Schwangau.



We hired a car for the weekend and decided to drive to the village of Schwangau, situated on the Romantic Road, to check out its two famous castles - Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein. The first one built by King Maximilian II of Bavaria, the latter by his son `Mad King´ Ludwig II. Almost 10 years ago I spent  Xmas here with my family (at the Hotel Müller) so it was nice to make the return trip. We planned to visit both castles but since Elke wasn`t in a particularly good mood we thought we`d play it safe. First stop Neuschwanstein. If we made it though the tour relatively unscathed then we`d brave it to Hohenschwangau. Honestly, we didn`t like our chances. Elke was whingey enough while we queued for a half an hour or so to buy the tickets. We opted for the shuttle bus up to the castle and she pretty much cried the whole way. And the relief that was felt when the bus ride was over? That was short lived when David realised he`d lost our tickets. ``But they were in my back pocket. There is no way they could`ve fallen out. Stolen perhaps?´´. So he popped the tourist brochure in said pocket and we did the only thing left to do:  we walked around the castle`s grounds and took in the pretty awesome view. All to the tune of Elke`s sobs and Ola`s moans - ´´Can we go home now?, It`s too cold. I`m tired´´. Even though the sun was shining, it was bloody cold and all of us by now were pretty irked so we made our way back down the hill and went home. Not before a quick stop at nearby Füssen for a late lunch and a stroll around its 700 year old streets.

And can we all guess the fate of that brochure? The one placed in David`s back pocket. Well, it too fell out and this time we heard it hit the ground. Dammit. All in all it was a very different experience to the one I had 10 years ago. Just as well this part of Bavaria is so ridiculously...good looking.

xxx