Germany Day 6 - Ulm / Fussen

Day 6 - Dec 10

Outskirts of Fussen with the alps shaded by cloud.

Lake Hopfensee and the Alps

Our last planned overnight stay was in Fussen, home of one of the most famous castles in the world, Schloss Neuschwanstein.  Fussen is a small town nestled next to the Alps and just 3 miles from the Austrian border.  During the Middle Ages, the area was home to 3 castles within a few mile radius: Schwanstein, Vorderhohenschwangau and Hinterhohenschwangau Castles.  
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fussen


In the early 1830s, King Ludwig II's father, King Maximilian II of Bavaria,  purchased the ruins of Schwanstein castle and had the castle Hohenschwangau (otherwise known as the yellow castle) built there.  Several years later, in 1890, his son, King Ludwig II assumed power and dedicated much of his life to the construction of Medieval castles.  He had become very interested in the Middle Ages and dedicated the rest of his life to romanticizing the Middle Ages through the building of fine Medieval castles. I'll leave the wikipedia page for you to read more about the castle's history, but in a single word the castle was impressive. I recommend looking at the pictures of the castle interior as we were unable to use camera's inside.  The detail was amazing and had Ludwig lived to see it's completion I imagine it would have been so much nicer. Check it out.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schloss_Neuschwanstein

Hohenschwangau (Yellow castle) less than a mile from Neuschwanstein

Both Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau are located less than a mile from each other, as Ludwig II had grown up in Hohenschwangau and personally chosen the sight of Neuschwanstein.  The tours of each castle were seperate and we decided only to buy the tour of Neuschwanstein.  I'm glad we did as we were pretty tired after all the walking.


I had read this was the most visited tourist destination in all of Germany and I'm not surprised after seeing so many people on a chilly December day.  It seemed like most of the people came via tour bus and the only way inside the castle was to buy a tour ticket. We arrived around 10:30 and weren't able to get a tour until 1:05 it was that busy. The tours had a lot of people too... I'd say at least 100 people.

Neuschwanstein from the viewing bridge. A rare clear shot on this foggy day.
Austria is 1km away on the right.

This castle was a the inspiration for Disney's Cinderella Castle.

We had a great time.

I'm not pissed... Oh wait, there were Chinese tourists, so I was annoyed.
Learn some freaking manners.

The bridge were we had the nice view. Also, the hill on the left is where the castle got it's running water supply, quite and advancement of it's time.

The castle from the front entrance.  I'm not sure why they used red and yellow brick in the front.

The castle interior was really impressive. Unfortunately our tour guide wasn't very good and the tour was so large it was hard to hear what was being said.  Also, because there were so many people, it seemed like we were being herded like cattle and didn't get much chance to really appreciate what we were seeing. Oh well, it was still worth seeing.

The most impressive room was the king's bedroom. The entire room (walls, ceiling, bed, etc) consisted of intricate wood carvings. Bob, I'm sure you would love it and should definitely check this out on your way to Nuremberg.

After seeing the castle, we made our way to the hotel and walked around the town and Christmas market.  The market was tiny and we only spent a few minutes there.  The town was also not that impressive, though the real draw was the castle anyways. So ended our last full day in Germany.

Picasa web album of Day 6