Fee loves Travelling: Like Being in a Disney Movie

Friday, May 17, 2013

Like Being in a Disney Movie - Beautiful Germany Part III

Two weeks ago, on May 1st to be exact, I went to see the most famous castle of Germany (and probably also the most well-known castle amongst the Japanese): Schloss Neuschwanstein.

Walt Disney even modeled his Sleeping Beauty Castle after Castle Neuschwanstein.
Want proof? There you go:


Sleeping Beauty Castle vs.Castle Neuschwanstein

The castle looks older than it is. You'd think it is from the middle ages but actually it was built in the 19th century by "crazy" King Ludwig II. of Bavaria. He loved all those castles from the Romantic and Gothic era and used parts of those styles for his "New-Swan-Stone" (literal translation of Neuschwanstein). He wasn't able to finish it, though. He drowned in Lake Starnberg in 1886.

Neuschwanstein looks like a fairy-tale castle. When we got there around noon the castle was still surrounded by some mist. A really romantic and magical atmosphere!
There were loads of tourists as it was May 1st, which is a German holiday - the Day of Work. But nobody actually has to work so it's become kind of a tradition to go hiking or take a trip somewhere on May 1st. But most tourists were actually Asian. I guess if you ask people from Japan and China, Neuschwanstein really is the most famous tourist feature of Germany.

Inner courtyard

We took a tour of the inside of the castle. Good thing we had reserved tickets in advance because the lines were just crazy long! From the inside the castle is very dark and the rooms are panelled with dark wood and decorated with paintings showing scenes from operas of Richard Wagner like "Lohengrin" or "Tristan and Isolde".
I already mentioned that Ludwig was crazy. Well, he built a cave with stalactites and stalagmites into his castle and he also owned one of the first telephones.