Evan & Christina in Europe

Lunch in Innsbruck

We had lunch in Innsbruck and went off to the Neuschwanstein castle.

Neuschwanstein Castle

We were a bit early for our tour so we ate an early dinner and walked around a bit. Toured the castle (requirement to be admitted into the castle).

Lunch in Innsbruck

Today we slept in a bit since we were pretty tired from the past few days. We drove to Innsbruck and ate lunch at Hofgarten restaurant in a park. It was really nice, and the food was amazing. We had the Hofgarten pan and the Angus salad. However, we were running a bit late, and there was more traffic than we thought there would be to the Neuschwanstein castle. Gas in Austria is less expensive than in Germany, and we were a bit low on gas, so we filled up. Bill ended up at almost 50 Euros, since it cost 1.15 Euro a liter! Driving through the Alps was incredible; all the greenery was nice and there were still some snow on the mountains. I’m writing this blog entry while travelling to the castle, actually.

Neuschwanstein Castle

Evan had tried booking a tour online, but their website was sketchy and didn’t give him a confirmation. Luckily, there were spots for a tour at 5:50pm, and it was only 4:05ish. We took the bus up to the castle from the parking lot, and walked to Marienbruke, the bridge across a waterfall, and a good picture spot. I’m quite afraid of heights, so I couldn’t really see the waterfall, but I could see the castle well enough. We were about an hour early for our tour so we went to eat at the nearby restaurant, which is about five minutes downhill from the castle. Evan and I had the castle pan (similar to the previous pan and just as tasty), and a ravioli filled with yummy pesto and cheese.

The castle was very pretty; I loved the paintings in particular. Sadly, they did not allow photographs so we don’t have any pretty pictures to show you. Since King Ludwig was a patron of Wagner, most of the paintings were of legends that Wagner based his operas on, such as Tristan and Isolde. He didn’t have any paintings of himself, which I thought was really cool, although there were paintings of his coat of arms in some of the halls. There was an artificial cave made of plaster in the castle, also based on one of Wagner’s operas. The castle was unfinished (unfurnished and not painted)- the king died (rather mysteriously) before it was finished (he was only there for a hundred days or so before he died). His favorite animal was the swan, so his living room has over a hundred paintings of swans and a life-sized porcelain swan. There’s also a “swan” in Neuschwanstein, the name of the castle.

Evan and I left from the castle and drove back to the hotel, tried to get online again but failed miserably, and watched a little bit of The Queen.