If I had to pick one day from this entire trip that I would relive start to finish, Thursday might already be it.
After two days of factory floors, conference rooms, and information sessions, getting on a bus headed into the Bavarian Alps felt like coming up for air. The drive alone was worth it. As we got further from the city and the mountains started appearing in the distance, growing bigger and more dramatic with every kilometer, I found myself just staring out the window. Having traveled through a fair amount of Europe during my time in London, I have seen some genuinely stunning landscapes. But there is something about the Bavarian Alps specifically that felt different, maybe because of the personal connection, maybe because of how raw and unfiltered everything looked. Either way, I was not prepared for how beautiful it would be.
The castle itself was fascinating in a way I did not fully anticipate. King Ludwig II built Neuschwanstein in the late 19th century not as a fortress or a seat of power, but as a personal fantasy, a deliberate retreat from the industrializing world around him. Standing inside it, that intention comes through clearly. Every room is ornate and theatrical, more like a stage set than a residence. It says a lot about what wealth and eccentricity look like when there are no practical constraints.
But the moment that genuinely stopped me in my tracks was the view from the Marienbrücke bridge overlooking the castle. After the climb up and the creaking floorboards that made it clear this was not exactly a state of the art structure, seeing Neuschwanstein framed by the Alps and the forest below was one of those views that does not quite translate into a photo. You just have to be standing there. I have never been so positive I will post a photo on Instagram in my life.
We also stopped in Füssen for lunch and later visited the Wieskirche, a church with live music playing inside that added something unexpectedly moving to the experience. There was a violinist I sent to my entire family, and my grandma now wants to plan a trip out here just to see it. By the time we got back on the bus with well over 20,000 steps on the day, I was exhausted in the best possible way.