Today was a very rainy day, but that did not stop me from having a blast on our trips today. Our first stop was to Neuschwanstein, a Bavarian castle that was built for Ludwig II and was finished in the later half of the nineteenth century. Its purpose was to be used by Ludwig and the royal family until he died in 1886, and since then the castle has been a very popular tourist attraction in Bavaria and generates a lot of money for the state, which is ironic since the construction of the castle itself nearly bankrupted the royal family. We first walked around the outside of the castle, taking in the awe-inducing sights. The castle was placed at the top of a mountain, and is surrounded by cliffs and ravines that connect it to the other mountains in the range. There were cascades of waterfalls that filled the area with the sound of falling water. The castle was designed in honor of the medieval period and thus had many styles from the era inside. Paintings of Christianity and ancient legends lined the walls of the castle and decorated the ceilings of many rooms. There was an amazingly elaborate church-like room that combined both the medieval decorations with religion, and it showed Ludwig II stance on the topics.

As you can see from the pictures, it was very foggy today. The fog added an element of mysteriousness to the castle and the surrounding landscape, making it feel even cooler. It also started raining as soon as we got to the castle and it only got worse throughout the day. I luckily brought my umbrella with me so I was able to stay relatively dry except for the tops of my shoes and the bottoms of my pants. Others were not as fortunate, but we all agreed that the warm shower we would take when we returned would be spectacular.

We also stopped by a catholic church on our way back to the hotel. It was in the middle of nowhere and looked like it was randomly generated there but that is besides the point. The inside of the church was magnificent. There were beautiful tapestries that filled up the roof of the church, and impressive murals on either side of the hall. At the end of the church was the altar. There were pictures form the bible framed in gold frames. Sleek marble columns flanked either side of the altar all the way up to the ceiling. The entire thing was very elaborate and mesmerizing to look at. Since it was raining so hard that was the last thing we did today. After leaving the church we headed straight back to the hotel. The shower really was amazing, and I am preparing for my company presentation tomorrow. See you then!