Neuschwanstein Castle

We didn't sleep all the well in Füssen because the beds creaked and there was no air circulation. Listen, I understand not having AC everywhere, but does a ceiling fan hurt anyone? Come on! Anyway, we met the hotel's dog which saved the place a bit in our eyes and then headed out for the day.

Jackson and the hotel's dog!

The skies cleared!

Thankfully the weather broke and we had a beautiful day. We ended up being there on Germany's version of Father's Day so most places were closed. We had to grab an interesting breakfast at the local McDonald's before heading to Neuschwanstein Castle about 20 minutes up the road.

After some war losses, King Ludwig II wanted to build a castle and create a new kingdom. His castle was never finished, though, and he only lived there for about six months before killing himself. Bummer.

Seven weeks after the death of King Ludwig II in 1886, Neuschwanstein was opened to the public. It is now one of the most popular places to visit in all of Europe thanks in large part to it being credited as Walt Disney's inspiration for the Cinderella Castle at Disney World.

You can pay to tour the castle but we opted to just see it from outside and do some hiking instead. You can also pay to be bused to the top but we opted to walk. This was a great idea until we had McDonald's for breakfast and both felt terrible during the initial hike. Whoops. Since we were accidentally there on a national holiday it was extra busy. I'm just going to post a ton of photos because we were really impressed with the place and the area around it.

Let's hike up!

We started pretty far away!

Pardon me, Mr. Handsome!

Another nearby castle

How gorgeous is the area?!

Jackson got this shot on his iPhone! Unreal!

The bridge where Jackson got all his great photos

Mid-hike.

We hiked around for a bit then Jackson waited in line to go out on the bridge to get better views. I stayed back. We went for another hike then I talked myself into going on the bridge. That was dumb. I almost peed myself. There was nearly an international incident when a woman bumped into me and made my lose my death grip on the edge. Jackson snapped a photo and I dashed right back off that death trap. You know how sometimes you fear something and then once you do it you wonder why you were so afraid? This was nothing like that. I was 100% correct to be afraid. That bridge was so high, it was so crowded and it swayed.

"Take the photo before my heart gives out!"

Looking back at the castle while hiking

A feel for how high that darned bridge was!

One last look before we hike down

Oh, you want to do down via a staircase
over rushing water? GREAT! YES! LET'S DO THAT.
UGH UGH UGH

Loving life.

I WAS ON THAT BRIDGE!

More stairs. NEAT! 

I just could not look down

Jackson looked down a ton.

Truth be told we kind of expected the castle to be lame because it was such a tourist destination. We were wrong. It was awesome. People said they enjoyed the tour, but we thought the hiking was so great we couldn't imagine wasting time inside! After a great day of hiking we left Germany and made the roughly two hour drive to Innsbruck, Austria to spend a few days exploring a new city.