Bavaria, Germany

Last weekend was a long weekend and at the last minute we decided to go away. As all the trains to Paris were full, we set our sights on Füssen, Germany. Füssen is a small town in Bavaria, near the Austrian border, and not too far from München/Munich (which holds the Oktoberfest each year). So, why go to a small town at the bottom of Germany you might ask? Well, because Füssen has a wonderful gem nestled in the mountains. This gem is called Neuschwanstein Castle, and it is a place I have wanted to go to since I started leaning about Germany, many moons ago.

Here is a link to some info on Füssen and the castles. The picture also gives you an idea of the size of Neuschwanstein. Read up about it, then come back! http://www.destination360.com/europe/germany/fussen

So, on Friday afternoon we decided that, despite the forecast for rain in Füssen and sunshine in Zürich, we would get ourselves on a train the next morning and head off. We found a place to stay online and made a booking for two nights. The following photos are from the train ride (please excuse the reflections). I'd also like to make note of the fact that these photos were beautifully vibrant before I uploaded them, now sadly, you'll just have to imagine it.
                          

*Clicking on a photo enlarges it*

As you can see, we needn't have worried about the weather as it was absolutely amazing the whole time. Even the wild flowers in the meddows seemed to be enjoying it, that was until they were mowed by the famers! There were many beautiful flowers wanting their photograph taken in the town too, so I happily obliged them.

 We arrived an hour late to our accommodation as we forgot that once you leave Switzerland, public transport is not so reliable and so we missed our connecting train. However, once we arrived in Füssen and found the place, we discovered we had a lovely little apartment to call our own and all for the ridiculous price of 50 Euro a night. This was to be the first of many lovely surprises money-wise, as once we got out and about we found that restaurants and shopping were also much cheaper than at home.

                                                        We had the top floor of this place

                                                                          The view

 Once we were settled in, we decided to go and check out the town. Here's a selection of photos from around the town (we were a five minute walk away).

 

Being in a tourist town in Bavaria, in most restaurants we were served by people dressed in this type of outfit. We ate out in Füssen for every meal (except breakfast, which was included in the accommodation) because we felt it was our duty to make the most of being able to afford to eat out. Most meals came to about 30 Euro and it included 2 mains, desserts & usually 3 drinks. At home we wouldn't even get  2 mains for 30chf! Anyway, the food...

   Veal sausages and pretzel

 Fish and a super tasty potato salad

"Haxe" hock with potato dumplings, salad & warm red cabbage with apple and cinnamon

Ox with potato croquettes

Snowballs

These delicious looking things turned out to be biscuits squished into a ball!

Anyway, enough about food and more about castles. 

The next morning, we took a 10 minute bus ride to the small village where the Hohenschwangau & Neuschwanstein Castles are. You aren't allowed into the castles without a guide, so we signed up for two tours, which would be about half an hour each. We started with a horse and carriage ride, through a small forest,  up the hill to Hohenschwangau.

 

This castle is much smaller than Neuschwanstein but still very impressive both inside and out, and the view wasn't bad either. Unfortunately, taking photos inside the castles wasn't permitted, so here's the view from the outside.

View of the village from Hohenschwangau Castle

 In the village

Neuschwanstein Castle from Hohenschwangau. King Lüdwig had a telescope set up in one of the rooms in Hohenschwangau to watch the construction of Neuschwanstein. 

 

The views from the castles were amazing, you could see for miles, and along with fantastic views was an absolutely stunning lake. 

 After a small snack in the village, we took a bus up to Neuschwangstein and paused for some more photos before heading off on our next tour. The view of Hohenschwangau was fantastic. You can just make it out in the middle of the photo here.

The inspiration for Walt Disney's Cinderella Castle came from Neuschwanstein Castle. If you can imagine the Disney Castle, you can see here the likeness.

Poor Lüdwig died before this castle (one of his many ongoing castle-building projects) was completed and all building was stopped at that point, so even though the Castle is massive, the tour was only half an hour long because they showed us only the few floors that were completed. 

After the tour, we took a short walk to a nearby waterfall and then another walk to a bridge at the top of the waterfall that looked out over the castle. The bridge was absolutely packed to the point it almost deserved its own photo, however once we got to a spot on the bridge where we could see the castle, we knew it was worth all the pushing and shoving and Cave Creek reminders. 

Once we were finished with the castles, we went back to the lake and took some time to soak in this wonderful place.

 

The next day, we strolled around the town again, had some lunch and then took the train back to Zürich. It was a lovely, relaxing trip and I would heartily recommend a visit here if you're ever in the neighbourhood.