Today we went on an all-day tour to Neuschwanstein Castle in the alps, about a 2-hour train ride from Munich, ner the Austrian border. This is the castle that Disney made so famous and, indeed, it is a lovely picture sitting high on top of a peak amidst luscious forest. Or at least that is the way it looks on the postcards although for us it was shrouded in foggy swirls and mist. We seem to have visited during a rainy spell and we have ducked in and out of rain the whole time we've been traveling. But I must say that is was wonderfully chilly, even perhaps downright cold, and I loved it. There, that statement ought to help balance out all my posts moaniing about the heat on other trips
The interior of the castle was not that exciting -- very dark and heavy with lots of intricately carved wood and not many windows. OK, I hear you say most castles are dark and don't have many windows. But gee whiz folks, this thing was built in the 1880s, which is not exactly old as most castles go so you would think they would lighten it up a bit. It's also a bit of a disappointment because it was never finished -- our tour only covered 16 finished rooms. Apparently there are over 100 other rooms that were never completed, which is probably why the Nazis chose it in WWII to hide tons of stolen Jewish art pieces.
Now, about the rigors of the tour. First, from the train, we boarded a bus that took us as close to the castle as was possible. From the bus we hiked (note, I did not say stroll or walk) up a pretty steep incline and then down a very steep incline for a significant enough distance to make my knees hurt, just in order to get to the castle entrance (really, we hiked about 20 minutes). Then the castle tour guide (who must have quads of steel by this point in her career) led us 187 steps up a spiral staircase to the family quarters. That means we eventually also had to go down 187 steps. I'm just saying that I don't feel guilty for not doing my morning exercises today.
We wimped out on the hike back down the mountain to the bus and opted to take a horse-drawn wagon instead. Oh, and on the way to the castle entrance, we passed a man in traditional Bavarian dress playing a hurdy gurdy. We chatted with him for a minute and he was delighted that we even knew what the instrument was. He was quite charming.
You are probably now wondering about the camel. Well, on the train to the castle, as we were passing by miles and miles of small, well-tended fields with traditional German houses dotting the countryside here and there (they look like a Swiss alps design), all of a sudden we saw a dromedary in someone's pasture. He was far enough away so I couldn't get a serious look at him, and for all I know someone with a great sense of humor might have dressed up his horse to look like a camel. But you really can't fake the look of a camel neck and head. I'm sure there must be an interesting story of how the camel got there. It reminded me of the zebra we saw in someone's pasture on the big island of Hawaii last year. You just never know what you might come across when traveling.
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