Neuschwanstein Castle was on the menu for today, we arrived last night in temperatures from which zero could only be seen in the distance, and today is no different. The ground was covered in thick snow, and when q'ing to get up the hill for the tour of the castle the ladies and kids almost froze.
Its about a 2.5 Km walk uphill to the castle from our hotel, we decided that it would be best to get the littlies up the hill in a horse cart so that there would still be enough humor left in them to make it through the castle tour. Cold and tired don't go well with little people.
If you enlarge this photo, you can see Neuschwanstein better
Neuschwanstein from a distance
The walk to the ticket office and pony terminal
This is Hoenschwangau - where Luddies' parents lived, and his childhood home
Pierre and I did the walk up - it was great.
One of the horse buggies on its way up.
Way below zero, I should have had thermals on under the jeans, if we hadn't been walking fast up that hill we may have just snapped frozen like statues on the way up. The streams coming down the hill were all part-ice and the snow-squeeks underfoot of all the pedestrians was a constant sound.
After some drama at the horse cart queue (like a 2 hour long queue), and a resulting change in tour time, the rest of the family joined Pierre and I at the castle where we scampered a lunch and rushed off to make the tour.
Neuschwanstein castle, literally "New Swan Stone" built by Ludwig the II is a beauty. Huge pity it was never finished, but what's here is well worth the look.
The view from one of the windows in the castle - Hoenschwangau visible on the right
It must be simply surreal to call a place like this "home" or, more precisely, "one of them" if you're a Bavarian King.
Ludwig sounds a little like a 19th century Michael Jackson, living in a fantasy land and building homes to match. The castle is themed in many parts after Wagners works. Caves as they appeared in some opera, painted scenes from others.
There are 2 things that should be allowed here 1) unguided tours where one can just browse and absorb the place, and 2) access to the unfinished bits of the castle. No photography as usual here, the art is degraded by light. Well OK, that and it boosts sales of the tourist books containing all the authorised photos at the end of the tour.
Some photies on the way out...
There was snow falling from the boughs and being caught in the afternoon sunlight - the larger view does a little more justice. This is in the woods just outside the castle.
The Woods just outside the castle... he he... I kill me!
Q: How can you be sure that it's cold out?
A: When your breath freezes on your whiskers...
Kiddies all packed up and ready to make the trip down - the men joined in on this ride
After the castle was done, we had quite a long ride ahead into Austria. Scheduled to stay in Bregenz, on the shores of Bodensee we stocked up on some groceries at a local store and hit the road.
Not more than a few km's out, a funny thing happened...Well, it wasn't funny at the time, and though I expect (hope) it will be funny at some point in the future, it is still not funny now... not to me anyway. Coming out of Hopferau I changed into 3rd and couldn't change out again... the gear lever was stuck, jammed, immovable, unbudgeable. Sensing that there was trouble abrewin, after announcing the observation to the rest of the family I pulled off onto the shoulder and we tried to work out what was going on...
It was still flipping freezing outside and while Pierre jiggled the gear stick inside the car I looked into the bonnet to see if I could locate where it connected to the gearbox and there look for any obvious signs of trouble. But it was already dark and there was just no seeing into the engine compartment. We called the car rental company in Prague, told them of the news and after a little to-and-fro-ing on the phone, they informed us that there was a serious problem and that we should seek accommodation for the night, arrangements and so on would be investigated to get a solution sorted and they would call us.
Synchronicity again had provided abundantly, and as it turned out, I had pulled off on the shoulder in the driveway of Gastof Engel...
I tell you...
So there we were, sorted! They had all the room we needed and were the most accommodating people ever. Gabby (the owner) took care of us, helped us call other car hire companies, let us use her phone, spoke to the operators when they couldn't sprechen Englisch etc. What a lady. Eventually the car hire co in Prague said that they would send a replacement vehicle to us in the morning and that they'd be there by 12:00.... it's bed time...
P.S. Today is Darryl's birthday - Happiness Flee!
Click here for the previous day - 1st Jan
Click here for the next day - 3rd Jan
Then a week-long road trip in a vw kombi with 4 adults and 4 kids (ages 3;4;5;&6!!!!) through Germany, Austria and Switzerland; 
Followed by a week of skiing in France at Samoëns in the Grand Massives with the view of Mont Blanc
This is now our first week-end home since the 9th of November and we are wading through the over 2000 photos from the trip and planning our next ski week-end!
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