Today we had another early morning of course but I was excited because we got to go to a castle! We took our bus ride about an hour or two and arrived at Neuschwanstein Castle. I had no idea any information regarding this place other than the brief class lecture about it so I was ready and eager to learn more about the history. We got there and could see the Alps over the water which was stunning, then we had plenty of time to hang around at the bottom of the hill before going up for our scheduled 10:55 tour. We, naturally, decided to take the horse carriage ride up to the castle as opposed to walking because that’s so cool, and it was. Professor Feick even came on the horse ride with us to the top and we tried these German donuts that were also delicious. Once at the top we gawked at the castle and I stared at the Alps, trying to observe everything I could. During the tour, I learned all about King Ludwig II and the reasons for his castle building and all about his life. My favorite part of the castle was the walkthrough that had the original cave you could see because it was built into the actual mountains – it was so cool! I think Ludwig’s pretty cool, too, because even though he was going into massive debt, he was dedicated to building huge castles he couldn’t afford, and I was sad to hear he died before this castle was even finished being built. He was always isolated and hid away in his castles and was eventually deemed unfit to be ruler, and he was found dead in a lake, but nobody knows how or why. I know this was medieval times, but living this kind of life was sad and must have been lonely. I learned all of the ticket money goes to the German government,t which is absurd that they’re profiting off of a tourist attraction like that, but I guess that’s society. I was surprised to hear that but I wasn’t surprised to hear that this castle is one of the most visited and was even inspired to make the famous Cinderella Walt Disney castle! I was shocked to learn Ludwig didn’t like ruling and kept away from the public because as a king, you can’t rule that way. After the castle tour we went back to the University where a worker at MAN came in to lecture us. He talked about what differentiates MAN against other companies and thought their engines were the main factor and learning about them being the first European company to build a hydrogen combustion engine was super interesting. He talked about why they don’t sell to America and the reasons for their company to continue looking into EV technology. My favorite part about the discussion was when he touched on the Chinese and how they replace the entire battery instead of waiting 45 minutes to charge it and how in Europe, trucks don’t need to drive as far as they do in the United States so they make more sense for the location they’re in. This made me wonder if there are other reasons MAN won’t sell to the U.S., because I know every worker/site visit we have had can’t be truthful with us about everything! After the lecture we went home and had good pizza, this was one of my favorite days and was super busy, but I was glad to see the Alps and the pretty castle.
