Fussen, Germany

After driving to Fussen, we checked out the tiny town of Fussen, which was seriously touristy!!!. We went to see the two Castles on Sunday.

Two grand castles are within a short distance from the village of Fussen, Germany. The first is Schloss Hohenschwangau ("Castle of the High Swan Country") which is where King Ludwig the II spent the days of his youth. The location of Hohenschwangau was originally a fortress called Schwanstein that belonged to a family of knights. However, by the beginning of the 19th century, the fortress had been abandoned and had fallen into ruin. Crown Prince Maximilian discovered the location and was charmed by the landscape. He immediately commissioned the construction. The castle served as the royal family's summer residence and the future Kings Ludwig II and Otto I spent many years there as children. The castle did not suffer any damage during World War II so when you walk through its halls, you're walking along the same floors that Germanic nobility did over a hundred years earlier. We did a guided tours in English alongside hundreds of other tourists who went before our group and afterwards. We learnt from the tour guide that there are still alive today, cousins/generations from the line of King Ludwig. One is retired and living in one of the palaces in Munich and there is another one who is a business man who owns a brewery and makes the beer which is predominantly sold in Bavaria, i.e. Konig Ludwig II.

the Kings bed chamger took 14 years to create because it consisted of such ornate wood carvings). On one of the floors in one of the main rooms there was a mosaic on the floor which consisted of 2 million little tiles.

The second castle is perhaps the more famous of the two: New Swan Stone Castle, or Neuschwanstein Fussen Germany. There were hugh spiraling towers and brilliant walls, and the castle looks like it was brought straight out of a fairytale. In fact, Walt Disney's castle depicts the same style as this castle. It was an amazing castle which amazing artworks and carved wood furniture inside (the Kings bed chamger took 14 years to create because it consisted of such ornate wood carvings). On one of the floors in one of the main rooms there was a mosaic on the floor which consisted of 2 million little tiles. Ludwig II originally ordered construction on the great building in 1869, but it was never completely finished. The King only spent 172 days in total in the castle as King Ludwig died before it was completely. The King was a tremendous fan of Richard Wagner and the castle was named after the Swan Knight in Wagner's opera. Ludwig's love of the composer is quite evident as you walk through Neuschwanstein's luxurious passageways--many paintings hang on the walls that depict scenes from Wagner's operas.

Whilst we were driving around the smell of fertiliser in the paddocks was sooooo overpowering!!!!!