Today was a very exciting day in that we got to tour the castle at Neuschwanstein. I was particularly excited to see the different towns and the mountains around the village. The hike up was a bit steeper than I anticipated but worth it once we saw the view. The tour itself of the castle was enlightening and I was surprised to learn that Ludwig II had such advanced technologies at that time in his castle. For example, he had a doorbell system for his 30 servants and an automatic flush on the toilet. After hearing about how he lived his life, I could not help but think how depressing it must have been to be in that castle all alone besides his servants. He seemed very anti-social, which could relate to him not feeling comfortable in his own skin. His ideas for the castle when designing were very interesting, including his inspiration from Budda and Gothic literature. It almost seemed like a waste for the one bigger room since he did not host any social gatherings but instead used it for just him and his thoughts

Lastly, we drove over to two other very fascinating towns to walk through. Fuessen in particular, was very crowded but seemed full of happy and smiling faces. The food and drinks were delicious and the farmers market was one thing I did want to see while in Germany. The second stop was probably one of my favorite sites to see. The church was the most extravagant church I have ever seen and yet it felt like it was in the middle of nowhere. I loved seeing the big open fields since we haven’t seen anything like that. The people and the shops were so welcoming and I would love to go back in the future.