Well technically we didn’t spend the day in Munich. We got up and had an early breakfast so we could catch the 8:30 bus to Neuschwanstein Castle. Normally tour buses aren’t our jam, but we waited till we were in Germany to book tickets for the castle. Our thought process bring we would wait till we knew which was the best weather day. Well that bit us in the butt. Apparently the tour bus companies are buying up most of the daily ticket amounts, so everything was sold out, unless we booked with a tour company. Ugh but hey we didn’t want to miss out on this, so we make do.
About an hour outside of Munich and we started our tour with the Linderhof Palace . A beautiful but small little place. The tour lasted about 20 minutes. The real interesting things were the facts we learned about King Ludwig II. He was obsessed with Louis XIV and patterned much of the palace off of Versace. He was also a recluse, who summoned his servants by slipping notes under his door. Ate alone and had his food placed on a table that was raised up to his dining room. Lost his teeth by 40, was overweight and died shortly after he was declared bankrupt. Much different then the short story you get about him being the ‘fairy tale’ prince.
Unfortunately pictures weren’t allowed inside, but the grounds were beautiful.
After we left the Palace we drove to Neuschwanstein. On the way there, R requested I braid all these small flowers she had picked into her hair. It was really quite cute.
With the tour group we had a few guidelines. We arrived at the castle grounds around 1 and had to be at the gate by 3pm. So we had a bit of time to walk around. We decided to save ourselves the climb up to the castle by jumping on the shuttle bus that takes you up above the castle. From there we hiked up a washed out path to a beautiful overlook.
So many people hanging around and jostling for the good photo spots. It was a relief to get our tickets to go inside and get away from most of the crowd. We were only able to get a few photos from inside, and the tour was pretty limited on what you could see. But we were impressed and glad we made the effort.
After leaving the castle we hustled our way back down to the bus. We had 20 minutes to get down the hill. The restrictions of traveling in mass!
The woods surrounding the castle were beautiful! We made it to the bus a few minutes late and we were all glad to hop on and take our shoes off! We settled in for the 2 hour drive back to Munich. The kids listened to an audiobook, and played a bit of chess on Ty’s phone. They’re both starting to get into it. Ty and I relaxed, listened to music and I read a bit. A plus to traveling in mass, we didn’t have to worry about when and where to get off.
Back to the city by 7pm, a few snacks and showers in the hotel before we tuck the tired kids into bed.
I’m so glad we made the effort to see Neuschwanstein Castle, but I’m also thankful we don’t typically travel via a large bus full of other tourists. I like the freedom of making our own schedule and flowing where our family is interested. There was definitely more we would have liked to explore in that area. It was full of hiking trails and at least one more castle. But perhaps those will have to be visited on another trip.
