As I said in my last post, and we can all agree, this was probably the most anticipated day of the entire trip. I’ve seen the castle countless number of times in my TikTok feed, but I was super anxious to get out there and see it in person. The one downside to this day was the wake up which was 5:00 AM for me and it was not pretty. The bus departure was 6:30 so that gave us a little time for breakfast at 6. I got a little bit of sleep back on the 2 hour bus ride to the castle. We arrived at a beautiful view of the Alps in which we spent some time taking pictures and savoring the view. It was a fairly foggy day which obstructed the view of the Alps, but it still did not disappoint. After that we got ourselves a cup of coffee to wake us up for this mile hike completely uphill to the castle.

The walk wasn’t too bad, and in fact it was exactly what I needed to get myself going after what had been a sluggish morning. When we got to the top, the view was indescribable. It had a fairytale appearance to it, the towers, cliffs, and mountain backdrop make it look like something out of a fantasy story. Neuschwanstein famously inspired the castle in Disney’s Sleeping Beauty which was the castle was built in the 19th century by King Ludwig II who was known for his fascination with fantasy, art, and opera. This was evident when we made our way into the castle for the tour. One of the most interesting things we were told by our tour guide was that Neuschwanstein was never fully completed before Ludwig II died, which I thought added to the mystery and mythology surrounding the castle. My favorite part of the tour was getting to see his bedroom; the wooden bed design was so impressive. The one thing I noticed going through nearly every room were the swans. I wasn’t quite sure what they symbolized, but it shows how much symbolism was used throughout the castle. What struck me the most after completing the tour was how much creativity they had back then compared to today, the designs and dramatic architecture that was put into the castle speaks lengths. 

We then completed by going to the bridge behind the castle, which had a clear view of it. It was a little wobbly than I expected but the view over there was spectacular and I was glad that I toughed it out and got some pictures up there. We finished at the minitown Fussen, where I had my best meal of the trip so far at Ludwig’s restaurant. It was 4 different sausages, with potatoes that were to die for. While it was a very long and tiring day, it was totally worth it in the end as I will remember this day for the rest of my life.