Garmisch and Neuschwanstein

Two weeks after our trip to Chodovar we headed to Garmisch for another weekend away.  This had actually been planned before our previous trip to be another relaxing weekend!  We left early Saturday morning and began our 3 and a half hour drive down to the Alps.  Garmisch is so beautiful I could honestly go every weekend.   The town is nestled right in the Bavarian Alps and the views are just breathtaking.  This was our second trip to Garmisch.  The first time we had gone hiking with some friends back in the fall.  For this trip we decided to stay at the Edelweiss Lodge and Resort, which is military owned.  I personally really enjoy staying in European hotels and truly getting to experience the culture, but Edelweiss was gorgeous.  The hotel is so nice and it was truly like a little piece of America from all of the amenities, to the décor, and even the food.  After we checked in we went down to grab lunch 10 minutes before the buffet closed.  Obviously this was not the best idea because a lot of the food was already gone but it was the quickest option for us.  It was an American type buffet with some German influences to include some brats.  After we had lunch we went back up to our room for a bit to rest.  Long distance driving (even just over 3 hours) always makes me tired!  To make this a truly relaxing weekend we had scheduled a couple’s massage for the afternoon.  I had never had 2 massages in the same month before but I could definitely get used to the frequency!  We both enjoyed an hour massage with views of the Alps out the window.  This massage was a lot more like what I had been used to back in the states and while it was great, we both agreed we liked the ones in Chodovar better.

After our massage we decided to head into the center of the town and walk around a bit.  By this time it was a little after 5pm and even though Garmisch is a pretty touristy place pretty much all of the stores were closed.  It was a really nice evening so we walked around for a while and then sat down at an outdoor café and had some drinks.  We had made reservations for 7pm at an Indian place that was highly recommended on Tripadvisor.com so it was nice to waste sometime outside and people watch a bit.  Lots of people were walking around with their dogs.  Germany is so dog friendly it is great.  I wish we could have brought Rocco with us but unfortunately Edelweiss doesn’t allow pets.  The hotel we had stayed at the first time we came to Garmisch did allow dogs and we brought him with us, even though he spent most of his time in the hotel room.  We left the café a little before 7 and walked to the restaurant for dinner.  We both really enjoy Indian food so whenever we go away somewhere and find an Indian place we like to try it.  We ordered some naan with cheese and I had butter chicken, my usual.  Even though I was really explicit about the fact that I was allergic to sesame seeds the naan came out with small black seeds on them.  They didn’t really look like sesame seeds so I decided to just brush them off.  The first piece was find, but after the second piece I realized even though I had brushed off the seeds I was still having a reaction.  Oops!  Luckily it wasn’t a bad one, but we still left the restaurant quickly just so I could get medicine if needed.  My throat started to feel better about an hour later so we headed down to the restaurant in the hotel and had a drink to finish off the night.  I had a nice frozen margarita which I hadn’t had in forever since that’s not really a typical German drink!  We ended up calling it a night after that and after planning our day for Sunday went to bed.

 We woke up Sunday morning and got ready to check out of the hotel.  After leaving there we went and found gas on post in Garmisch and we were on our way!  We were going somewhere that I had always wanted to go since arriving in Germany and I was so excited!  About an hour away from Garmisch in Schwangau, Germany is Neuschwanstein Castle (pronounced New-shwan-stine) which is known as the inspiration for the Disney castle!  We decided to take the way through Austria and through the Alps a bit.  While in Austria we were driving right by huge mountains and saw a lot of people skiing.  We had reserved a 1:00pm tour of the castle so after parking we walked up to the ticket office only to see a huge line!  Luckily since we had reserved our tickets online we were able to go right up to a desk and get our tickets.  I definitely recommend that for anyone ever visiting the castle.  I noticed that there was an English tour starting at 12:40 so I asked if we could switch to that and luckily they let us.  The only downside about booking the tour online was that it didn’t tell me when the English tour was.  From the ticket place up to the castle you have 3 options to get there.  You can pay a few euro for a bus ride, pay a few more euro for a horse and carriage ride, or walk it.  They said the walk was about 45 minutes and since we had about an hour before the tour started we chose to walk it.  It took us only about 20 minutes so we had some time up at the top to enjoy the view and take some pictures.

Unfortunately the castle is under construction until 2014 so there is scaffolding all over the exterior, which doesn’t make for the best pictures!  They have tours starting every 5 minutes and it is an incredible system they have going up there.  So we just enjoyed being at the castle while we waited for our tour to begin.

The castle was ordered to be built by King Ludwig II.  The design and interior decorating was all inspired by the composer Richard Wagner.  So a lot of the paintings on the wall depict Wagner’s pieces.  King Ludwig moved in prior to the completion of the castle, but he only lived there for 172 days.  It is said that King Ludwig was in his bed chamber in Neuschwanstein when he was told that people believed he was insane and not fit to rule.  He left Neuschwanstein that day and was found dead the next day.  It is still unknown how he died.  Unfortunately, after his death construction on the castle stopped, but it was opened to the public.  During the tour we were able to see most of the rooms that had been completed.  We saw the servant quarters, throne room, bed chambers, a secret room, and the ballroom.  They don’t let you take pictures in the castle which I think is a ridiculous rule, but believe me if you try to take a picture they get mad at you…I speak from experience!  The throne room was absolutely incredible.  All adorned in gold, but there was never a throne in it because the castle was never finished.  Another breathtaking room was his bed chamber.  Everything was hand carved out of wood.  The top of his canopy type bed had over 70 carved steeples.  It was very impressive.  Along with a devotion to Wagner’s works, the castle has a lot of swans throughout it.  (Hence the name!)  There was one room that had over 100 swans in the wood carving and paintings and even the door knob.  After the tour we visited the gift shop and purchased a beer mug with the Bavarian flag on it and some post cards.  The castle was definitely worth the trip!  When we left Neuschwanstein we headed back up to Nuremberg to pick up Meghan who was flying in for a visit!  More on that later!!