Today was a day of adventure.
It started off slowly, with me discovering a self-service fruit washer at the train station snack stand! We don’t have those in America.
Unfortunately, while I was washing my fruit, my train was being delayed, which meant that if I had taken it I would have missed my connection, and so I decided to just miss it and catch the next one.
The train ride went smoothly and I ended up in Füssen late but in good spirits.
I had come to see Neuschwanstein Castle, the “fairy-tale castle†of the late King Ludwig, the castle that inspired Walt Disney to create Cindarella’s castle.
It turned out the walk up to the castle was almost as beautiful as the castle itself. Walking up the road through the mist and waterfalls and trees changing color, I felt simply happy to be alive.
(The moment was only sullied by the realization that the Fruit and Nut bar I had bought was actually Rum Raisin and Nut. That’s not enough to spoil this view, though.)
When I came around a corner and saw the castle, I was again a little underwhelmed. It was neat, but not exactly what I was expecting. I wasn’t blown away until later…
The inside of the castle was stunning, dedicated to Wagner’s operas, from the paintings to the chandeliers to the sinks and wall carvings. There’s even a fake cave built into the king’s bedroom. Unfortunately, photography isn’t allowed inside the castle, but the views were spectacular.
Oh, and each urinal has a little fly painted on for you to aim at. Fit for a king!
After the tour, I hiked to a nearby bridge for a better view of the castle. Technically, the hike was “verbotenâ€, which, once again, seems to be the German way of saying, “If you get hurt, it’s your own fault.†It does make me wonder how I’m supposed to know when I’m really, truly, actually not supposed to do something.
I keep a running list of the happiest moments in my life. Standing on the bridge, freezing in my heavy coat and hat and scarf and gloves, eating dubious rum raisin chocolate, alone with no one else is slight, nothing do but simply be there and watch the castle and enjoy the experience, is being added to the list.
The day had one more adventure left, however. The bus from the castle to the train station only ran once an hour, so with the next bus 40 minutes away plus a 15 minute ride to the train station, I figured I would just walk. After all, there was a nice paved pedestrian footpath through the woods back to Füssen, which was only a mile and a half away.
The sun was setting, however, and on the way back I passed a huge meadow full of mist and was obviously compelled to leave the trail to go explore. It was beautiful in the dark and. I had to leap across the tiny rivulets that crisscrossed the meadow and startled a herd of deer wandering through the mist.
By the time I got back on the trail, the sun had gone down, leaving me with only the light from my cell phone to try to read the signs on the path, which were, of course, in German so I couldn’t understand them anyway, as I realized when I got to the next fork in the path.
After several wrong turns and asking directions from locals who spoke no English (thank you, Pimsleur German language CD’s, lessons 1-7!) I finally found myself in Füssen and realized that although it had been a mile and a half to Füssen, I still needed to find the train station inside the town.
And that is how I missed my train.
The rest of the evening was spent waiting in the Füssen train station until it closed and we were kicked out, then waiting in the very cold air for a train that apparently wasn’t coming, as we were informed by a bus driver. He took us to another nearby train station where I was finally able to catch a series of (very cold – what was up with the lousy heaters?) trains to get me back to Munich, at which point I hopped back on my bicycle and shivered my way back home.
What a great day!
