Sleeping Beauty Castle

Wednesday morning, my sister Jennifer flew into Zurich.  We drove back to our house, got our things ready to go, and headed out.  First we headed to Neuschwanstein Castle.  It's the castle Walt Disney used for inspiration for his Sleeping Beauty castle.  I had read that it was under renovations on the outside, which was pretty disappointing.  But we decided to go anyway, and it was well worth the trip.

Scaffolding on the castle

The castle was still  beautiful, and made even more so by the amazing location.  We were going to make our kids walk up the mountain to the castle, but they lucked out and we passed a bus that would get us up with very little effort and was way cheaper and less smelly than the horse drawn carriages.  We made sure they walked back down, though.  

It was very cute when we got on the bus and there weren’t any seats left, there was a couple from an eastern European country (not sure--they didn’t speak much English) where the guy patted his lap as an offer to let Chloe sit there.  She hopped right up and was very cute and smiley and said thank you.  Perfect manners!  Until she picked her nose.  Repeatedly.  Aarrgh.  We’re working on that.  It pretty much cancels out all cuteness.

Once we got to the top, we had a little time before our scheduled tour (it’s the only way you can go through the castle).  So we went up to St Mary’s bridge, which spans a deep gorge close to the castle.  As if being on a bridge over a gorge doesn’t give you a little bit of panic as is, this one takes it up a notch.  Most of the wooden boards that you walk on have a decent amount of give to them--to the point where some  make you wonder how close they are to breaking.  And sending you plunging to your death.  But it was pretty fantastic nonetheless, and made you appreciate solid ground.

The view from the bridge.  A-MAZ-ING.

You can see the bridge up at the top.

It was a looongg way down

Luckily the scaffolding from the back doesn't get in the way too much. 

The castle itself is unfinished inside, but you get to see the 1/3 of the castle that was done.  The rooms are beautiful, and I would have loved to see what “Mad King Ludwig” would have accomplished if he hadn’t died a suspicious death when he was 41.  We weren't allowed to take photos inside, so here are a couple from the internet:

There were picture-perfect views on the way down, and we found a store with some cute hats.  

 

After we were done, we headed to Innsbruck, Austria where we were going to stay for two nights.  The drive was amazing, and we caught the sunset before we went to bed.