Neuschwanstein

I have always wished to visit Neuschwanstein, and with Maya traveling with us, me even more so. It appeared that we would not make it today. Eric woke up early and I heard him clicking away on his computer, but Maya and I slept as long as we could before having a quiet meal in the breakfast room, very German, with cold cuts and cheese slices and 'quark' and good yoghurt with muesli. The coffee reminded me of our year in Bonn, although it is not exactly what I like; I remember that my mother always preferred the German rather than the Italian way of making coffee. Maya asked for tea, but did not appear to enjoy her herb variation. Breads of all kinds, including semmel and a very heavy thick slightly sweet loaf, along with crispbread and heavy dark grainy bread that my mother would make on her own from scratch when we were young. We were the only ones eating and it appeared that there were no other guests in our pension, but likely if there were, they woke up early and were out and about sightseeing. I wanted to catch the 8:51 train to Fussen, which is the train station nearest the castle, but I adjusted and planned for the 9:51 instead. Eric kept working on emails, and once we were out, I rushed us down a big thoroughfare to Marienplatz and to the right to the Hauptbahnhof. We missed our train, but learned that the ride was two hours!!! The tourist office tried to sell us a tour, but we decided to enjoy good espresso at Starbucks and shopped for a picnic of cheese and salami and tangerines and made it to the 10:51 and settled in for a pleasant cruise through the Bavarian countryside south to the Alps. The fields were spread out in all directions with small farmhouses here and there, and occasionally a small town along the way. The mountains suddenly appeared, grand and imposing and suddenly we were in Fussen, found our way to the bus and arrived in the tourist complex between two castles. We decided to try to visit the Hohenschwangau, the original and older castle, along with the fairytale Neuschwanstein, which was the fantastical creation of Ludwig the Second, who died at 40, mysteriously drowned with his doctor friend in the lake near Munich. He had grown up in a much older mideaval structure nearby, which had been renovated in a neoGothic style, each room with wall paintings depicting an earlier era of knights and maidens and legends.

I loved the Hohenschwangau castle, because it was lived in and warm and inviting, and I enjoyed the romantic pictures on the walls of knights performing honorable deeds, maidens loving swans and knights, kings being brave were entertaining. None of the paintings showed blood, even in the battle scenes. I imagined Ludwig growing up here, and could understand his desire to build an even more fantastical place nearby. He was removed from the throne because he spent too much money, and was declared insane, although apparently that was not true. His brother Otto was in fact totally crazy, but Ludwig is beloved because of his romantic nature and his optimism.

Neuschwanstein is entirely fantasy, each room covered with murals depicting the operatic stories of Wagner. Ludwig loved Wagner, and rejoiced in the legends. He even had a grotto created as one room (Tannhauser). The one thing I bought in the gift shop was a book about the original stories behind the operas, all of which were horribly complicated and confusing. While in the castle, I simply appreciated the romance of it all. Ludwig did not spend too much time in his dream castle, and it felt unlived in. In fact it became a museum soon after it his death, as a way to pay for the cost of building it.

It was lovely to walk around the castles and view the lakes and mountains nearby, ice and snow still covering the tops of the highest peaks. There was a lot of walking required, and unfortunately when Maya wanted to explore a lake on our way from one castle to the next, I managed to fall and twist my ankle, which swelled up massively, and left me in lots of pain, which I tried to ignore for the afternoon.

We explored as much as we could, and made it back to Fussen in time to look for dinner. The town looks very Tirolean to me, with painted stucco houses with wooden balconies and shutters, reminding me of Sterzing and my childhood. We snacked on yummy 'Doners' at a Turkish takeout and took the slow train to Munich, arriving late and not wanting to walk the 40 minutes to our pension, so had to figure out the UBahn to our place, which worked out fine. The streets near Pension Greiner were full of revelers, one bar with six huge screens displaying a soccer game, with screams of joy when the favored team scored. What a great day for us!