European Honeymoon 1999 - Germany, Phase TWO
And now we enter Phase Two, the missing Phase, in Germany. This is the phase where Lane and I jaunt off on our own and travel down South in Germany to Fussen, in Bavaria, to the castle Neuschwanstein. On the way there, we stopped in Rothenburg, a really cool practically medieval town to see the beautiful Market Square (Marktplatz) containing many stores, especially that of Kathe Wohlfahrt Christmas Village. Lane and I shipped home an unbelievable amount of Christmas stuff. I was in the mood to SHOP!
Here is also where the Great Snow Oddessy begins. See me, enjoying the snowflakes. :)
This is in Fussen, in front of our hotel. See the snow? About the time we were reaching Fussen, the snow was getting serious on the side of the road. Were we worried? Have I ever driven in snow? (OK, one winter in Pittsburgh, but that was it.) Ignorance is bliss. Mostly, I know to drive slow and avoid breaking hard....Oh, and don't follow too closely to the person ahead of you! The next morning when we woke up, it was REALLY THICK on the ground, like MANY FEET deep. Like magic!!
Our hotel was so strange. It was nice, but overpriced - it was also the only one open off-season, so what did we expect....The room had a great bathtub with a great showerhead, but no shower curtain to be found. Water went EVERYWHERE when we showered!! There were also only twin beds. We were supposed to push them together if we wanted to be "close"!
This is on the balcony of our hotel. This is my favorite photo of me from the whole trip. PROBABLY BECAUSE I'M NOT WEARING MY COAT AND HAT!!! :) Note the clenched fist because I'm so FREEZING!! And don't ask me how those flowers were blooming. We grow those in Texas, and I can't understand how they're still alive!
Lane, on the other side of the balcony, also cold!
Me, kissing one of the horses that drove the carriage up to the schloss, Castle Neuschwanstein (Noy-SCHWAN-stine). I loved those horses!
A view of the castle. (This is the castle that the Cinderella castle at Disneyworld was based on!) This is the best shot we got. OTHERS, however, got better shots, and I'm OK with putting one of them here, even though I don't know who took it:
Here is one of the only good photos I took at the castle itself, and it's actually OUTSIDE of the castle!! I loved this sculpture. A lot of the really cool areas of the castle were off-limits, or weren't really lending themselves to good photos, so I highly encourage you to read more and see more about this castle. Here's another link to info. A crazy king (King Ludwig II) build this, and other castles across Europe. He was obsessed with Wagner and his music. I bought this great book: "Ludwig II and his Dream Castles: The Fantasy World of a Storybook King" by Ludwig Merkle. It's SUPER for learning more, and it has amazing photographs (with captions in English, French , Italian and Japanese).
This is Hohenschwangau, the castle where King Ludwig II grew up. He later build Neuschwanstein above it.
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