Neuschwanstein Weekend

My landlord got a new wifi system and now my internet goes in and out, so I haven't posted any blogs lately.  Today, I'm going to try to get this post done before the internet goes out again.

Neuschwanstein Castle - My friend from work and I rented a car and went to see Mad King Ludwig's castles - We saw 2 and he has 4 (who knew?).  We went right after school and the leaves were just beginning to change and the drive was breathtaking.  Everywhere we looked we saw amazing sights!

Walking into
Hohenschwangau Castle 

Hohenschwangau Castle

  

To end the perfect day of beautiful sights, the sun gave us one more show!

Hands down, at night, Hohenschwangau castle is better than the Neuschwanstein castle.

This is the view from our hotel.  It is pretty, but at night it doesn't even compare to the other one!

Good morning sun, alps, and castle!

My friend Sam at the entrance of Neuschwanstein castle - who knew it was 2 colors!

Gorgeous views from the castle balcony.

The view from Neuschwanstein Castle!  I walked around that lake!

Looking toward the 2 castles from the other side of the lake -
we are actually in Austria in this picture!

This is the other side of Neuschwanstein castle looking onto the valley.

The gardens of Hohenschwangau castle.

What would a castle blog be without the turret?

Hohenschwangau castle isn't as pretty as Neuschwanstein during the day.
Neuschwanstein has the advantage also of the Alps for a background.

The Perfect Hotel and the Perfect Village

This may be the first May pole I have ever seen!

This is a little smoke house in the hotel's back yard.
They build a fire in the pit and warm themselves up from the cold winters.

This is a map we saw of the Camino.  It is a pilgrimage from all over Europe to Santiago de Compostela, Spain.  I knew about the trails that went from France to Spain and from Portugal to Spain, but I had no idea there were trails literally ALL over Europe!  The one that goes from the U.K. via boat looks like the one for me!

Love these frog princes that are everywhere!  This one says "Kiss me!"

Seriously?  This is our hotel's back yard.  This is fairytale land FOR SURE!

I thought this was just artistic!  I had to try several times to get what I wanted.
It reminds me of a book cover.

We saw a sign that said view, so we stopped to see the view!

Augsburg

I love love love these vines changing color on the sides of buildings!
It is so pretty!!!  These pictures do not do it justice!

Love the artistic buildings that put color into the city!

Nuremberg: Who is to blame?

Nuremberg:  A place of castles, cathedrals, and a long history.

All these pictures were taken with my cell phone using the selfie method because the SIM card messed up my regular picture taking ability on my phone.  So, sorry if they are a little sideways or cut off.

I almost didn't see this!  You have to look over the bridge to see this view.  I love the arches to make way for the water.

I love this saying.  Although it is sad and tragic, I think it's a metaphor for when anything horrible happens in our life.  This cathedral - one of the smaller ones - has pictures of right before the bombing of Nuremberg with Nazi flag after Nazi flag to the finish of the rebuilding of the cathedral.  There are sayings like this that accompany each of the pictures.  It is moving to say the least and had me wondering who was to blame.  I am going to chalk it up to the casualties of war with my American brain saying that it had to be done, Hitler had to be stopped and this was how it was done.  There was no alternative.

  

Walking down a cute colorful street on the way to the cathedral.

 The following pictures are from either the top of the 

castle tower or the surrounding area.

This shows the destruction of Nuremberg from the bombings of World War 2.  Most of the buildings are completely destroyed and all seem to have at least some damage.  These pictures were all around the top of the tower.  So you would see the before picture, the after picture, and look out the window to see the city as it is now.   I liked the pictures in the cathedral a little bit better because to me, this shows the destruction only.  It didn't show the row after row of Nazi flags like the cathedral did.  To me the castle talked about the destruction rather than the consequences of following an evil dictator.  

This is a model of a well that was found inside the castle walls.  It is so deep that it took about 5 seconds for us to hear the splash of water that the guide poured in.  Sorry I don't have a picture of the well, but you can't see down it at all because it is so dark.

I climbed to the top of this tower!  It has great views!

This was breakfast - It was very yummy and not cheesecake at all.  The "plain" one actually had a nutty mixture in the middle.  I love German bakeries!  YUM!