NEUSHWANSTEIN CASTLE, GERMANY

Neushwanstein castle is a straight up fairytale & it totally makes sense why it’s rumored to have been walt disneys inspiration for the sleeping beauty castle. It’s amazing, especially in person.
But first, a fun story.

Before going to Germany we decided that we would rent a car for Monday & Tuesday so that we could drive to the neuschwanstein castle & to Nuremburg instead of taking the train. We had a couple of friends that drove to the castle & said the drive was beautiful, & truth be told, both Austin & I miss driving, plus it’s a shorter drive than it is to take the train. So before going I rented us a tiny two-door car, rented a car seat & called it good. Monday morning we got to enterprise excited to get going, to find out that they actually can’t rent us a car seat. They’re not legally allowed to, only car rentals out of the airport can do that, buuuuuut since I’m cheap & didn’t go through the actual enterprise website, I had no clue about this. The people at enterprise helped us the best that they could, & pointed us in the direction of a auto store down the street that they thought would sell a baby seat, so while I drove there Austin & cedar had to walk down & meet me. Once I got there I quickly learned that they only had booster seats, which cedar is way to tiny for, & I was trying to ask if they knew of a place nearby, & luckily a customer who spoke English told me there was a toys r’ us nearby, & weirdly/conveniently knew the address to it (luckily we also had a gps too, otherwise I never would have made it), so off I went again, leaving austin & cedar behind. luckily made it with no major issues, until I had to try & find parking, which added a little more stress till I found a street where I wouldn’t have to maneuver into a little spot. Once I got there, I ran into toys r’ us, found a cheap-ish car seat, found a worker, bought it & went back to find Austin & cedar wandering around the street. . I was so incredibly stressed out over the entire situation, plus driving in a different country is always a little stressful at first so I was high stress all around.

If the original plan of getting a car seat at enterprise would have worked, we would have been on the road no later than 11:30, letting us have a lot of time on the drive to go through all the adorable mid-evil towns along the way on the romantic drive, to take our time & enjoy everything. But since it didn’t go accordingly & we didn’t leave till about 1:30, we got to enjoy the drive & the towns from the car while I tried to get us to the castle as quickly as possible.

The thing about Germany in the winter is that it gets dark, pitch black dark, incredibly early. We’re talking 5 pm here. Pure darkness. It’s amazing & makes you insanely tired really early. We got to the castle around 3:30 or 4 & booked it up, too impatient to wait in the line for the bus, but I think we got there at the perfect time. It was sooo beautiful with the sun setting, & the pink & blue marshmallow-y clouds in the sky, it did not feel like real life. The walk up to the castle was so pretty, overlooking the countryside of Germany, all the green fields speckled with little houses & farms & the lake. I couldn’t get over it.

Everything looks so picture perfect & fake, like a fairy tale. Especially when you are looking at the castle & it’s nestled into the alps towering above the little hilly countryside. We opted not to take a tour of the castle (convenient, cause we got there after the last tour even started), because no one actually ever lived in the castle. Weird, right? Here’s a little history for you on the castle: it was built by king Ludwig II of Bavaria, also known as the swan king or fairy tale king, who actually lived in a castle across the way from neuschwanstein. Ludwig died before the castle was ever finished, & once it was complete the castle was open to the public for tours. The king was a patron of the composer Richard Wagner, & drew inspiration for the castle from his operas.

So rather than going on the inside, we rushed to the outside of the castle & walked around the grounds, before it got too dark to see anything. Walking around the castle was amazing. It wasn’t too crowded since we went in December & so late in the day, which was ideal. We walked up past the castle to the look out bridge, which was a rickety wooden bridge, that creaked & wiggled from all the people on it, which made me a little nervous, but the view was breathtaking. I still can’t get over it. 

The best part to me was seeing cedar running around & pointing. “oohing” & “ahhing” at the castle. It’s so much fun for me to see him loving all these places & just to see him at all these historical sites. I know he doesn’t get it, & I know he’s not going to remember it, but I really just love it. Plus he probably wouldn’t want to go to a fairytale-esque castle with me when he’s older, cause that’s how boys are.

3 comments

  1. oh my gosh. that castle!!!!!! SO PERFECT.
    you guys are living the dream.

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    Replies
    1. it is SO perfect, it's totally unreal. you have to go if you have the chance!!!

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