But of course, staying up until 2:30 am, accepting free drinks, and buying your own makes it hard to get up at 7:15 am the next morning. However, nothing was going to stop me from getting to this castle on my birthday. So after showering and getting breakfast, I went to the meeting point for the tour which was conveniently right in front of a Starbucks. Because it's not high season, there were not a lot of other tourists on this trip. We got on our first train to our destination. I met two guys my age from Chicago and another girl, who was also a English Teaching Assistant in France. It shouldn't have been too surprising because all of the assistants were on vacation at the same time. Another train and a bus later, we were at the bottom of the castle and I was so excited!
there it is!
in the German Alps, about to see this amazing castle
But of course, we were on an organized tour so I couldn't exactly run up the hill to the castle and move in like I wanted to. We gradually made our way up the hill while getting information about the history from our tour guide. Our first stop was actually the other castle on the grounds. This is the castle where King Ludwig II grew up. Who is King Ludwig II you ask? He was a king of Bavaria, before Germany was a unified country. He is the man who built the Neuschwanstein castle and lived inside until his untimely death. His father built this other castle, Hohenschwangau, and Ludwig and his brother Otto grew up there. Also on the grounds, is Swan Lake. Not a swan lake, THE Swan Lake. We walked around this area while hearing the history of Ludwig's childhood. He loved to read fairytales and spent a lot of time pretending he was the king in books he read. This is important for understanding while he built his castle.
Hohenschwangau Castle
Swan Lake
frozen Swan Lake and the German Alps
After this, it was time to make the trek up! It was very uphill but only took about 20 minutes until we got to the observation deck area. Because it had snowed just a couple of days before, there was a while blanket over everything around us. It was too beautiful to describe. So here are pictures and a video.
everywhere you looked: mountains covered in snow
it's so close! and so awesome!
We sat for a while to wait for our tour of the inside to start, and learned a little more about the history. Ludwig finally became king but was a little crazy. To get away from all of the stress, he would retreat back to his fairy tales. He started building Neuschwanstein as a fairy tale castle for that reason. The castle itself is really only 125 years old but built as if it was a lot older. And the inside was never finished. Ludwig died mysteriously while they were still building.
We walked inside when our tour got closer, and although you couldn't take pictures of the inside of the castle, I have a few good ones from the castle grounds.
walking up to this amazing castle
love this architecture
castle and snow
the view of the bridge we would walk to
view from the castle...i would live here
So after touring around the inside of the castle, we had about an hour before we had to meet back at the bus. The bridge where everyone goes to take photos was closed off with a fence that said "danger ahead", presumably because of the snow. But who is really going to come to the castle and not get the classic picture from the bridge because of a stupid sign that says "danger"? Not me.
pssh..whatever. around it we go...
So we walked up another hill to go get an awesome view of the castle. There were two more road blocks just like this one but they were easy enough to climb around. In fact, you could see the footprints in the snow where multiple people before us had gone around. And we saw a ton of people while we were there anyways. Honestly, a warning sign would have sufficed.
We walked for about 10 minutes...it looked like this:
And then, we turned a corner and BAM! there's the castle:
This was probably the most amazing part of the whole day. AND it was my birthday. Just standing there on a bridge, in the middle of the German Alps, looking at an amazing castle, I was so happy. It was also an incredible beautiful day, which just added to the whole experience. Definitely a birthday I will not forget.
what a way to turn 23. happy birthday to me!
And just so you can fully understand where we were, here's a video (I love that thing, thanks again Mom and Dad!).
But sadly, we did need to get back to the bus. I took some more pictures on the way down the mountain just because I didn't want to leave.
couldn't ask for a more perfect day
the hooligans I spent my birthday with: Erik and Dan
And finally, it was time to go. But not without one last picture.
really hope I make it back here someday. bye beautiful castle!
So after our all day adventure, we got back into Munich at 6:45. Philipp took me out to dinner for my birthday at a really cool beer hall. It was traditional Bavarian food and beer. I had pork with dumplings and soup. It was wonderful!
Birthday dinner
After dinner we met up with Erik and Dan and the four of us went to different bars and beer halls. It was a perfect way to celebrate my birthday! Thanks guys!
Dan and Erik at our first stop
Philipp and I at the same beer hall
The boys
The next day I needed to go on a tour of the city, because while I had been there for 2 nights already, I didn't actually know much about the city. So I took the free tour through my hostel. I already knew the tour guide from Tuesday night when we danced in the bar to "September" by Earth, Wind, and Fire and he bought me a drink for my birthday! He was the coolest!
Okay, since this post is already super long, I'm not going to explain much from the tour but just show you the pictures. That's the best part anyways!
one of the gates to the city, complete with mardi gras decoration
the Pope's home church is in Munich...this is it.
exterior of the church
Marienplatz, the center of Munich. With the Glockenspeil in the background.
beer garden by the market
the most famous beer hall in Munich.
After my tour, Philipp and I went to the BMW world. It was awesome!!
inside of BWM world
i liked this one! and all of them really...
Philipp signing up to test drive all of them
And finally, my last day arrived in Munich. I walked up this church tower where you could get a great view of the city. It was a little foggy but still an amazing view!
And I finished off my time in Munich with lunch at a beer hall. Can't think of a more fitting goodbye to this wonderful city.
perfectly acceptable to drink beer with lunch in Germany
final beer hall of my stay in Munich
I will definitely be back to Munich, hopefully sometime soon! Made some amazing memories in this wonderful city!
Danke, Munich! (means thank you. only German I learned!)
Prague, you're next! :)
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