Neuschwanstein Castle

Day 3 we headed out of the city again for a day trip. We were headed out to Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau Castles near the town of Fussen. We used a Bayern ticket to get there again. Warning for those headed there in the summer: it will likely be packed and you may not be able to get a seat on the train. We had connecting trains on the way back and the first one was very full and the second one had lots of people standing on it. Be prepared for chaos.

Since we were going at the tail end of winter though the crowds weren't bad. We saw some beautiful snow-covered landscapes on the train ride in with the Alps in the background.

When we arrived in town we went to buy our tickets. (Another note for summer: buy in advance on the internet.) Then headed to lunch at one of the hotels. There we shared a pizza and had beers that were half beer, half lemonade. It makes a nice daytime drink.

Neuschwanstein is known as the fairy tale castle since that's the castle Walt Disney used to base the castle in the parks off of. And it really is beautiful. It was built by the mad King Ludwig although he spent only a little time in it before he died. Hohenschwangau was where Ludwig lived growing up and is nearby.

A lot of the trails were closed for hike up to Neuschwanstein because they were still covered in snow and ice. So we hiked up the road which unfortunately is what the horse drawn carriages also use so it was covered in horse poop. We also saw some interesting outfits. Who hikes up a mountain wearing heels and a skirt?

It is a long and tiring hike up so I would recommend taking a carriage or the bus if you aren't in good shape or if it's really hot out.

We took a tour of Neuschwanstein but unfortunately you aren't allowed to take pictures of the inside of the castle. I was surprised how small some of the rooms were, it being a castle and all. It seemed a lot of the space was taken up by hallways. Sounds like King Ludwig could have used an architect for some space planning assistance.

We didn't take a tour of Hohenschwangau. One castle a day is enough for us.

After we got back from our long train ride we went to dinner then headed over to Hackerhaus. Hackerhaus is the Hacker Pschorr brewery. Since it was Sunday night it was pretty dead but looked like a fun place on any other night of the week.

view on the train ride in

Neuschwanstein Castle

the town

Hohenschwangau

horse drawn carriage you can take up to the castle

waterfall during our hike up to the castle

restaurant near the castle

another view of Neuschwanstein

View from one of the rooms of the castle

The Husband's secret picture of the throne room

Munich

The Husband met me at the airport at the lovely hour at 6:30 am when my flight got in. We took the S-Bahn into central Munich. It's 18 Euros for an all day pass for all zones for 2 people.

Our hotel was right near the main train station, Hauptbahnhopf. We were staying right near the train station at Fleming's Hotel - Munich City. You do need to make sure you leave the train station through the right exit though or it's a long walk to the other side.

We found a great rate of $120/night for our hotel on expedia.com. The hotel's website was charging 142 Euros and I'm not sure if that included tax. Our room had free internet which is one of our favorite amenities.

Our room also had bizarro showers. And by bizarro I mean they are see-through and visible by anyone and everyone that is in the room. Not a good hotel choice unless you're travelling by yourself, with a significant other, or are just an exhibitionist.

Our hotel also had a fabulous breakfast that was included in the room rate. A whole bread selection, made to order eggs, several juices, cereal, yogurts, a cheese selection, and a meat selection. Maybe one of the best breakfasts I've seen but that could be because I got to eat wedges of brie cheese at 8 am.

There was a free tour available of Munich but it was only 8 am and the tour didn't start until 10:45 am. Another highly recommended tour is Mike's Bike Tour but we weren't sure how into physical activity I'd be after my overnight flight the night before. Instead we followed a walking tour I'd printed off of frommers.com.

The tour took us all over Alstadt, the Old City. We climbed the tower of Peterskirche which gives a view all the way to the Alps if the sky is clear. It wasn't clear enough for that but we got a great view of the city and a great workout walking up all 300 steps.

My favorite thing in Munich was located behind Peterskirche and is called Viktualienmarkt and is a giant market. We were there early in the morning while they were setting up. It was amazing. I have never seen so many great shops with cheese, vegetable stands, butchers, florists, and wine shops. I would go here every day if I lived in Munich. We would have loved to have bought some meat, cheese, and bread and made a lunch for ourselves at the picnic tables if it had been warmer. It was freezing out though even with our winter coats, gloves, and hats on so we planned on heading indoors for lunch.

After watching the Glockenspiel we headed inside for lunch for beers and food at Donisl which was also in Marienplatz. Donisl is Munich's oldest beer hall and we wanted to try the authentic Germany food. We tried and were not fans. I wasn't particularly looking forward to the food before we came but I thought I'd give it a try. The Husband had been eating German food all week on his business trip and wasn't a huge fan. The beer was good though.

We headed back to our hotel for a very long nap for myself. While I was napping The Husband was emailing a group of friends about the start of March Madness since our school was playing that night. They were arguing about who had the first beer of the day when one of guys said he'd had a beer at 12:30 at the Hofbrauhaus so he won. Turns out our friend Jay and his family were in Munich too!

We met Jay for drinks at his nearby hotel and had the pleasure of meeting his adorable new baby Lauren who is only 4 months old. We also discovered the wonderful restaurant Oleo Passo which is where we had drinks. I had a great prosciutto and breadstick appetizer there. Jay went off to put the baby to bed and we went out to dinner.

We chose an Italian restuarant, La Valle, since we'd had enough German food for the day. We shared a margherita pizza and a bowl of spaghetti carbonara before heading over to the Hofbrauhaus. It was good food and really the two of us think you can never go wrong with Italian food.

No visit to Munich is complete without a trip to the Hofbrauhaus. I've been to Cincinnati's version of the Hofbrauhaus many times. Cincinnati is Munich's sister city and has an extremely large German population and their Hofbrauhaus is a good time as well. The beer was delicious, the people at the large shared tables were friendly, and the music fun, and the atmosphere jovial.

It was a great time. When I was in college we thought it was cool to steal the beer steins from the Hofbrauhaus in Cincinnati. Since I'm a grown-up now I managed to restrain myself and my large purse didn't come home with any cool new glasses. The Hofbrauhaus closes down around midnight, as do all other beer halls, and the cool people of Munich head off to clubs where they stay out all night and return home with the sun. Since we're not cool and would prefer to spend the next day seeing some sights instead of nursing hangovers, we headed back to our hotel.

I forgot how expensive Europe is

The last two vacations we have taken have been to South America and our next big one that we're planning is to Thailand and Cambodia. Those destinations are relatively inexpensive, not including plane flights there and back. Now after looking into our budget for Germany I realized I forgot how expensive Europe is.

Last time I headed to Europe was in September to join The Husband on a business trip. I was able to stay in the room paid for by his company and the only real expenses we had were the tube passes and our anniversary dinner one night. One day while I was wandering around alone while The Husband was at work I even found my lunch for under $5 for a sandwich and a Sprite. This time we're extending The Husband's work trip by 3 days so we don't get the free hotel benefit this time. Luckily we found a great deal at one of the top ranked hotels on Trip Advisor, Fleming's Hotel Munchen City, for $120/night. But some things are beyond expensive. Like getting to and from the airport by train for the two of us is over $45. A cab would be $65. Here in Chicago it's under $10 to take the train to the airport.

Food is also expensive. After glancing through the restaurant recommendations on frommers.com, I saw that some restaurants that had only one $ sign, the lowest frommers gives, that have entrees in the range of $15-$30. I was hoping more for a sandwich for $8 for the one dollar sign category.

There are some great deals though. Like the train ticket for 28 Euros that gets us to Salzburg and Austria for the day. One train ticket is 28 Euros roundtrip and up to 5 people can travel on it. For the two of us that amounts to 7 Euros each way which is less than getting to the airport! The same ticket is valid to get to Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwagau Castles.

Time to Dust off the Passport Again

So I'm officially booked to join The Husband in Munich at the end of his business trip. I leave next Thursday and return home on Monday. Let's hope his trip holds because I'd really love go head to Germany. It pays to stalk the flights. There wasn't one available until today.

We're also hoping to take at least one day to go to Salzburg, Austria. 2 countries in 4 days. What a whirlwind.

I'd love to do the paragliding that I saw on The Amazing Race but since it wasn't planned I think we're going to try to keep this trip as budget friendly as possible.

And I realize I am incredibly spoiled. This is my fourth international trip in 6 months. 2 times to Europe and 2 times to South America.

A new destination?

The Husband is heading to Munich next week for work. He's due to come back on Friday.

Dare I hope that we can get a little weekend trip going in Munich next weekend?

Cross your fingers that I can get a flight using United points.

And any Munich recs are greatly appreciated. Even if I don't go I will grudingly pass them on to The Husband since he'll have two whole days to sight see since all he has to do next week is one day of meetings. Not fair not fair not fair.