We both got up and got ready for the day. I, of course, shaved that morning because it was our anniversary and I could think of no better present for my wonderful wife than a clean shaven husband.
Allyson did the school thing, and I decided I would spend my day visiting Neuschwanstein and the other Ludwig castles in Bavaria. I looked into traveling out on my own or going with one of the various tour groups and finally decided tour group was a better idea. With simplicity being the main reason I chose a tour group, so I was able to go with a group and not have to worry about train connections, tickets, or really anything other than having a good time. I meet the group around 9ish at the München Hauptbahnhof station. I got there a little early, so I snagged some additions to my lunch I would have for the day. Forgot to take a picture, but imagine a really good cheese roll and you will get the idea.
After leaving the station, we had a 50 min train to our first connection and then a hour train ride to end of the line in Fussen. In Fussen, we took a bus for another 15 minutes to the base of Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles. Enter the fun walking part of the tour. Our group walked for about 30ish minutes to the top before the castle and saw Mary’s bridge (this is the popular photo spot of the side of the castle). 
The official tour began around 2:30 and lasted about 40 minutes. What surprised me the most about the castle was the level of opulence and level of modernization evident in the castle. No section of wall, floor, or any other part was not handcrafted or adorned with some fancy something. In terms of modernization it was built in the late 1800s and had running water, central heat, and during building the used steam power to operate most building equipment. The one downside to this trip, I had been told, was you spend all day to get out there and then have maybe an hour or so of time to see things before you begin the return trip. While this was true, it was still a very worthwhile trip and I would do it again. Our guide was a great addition in his ability to add information to the back-story on who King Ludwig II was.
Started back on the trains, and everything was pretty uneventful aside from conversations with other people on the tour and my loaning of art supplies to another tour guide leader who was on our train. The kicker of the tour was on our last train back when I decided to sit in one of car rooms with a Germany family going to Munich. They spoke about as much English as I spoke German, but we somehow managed to make pretty descent conversation. Of all the car rooms to pick and all the Germans I could get...guess who I got to sit with…that’s right…the Jehovah Witnesses. Apparently, there is a big international Jehovah Witnesses convention in Munich at Olympia Park Thursday through Sunday and they were on their way there. The couple and their two kids were quite funny though and I got my very own JW track in German. They did mention watchtower.org or something but I just said I was American and didn’t understand.Got back home about 7:45ish, cleaned up, and left the house to do what a McFalls does best…eat. It was our anniversary dinner and we were hungry, so we went a around the block to a very cute pizza/Italian place. We split a green salad in a neat curved bowl and a pizza (prosecuttio, artichoke, mushroom).
Allyson had prosecco and I had a weisbeer with the meal. We finished everything off with a very yummy tiramisu. Claudio, our waiter, was awesome, as Petra had told us he would be.
Came back home tired and crawled in the bed. Overall, it was an awesome day with lots of history, food, and little to no rain.
All of that works in my book.
Benny
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Glad to hear that you had a good day at the castles, then a wonderful and celbratory meal. Good for you, for being able to tell the waiter that you wanted to split the salad! Looks like the tiramisu was yummy!
ReplyDeleteGood job with the "Guest blog", Benny... Allyson is a hard act to follow... better you than me!