Early Sunday we had breakfast and headed for the Konigsschlosser - the King’s Castles.  Nearly every tour bus in Germany stops at the castles – there were dozens of full tour busses loaded with thousands of tourists.  If you want to see both castles (who doesn't?) Hohenschangua is first, and opens at 8:45.  I discovered that I had made reservations for Monday instead of Sunday, but that was not a real problem – we got tickets for 9:15 and 11:15.  Saturday night I realized that if I wanted good pictures of Neuschwanstein I would have to skip Hohenschangua and hike up the mountain in front of Neuschwanstein.  I left the rest of the family, took the bus to Mary’s Bridge above the Neuschwanstein, and started hiking and snapping pictures.  

Neuschwanstein with the town of Schwangau and Lake Forgensee

Neuschwanstein and Hohenschangua (left center) with the Austrian Alps.  Füssen is in the right background.

Neuschwanstein.  

I kept going higher and higher on a trail that got quite steep with endless switchbacks.  I got great pictures and had a fantastic time, but eventually realized that the classic postcard shots of Neuschwanstein are taken from a different trail.  I tried very hard to summit the mountain but turned back after a false summit to be sure I didn’t miss my tour of Neuschwanstein .  I also wanted to be sure to get pictures of the family from Mary’s Bridge with Neuschwanstein in the background.  My timing was perfect, as they arrived at the bridge right as I got there.  Everyone told me what a great tour of Hohenschangua I’d missed, but my hike was fantastic.  CJ had bought a book on King Ludwig.  Kathy was very hesitant to walk onto a bridge with a 200’ drop. We got the picture, but it turned out poorly cause yours truly was drenched in sweat from the hike.

Bob & Karin Johnson on Mary's Bridge at Neuschwanstein

We toured Neuschwanstein, had lunch, and got in the van.  We had a beautiful drive in Austria along the Plansee, where hundreds of people were swimming, sunbathing, picnicking, sailboating, and windsurfing.  In an hour or so we arrived at Linderhof.  

The Ketchums at Linderhof

CJ is in front of the fountain in the yellow shirt.  I didn't see him when I was taking the pictures, but he saw me and dutifully posed.

Linderhof is quite small (in comparison to the other castles) but also quite beautiful.  We had about a 30 minute wait before our tour, which gave me plenty of time to take pictures outside and wait for the clouds to break.  The 45 minute tour is incredible, and they allow you to take pictures inside.  Unfortunately the lighting is so low that a good picture inside is nearly impossible.  

The ivory chandelier in the Hall of Mirrors in Linderhof.  Everything that looks like gold is painted or leafed in real gold, and the entire castle looks like this.

Ludwig had his staff construct a grotto - a building that looks like a cave - with a lake.  The cave and lake were of course heated in the winter.  Ludwig was friends with Wagner, and would have him help run the kingdom and pay him huge sums of money.  Ludwig would sit in his boat while they played Wagner for him.  The lights changed colors as well - blue, red, green, if I recall.  It isn't too hard to see why the called him 'Mad King Ludwig'.

After we were done touring Linderhof the family started teasing me about touring 3 castles in one day, comparing this to the 4 museums in Florence in one day.  We decided to skip Oberammergau, site of the Passion Play (too many syllables, anyway, and we knew everything would be closed at 6pm on Sunday evening), and stopped briefly at Weiskirch.  When we arrived at about 6:15pm Sunday evening dozens of people in semi formal attire were walking up to the church.  We soon discovered that a concert was scheduled to start at 7pm.  We were still able to enter the church, and were treated to the sounds of the orchestra warming up while as we briefly viewed the church.  

Wieskirche

Wieskirche

We had dinner at our hotel again, where one of the owners commented during dinner that most people only spend one night in Fussen – obviously there were glad to have someone spend more than a single night.