Neuschwanstein Castle and Munich - Germany
/We drove north out of Switzerland to Schwangau, Germany and stayed just one night to check out Neuschwanstein Castle and Hohenschwangau Castle. These two incredible castles are at the southern tip of The Romantic Road. More on that in a minute!
If one of these castles looks familiar to you, that's because Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle was designed after this model. We spent an afternoon visiting Hohenschwangau, and then took a long hike up the mountain the following morning to see Neuschwanstein from all angles. It's amazing what a huge pile of money will do! Seeing the castle from above with the Bavarian farmland spread out below was one of the most beautiful sights of the trip so far.
After that short stop, we continued North and East to Munich. Some say The Romantic Road is just a marketing scheme cooked up in the 1950s to try to get tourism to increase in Germany's farmland, mountains, and Bavarian forests. That's probably true, but the 350 kilometer stretch of two-lane highways is a beautiful part of the world, lined with walled cities, castles, German food and beer and Bavarian landscapes. I'll have more pictures of the sights along the road itself in a few days, but for now let's talk Munich!
First of all, Munich is incredibly cool. There's so much going on, and such a strong culture here that we were sad we didn't spend more time seeing the sights. We'll definitely be back. We ended up with one day for Dachau, the nearby concentration camp memorial, and just one day to tour Munich.
I'd been to a concentration camp while in Europe about 10 years ago, but experiencing it again was very worthwhile. There are no pictures of that visit below, because it seems strange to take photos of places where people endured such hell. It wasn't what I would call a "fun day," but it was good to learn about Dachau's part in WWII and again be reminded of this part of our world's history.
The following day we took another Rick Steve's audio tour around Munich. We took way too many pictures of Residenz, which you'll see below. This palace housed former monarchs of Bavaria, and was probably the most opulent castle or palace we have seen on this trip. We also spent plenty of time checking breweries off Chuck's list, and eating...everything. Italian food is amazing, but there is absolutely zero variety, so I was happy to enjoy some new food groups, as well as salads that actually have something other than lettuce and half a tomato on them. :)
