Tuesday, May 16th we traveled south again by bus to see King Ludwig II’s castle.

Close to the border with Austria, Neuschwanstein Castle was supposed to be a home for the Bavarian king, within walking distance of his father’s castle. However, after his untimely death, the castle was never finished. Now, the 30% that is finished is used as a tourist site by the government. Probably not what Ludwig II had in mind.

After hiking up the mountain the castle sits on, we were given a quick tour of the interior from a very eccentric tour guide. The inside was everything that I expected, from the gold to the ornate paintings and sculptures. The woodworking on the King’s bed is probably the most intricate that I have seen. While America doesn’t really have any castles to compare Neuschwanstein with, Disney’s castle was designed after the site.

From our tour, we quickly ran to a nearby bridge to get a better view of the exterior of the castle. The view from the bridge was the only view that hid the ongoing maintenance work being done to the entrance of the castle.

Once we made our way back down the mountain, we traveled to Fuessen for lunch and some free time. During my free time, I went in some souvenir shops and ate gelato.

After Fuessen, we traveled to Wieskirche, where we saw a church that is a popular pilgrimage site. Unfortunately, our real reason for traveling to Wieskirche, a local donut shop, was closed.

From Wieskirche, we returned to Augsburg and our program concluded for the day.