Neuschwanstein und Wieskirche

Jake, Kevin and Me in front of Neuschwanstein

What an awesome trip! We started out at about 9:00 in the morning, and we wound our way through the German countryside for about an hour and a half. Along the way, our tour guide supplied us with the history of the castle: commissioned by King Ludwig II (who was declared insane in a parliamentary power play, only to be found dead days later under mysterious circumstances...), built as a tribute to Richard Wagner, never finished, etc. I have also heard this castle was the one that inspired the Disney castle:

(http://artemisiatridentata.wordpress.com/2009/06/09/an-inspiring-castle/).

Once we arrived, we immediately climbed the hill to the castle and started snapping some photos of the exterior. Unfortunately, the exterior would be all we could photograph, because cameras were contraband once we entered. We went on a quick tour through the castle, then made our way to the Marien Bruecke a little ways away to get some pictures of the castle from a distance. There's actually another castle, Hohenschwangau, built near Neuschwanstein by Ludwig's father. I got the feeling that Ludwig wanted to outdo his old man by building another castle so close, and on a slightly higher hilltop than the castle his dad built...

Neuschwanstein und Wieskirche

After we got back into the village, we had a great lunch at a local hotel. They served us either a pork schnitzel or rumpsteak, along with fries and spaetzle, topped off with a custard like dessert with lemon and berry sauces and some fruit. Oh. Man. It was awesome.

When we had finished eating, we all hopped back onto the bus and took a short drive to the Wieskirche. This church is a pilgrimage church, the home of the miraculous Scourged Savior statue. It was designed in the rococo style, which is very exuberant and impressive to behold. It was such a beautifully constructed church, in the middle of nowhere, really. They built it at the site where the statue's miracle was first witnessed, in the middle of an open pasture. We couldn't stay long, though, so we took a walk around the church, snapping photos, then made our way back to the bus for the ride back to Muenchen.