The night I arrived it Fussen it was already quite late, but the Soccer was starting at midnight. So me and this Ukrainian guy I had arrived with (I either can't remember his name or never even actually got it) headed out after checking into the hostel to find a place to eat and grab a drink to watch the game. What we found was a fairly large open area with about 6 TVs and a projector setup along with a couple of bars and a bratwurst stand. Everything you could possibly want. It was great fun watching the game with locals. They go nuts when Germany score. Unfortunately the game result in a tie.

I decided to take the next day off to just chill. I really wanted to go see Neuschwanstein which I had already seen once before 6 years ago with Alan on our very first trip to Europe. I remember it being an absolutely amazing castle. But I also remember I was sick as a dog that day. Probably a combination of being hungover and the fact that we had a long bus trip from Munich to see that castle that day. I only had a 10 minute bus trip to get there from Fussen, but I was still making sure I was going to be healthy for it this time, so a day of R&R was in order.

So the next day was the day to head to the castles. That's right, plural. There's actually two castles there. Neuschwanstein being the really famous "Disney" castle. The other one, Hohenschwangau was built by Ludwig's father and is where Ludwig grew up. Unfortunately for him he died before Neuschwanstein was finished so never got to live there, and the castle remains unfinished to this day.

There's probably not really much I can write that does either of these castles justice. They're so good I came back to see them. I spent probably about 5 or so hours walking around the grounds and also did a guided tour of each one (the only way you can go on the inside). Probably wasn't really worth paying the extra to go into Hohenschwangau to be honest. And even Neuschwanstein is far more impressive on the outside, but probably still worth going inside. Even if just to learn a bit about it.

I had a really interesting dinner that night. After wandering around for ages trying to find a place to my liking, I found a restaurant above a hotel. I order what was apparently a local speciality. Some kind of pasta filled with herbs and then served with fried egg and bacon. It was delicious. But what made the dinner interesting were the Americans sitting at the table next to mine. I was minding my own business, but still hearing everything they were talking about and at one stage spoke up when they were trying to figure out what they ordered. Apparently they just asked for something large enough to share. I intervened to let them know it looked like the pork knuckle and they were surprised to find I spoke English. They thought I couldn't understand a thing they had been saying. Luckily they hadn't said anything embarrassing.

Anyway, they were two couples, Mike, Lara, Richard and Laura. They invited me to join their table saying I shouldn't be eating alone. So I did. Although I was pretty much finished eating anyway, we continued to sit and drink and chat. Now from what I could gather these guys were staying at the hotel and so were already quite friendly with the waiter, whose name I think was Martin. So next thing I know new drinks were being brought to the table as soon as we were starting to look empty. What was going to be a quiet meal by myself was now something completely different. We had a great time sharing stories and such. Then even Martin joined us. He was a very funny bloke. Then to top everything off they took care of my bill. So thanks guys for a great dinner.

The next day consisted almost entirely of being on a train. It was 8 hours to get from Fussen to Hamburg with an hour changeover in Munich. But the train had seats at tables with powerpoints, so I just got my laptop out and watched a few shows and played some games. The trip was over before I knew it.