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Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Weekend Trips!

I have been putting off writing about the awesome day/weekend trips we have done because I haven't been able to upload my pictures. Now that our household goods arrived last Friday and we actually have a computer, desk, printer, etc. I am back in business! It is kind of a daunting task to go back in time and write about each of these trips- I don't even remember the dates that we went on each one! But I am going to try to do my best :)

Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau
This was our very first day trip, our first stop along the Romantic Road, and our first castle tours, so it was an exciting adventure! I researched the castles before leaving and discovered that you could reserve your tours online the day before- this ended up being one of the best travel decisions I have ever made! When we arrived in town after our short 2 1/2 hour drive, we noticed that the ticket office had a snaking line that was barely moving. I had read that the line could take an hour, and it can take about an hour to get up the hill to the castle, so we arrived 2 hours before our appointed tour time to make sure we didn't miss it. There are plenty of parking lots available and all of them are 5 euros for the day, which I think is reasonable. We parked in the last lot with all the tour busses and it was probably the most convenient one- it is the closest to the exit of Hohenschwangau so we could get right back on the road at the end of the day! We wandered up to the ticket office and noticed a little area off to the right of the line for people with reserved tickets- NOBODY was in line! All we did was flash our print-off from their website, and we were ushered to a special desk where we were given our tour tickets and sent on our way in about 2 minutes flat!
TRAVELER TIP: RESERVE TOUR TICKETS ONLINE!!!
I could not believe that out of all of those people in line, we were the only ones who had looked up the castles online before we went; but I guess we were. Anyway, we grabbed a quick bite to eat, took a few pictures, and got in line for the bus to the top of the hill. You can ride in a horse-drawn carriage, which is cool but about 30 euros vs the 2 euro for the bus, or you can walk, which may not even be physically possible, haha. Both castles are absolutely breathtaking and the tours are quick and informational. You aren't allowed to take pictures inside the castles, and I won't go into any of the cool history, but I would recommend checking out both castles. You will be tired after Neuschwanstein- getting back to the bus is not an easy task, and if you aren't up for a lot of walking, you should definitely take the carriages- don't let this deter you from seeing Hohenschwangau! I loved the gardens around the cute yellow castle and everything is downhill (literallly) from there. If you park in the same lot as us, you will end up right at your vehicle and you can mosey out to dinner or jump back on the autobahn home :)




2 comments:

  1. I want to see them !!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Haha, no one planned ahead? You win at travelling.

    ReplyDelete