below the castle we could see that our travel woes were worth it. We could see Neuschwanstein Castle up on the mountain looking perfect. The castle was built Ludwig II ("Mad" King Ludwig) over a period of 17 years, but he only lived in it 172 days before he mysteriously drowned in the lake. He had been declared mentally unfit to rule, seemingly due to spending so much of the coffers on the castle and hobnobbing with artsy types -- particularly the composer Wagner. Many of the rooms of the castle have themes relating to various Wagner operas. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_II_of_Bavaria. It's all amazing to see. Before we visited Neuschwanstein, we visited a smaller castle built by Ludwig's father. Also very cool and very different.
When we arrived at the little town below the castle we could see that our travel woes were worth it. We could see Neuschwanstein Castle up on the mountain looking perfect. The castle was built Ludwig II ("Mad" King Ludwig) over a period of 17 years, but he only lived in it 172 days before he mysteriously drowned in the lake. He had been declared mentally unfit to rule, seemingly due to spending so much of the coffers on the castle and hobnobbing with artsy types -- particularly the composer Wagner. Many of the rooms of the castle have themes relating to various Wagner operas. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_II_of_Bavaria. It's all amazing to see. Before we visited Neuschwanstein, we visited a smaller castle built by Ludwig's father. Also very cool and very different. 
There was a crystal clear lake in the town below the castles and Nick and Chris were determined to jump in for a swim. It was getting late and cool after we stopped and had pizza, but they decided to give it a try anyway. We found a spot off the beaten path and they stripped down to their skivies and made a dash into the water -- promising each other they would actually go in and not chicken out. They did it! A swim in a Alpine Lake -- what a memory.
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