Refreshed from a good night's sleep, we enjoyed breakfast served in the dining room at Pension Oechsner and then took a morning stroll down by the lake, stopping to visit the horses on the property.
Once we felt confident that we'd burned enough of Jackson's energy, we piled into the Volvo for another day of adventure. Today our destination would be the ultimate fairy-tale castle, Bavaria's Schloss Neuschwanstein.In keeping with the royal theme of the day, we listened to Mark Driscoll's sermon "Jesus Christ is Lord, KING, and Savior" as we sped along on the autobahn toward Füssen.
Our TomTom soon took us off the autobahn and onto some winding two-lane roads through some of the most gorgeous countryside I think I've ever seen. The beautifully simplistic patchwork of rolling hills and green pastures was interrupted periodically by the occasional village or bike trail while the Alps rose majestically in the distance.
We arrived at the castle a little earlier than our appointed tour time so we grabbed some bratwursts and sat in the grass for a picnic. Jackson is most definitely a bratwurst fan!
We still had a little time to kill after lunch so we said hi to the horses who were tethered to their carriages and waiting to pull their next round of tourists up the mountain and perused the nearby tourist trap where Jackson tried on this Bavarian Alpine hat:
Finally it was our turn to board one of the shuttle buses and ride up the steep mountain trail to Marienbrücke, or Mary's Bridge, where we had a perfect and VERY HIGH view of the Neuschwanstein Castle.We took a few photos and spent a few minutes watching thrill-seeking paragliders jumping off the nearby cliff before we continued up the trail to take our tour.
Inside the castle, we were amazed at the grandiosity of the interior - or at least in the third of the castle that was actually completed before "Mad" King Ludwig II (a.k.a. the "Fairytale King") died and construction halted in 1886. Apparently the looney king was a huge fan of the composer Wagner which led him to hire artists to paint scenes from Wagner's operas throughout the interior of the castle. It really was an incredible sight to behold.Here's a look back at Mary's Bridge from inside Neuschwanstein. I'm sure you can see why I was a little uneasy about standing way up there for too long...
From the balconies of the castle, we had amazing views of the surrounding Bavarian countryside and a bird's eye view of Schloss Hohenschwangau below, the castle that had belonged to the King's father.
Here's a photo of Jackson sleeping at the castle to add to our collection of Photos of Jackson Asleep at Famous Places:
Here are a few other photos from our royal fairytale adventure:
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