We were up bright and early to start a day of adventure. We are going on a tour of the Neuschwanstein Castle, the town of Oberammergau and then Schloss Linderhof. It’s an all day tour, starting with a luxury coach ride from Munich to the castle.
Following our trail from yesterday, we headed to the pickup point. The weekend celebration was over except for the cleanup, so without all the people, we got there in just over fifteen minutes. When we arrived, the bus was already half full – I guess everyone else left a little earlier too!
It turns out there were two buses for this popular day trip. Once our bus was full, we started off to the castle.
Our guide for the day was Johnny and our driver was Mr. Jordan – both were excellent. Johnny guiding us through the facts and history, while Mr Jordan guided us through the traffic and tight, winding roads.
Along the way, we had wonderful views of the countryside, small towns and the Bavarian Alps.
It took a few minutes short of two hours to get to the town of Hohenschwangau, above which the castle resides. The town is also home to the lesser known Hohenschwangau castle.
When we arrived in town, Johnny gathered everyone together to talk about the plans for the visit. We’ll start out with a shuttle ride up, then a short walk to the photo bridge before heading to the castle. Our tickets are for an 11:20 am entry time. Afterwards, we’ll have some time to grab lunch before re-boarding the bus to head to Oberammergau.
And away we go –
It took a few minutes before the shuttle arrived. Only part of our group was able to get on, so we had to wait for the next shuttle. The extra time caused a little blip as we needed to head to the castle for our entry time. That meant we’d have to miss taking pictures from the iconic Marienbrücke bridge vantage point.
The walk over to the castle was a tad strenuous, as it was mostly uphill. Luckily, the beautiful views helped alleviate the struggle.
Then you round a bend and the castle appears.
The Neuschwanstein Castle is not ancient. It was commissioned in 1862 by King Ludwig II. Unfortunately, it was not completed until after his untimely and suspicious death in 1886. He was just 40 years old.
His story is interesting, but we’re here to see the castle.
If you think you’ve seen the castle before, then you have probably watched Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty” or visited Disney World’s Cinderella’s Castle. Both were inspired by the Neuschwanstein Castle.
Ludwig did live there for a while in a section that was complete. He had a beautiful sitting room that looked out over the valley. King Ludwig was friends with the composer Richard Wagner and incorporated scenes from his operas into the castle design.
Unfortunately, no photos were allowed inside of the castle.
Upon finishing our visit, the walk down was not exactly a breeze. It was a bit steep and the horse drawn carriages made sure you were paying attention (if you know what I mean).
It took about twenty-five minutes to get back down to town. We opted to stop in a small bistro for a sandwich before heading back to the bus.
Everyone returned in a timely manner and we were able to head to our next destination – Oberammergau Zentrum. It’s a charming little town known for its Passion Play, held every ten years. We used it as a potty break while others checked out the souvenir shops.
Our final stop was at Schloss Linderhof. Once a small hunting lodge, King Ludwig II built a small palace, with stunning architecture and magnificent gardens. Inside decorations are over the top, perhaps even a little bit overdone. That said, Ludwig seemed to take inspiration from other palaces, but combined those inspirations to excess. Again, no photos were allowed inside.
Although the interiors made Liberace seem a ‘Plain Jane’, the exterior gardens were magnificent.
Schloss Linderhof was very impressive to visit. I can see why it was added to the UNESCO World Heritage sites.
When our time was up, we headed back to the bus for the drive home. This time, besides the lovely scenery, we saw much more traffic and a nasty looking accident on the highway.
The ride did seem to go by quickly and before long we were back at the edge of Munich. The bus returned to the starting point and after saying thanks, we started our walk back to the hotel.
We were both tired, but more than tired…we were hungry. Neither of us wanted a big noisy place, so instead, we tried a nice looking Italian restaurant just a short walk from the hotel.
The restaurant was called Osteria der Katzlmacher and we hit a home run with this one. We knew we chose wisely when we were greeted with “Buona Sera” instead of “Guten Abend”. Our waiter was surprised when we responded in Italian and then ordered in Italian. We went with the four course Chef’s choice menu and a bottle of 2020 Pellisero Barbaresco.
We started with an appetizer of fried zucchini flowers along with a bruschetta topped with fish, fennel, onion and garlic.
The pasta course was tagliatelle with an arrabbiata sauce, chopped octopus, parsley, tomatoes and garlic. It looked so good, we ate it before we remembered to take a picture. Oops….
The fish course was seared sablefish. It was served with some gnocchi and a white kohlrabi.
And finally, the meat course was beef tenderloin in a peppercorn caper reduction with white asparagus and potato purée.
Oh, but wait, is it really possible to enjoy a nice Italian meal without Dolci? I think not, so we added in a little tiramisu to share.
Now the meal was complete!
We paid, thanked our waiter and on the way out, we were thanked by the owner. What a perfect evening!
We took the short walk back to the hotel and finally put our legs up to rest. We both ended up falling asleep quickly. Lots of walking and maybe a little help from the wine was a one-way ticket to dreamland.
Slightly Whirled - A Traveler's Tales 