Neuschweinstein, waste of the people’s money, but people pay to see it? Well played King Ludwig II…
June 30-31, 2024
We’ve never appreciated horses so much
Today we headed to Neuschweinstein Castle! The drive alone was beautiful and we enjoyed seeing the countryside of Bavaria a bit. We did not enjoy the winding roads which led to Liam getting carsick. We had booked an early ticket and got there just in time. Even from the parking lot, we could see how grand the castle is! Sitting in the mountains really makes it seem like an extra special place. We were told the walk up would be 40 minutes which is exactly what we had, but we knew it would be tough to push the stroller up so we opted for the carriage ride. The path up through the forest was beautiful and as we kept climbing we knew we made the right choice to skip the walk. We enjoyed spotting glimpses of the castle as we went along the path. Liam also really enjoyed pointing out how much horses poop, so everybody was happy.
It felt like a hotel
We made it to the top just in time for our tour. As we walked up, it almost felt like a facade. Perhaps because it is relatively new (as far as castles go) or because Disney has based its castles on this, but it felt like we were getting ready to walk into a ride line at Disney World instead of entering a real castle. The audio tour let us see and learn about handful of the rooms and we learned about how King Ludwig II designed it in 1869. Liam was a trooper and listening along, making comments throughout, like how fancy his bed was. (He was less of a trooper after the castle, but we have all tried to block that memory out). Chuck kept thinking it reminded him of the Biltmore Estate when walking through it and the time period is similar and so is the ridiculous amount of money needed.
At the end we got to walk out onto the balcony to see the famous view from time it of the lakes and Hohenschwangau, the castle he grew up in. We walked around to the Marienbrucke, or Mary’s Bridge. It was incredibly packed with people which made it a bit scary, but offered a spectacular view.
We decided to make a couple stops along the way home. We stopped in the Weiskirche, the Pilgrimage Church of Wies. It is a Unesco site and in a cute little town. We stopped in and compared to the other churches we have seen on this trip it was so colorful! It was bright and covered in colorful scenes painted all around. We were lucky to arrive as a concert was playing and the sound it made in the church was impressive. We walked around the land for a bit which had some farms and there was a new calf that appeared to have just been born. We watched it’s parents clean it off and help it stand and it was adorable.
Weiskirche
We continued on to Starnsberg and passed a cute little roadside strawberry picking so of course we stopped to pick some. Liam ate them right off the bush and we had to keep explaining we needed to buy them first. They were really tasty strawberries. We drove into the town, which is adorable and stopped to check out the lake. It was peaceful and there were pictures of it on a clear day, where apparently the backdrop is of the Alps. Unfortunately, it was overcast and cloudy so we did not get to see that view, but we watched the sailboats before going on our way.
Legoland!
The next day we planned another big Liam day, Legoland! This was one of the parts of Chuck’s Europe trip he recalls from when he was 5, so we were excited to go there and hopefully make some memories. Even as we walked up Liam was so excited to see it. He really enjoyed seeing all the people and scenes made of Legos as we entered. There is not much to say about a day spent at an amusement park, but Legoland is pretty fantastic. Liam got to try his first (small) roller coaster and we loved the jungle safari where he got to ride in a little Jeep. We all really enjoyed the cities made of Legos and could have spent the whole time checking out all the details they thought of to make them.
