Huge day.
Absolutely loved the castle and the bridge!
Will write this on the train to St Moritz tomorrow.

Walked out of my hotel, Winters....
Crossed the road to the station and the Radius Tours office.
Took me all of 3 minutes to get there..
( Had to wait for a tram to go past.)
Tour starts at 9.30am.
Ian was our guide.
American accent.
Born in Germany ... American mother, German father.
Two hour train ride from Munich to Neuschwanstein Castle.
Well, actually, a 20 minute bus ride after the train but you get what I mean.

I sat with an Australian girl, Melissa who had 3 hours sleep the night before and then thought she'd go see the Castle.
Melissa has been backpacking around Europe for 2 years, when not working as an Occupational Therapist with autistic children in London.
She was lovely.
And she had been absolutely everywhere.
Everywhere.
She had taken 32 days to do that Pyrenees Walk from Spain to France that you and Klara were going to do, Nate.
Kept telling me I would love it.
I kept looking at her as if she was crazy.
Been to Bosnia, Croatia, Scotland, France, Spain ...
I can't name them.
She's been everywhere.
Came to Munich last year for Octoberfest and is back for it again this year.
Then home.
She's a bit sad about that.
She explained that she joined a group for Octoberfest last year.
Clothing is given out.
The guys all wear identical T-shirts.
The girls, identical dresses.
The theory being that if you see someone passed out in a beer garden wearing that outfit, you recognise them as one of your own and rescue them.... at least back to a suitable table.
She said it worked outstandingly well for her last year.

She was great fun.
We spent the day together.
Also, the day before, I met Evan, a student from Thailand who is studying physics at Cambridge University.
He did both tours yesterday and we met up for this one as well.
I think he might be brilliant.
The simple things escaped him.
Lovely, lovely guy. We had a lot of fun....just don't think he should walk the Pyrenees.

Into the beautiful village below the Castle.
Letka, I can see why this is one of your favourite places.
It is simply stunning.
We have magnificent clear, blue skies and 25 degrees.
Walk or take the bus?
Walk, of course.
This is steep.
No, really steep.
Really, really steep.
I was wondering why I didn't take the bus or the horse drawn cart.
( My plan was to take the horse ride down.
Well thought out, Carolyn.)

REALLY, REALLY STEEP!

( Letka did tell me.)

Anyway, got to the first stop ok.
( To meet the people getting off the bus.)

So funny, a young Frenchman attached himself to me on the way up.
He was about 20.
( Evan and Melissa were faster uphill than me.)

There I was, deep breathing, concentrating hard, and this young Frenchman engaged me in conversation and he couldn't speak English and my French consists of 20 words....
So he got out Google Translate!

Not only did I have to walk uphill but I had to read conversation along the way.
I remember thinking, between sucking in as much oxygen with each laboured breath, that this was actually very, very funny.

We stopped for a minute ( so I could read ... and nod.)
And his father caught up with us.
So the young Frenchman proceeded to tell his father how he was talking to me.
And the father gave the international sign for 'Go away, child. I'm panting here."
Wish I'd thought to do that.

OK... at the bus stop.
Then along the trail to the bridge.
I didn't know what to expect.
You round the corner... and there is this suspension bridge.
Suspended between 2 peaks of the mountains and over a deep river gorge.
It looked spectacular.
Then, on the bridge, the view to the left is the view of the castle.
Absolutely amazing.
This beautiful White Castle sitting atop the mountain surrounded by wonderful greenery, with a pure blue sky... and, just to top it off, the view behind down into the farming valley and lakes.
With... para gliders around the Castle spires!
Wow!
Wow!
Wow!
Hope the picture does it justice.

I loved that.

Then along the trail again to the castle.
Looking at the view down into the valley.

Inside for the tour.
Amazing rooms.
Very 'Royal.'
Loved the kitchen, Andrew.
How many copper pots can you get in one room?
But the best bit was the views out through the windows down to the valleys below.
Amazing, amazing views.
Could have stood there all day.
No photos allowed inside... So I stood gazing a lot.
Did manage to get photos of the bridge from a castle window.
Look at that!
I was on that!
( And I loved it!)

Outside, wandered around... looked up a lot.
Beautiful place.
I loved it.

Was going to take a horse and carriage ride down the mountain but just decided to walk.
( It was downhill.)
There were a few people waiting for the carriages.
Melissa and I walked down chatting.
( After the Pyrenees, I think this was a stroll in the park for her.)

Long bus and train ride home.
Sun pouring in the train windows so very warm.
And we think the train driver had his young son or daughter with him as someone kept blowing the train horn every 30 seconds.
For those of us trying to doze... ( it was VERY steep ) .... This was not helpful.
Anyway, just went with it.
Storming the engine seemed a bit extreme ... though the carriage did discuss it.

Back at 7.30pm.

Great day though.... Loved it.

Packed and bed.
Off to St Moritz next.
Wonder what Scotland is doing?