Fussen

We headed to Fussen to check out some castles after Oktoberfest. Arriving in Fussen late at night, the place felt very much like Banff, or some other fancy ski resort town, due to the massive amounts of fancy hotels and cafes. We found our hostel, which was a really old house turned into a hostel. The keys were massive and fancy, and the doors on the bathrooms had to be locked using similar massive keys. Our bunkmates were already in bed by the time we arrive (at 9:20) and I was so relieved, as I was sick and tired and as soon as I lay down I fell asleep. 

We ate a quick breakfast at the only place open in town on a Sunday and then grabbed a bus to take us to the Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles. We first visited the Hohenschwangau Castle, which was the childhood home of King Ludwig II of Bavaria. The map said it would take us 20 minutes to walk up to the castle from the town, and since our entry time was just 20 minutes from when we bought our tickets, we hurried up the hill, arriving at the castle out of breath and sweaty, no more than 5 minutes later. 

Hohenschwangau Castle, taken from Neuschwanstein

Unfortunately the castles can only been seen on a tour, so we were forced to follow around 40 other tourists through the castles. The castles are quite exquisite, with no bare walls, and all sorts of fancy artifacts. Unfortunately they don't let you take photos in the castles.

Hohenschwangau Castle

 

 

 

 

From there we walked to the Neuschwanstein Castle, which took only 15 minutes instead of the recommended 40. We lurked at the gift shops to waste time until our tour time, and bought a bratwurst that had ketchup on it that tasted like tikka masala. 


The Neuschwanstein Castle is often referred to as the Walt Disney Castle, since it is the inspiration for most of Walt Disney's Castles. It is also a lot easier to pronounce. The Hohenschwangau is sometimes referred to as 'the yellow castle' since it is also impossible for us foreigners to pronounce. 

Neuschwanstein Castle

The Neuschwanstein Castle was built as a fantasy castle by King Ludwig II of Bavaria, which was built in honour of Richard Wagner, a German composer known best for his many Operas. Each room in the castle is designed with a different one of Wagners Operas in mind, including one room that is built like a dingy old cave. The Castle is weird because work on it was stopped when the King died, so there are many many of the rooms (15 of the 200) unfinished. The Castle was opened to the public only 2 weeks after the Kings deaths to help pay off his debts. 

The main entry to the castle

After visiting the castles we made it back with no time to spare before catching our train back to Munich.


We had a 3 hour layover in the Munich train station before boarding our overnight train to Paris. If you have 3 hours to spend waiting for a train, there is no where better to spend it than the main train station in Munich on one of the evenings of the first weekend of the 200th anniversary of Oktoberfest. People-watching has never been more entertaining.