European Expedition—The Hohenschwangau Castle

We’ve been to the Neuschwanstein Castle several times and were excited to see it again.  We weren’t planning on touring it but we did want to ride up to St. Mary’s bridge and take in the gorgeous view.  But St. Mary’s Bridge was closed.  Darn.  So instead we decided to tour the Hohenschwangau Castle right next door.  It was really fun to explore something new so I’m glad it worked out that way.  I stood in line for tickets while Chris took the kids down to the Alpsee Lake to do some fun videos. 

We grabbed some really good German sandwiches and pretzels for lunch.  Seriously, German sandwiches are the best! For Christmas, Grandma and Grandpa Walton gave all the kids Euros to spend in Europe.  They LOVED being able to decided when they wanted to buy a Magnum Bar.  4 kids decided to get one after lunch – 2 kids decided to save their money.

We wandered up the hill to the Castle for our tour and saw a SNAKE!

A glimpse of the Neuschwanstein Castle from the Hohenschwangau Caste…

It was an overcast day and started raining just before our tour started.  We took cover in this archway and then ran up the hill in the rain to go inside the castle at 2:50. It was pretty good timing!

“Hohenschwangau (literally translated: High Swan County Palace) was the official summer and hunting residence of Maximilian, his wife Marie of Prussia, and their two sons Ludwig (King Ludwig II of Bavaria) and Otto. The young princes spent many years of their adolescence here.  Queen Marie who loved to hike in the mountains created an alpine garden with plants gathered from all over the alps.  King Maximilian died in 1864 and his son Ludwig succeeded to the throne, moving into his father’s room in the castle.   As Ludwig never married, his mother Marie was able to continue living on her floor during the summer months.  King Ludwig enjoyed living in Hohenschwangau until the building of his own castle, Neuschwanstein began high above his parent’s castle in 1869.  He watched the construction from his bedroom window.”

After the tour we hung around the swan gardens and then loaded up and headed to our next stop – Rothenburg.  On the way Chris asked the kids questions about facts learned on the tour and they earned York Peppermint Patties as reward for correct answers. 

European Expedition–Driving through Austria

We checked out of our cute Grainau apartment and left Garmisch sad that this part of our trip was already over.  We just love Garmisch!  On our way to the Neuschwanstein and Hohenshaugau Castle we dipped into gorgeous Austria and I just had to take some pictures of these sheep and the villages nestled at the bottom of Austrian Alps.  Chris is happy to stop wherever I want to.  I love him.

European Expedition–Kreuzeckbahn and Hiking through the Alps

We had a great first night of sleep.  Most of us had a full 9 hours – except Chris who got about 5 since he work up at 4:30 fully aware of the chirping birds right outside our window.  He spent the next several hours sitting on the balcony writing in his journal and working on the Cabo video.  I woke up at 4:30 as well and listened to the birds but was determined to go back to sleep, which I did after about 40 minutes.

We woke up at (again) at 8:00, ate cereal for breakfast, got backpacks full of traditional European travel snacks: pringles and fuzzy peaches) and got ready to head out to the Alpspitze.  We were surprised and kinda sad to find the Alspitzebahn closed so instead we went up the Kreuzeckbahn and started an 8 mile hike down the mountain, which turned out to be really fun – and a new adventure.

Hiking down we went through a cool tunnel.  Love these pictures of my crew…

These three girls were singing their hearts out all the way down the mountain.  It was such a fun memory of the day.

The hike was great, the weather was great, and although we missed seeing the peak of the Alpspitze, it was fun to do something new.  The trail led us over and down the mountain to the Partnach Gorge – one of our very favorite things to do in Garmisch. First we spent some time at the rock towers by the river.

The Gorge was so fun…

By the time we had walked out past the Olympic Stadium to the bus we were all EXHAUSTED.  An 8 mile hike might not have been the best idea for the day after arrival.  The minute we got on the bus to take us back to our van, half of us fell asleep.  Katie and Megan were really out.  We bused through town back to our van and then headed to a new part of town where we tried a German restaurant with some fun atmosphere.  I loved my German salad and my Fanta.

It was fun to wander around the street.  Such cool doors and architecture.

We headed back to the hotel.  It began to rain on and off and we spent the remainder of the night inside our cute apartment first taking a much need hour nap and then playing games.  Two games of 7 Wonders where Megan won BOTH games.  Ryan came 2nd both times and Chris and I either tied or came in 3rd and 4th.  Pretty funny.  We ate snacks, read scriptures and Chris worked on videos while I hung out beside him giving feedback.  It was a great day.  Life is good.