Europe Day Twenty Six and Twenty Seven - Munich, Germany

We woke up in Lucerne to the noise of the alarm. We all crawled out of bed trying to remember why we had set it in the first place. Once we remembered we grabbed our bags and got ready to go as fast as we could. We rushed outside and were just in time to catch the bus. If we had missed the bus we would have also missed our 6 hour train ride to Munich. When we arrived at the train station we went over to the grocery store for some breakfast. We grabbed bananas, 6 tiny muffins and 6 schwagollwagolls, (have no idea how to spell it but that's what they were called) which were a type of German chocolate chip pastry. We ate quickly outside of the grocery store and found out that the schwagollwagolls we got were probably the best pastries we had ever eaten. So mom rushed inside and bought six more for lunch on the train. We boarded the train and got ready for a six hour ride to Munich. On the way we read our books looked out the window and ate the schwagollwagolls with our sandwiches for lunch. Once we got off the train we had to take three different subways and metro buses before we were within a few blocks from our hotel. We walked the last 15 minutes across the city in the rain. Once we finally got there we were soaked to the bone and very cold. So we checked in and dried off. When the rain started to die down we walked down the street to a restaurant by the famous beer gardens. We ordered some really good pasta, some curry, and a bit of risotto for all of us to share. Once we finished our delicious meal we walked back to our hotel in the dark while the rain poured down on us again.

The next morning we headed back to the train station to join our tour to Neuschwanstein Castle. We met up with the tour group and got on a train to Neuschwanstein Castle. The train ride was two hours long but the time passed pretty quickly and we enjoyed the countryside. Once we got there we got some lunch before heading up the mountain to the castle. As we walked up the tour guide told us all about Ludwig the Third. Ludwig the Third became king of Germany when he was 18 years old and because his parents were too busy to raise him themselves he did not know much about ruling. He was a very kind leader to his people and he even made a law that if someone got injured they would still be paid until they recovered (first workman's compensation). But even though the people liked him the government knew that he wasn't ruling the country well politically. He didn't show up half the time to meetings and was always late if he did. He also had a really big sweet tooth and ate a ton of candy and sweets because he was never allowed sugar as a child. Soon he was 300 pounds. Altogether he didn't take his job as king very seriously. He was quite eccentric and imagined himself in a fairy tale world often. It was then that he started to build his castles. He built Neuschwanstein castle, a replica of Invalid and a few others. The guide told us many things about the "mad king's" life and his beliefs on the walk and all of the sudden we looked up and saw the castle appear out of the fog. The castle was humongous and it was crazy to think that Ludwig the Third had built the whole thing for himself.

Once we had all finished taking our photos we headed for the entrance to start our tour of the castle.We weren't allowed to take pictures inside of the castle but it was as impressive as the outside. Every little detail of the paintings were perfect and there were some really big carvings, most of which were swans. They called him the Swan King. In his bedroom he had a bed fit for a king and a chair for reading that looked more like a throne. All the while the guide was telling us all about the things we were seeing. As we walked around we came upon a cave like grotto inspired by one of his favorite books. He also really liked knights and dragons and was obsessed with a famous composer and writer of opera, Wagner. After the grotto we walked through a hall into a giant throne room that looked like it was made of gold. There was a great kitchen with running water and he had even had one of the first telephones put into his castle to call down the mountain to check when mail had arrived.

(This is what it looked like on a clear day - from a postcard.)

Once we we were on the outside we took a few more pictures before we started to walk back through the light snow to the train. On the train ride back our guide told us more of the story of Ludwig the Second. He told us that the rest of the royal family didn't like the way he was spending all of the family's money and was dishonouring the family name. So they and the government had him kicked off the throne claiming that he was mentally ill. They also had him kept as a prisoner in a house to have him tested to see if he was mentally ill or not . On the second day the doctor and Ludwig and went on a walk to discuss his results. A guard was following them the whole time and the rain was starting to come down really hard so the doctor told the guard he could head in and get dried off before dinner. He also said that he and Ludwig would come back to the castle in a few minutes. Well they didn't so all the royal guards searched the whole castle gardens the next morning. What they found was the doctor's hat washed up at the edge of a pond. They quickly waded through the water and found Ludwig and the doctor drowned in only three feet of water. This was odd because Ludwig was an excellent swimmer and also because later on they found out that there was no water in Ludwig's lungs. So it is thought that the doctor had strangled Ludwig to death before throwing him into the pond and then committed suicide. But the story is shrouded in mystery and is probably never going to be answered because the royal family will not let anyone look at the body. Our guide finished the story right as we arrived at the train station. We tipped the guide and were off to the hotel for the rest of the night.

Total trains: 4

Total subway: 6

Total buses: 4

Total miles walked: 6.6 miles