Schwangau 2006

Date: September 5, 2006

Visiting Castles Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau was not on my original itinerary. Munich's weather was rainy in August. Therefore, Marisa recommended that I make a trip to the countryside and go to these 2 castles as it was a sunny day. With Marisa's help, I bought my train ticket to Fussen. For €18.00, I got a Bavarian day pass, which includes my return train fare, bus fare between Fussen and Schwangau, S/U-Bahn and bus fare to get back to my temporary home. What a good deal! Gas money to drive there would cost more. I bought a sandwich and some fruits and boarded the train. My train departed at 11 am and would arrive at Fussen at 1 pm. Lunch on the train was the right thing to do. A lady came inspect ticket. I greeted her in German and showed her my ticket. She punched my ticket, gave me a pen and my ticket. She then pointed to the ticket and said, "Da Name" My linguistic instinct told me she wanted me to write down my name there and I wrote my name on the ticket. Exactly what she wanted me to do, heehee. The Bavarian countryside is very nice and the ride was smooth. Probably it was because the land is flatter and the train tracks were well-engineered. (See countryside photos)

At Fussen, a flock of tourists including me boarded a bus that goes to Schwangau. The bus dot-matrix display has a big word CASTLES. Obvious enough! To my surprise, the person guarding the bus station spoke very good English, as compared to most employees at train stations. This tells Fussen is always flooded with tourists. Heehee, with my Bavarian day pass, I didn't need to buy a bus ticket. Those who were holding Eurail pass, they needed to pay for the bus. Once I got off the bus at Schwangau, I saw road signs everywhere. Right by the Info Centre, there was a paid toilet. Paid public toilet is common in Europe. I didn't use street toilet in Paris even it was free. Honestly, I rather pay €0.50 to use a clean toilet than to venture into a free public toilet.
	Both the Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles only offer guided tours. My Hohenschwangau tour would be at 2:15 pm and Neuschwanstein tour would be at 4:15 pm. Although the tour would be 45 minutes, according to the cashier, by the time I get down, it would be 5:30 pm and I would miss the 5 pm direct train back to Munich. At first I wondered why there is so much free time between the tours. Then I looked at the map instructions. On the map, it looks like a nice walk in the woods to go from the ticket office to the castles.
Neuschwanstein	..... Smelly horse butts ......	Then I lifted my head to look carefully. "Oh No, up in that mountain! How can I hike? And then walk all the stairs inside the castle? It's not just a matter of time now..." I admire those who walk but I rather pay some money and hire a seat in the horse-drawn carriage.
The Royal Castle of Hohenschwangau was constructed in 12th century. The Schwangau Knights died out in the 16th century and the castle was heavily damaged in 1800 and 1809 during Napoleonic wars. In 1832- 36, King Maximilian II and father of King Ludwig II restored it after having purchased it. The rooms I visited were all finished during that time.
Overall, my impression of the castle is very classy, not totally extravagant or ostentatious, just refined and tasteful. I was astonished to see the rich colors of the murals and how well all the furniture is kept. There is a chair of the King where there is a big swan imprinted on pig skin, very fine leather work I must say.

The castle policy is no photographs allowed. I could only take pictures of the surrounding scenery and the castle exterior.

In front of the castle gate	Right at the castle gate	King Ludwig II started building the magnificent Neuschwanstein castle in 1869. Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty castle modelled after this one. By the time King Ludwig II died in 1886, this castle was still work in progress. Among the finished rooms, the Throne-Hall is the most impressive. From the mozaic flooring to the gilded brass 96-candles chandelier to the golden murals to the marble stairs. 14 sculptors spent 4.5 years to work on King Ludwig's bedroom. Unfortunately he didn't spend too much time enjoying the nice bedroom. As a religious man, he had a chapel in his bedroom.
	My tour - #499 - is about to begin! I met some senior people who appeared to me like English from South Africa. They asked me what kind of languages do I speak and where I come from. Yet they were surprised I could speak a little French but not understand South African at all.
I can understand why King Ludwig II is beloved by his people. The castle is incomplete. However, the servants' quarters and the kitchen were fully complete. Unlike most European castles where the servant staircases are narrow and have low ceilings that a tiny person like me still feels crowded, this castle has relatively wide servant staircases and the ceilings are higher. The kitchen is nicely furnished with modernized kitchenware. The corridor along the servant bedrooms have a nice view of the lake. A lady in my tour group said, "I wouldn't mind to be a servant in this castle!" King Ludwig had a gentle heart towards his servants.		View of Foggensee
The Singer's Hall is another impressive room. King Ludwig built this room for his friend Richard Wagner. King Ludwig expected Wanger to hold his concerts and operas in this room. Unfortunately, this room was never used until 1933, 50 years after Wagner died. As Bavarians celebrate Mozart's 250th birthday in 2006, concerts would be held in the Singer's Hall. Too bad not during my stay in Munich....

About to board train at Fussen	In the morning, Marisa grabbed a train schedule for me and taught me how to read the schedule. I didn't make it to the direct train back to Munich and therefore I took the next train that needs to switch train. So I read my schedule frequently to check and I dared not fall asleep. The gentleman next to me realized I needed to connect trains. As the train approached Buchloe station, the gentleman spoke to me in Deutsch, "Ist Buckloe." And he used his body language to urge me get off the train. Yes, if I missed my connection, I would have been stuck going to Augsburg. Then it would take me extra 2 hours minimally to get back to Munich. I really appreciated this gentleman's kindness. Despite he could not speak English, he made great effort to help me.
I arrived at Hauptbahnhof Central Station shortly after 8 pm. I SMSed Marisa to see if she wants to have dinner together, although I suggested she should keep that evening for her husband. I was starving and didn't want to wait long, not even spend time looking for restaurants. (Well, it was days later when I found out she never received my SMS msg..) So I walked around all the food stalls in the train station and decided to eat like a traveller. I bought a roasted chicken leg and a seelach sandwich. The chicken leg was surprisingly good but the seelach was way too salty... Those cashiers as fast food stalls in the train station behaved inconsistently. It seems if I can pronounce the food name, they would talk to me in German, then I would surrender money and stay quiet, they then would say Thank You in English. If I can't and just use my fingers to point, they speak English. Overall as take-out food, it's pretty good.
More Photographs of Bavaria countryside, Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau Castles