***NOTE - SPOILERS AHEAD!!!***
So, we made it back to Houston right on time today. We weren't home 30 minutes when the mother of all thunderstorms hit. The power went out at least half a dozen times, and at one point I thought lightning hit a tree just on the other side of my back fence. Things are finally settling down.
So, yesterday (Friday) was our trip to Neuschwanstein. We had a 715 am departure, so everyone was down at breakfast when it opened at 630. The breakfast at the Kempinski is lovely...not only is there a vast selection of delicious food, but the dining/buffet area looks like something out of a magazine. It is very posh. The breakfast selection included most everything we'd had at the other hotels...yogurt, fruit, eggs, sausages, bacon, a selection of meats, fish, and cheeses, a wide variety of breads and pastries, a selection of gourmet jams, jellies, and honey, and a variety of fresh pressed juices. The Kempinski has a few extras, though. Evidently, the hotel keeps bees on the roof, and the breakfast offers fresh honey from a honeycomb. The croissants are also served warm, as you take them from a small oven. I like to consider myself a croissant connoisseur, and the ones at the Kempinski were very good. But, I give the edge to Schloss Waldeck when it comes to croissants. The ones at the hotel in Heidelberg were ok (especially since I ate them BEFORE having the ones in Waldeck), but I didn't even try the ones at the Eisenhut...I could tell by their appearance that they wouldn't be up to my croissant standards. The Kempinski also had champagne and juice (for mimosas), as did the Eisenhut. The one thing the Kempinksi had at breakfast that I did not see at the other hotels was rice pudding and fruit compote. I'm telling you, those two things, together and on their own, were fantastic. Definitely try them! Ok...so that's the scoop on breakfast. Now on to the rest of the day.
We had about a two hour drive to Fussen, which is the town at the base of the mountain where Neuschwanstein was built. I did nap a good bit, since my sleep patterns were off the entire trip and we'd gotten up earlier than usual. However, the drive, especially as you approach Fussen, is lovely. You will pass through several picturesque Alpine towns, so it's worth staying awake for at least the last 30-45 minutes of the ride. We also had a local, authentic Bavarian guide (dressed in liederhosen) who accompanied us and entertained us with stories about King Ludwig II who built Neuschwanstein.
When we arrived in Fussen, our driver/bus dropped us off at the hotel where we would have lunch later in the day. I visited Neuschwanstein 15 years ago on my previous trip to Europe, so pretty much everything we visited was familiar to me. The hotel is just a short walk from the kiosk where you get tour tickets and board the bus (a Neuschwanstein tour bus, not the ABD bus) that takes you up closer to the entrance of the castle. Although, there is still a fair amount of walking (up a steep hill) even from where the bus drops you off. By this point it was raining enough to require umbrellas. And it was about 50*. Our tour was scheduled for 1055 am, but the guides like to get the group there early because there are quite a few great photo ops...when it's not cloudy and rainy. Our first stop was Mary's Bridge, which provides a fantastic view of the castle, a waterfall, and the gorge/mountains. Unfortunately, the view is not enjoyable when it's 50*, raining sideways, and the wind is blowing so hard that it turns your umbrella inside-out. Basically, JT and I were on the bridge just long enough to have our picture taken (and what a picture it is!). I have to say, the guides are absolute troopers, braving the horrible weather to make sure EVERY family got their photo op. JT wasn't too keen on venturing out on the bridge in the rain and wind, but I said something to the effect of "We came all this way, and we are getting our picture taken on this bridge, darn it!" Except "darn it" is the G-rated, Disney version of my actual statement. So, we got our pic, and I've seen it (I'll explain how in my next post), and it is quite a special picture thanks to the specific weather conditions.
After the bridge pictures, we headed as close to the entrance of the tour as we could while still maintaining cover from the rain. The actual entrance to the tour is in the castle courtyard, which also provides some great photo ops, but the courtyard is not covered. So, we huddled under a covered bench area just outside the courtyard entrance for the better part of 30 minutes before our tour started. Evidently, our photos didn't take as long as they usually do when the weather is better. There was a very picturesque overlook near the covered benches, and we were able to get a few pictures during times when the rain subsided.
Finally, it was time to head up to the courtyard for our tour, and here is where my only real "complaint" with this trip is. As when I visited 15 years ago, tours here are sold at specific times, based on what language you want the tour in (English or German). Our tour would obviously be in English, and we were assigned to the 1055 am tour. All of the tours have a 5 minute window for arrival. Unfortunately, quite a few other people were also assigned to this same tour. In fact, I thought the castle area as a whole was very crowded...much more so than what I remembered from my previous visit. I did an English tour then, and I don't think my group had more than 20-25 people in it, which was about the size of our ABD group. But, by the time the other visitors assigned to the 1055 am tour joined us, we had a group that was more like 40-45 people. Frankly, that size group is just too big to fully enjoy the rooms on the tour. Our guide Lexie told me that ABD has tried to get a private tour, but the Neuschwanstein organizers won't agree to it because they want to be sure that every tour is as full as possible. Honestly, this is one area where I think ABD should try harder to improve the experience; the ABD tour should be ABD guests only.
With that said, the tour of Neuschwanstein is excellent and is exactly as I remembered it. The castle is only partially complete, and you essentially get to tour all of the completed rooms. At the end of the tour is a balcony (more great photo ops), and a gift shop where the guides do give you time to pick up some souvenirs. After the tour, you exit the castle, and instead of walking back down the hill, ABD guests are treated to a horse-drawn carriage ride to the hotel where we have lunch. The carriage ride is a "surprise" on the trip, as the guides do not tell you about it ahead of time.
Lunch was at a lovely hotel at the base of the castle. I don't recall what all of the choices for lunch were, but I had fish. This fish was fine, but JT got some sort of breaded/lightly fried pork (I'm not sure if it was presented as schnitzel or not), and it was very good. There was no alcohol or dessert included with this meal.
Depending on how fast you eat, you have about 30-45 minutes to look around the gift shops and/or walk down to the lake (for more great photos) Be sure to look in the gift shop right next to the hotel for the clearly NOT licensed "Mickey Mouse" key chain where "Mickey" is holding a Neuschwanstein charm.
The bus ride back to Munich took a little over 2 hours, since we hit a traffic jam. Our local guide was with us the entire time, telling us stories of Ludwig II and his fairy tale castles. We had about an hour, once we got back to Munich, before we had to meet for the farewell dinner. I think the dinner deserves it's own post, so I will follow up soon. I also need to upload all of my pictures to my computer, so there will be more of those soon, too.
That's funny. I've gotten a lot of things addressed to me as "Mr" when I travel solo...
