Sweet Fuessen

The boat whisked us away from the city of canals to Marco Polo airport, where we caught our flight to Munich and connected by train to the town of Fuessen on the Austrian border.

Fuessen is a quaint little town and we are staying in an especially quaint part as it is Alstadt (old city). We´re eating lots of ice cream and bratwurst and had some delicious sauerkraut today, sitting in the sunshine just below Neuschwanstein Castle. We walked the three mile trail from our hotel to the Hohenschwangau area which is known as the King´s Corner (I think) as there are a few castles in this alpine area. After our walk and lunch, we took a horse carriage ride up to the castle to await our tour. Steven was able to sketch some nice drawings of the castle and we could take in the sweeping pastoral views of the valley below. Plenty of green fields and red-roofed houses alongside icy blue lakes made for a beautiful view.

On the inside of the castle, we took a spiral stairwell up, up and up some more to reach the finished areas of the castle. King Ludwig, who commissioned the castle´s construction, died during what I thought I heard was an already 17-year building period and much of the castle was left unfinished. It was quite amazing to see the wealth of the king influenced in each and every detail - from the the two million mosaic tiles on the throne room floor to the ornate bed found in the king´s sleeping quarters. He spent around 175 days living here before his death.

Unfortunately, we are unable to attach any photos from this location but will hopefully be able to include them in a post soon. We leave Fuessen tomorrow for Munich, and then connect back to Berlin for a night´s sleep before heading back to the States. It has been such a lovely vacation...