Neuschwannstein

Never been here before in almost 8 years of time spent in Germany. Rather inconceivable considering the fact that along with Heidelberg, this is perhaps the most visited monument in Germany (by Americans....and maybe Japanese tourists.)

So it was time to go - and do some hiking in the area as well.

Afterwards, we were wondering a bit WHY this place is so popular. It does in fact feel a lot like Disneyland in Germany - just no giant mouse, and rather than burgers and fries, there were....uh...pretzels and schnitzel.

But despite the cheese factor, it was a well-done tour - short (well, there are really only about 6 rooms in the castle to show because Ludwig was killed off before he could finish the rest of the place), digestible, new enough that the place wasn't crumbling and falling apart like many of the beautiful, but almost always in a state of restoration, sites and relics of Europe. Maybe that was what is so appealing to Americans - the place is not in a sorry state of disrepair, and you don't need a week or even a day to tour it.

That last photo there? That's King Ludwig, who's face appears on a cookbook of sorts. "Eat like a King" is the name of the book - and it included all kinds of recipes from that era. I briefly considered buying it, but then decided that while the recipes were interesting, I wouldn't really want to cook any of them. Ludwig came to a rather strange ending (maybe as a result of eating those recipes? His kitchen was pretty awesome though - my photos were all blurry from there unfortunately,)...in 1886, after about 17 years of work on his "medieval" castle (the guy actually tore down a real medieval castle in the process of building his - a monument to Wagner), he was declared psychologically unfit. The next day, he and his psychiatrist were found in the nearby Lake Starnberg drowned to death. The mystery of the death was never solved.