[logged by HB]
Castle Neuschwanstein Day! Besides serving up a fine Bavarian pancake, our little hotel in Schwangau offered a lovely view of the Alps (to be enjoyed by those others who might stay there when it is not foggy and pouring rain) and a direct two-minute drive to the parking lot for Castle Neuschwanstein. This was ideal as our approach to the day was best classified as ‘the tactical assault’.
You see, this is not a castle — this is the castle. It seems that everyone who comes to Germany is obliged to see this place and the crowds are thick all year long, in any weather. I heard some moaning from my flock about the early wake-up, the quick breakfast and the insistence that we be at the gate by the first tour but it soon became clear that this was all for the best. Even showing up that early in the pouring rain, we were lined up for the bus up the mountain behind one or possibly two full tour groups. (When we came down there were hordes more.)
So, up into the mist we went and we saw the lavish, fantastically decorated and only briefly inhabited castle. The story of Ludwig II is what really makes this place interesting for us grown-ups. The design reveals a true recluse who designed enormous rooms for one, elaborate settings for solitary pursuits. For Arden, the place was fodder for imagination — the swans, gold chandeliers and carved canopies are the stuff that will colour her stories of Cinderella’s and Sleeping Beauty’s adventures. (She has spun long and detailed stories about what happens in their respective Happily-Ever-Afters.) And Edie, she nursed. This trip is quickly becoming the “Nursing Across Bavaria Tour”.
So we had “done” Neuschwanstein by lunch time and had the rest of the afternoon to explore the area. This would have been a lot more fun in a lesser downpour but we made the best of it. After lunch, we piled into the van to go see Wieskirche. This church in the middle of no where was described in the guidebook as “one of the finest Rococo buildings in the world” so we simply had to see it. And Holy Nelly!
Thanks to a statue of Christ that wept in the 1740s, a little chapel out in the country became a pilgrimage destination and thereby raised enough money to build this amazingly ornate church. I don’t imagine it holds any big, regular Sunday service but thanks to being the only other tourist attraction near the castle, it was rammed with tourists. Edie nursed here too.
