Fussen. Breakfast.

As if Oktoberfest was not enough to persuade Annette to prolong her vacation, we also threw in a trip to Neushwanstein Castle, aka: Sleeping Beauty’s Castle. This little gem is known historically as Ludwig II, King of Bavaria’s, unfinished castle (he was declared crazy while living here, and was found dead days later with his psychiatrist- hence it was never finished), but to us Californians with an undying love for Disneyland, it is the castle that inspired Walt Disney when designing Sleeping Beauty’s humble abode, and it is for that reason, friends, that we had to visit.

Now, the planning for this trip was a bit tricky. The town closest to the castle is called Füssen. It is about 3 hours from Munich, and pretty pricey. Annette was scheduled to fly out of Munich around noon on Sunday, which means, we would arrive to our destination on Friday late afternoon, visit the castle on Saturday, and go our separate ways on Sunday. Javier made the arrangements to stay in Buchloe, a very small town, in the middle of nowhere that is two hours from Munich. This turned out to be an excellent choice. It made our trip to and from the castle about 3 hours roundtrip, and Annette could catch the train around 7am to catch her flight. Thank goodness Javier takes care of these things.

We spent Friday morning at Oktoberfest, to buy souvenirs, and midday in the downtown area with the intention of taking a free city tour. Unfortunately, the tour was full, so we just walked around and took enjoyed the scenery. I was surprised at how few people were dressed in lederhosen and dindrls. At Oktoberfest, just about everyone was wearing traditional outfits, and well, we decided to continue wearing ours to the center of town, and received plenty of stares. I even caught a few people taking secret pictures of Annette while we were walking around! You know, unlike me and Javier, she really looks like an authentic fräulein!

Collecting pins

Our journey to Buchloe was uneventful, and again, we received a few stares as we schlepped along with our backpacks and suitcase wearing our Oktoberfest best. The next morning, we woke early and made our way to Füssen. The castle is set upon a hill with nothing else around it. There are three ways to reach the castle. Bus, carriage, and walking. It is a fairly decent uphill hike, so we decided to walk, get a little exercise, and enjoy the

Neuschwanstein Castle

view. There is a bridge that is set away from the castle that allows for a great view for pictures. We walked to the bridge, took our pictures, and then continued to hike around the woods to try and get a better angle. The scenery was beautiful and it just felt good to be hiking again.The castle was great from the outside- you can definitely see the resemblance to sleeping beauty’s castle, but left much to be

Hohenschwangau Castle

desired on the inside, with the exception of this guy’s bed. Unfortunately, there were no pictures allowed, but his bed frame was ridiculous. It was wooden, gothic design, and had more spires and little creatures than you could count. He also had his own church inside the castle that was full of brightly colored pictures. This guy really had a thing for swans, and they were absolutely everywhere-

Neuschwanstein Castle

sculptures, paintings, engravings, you name it, there was a swan version of it. Javier thinks the inside of the castle was worth the visit, and can count off a number of interesting points. Given this proof, I still don’t know if I agree.After hiking and touring the castle, we were just about out of time. We had to eat before we returned to Buchloe since the entire town closes down at around 5pm. Javier ate pork knuckle, which he had been wanting to eat ever since we arrived in Germany. We arrived back in Fussen where we walked around looking for dessert. We saw an outdoor Oktoberfest going on, with music provided by the local high school by the looks of it. We drank some hot chocolate at this pretentious restaurant solely for their wifi, and then made our way home.

Annette and Jackie

Annette was up early the next morning. She had to catch a 7:15 train, and had planned to call a taxi since the walk was about 30 minutes. At around 6:45 we woke up bleary eyed, and said good bye to her. Once she left, I tried to get back to sleep, but couldn’t. We laid there for a little while, and I didn’t hear a taxi pull up. Javier went down to the lobby, and came back saying it was dark and deserted, which meant Annette wasn’t able to use the lobby phone to call a cab, which meant…she

Hohenschwangau Castle

walked! After looking at each other for a couple minutes, we put on some running shoes and took off after her. If she were walking and running late, we could maybe catch up and help her. So, there we were, running after her with the sun coming up. We hadn’t exercised in months at this point, so that plus the freezing cold air, made this adventure a little tricky. We arrived at the train station and didn’t run into Annette, which meant that she had made it in time. We debated whether to say good bye. Javier thought that if she saw us, she might think something was wrong and try and get off the train, while I thought we could just wave and smile. As we were debating whether to stay or go, we heard train whistle and start to move forward, and there she was, our little Annette, safe and sound.

We enjoyed our walk, yes walk, not run, home- we were so out of shape, and still are for that matter. 🙂 After packing our things and walking back to the station, we grabbed some Chinese food, which was pretty good, actually, and jumped on our train to Switzerland.

Too see more pictures of “The Sleeping Beauty Castle”, click HERE.