Sunday, July 17, 2011

Wandering in the Bavarian Alps

We left Munich this morning and headed into the Bavarian Alps to Neuschwanstein to see King Ludwig II's famous castle (see next post) and his childhood home/castle, Hohenschwangau. Neuschwanstein Castle is indescribable...the only words that come to mind are "this is how I always imagined a King would live." But sadly, King Ludwig only lived in his masterpiece for 172 days (it took him 17 years to build the castle). At the age of 40, after ruling for 22 years, he was ruled mentally unfit to rule, evicted from his home and found dead in a lake two days later.  People still debate whether he drowned accidentally, was murdered, or committed suicide. 



A view of the Bavarian Alps and the countryside from our bus.


  Hohenschwangau Castle


A May Pole - used to announce town events and news - one of many we have seen.


Our hike up to Mary's Bridge to get an aerial view of Neuschwanstein Castle (photos in next post).


Tara, Martha Stewart of the Alps, had a picnic lunch ready for us near an old church when we were done with our tour. It featured a variety of local sausages sliced very thin, cheeses, bell peppers and cucumbers, white asparagus, green grapes, cherries and chocolate for dessert. The red wine cheese was my favorite!


Delicious!


Our group at the picnic stop.

When our picnic was over, we drove a short distance for a luge ride that was a blast!!!! 




The short video below will give you an idea of what the pre-luge ride is like.



The next one is of me speeding down and around the course. Tom said I should have filmed the landscape going by so you could see how fast it really was...whatever, you'll get the idea.



A really cool experience. YOLO!!

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