Castles of Bavaria...

Following our fun and frivolity of Octoberfest, we didn't take much rocking last night. Must have been the litres of beer!!!

Today we did a bus tour to see Neuschwanstein Castle but didn't expect the extras that we encountered on the way.

King Ludwig the second built a number of castles in Bavaria and only finished one in his lifetime, pictured below. He was a great king loved by his people because he was very good to them and his servants

 The castle is amazing, adorned with gold in every room almost from floor to ceiling with chandeliers made of bohemian crystal some weighing 2 tons. This castle is called Linder-Hof castle and the grounds are just exquisite.  This is the only castle that he completed and he lived here for the last 6 years of his life.

This arbour takes you from the castle to the grotto which unfortunately we couldn't access as it was closed, but the walk was amazing.

 This view is from the top of the hill facing the castle with gardens adorning various fountains and the prettiest gardens of vigorous colours

 The buildings in Bavaria are beautifully painted (almost everyone in town) and it is quite quaint. This is Oberamagau below, where they have the most famous passion play every 10 years and if you are in the play, you need to ensure that you are not taking holidays at the same time. If you are working, you need to take at least 3 hours off work as this is such an important event.

Then we travelled  to see the famous Neuschwanstein castle - Disney's icon which is just picturesque as you can see below. This castle is interesting, not quite as opulent as Linder-Hof castle but adorned with painted walls, ceilings and of course the bohemien crystal chandeliers.  We did a little shopping here and enjoyed a delicious meal at a table in a little conservatory which overlooked the castle right in front of us. Talk about lucky, the last table there when we arrived.

 It is a 40 minute walk uphill from the bus stop to the castle or you can opt to take the shuttle bus or ride by horse and cart. The forest is just beautiful and so inviting and eerie at the same time. The fog was rather dense today so the pics may not be all they could be, but the autumn colours are delightful

 We went to the Marien brucke (bridge) to overlook the waterfall below. It was a very long, long, long way down and almost the same looking up to the alps behind. This would make a great swimming waterhole but I wouldn't like to take the plunge from the bridge!!!

 There is a beautiful lake which sides the little town of Hohenschwangau and the king had a view of this from his private garden in his castle which was surrounded by a man made cave in his hall way. Interesting!

 People flock to this famous royal castle in droves and any wonder as it is so very magnificent

 The lake is clear and misty and such a pretty sight to see at the edge of the small town

 The other royal castle, below, is called Schloss (meaning castle) Hohenschwangau and is every bit the expectation of what a castle should look like. We didn't visit this one though but it stood proud on the hill opposite.

The fog set in quite heavily at times but  we were lucky to get this pic below ourselves. What a lovely experience and so ends another very pleasant day.