Oktoberfest Day Four: Neuschwanstein Castle

Day four is about the day tour. As suggested previously, Oktoberfest is best experienced by staggering the staggering with some pure tourist touring. Today we hit Neuschwanstein Castle, about two hours outside of Munich. This is one of the best castles to visit in Europe, even though its completely fake. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a brilliant Castle but it was built in the 19th (1886 methinks) century by ‘Mad’ King Ludwig in the style of the Gothic castles of the 12th century. It is called the ‘Fairy tale’ castle and the blueprint for pretty much every other castle in modern story telling (Disney, Shrek ect). Kind Ludwig II was a bit of a Wagner fan and this castle was built in his honor. Almost all the tapestries-like paintings cover Wagner’s operas and much of the internal appointments are set to those stories. In fact the castle itself was not designed by an architect, but instead by set designer from Munich who specialized in operas. It’s more of a palace or retreat than a strategic, defensive position. The whole structure is built out of regular brick with sandstone facia (could never take a catapult straight on ;). As long as you ignore these silly points and take the charm at face value you’ll find that the castle is really quite breath taking… and I mean this figuratively and literally (you have to walk for a bout 2k up a steep grade to get to it).

Side note: I loved the Americans on the tour “why don’t they have an elevator” and “if this was in the US they’d bloody well drive us to the top”. Thank the wee-nymphs-that-reside-in-the-lake-beside-the-castle that it’s not in the US (or Canada) because I’d never be able to pick up Pil or a Helles at the halfway point or in the gift shop at the top. Side-side note: apparently the swearing off of beer in my previous posts was somewhat premature.

For those of you who might to want to visit Neuschwanstein Castle: It’s a bit of a pain to get to (actually, it was a bloody dog-and-pony show to get there by train, bus, donkey ect) but when you finally get to the top of the mountain it sits on and see the amazing detailing and appointments inside, you’ll be quite amazed. Be patient with the Americans who’ll wheeze and fart their way to the top (no, seriously, the old dude and front of me crapped his pants the whole way up the closed-in, spiral staircase with me right behind him having to eat his wind). And forgive the Canadians who can’t get enough of German beer, even when slogging up a hill.

~ chris