The Greatest Blog: Day 2: Füssen and Munich

Today we started off our journey in Füssen, Germany where the famous Neuschwanstein Castle is located (the inspiration for the Disney Castle). It was about a 2 hour train ride from Munich, but well worth it. The scenery on most of the trip was beautiful. We both commented that outside of beer, you'd swear the second biggest industry was solar panels because so many houses, businesses, and farms are loaded with them. As we got closer to town you started to see more mountains and even some with snow still on them!

We first arrived in the town of Füssen and explored the area. There are two castles around the area: Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau. The first one has very tall spires and is mostly grey/white in color. The latter castle is mostly a yellow/beige color and is more of a traditional looking rectangular castle. We only had time to see one, so we picked the Neuschwanstein.

We went to the famous Marienbrücke bridge which gives you spectacular unobstructed views of the castle. It is very popular, and today was the very first day it was open after 18 months, so it was very crowded!!! While they do have a guard at the entrance to the bridge who is supposed to limit the number of people on it, you can tell from the picture that I think he was slacking. Also, not quite sure what kind of construction they were doing during that 18 months, but there were several wooden panels that were not really 100% secured to the bridge, so as you would walk, some of the planks would wobble or move. Not the best feeling when it is over a 300ft drop beneath you.

Inside the castle itself you are not allowed to take photos, so we just tried to take a lot of them on the outside. The inside was nice, but the tour groups were about 50-60 people, in small rooms, where you only got to stay for about 3-5 minutes each while the guide talked, and then you were shuffled out immediately. Rather disappointing honestly because you didn't even have enough time to actually look at the detail of the rooms. They also only took you to the finished rooms. Since the King died before the castle was complete, over 200 rooms were never finished.

Afterward we had to take 2 trains back to Munich. The first train sold too many tickets, so it was standing room only. For the entire hour long train ride! Then we connected onto a different train that would take us back to Munich, and that was a double-decker train, so everyone had a seat.

Once we arrived in Munich we met up with two co-workers of ours, who coincidentally happen to also be in Munich that day! Chris is pretty much a Munich local because he has been there so many times, so they took us on a bike tour around the city and pointed out some great spots. We ended up at Chris' favorite spot: The English Gardens. There are multiple locations to eat/drink there, but we ate at Jen's favorite spot by the river where it is quieter. It is cafeteria style food and drink and then you find a picnic table by the water and enjoy!