My Mum was with us last week so we headed to Garmisch and its fabulous mountains for a few days.
As it’s not too much of a detour, we stopped at Schwangau on the way to visit Neuschwanstein – King Ludwig’s iconic castle, inspiration for Walt Disney’s fairytale castles all those years ago. Cinderella et al have a lot to thank Bavaria’s “Mad” King for you know…
I guess we weren’t that far away, when the Seven Year Old professed that she could see the castle on the side of a hill… The doubters in the front didn’t think so however, and we all agreed it was a lot whiter and more fairytale like in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang than the one that was slowly coming into view…. How we laughed at my Mum’s comment that it would be ever so disappointing if you had travelled half way across the world to see it, and that was actually it.
As we drew closer still, it slowly dawned on us that yes, this odd looking structure was in fact Neuschwanstein itself. Not in all it’s glory, but kind of looking like it had been completely covered in bubble wrap, and was about to be posted to Japan or somewhere… Not exactly what we were expecting, and judging by the confused expressions of the coach loads of tourists from all corners of the globe, neither were they! Thankfully the older members of our party all found it highly amusing, and the smaller members weren’t exactly bothered either way. A lesson in doing our research beforehand perhaps? A friend later told me that it has looked like this for around three years now… If anyone cares to hazard a guess as to when it will be unveiled again, please do fill me in…
Anyway, that’s not the main reason I will always remember visiting Neuschwanstein. At Mr R’s insistance, we climbed to the top to take a closer look, although I will admit at the time I saw little point. With stomachs aching from laughing each time one of us looked up at the “beautiful” castle before us, we trudged to the top. It took quite a while, it’s a big hill…
Wanting to see whether it looked different from any other angle, we walked around to the back. It does slightly, but it’s still not as magnificent as it hopefully will again soon… By this point however, the castle had almost been forgotten. It sounded like there was a huge waterfall around the corner… Lured on by this, we followed the signs directing us down to a Gorge – the more nervous of our group having been reassured by walkers in the other direction that it was perfectly safe, and easy enough for all of us. It would be fine. The professional photographer in the group was further blackmailed with the promise of amazing scenery, and so off we set.
It didn’t take long for us to reach the majestic and quite frankly huge waterfall… All admiring dealt with, photographs taken, and buoyed on by the fact that the trek had been easy enough so far, we carried on. Further lulled into a false sense of security by a tranquil pool filled with little stone towers along the way (and quite possibly helped by the sneaky picnic bier that Mr R had magically produced from his backpack), we descended to the next level alongside a series of smaller waterfalls.
As you can just about see in the picture above, the path then changes from lovely wide stone, to metal grid jutting out of the side of a rock, which carries you over the roaring water underneath. This wasn’t actually problematic for the majority of our group, but for Poor Granny it soon became clear that this was not her idea of fun. In fact she went on strike at the top of the metal path and refused to move… Luckily for us the ever growing mass of people behind were very understanding, and waited patiently while I headed down to find the search and rescue team – i.e. her Son in Law – who hadn’t seen the scenario and was a bit more advanced in the journey than we were… And so the rest of us sat and waited, and told stories while Granny was rescued – led down the path with her eyes closed, and with around 30 very kind and patient people following behind.
Drama over, and with Granny now suffering from hysterics of a more jovial kind, the rest of the gorge proved a lot less problematic, but no less beautiful… I am just grateful we didn’t find the bridge above the big waterfall in my second picture… It might have been a case of a newsworthy helicopter rescue! We deserved lunch that day, and no-one cared about diets…
Donna@MummyCentral says
What a lovely post – and some great pictures too. You’re right that the castle looks like it’s about to be picked up by the postman and delivered somewhere completely different.
(Popped over from Dorkymum’s “Something for the Weekend” post)
bavaria says
Thanks so much Donna! :)
Pia says
Well done to Granny for keeping up with you all! I actually enjoyed seeing your version of the castle – it’s certainly different :) And the dumpling is so gorgeously shot – and just the thing after that trek!
bavaria says
Thanks Pia! She’s one of those spritely young Granny’s that we have to keep up with most of the time! :D
cakesphotoslife (Angie) says
What a lovely trip sad about the castle but from her I can try and imagination the beautiful building hiding xxx
bavaria says
Thanks Angie, it was a funny day! :)
Suzanne says
Amazing pictures, as always. I particularly love the one of the waterfall, so atmospheric. Shame about the castle – how weird!
bavaria says
Thanks so much Suzanne! Yep, quite typical! :)
theminimesandme says
Beautiful photography. A breathe-taking location x
Found via the Country Kids linky
bavaria says
Thank you very much :)
Coombemill - Fiona says
A lovely story from a great visit. Just as well there was more to your visit than the castle! What totally breath taking scenery, I would have loved that walk castle or no castle! Thanks for linking with Country Kids.
bavaria says
Thanks Fiona! It was quite possibly one of the most beautiful walks I have been on. I don’t think any of us will forget it, or my Mum stuck on the metal thing! :D
Trish says
That’s the sort of thing we do: discover things and tackle them with the wrong footwear. That other bridge gives me the wobbles just looking at it.
Your story reminds me of a family trip to Matlock Bath when we went on the cable car, the Heights of Abraham. Husband not good with cable cars and refused to come back down, preferring to scramble down the hill instead!
bavaria says
Hahahaha… That story will definitely make my Mum feel better! :)
Emma says
haha! That’s so typical about the castle, I would do the exact same myself…I hope youngest to see it’s full glory one day :)
bavaria says
I hope to see it properly one day too! Thanks for your comments Emma :)
Singlemarriedmum says
I was thinking about the perfectly packaged castle, and then I read your comment about the dumpling being in a creamy mushroom sauce, and now I’m thinking about that! Such a great read and fab photos. Love the one of the stone towers x
bavaria says
Glad you like the pics, slowly getting used to the new camera! Thank you so much :)
Mary says
Oh, you did make me chuckle with this post. Sounds like a fun family day out – with the minor setbacks taken in good spirit, which is what it’s all about :)
bavaria says
Taken in very good spirit! Thanks Mary! :)
Helen says
The more i read your adventures and see the wonderful picture the more i think your move was most inspired and amazing thing you could do for you family big fat W ⓞ W im jelouse
bavaria says
Aw thank you Helen, what a lovely comment! It’s not good all of the time, promise! :D
Grace says
Ha, ha – reading this now I am finding it hillarious – although not so at the time! A combination of ‘no head for heights’ and wearing (slippery) ballet type shoes at the time when everyone in the area was wearing hiking boots was my big mistake! Much to the family’s amusement! I am glad now that I did it and can vouch that the ravine walk is a must for some fantastic photographic opportunities making up for the ‘bubblewrapped’ castle disappointment! x
bavaria says
And all this time there was I thinking that my stubborn streak came from the Yorkshire side of my family… Now I really know the truth! Anyway we didn’t have hiking shoes on either!! :D xxx
MsCaroline says
Honestly, I think everyone who has ever visited Neuschwanstein has the obligatory shot of its iconic facade – you are probably one of very few who has a photo of it covered in scaffolding! This will be a great story years from now, although such a disappointment for Granny, I’m sure -sounds like it was a bit nerve-wracking for her! Looks like the day was lovely in most other ways, though…
Infowise, I checked on the website, and their official statement is that it’s being ‘saniert’ through the end of 2012, so that probably means they’ll get rid of the scaffolding by next summer (to be on the safe side.) Got my infos here:
http://www.neuschwanstein.de
bavaria says
Thanks Ms Caroline… It was one of those sods law days!! I won’t hold my breath for the unveiling then, but thanks so much for finding out for me! :)
Herding Cats says
Fantastic post and some very beautiful pictures. Shame about the bubble wrapped castle though. It looks like it’s waiting for someone to unwrap it.
bavaria says
Thank you HC! If it’s still like this at Christmas I am hoping someone will wrap a big bow around it! :)
Midlife Singlemum says
I’m not sure what I find most appealing about Bavaria, the amazing scenery or the big dumplings in the soup. I love them both. Shame about the castle being bubble-wrapped.
bavaria says
Well, it’s the dumplings that do it for me… :D Joke! Although they are pretty good! This one was in a creamy mushroom sauce…