Day Trip to Neuschwanstein Castle

I've had a fun few days in Munich - got a chance to drink a few liters of beer, eat some spaetzle, try on a dirndl, and hang out with my Aussie roommates.

Today, I teamed up with the Aussies (Lauren, Mark and Tim) to head out to Neuschwanstein. We took a 2.5 hour train ride and then a bus up to the castle. We could see the castle far off as soon as we got off the bus:

[click picture to enlarge]

We climbed up, up, up a long snowy road to get to the castle. We got close and took some pictures from the viewing areas:

We had heard that the interior tour wasn't worth it, so we went to the interior courtyard but not inside the castle. Still, the interior courtyard was quite lovely:

While we were in the courtyard, Tim and I saw a small bridge a distance away, high over a small waterfall in a ravine. I pointed to it and said, "I want to go THERE," half jokingly. A German man who was also admiring the view turned around and told us how we could easily hike to it if we only climbed over a gate saying it was off-limits for the winter.

We found Lauren and Mark and sold them on walking to the bridge. We quickly found the gate declaring the path "verboten", and we followed all the rest of the footprints in circumventing the gate. This turned into a rather snowy hike:

The view on our snow hike was the highlight of the day. There were great views of Neuschwanstein as well as down into the town with another castle, the name of which I can't recall:

We finally reached the little bridge and the view of the castle was wonderful!

Oh, THERE'S my castle:

Here is the view from the bridge unobstructed by me:

After taking pictures, we hiked back to the town and caught our bus/train back to Munich. Mark and Lauren went out to eat at a beer hall while Tim and I opted for doner kebab. We went back to the hostel and Tim taught me how to play Chinese chess... I promptly lost three chess games in a row and then wouldn't play any more.

Tonight is my last night in Munich, which is sad but I've already stayed a couple nights longer than I planned to. Tomorrow I will meet up with Nomi, one of Abby's friends whom I have met once before, in San Fransisco. We had fun that day hiking on Angel Island, and since she is currently living in Munich, it will be good to see her. After lunch with Nomi, I will board a train for... my next destination! (oooh, where will it BE?)