The dance with weather continued on this day in Bavaria. We started the day with a lovely walk to the top of the hill to visit the famous Schloss Neuschwanstein–the template for Cinderella's castle. It was bright and sunny, and made for beautiful pictures in front of the castle before our tour. Only 1/3 of the castle's interior was completed, so the guided tour is shorter than you would expect, but it more than impresses the visitors in the rooms that are displayed. Every inch of the interior is painted, carved, or covered in mosaic tiles. There is really no way to describe it. Your child will likely try, but it's one of those "you need to see it to believe it" type of things.
The coolest part was at the end of the tour, in the singing room. King Ludwig II had an entire hall constructed for performances, and they still have singers there performing today! In fact, with a little help form our tour guides, they allowed our choir members to sing a short while in the hall, and it was a truly breathtaking experience. Check out the video to see a clip of this.
The tour ends at the gift shop, and once you leave the shop, you pass through the castle's kitchen, down an unfinished hall, and into...a SECOND gift shop, where the same items are sold for about 5-10% less!!!!!!! What marketing. Click this link for images of the castle. They don't allow photos on the guided tour, so you can find some incredible pictures on Google, both of the outside, and interior.
Following the tour, we climbed to the suspension bridge that looks over the castle. It is definitely the best way to see the castle, as it offers an unobstructed view of both the castle, and the incredible valleys and farms in the distance. It was incredible congested on the bridge, but everyone took their turn getting the perfect shot before making their way back down the mountain for lunch. After lunch, the students had the opportunity to ride the Tegelberg Cable Cars up Tegelberg Mountain for a 1700m view over Hohenshwangau. It is truly a magical view, and the kids loved sitting on the edge of the hill, because if you looked straight ahead, it appeared as though you were on the very edge (don't let the pictures scare you too much...there are ledges below). It was quite chilly at the top of Tegelberg, so many of us opted for a cup of coco or a cappuccino inside the restaurant. But of course, there were also many that couldn't resist the gelati.
At the bottom of the mountain is an incredibly cool summer luge course, on which you use small carts to descend. It is called rodelbahn, and after you try it once, you're hooked! We were able to squeeze everybody through once, so the students had the chance to ride before the rain came. They had an absolute blast, as you'll see from the photos and video.
We decided to head back to the town of Fussen to spend some time wandering the gorgeous cobblestone streets and pick up some last minute souvenirs. Some watched the Germany U18 practise at the new arena, and some visited the curling rink that played host to the past season of the Amazing Race. There was even an Olympic curler there who spoke with us about the fact that Fussen is sort of the winter Olympic training centre for athletes.
The evening was left to the students to pack up and relax before heading to Auerbach. It's hard to believe that we are about to reach our final stop on this 2012 Eurotour! Thank you so much for supporting us along the way and keeping in touch, or watching our videos. We can't wait to get to Auerbach and meet some new friends and play some more music! Talk to you again soon.
