The Castles of Mad King Ludwig

Our hotel is very close to a trail that heads out through the woods to the castles.  According to the trail markers it is 5.4km (3.4 miles) to the castles.  So we headed out through the woods.  Here is a look back to our hotel.

About half of the walk is along side the Alpsee (a beautiful lake) and depending which side of the lake you walk on you can get a great view of the castles (we walked on both sides).  Hohenschwangau is on the left and Neuschwanstein is on the right.

We picked up our tour tickets (you have assigned times at each castle which are two hours apart) and walked up to Hohenschwangau.

Looked around a bit and then took our 30 minute tour.  Just enough time for a brief overview of the castle and pictures inside are not allowed.  we then had to walk back down from there and then take a long uphill walk to Neuschwanstein (which is much more crowded).  Another 30 minute tour there so again a brief overview.  The interiors of both castles are amazing and some of the artwork and treasures are absolutely incredible (including some solid silver pieces and a 2,000 pound chandelier).  And the wood carving over the king's bed that took two years to finish.

And not only are the castles amazing the views into the valley are pretty spectacular as well.

There - all caught up for now.  Tomorrow we head to the Zugspitze - the tallest peak in Germany at 9,700 feet.