June 25:
Our first stop was Neuschwanstein Castle- a 19th-century Romanesque Revival palace on a rugged hill above the village of Hohenschwangau in southwest Bavaria, Germany. The palace was commissioned by Ludwig II of Bavaria as a retreat. The palace has appeared prominently in several movies and was the inspiration for Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle. Ludwig II only lived in the palace for a total of 172 days. Unfortunately, they did not allow photography inside the castle. It was such a cool place!
When we first arrived in the village below the castle, we walked around a gift shop. Our guide, Mike, said it was a steep but pleasant stroll to castle that would take about 20 minutes. For an extra cost, you could take a bus or horse carriage up. We opted for the nice stroll. Wow!! It was a VERY steep walk that most of us considered strenuous!! It was a very tough walk. But seeing the castle at the top was a very nice reward! It was fantastic! We took a tour of the castle.
The views from the castle were phenomenal.
After the tour we had about 2 hours to walk back down to the town, eat lunch and do any shopping. Sharon joined Brenda and me for the walk down because Gary, her husband, wanted to go off somewhere else. 
In the distance you could see Hoenschwangau Castle - a 19th century palace that was the childhood residence of King Ludwig II of Bavaria and was built by his father, King Maximilian II of Bavaria. We didn't have enough time to tour it.
We walked to Marien Bruecke (Mary’s Bridge built by Ludwig’s father Maximillian II) for a spectacular, panoramic view of Neuschwanstein Castle from an iron-bridge over the gorge across the Pollat River.
It took the 3 of us awhile to walk back to town because we were gabbing the whole way. We accidentally walked down the "bus road" (no pedestrians allowed) and had a bus just about run us off the road (he did it on purpose...). It was a bit scary... When we reached town, we stopped at the first restaurant we came to for lunch. I had a view of Hohenschwangau Castle during lunch.
We still had to walk across town to reach the bus. Luckily it was a small town. We made it in time and had a few minutes to shop before loading back onto the bus. Everywhere we went on the roads, we saw the word "ausfahrt" - finally figured out it meant "exit". I saw a t-shirt that said "why are all towns called Ausfahrt in Germany" (or something like that). I had to get a picture of me by a sign (yes, I am silly).
At 1:10 p.m. we loaded onto the bus again for the 2 hour drive to Munich. Once there, we picked up our local guide, Frank. He gave us a driving tour of Munich. It was very interesting but just driving around made it hard to take good pictures.
We did stop and walk the grounds of the Nymphenburg Palace - the main summer residence of the rulers of Bavaria. 
After the visiting the palace grounds, we drove around Munich a little while longer. Munich has some really cool old buildings. Would have loved to have spent more time here, walking around and learning more about some of these buildings.
At 5 p.m. we dropped off our local guide and headed to our hotel. It was still over an hour to it. The hotel is only 15 minutes from the airport which will be really nice in the morning. We dropped our stuff off in our rooms and immediately went to dinner. After dinner, Brenda and I went outside to take pictures of the hotel.
Then we headed back into our hotel room to repack our things for the trip home. We were in bed by 9:30 p.m. because we had to get up super early in the morning.
We woke up around 6:30 a.m. Our luggage had to be outside our room by 7:45 a.m. After getting ready, we went down for a breakfast buffet. It was very yummy! We loaded up onto the bus at 8:30 a.m. and headed out. It was a beautiful day - nice temperature and blue skies with a few white fluffy clouds over the mountains.
Our first stop was Neuschwanstein Castle- a 19th-century Romanesque Revival palace on a rugged hill above the village of Hohenschwangau in southwest Bavaria, Germany. The palace was commissioned by Ludwig II of Bavaria as a retreat. The palace has appeared prominently in several movies and was the inspiration for Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle. Ludwig II only lived in the palace for a total of 172 days. Unfortunately, they did not allow photography inside the castle. It was such a cool place!When we first arrived in the village below the castle, we walked around a gift shop. Our guide, Mike, said it was a steep but pleasant stroll to castle that would take about 20 minutes. For an extra cost, you could take a bus or horse carriage up. We opted for the nice stroll. Wow!! It was a VERY steep walk that most of us considered strenuous!! It was a very tough walk. But seeing the castle at the top was a very nice reward! It was fantastic! We took a tour of the castle.The views from the castle were phenomenal.After the tour we had about 2 hours to walk back down to the town, eat lunch and do any shopping. Sharon joined Brenda and me for the walk down because Gary, her husband, wanted to go off somewhere else. In the distance you could see Hoenschwangau Castle - a 19th century palace that was the childhood residence of King Ludwig II of Bavaria and was built by his father, King Maximilian II of Bavaria. We didn't have enough time to tour it.We walked to Marien Bruecke (Mary’s Bridge built by Ludwig’s father Maximillian II) for a spectacular, panoramic view of Neuschwanstein Castle from an iron-bridge over the gorge across the Pollat River. It took the 3 of us awhile to walk back to town because we were gabbing the whole way. We accidentally walked down the "bus road" (no pedestrians allowed) and had a bus just about run us off the road (he did it on purpose...). It was a bit scary... When we reached town, we stopped at the first restaurant we came to for lunch. I had a view of Hohenschwangau Castle during lunch. We still had to walk across town to reach the bus. Luckily it was a small town. We made it in time and had a few minutes to shop before loading back onto the bus. Everywhere we went on the roads, we saw the word "ausfahrt" - finally figured out it meant "exit". I saw a t-shirt that said "why are all towns called Ausfahrt in Germany" (or something like that). I had to get a picture of me by a sign (yes, I am silly).At 1:10 p.m. we loaded onto the bus again for the 2 hour drive to Munich. Once there, we picked up our local guide, Frank. He gave us a driving tour of Munich. It was very interesting but just driving around made it hard to take good pictures. We did stop and walk the grounds of the Nymphenburg Palace - the main summer residence of the rulers of Bavaria. After the visiting the palace grounds, we drove around Munich a little while longer. Munich has some really cool old buildings. Would have loved to have spent more time here, walking around and learning more about some of these buildings.At 5 p.m. we dropped off our local guide and headed to our hotel. It was still over an hour to it. The hotel is only 15 minutes from the airport which will be really nice in the morning. We dropped our stuff off in our rooms and immediately went to dinner. After dinner, Brenda and I went outside to take pictures of the hotel.Then we headed back into our hotel room to repack our things for the trip home. We were in bed by 9:30 p.m. because we had to get up super early in the morning.
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