Last Full Day in CS Land

Perhaps not the ideal day to embark on a full day tour to Germany to visit Neuschwanstein Castle and Oberammergau, but it really was the most suitable day of the whole visit.  It was also the earliest start of the whole holiday, which didn't please Mr Grumpy, who hates early mornings, just like Snoopy.

King Ludwig's Folly

It was quite a long journey, no stops. We had the same guide we had for Krimml Falls, Charlotte, which was good because she was an excellent guide. We were just over two hours on the road. There's a very precise ticketing system on arrival. When you buy your entrance passes, you have an hour to get up to the castle, as the tickets have a number, and should you not be at the entrance when the number comes up on the board you've missed your slot.

You can walk up (allegedly about 45 minutes), take a shuttle bus (€2.60 return pp), horse drawn cart (rather more expensive). As Dave was suffering still a bit from the leg "wound" and I'd promised him no more difficult walking (what do I know, I've never been there!!), we took the shuttle bus. This, however, only took you to within a further ten minutes to walk to the Castle !! Not for the fainthearted.  Having said (or should I say moaned) all that, it was well worth the effort. Built in the 19th century by King Ludwig (The Mad), who had a fetish for the works of Wagner. Unfortunately, he insisted on designing and building rooms and towers long after his money (and sanity) ran out which meant that although a lot of the rooms were painted with themes from Wagner's operas, most of them (and, indeed, whole floors) remain unfinished to these days. Still, if it takes a mad man to create what's in this picture, then . . .

Our final stop before our last meal at the Post was Oberammergau. It is famous for holding the Passion Play every ten years; a day-long theatre of the life of Christ performed entirely by the village in return for saving them from the plague centuries ago. It also has a well-recommended ice cream parlour. This may be a bit crass but the last photograph of this blog is less of the religious and more of the material . . .



The Walkers' Reward!