27th Sept 2015
In Austria Germany Austria Italy !!
Up at 6 am in the
dark, and by 7.45 am we were on our way down the road to Neuschwanstein Castle
– We weren’t going to be beaten by the coach tours today !! When we arrived, we were able to drive so far
up that we were in Car Park A (as against the far end of car park D yesterday),
and there was only one tourist coach already there ! When we got into the ticket office there was
a reasonably short queue – But only one of the 5 tickets booths was open
!! And for some reason everyone in front
of us decided to have a chat with the ticket operator, so it was over 30
minutes before we got our tickets. And
it turned out that the first English language tour wasn’t till 10.05 anyway, so
there was no hurry ! So we went for a
walk for a while, and then caught the transfer bus up the hill to
NeuschwansteinCastle itself. It is a 35
minute hike, and because the picturesque Mary’s Bridge (Marien Brucke) is
currently under going repairs, we didn’t want to end up there and have to come
all the way back down the path, so we caught the bus.
And once we got
to the top, we were glad we had caught the bus – there was a lot of walking
still to do, as well as climbing stairs ! We walked down the hill from the bus stop for
maybe 300 metres, getting views through the cloud down to both the Schloss
Hohenschwangau that we had visited yesterday, and then we came round the
corner, and there it was in all its glory – The Castle that is often to be what
a fairy castle should look like – Perched high on a rock, surrounded by mist –
Schloss Neuschwanstein of King Ludwig II of Bavaria. We walked on down to the
castle and took some pics around the outside of the castle, whiling away the
time until the start of our tour. It
really is the most amazing castle – And not one built for defence or power –
Simply because someone wanted a castle like he thought a castle should be. The views over the surrounding country side
were breathtaking as the morning mist and cloud broke up and we could see the lake beside
which we had camped last night.
After searching
in vain for an open coffee shop, (I thought this country was supposed to be
efficient !) we ended up inside the courtyard of the castle waiting for the
tour to start, and met some very nice American people from Dallas – Jim and his
wife and friends. They have just cycled
down through Germany, and had rain for much of the time ! Hard work.
Enjoyed talking to them for a while.
Then we were finally off and into the castle – And what a place. Amazing, but also totally senseless. No photos were allowed inside, but in summary
– It has only 1 bedroom – Lugwig’s. He
didn’t want guests. The Singer’s room is
only for him – So people could sing to him.
The chapel is for him alone – With a chair for the Archbishop. The whole castle is effectively only built
for one ! And to top it off, half of it
is unfinished because he died suddenly at 40.
There is a fully decorated throne room – But no throne on the dais.
Designs for bathing rooms that never got finished, and so on. No wonder he was called Mad King Ludwig
! But the castle itself ? Yes, truly amazing, probably because of his
idiosyncrasies ! It is even said that
this is the castle that Walt Disney based many of his cartoon castles around,
because it was the perfect castle in everyone’s imagination
After our castle
tour we wandered down the hill and decided to go and have some of the Goulash
Suppe and Brotwe had seen advertised yesterday, and it was superb. We shared a table with a young lass who
turned out to be from Perth Australia – Hailey.
She is wandering around Europe for 3 months on her own and having a
great time. A very pleasant lunch both foodwise and company wise.
We then finally
got back on the road to head south to Italy – almost 2 days after deciding to
“make a quick visit” to this castle !
But then the freedom to do these side trips on a whim is part of
travelling in one’s own car to no
particular schedule. So we headed back through the Fern Pass, past
the castles and the cable walkways stung across the valley – We nearly went in
there but it was more queues and time, so we decided to keep going. The traffic coming towards us was terrible –
I thought it was bad and slow when we came across yesterday, but today the
traffic heading north was absolutely solid for mile after mile – And a lot of
the time it was stationary. It must have
taken them hours to get through the pass – And for no reason as there was no
accident and no roadworks – Just one of those inexplicable traffic jams
stretching for mile after mile.
When we were
approaching the outskirts of Innsbruck, we saw a Ski Jump to our right, so we
did a quick detour into the little village of Stams, and found 2 ski jumps –
one big one, and one little one beside it, either for kids or beginners ! What surprised me was how steep and narrow
the landing section is – I thought it was almost flat and very wide. You certainly wouldn’t want to jump in a
heavy cross wind that might blow you into the fields off to the side.
We then decided
to go into Innsbruck for a quick look, since we were so close, and it was a
Sunday afternoon so should be quiet. We
drove around for a while not finding a parking spot, but after about 30 minutes
found one, and walked back over the bridge and into town. We found the Golden Roof fairly easily, and
took a few pics, and bought a few bits and pieces. Couldn’t believe how small the Golden Roof is
– I am sure it used to be much bigger !
And didn’t we used to be able to drive right past it ? Anyone remember from 40 years ago ???!!
On the way back
to the car we passed a Pizzeria that had wonderful smells wafting out of the
window, and they sold pizza by the (very large” slice, to go. How could we resist ? So we set off back to
the car munching on our pizza (it tasted as good as it smelled), and then
headed out of town towards the Brenner Pass.
On the way out we passed another ski jump, this one much fancier and
bigger that the little ones we had seen in Stams. The road was just a great little trail – Once
again we stayed off the Autoroute – winding up through villages, along picture
perfect green Austrian valleys with cows with big bells round their necks
grazing in the fields, and always with the Autoroute not far away on incredible
concrete bridges across the valleys through which we were passing. I am sure the Autoroute would be just as
spectacular drive, but….
We eventually got
to Brenner and the top of the pass at about 1350 m, and that was where the
border was – With the old border buildings now converted into shops ! There were lots of cops around, again I think
because of the huge refugee problem in Europe, but no one seemed interested in
us. We snuck into Italy, our 17th
different country since leaving South America last May and still no one has
stopped me or inspected the car.
Unbelievable.
Once in Italy we
continued on for another hour or so until we saw a Camping sign, which took us
down this tiny little road through the smallest tunnel – I am sure I was on a
cycle track ! Anyway, we finally got to
the site which seems to be part of a farm, with tractors and horses and barns
all around. And only a couple of us in
the field overnight - Such a pleasant
change from last night !
And once we got
to the top, we were glad we had caught the bus – there was a lot of walking
still to do, as well as climbing stairs ! We walked down the hill from the bus stop for
maybe 300 metres, getting views through the cloud down to both the Schloss
Hohenschwangau that we had visited yesterday, and then we came round the
corner, and there it was in all its glory – The Castle that is often to be what
a fairy castle should look like – Perched high on a rock, surrounded by mist –
Schloss Neuschwanstein of King Ludwig II of Bavaria. We walked on down to the
castle and took some pics around the outside of the castle, whiling away the
time until the start of our tour. It
really is the most amazing castle – And not one built for defence or power –
Simply because someone wanted a castle like he thought a castle should be. The views over the surrounding country side
were breathtaking as the morning mist and cloud broke up and we could see the lake beside
which we had camped last night. 
particular schedule. So we headed back through the Fern Pass, past
the castles and the cable walkways stung across the valley – We nearly went in
there but it was more queues and time, so we decided to keep going. The traffic coming towards us was terrible –
I thought it was bad and slow when we came across yesterday, but today the
traffic heading north was absolutely solid for mile after mile – And a lot of
the time it was stationary. It must have
taken them hours to get through the pass – And for no reason as there was no
accident and no roadworks – Just one of those inexplicable traffic jams
stretching for mile after mile. 
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