Day 8: Day Tour in Neuschwantein Castle &
Rothenburg
Guten Morgen! Steigenberger
Hotel provided add-on breakfast spread which cost EUR17 in their restaurant and
basically we had no choice but to take it since there was NOTHING around the
area. The spread was quite nice though as they have extensive cold-cut section,
scrumptious crispy bacon & sausages and loads of breads. I particularly
grew fond of the bacons which I’m sure put a strain on my body fat%!!!
Gosh!!! Look at the Bacon & Sausage! The Bread is delicious too!!!
Breakfast with Sparkling Wine - only in Europe!
Cold Cut Section - Look at the cheese at the bottom!
Today is Sunday so we pre-booked a day tour from ETSFrankfurt Tour to the castle that inspired Disney Castles in Disneyland & Disney Cartoon. This
is the Combi Tour of Neuschwantein Castle & Rothenburg (link).
The driver picked us up from the hotel at 8am to the tour office in Frankfurt
to settle the payment before
The Tour Office
Area around the Tour Office
Apparently we were the only 2 customers for this tour due
to low season and I was actually surprised they did not cancel the tour. Our
driver cum tour guide drove two of us to embark on the long journey to
Neuschwantein which would take around 3-4 hours.
Our 1st stop of the day was actually
Rothenburg (change of sequence in the itinerary) which was the best-preserved
medieval town in Germany. Rothenburg ob der Tauber lies high above the Tauber
River Valley on the Romantic Road and it was like the Fairy-Tale Dream Town. No
wonder the town reminded me of DULOC - the fictional fairy tale town in Shrek movie!!! Muahhaaa!!!!
This tune is now stuck in my head permanently!!!!!!
“Welcome to duloc, such
a perfect town
Here we have some
rules let us lay them down
Don't make waves, Stay
in line
and we'll get on
just fine
Duloc is a perfect
place
Please keep off of
the grass, Shine your shoes
Wipe your...face
Duloc is, Duloc is,
Duloc is a perfect place”
The first thing we saw was the St. Jacobs Church, we
passed the market place to get to the city gates. What greeted us beneath the
gates was the garden which offered fantastic view on the area below. We walked
along the town wall then reached the Medieval Criminal Museum before turning
into the market place again.
Parking in Rothenburg
The Huge St. Jacobs Church
Majestic huh?
There are City Maps everywhere...
Another old Building along the way
Even the Door is Artistic!
The Market Square
Yet another Building
Klingentor, one of the Gates
The Castle Garden...
The Gate to Castle Garden
Unfortunately no flowers since it's too cold
View from the Garden
Another View
Walking towards another Entrance
This is the Entrance - yet another tower
Everything looks so nice...
Back to the town
The Medieval Criminal Museum
Ducking stool!!!
It was from a long time ago
Did something wrong? Publicly chained here!
A Swan!
A typical street
Beautiful Place...
The bad news was the town hall was in renovation thus we were
not able to marvel at it. *sigh*Another bad news quickly stuck us as the
Christmas museum was not yet opened as it only opened at 11am. Unfortunately we
had to leave the town to get to Neuschwantein Castle but from the look outside
the museum it seemed to have lots of marvelous Christmas ornaments. *double sigh* Rothenburg is a really beautiful
town and I think it would be wonderful if we could spend more time in this.
Some of the shops
Specialty Food
Town Hall under Renovation
Timber Framed Houses
Sammy was there!!!
The Christmas Museum - NOT OPEN!!!!
Beautiful! The museum should have loads of this inside!
Giant Nutcracker?
We continued our journey and were given some turkey sandwiches.
The weather started to turn foggy and we were really worried about whether we
would be able to see Neuschwantein in such weather. We finally reached our
destination in Bavaria but we had to take a bus to get to it since it’s at the
top of the hill. It’s either hiking, take a bus or take a horse carriage. We
could also see Hohenschwangau – an older castle from the bottom which was right
across Neuschewantein.
Turkey Sandwich
Some Drinks
Hohenschwangau
A Foggy Day
A Shop Sign
We could see snow once we reached the top and we were
ushered to the Marienbrücke (Marie's Bridge, or Pöllatbrücke). Marienbrücke supposedly offered the best view
of the whole castle but what we saw was simply FOG!!! *swear in all the dirty
words I could think of* SUCH BAD LUCK!!!! It was an exact dejavu of our
Australian Best of Lookout (link) – nothing but FOG!!!
UUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! KILL ME!!!!!!!!!!!
Lots of Snows
Walking towards the Bridge
At the Marie's Bridge!
Hey, there is some locks too!
It's very high!
On a good day, you should be seeing this from the Bridge (Picture from Wikipedia)
We saw this instead!! *facepalm*
Another side of the Bridge
Sammy is not impressed
We slowly walked towards Neuschwantein Castle but it was
so foggy that we simply could not get a good picture. *disappointed &
bawling* We finally went into the castle for a guided tour but unfortunately no
picture is allowed inside the castle. As per Wikipedia:
“The palace was commissioned by Ludwig II of Bavaria as a
retreat and as a homage to Richard Wagner. The palace has appeared prominently
in several movies and was the inspiration for Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty
Castle and later, similar structures”
Walking walking walking
1st glance of the Castle
Getting near
Very Blurry indeed...
The Mysterious Castle & me. Hhaaa...
Entrance Ticket
Some Hot Chocolate before going in
Walking into the Gatehouse
Inside the Gate
The Rear View of the Gatehouse
Finally walking into the Castle where no photos are allowed
A Castle Model
A Side View
Yet Another Sideview
Something in the Castle area
When we finished the tour, the fog situation seemed to get
better thus we managed to get some somewhat clearer picture. The time was too short as we were rushed to
get to the bus to get downhill. DARN! I actually thought of running back to Marienbrücke
again but had no time. *Bang head on the wall uncontrollably*
Finally a bit clearer
Yuhoo!
A picture is much obliged!
Once we reached downhill, the castle was finally visible
from the bottom so I quickly snapped some pictures there. We started our long
journey back to Frankfurt but not before a brief stop at a gas station which
incidentally provided a wonderful view of Neuschwantein Castle from afar!!! I
finally managed to take a picture of the whole castle (somewhat blurred) thanks
to my camera zoom function. *sweat*
Hohenschwangau from the Top
Finally able to take a picture of Neuschwantein from below!
A Zoomed photo of Neuschwantein Castle from Gas Station
A view from the station
Beautiful Countryside
Going home...
The gas station also had a big convenient store which had great selection of sandwiches & baked goodies. I got myself a giant pretzel which I loved so much!!! We finally got back to the hotel at around 8.30pm to get some rest as we would need to get to the office tomorrow. Tschus!!!
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Hi, This is a good post, indeed a great job. You must have done good research for the work, i appreciate your efforts.. Looking for more updates from your side. Thanks
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