Day 2: Füssen

It's not exactly Füssen that we visited but both Bavarian castles are near the town. It's about a 2hr train ride away from Munich. On the way, we met a group of rowdy secondary school students on a school field trip. Although I can't understand German, I could easily pick up the constant Scheisse (Scheiße) that peppered their conversation.

Total entrance fees to both castles for the 3 of us costs 49 euros. When I asked for student price, the woman over the counter asked me, "Under 18 or over 18?"

Somehow I replied, "Under 18."

When she nodded her head and proceeded to dispense the tickets, I instinctively corrected myself, "Sorry, over 18." Shit! I could have saved a few euros!

Anyway, entrance to the castles required you to follow a queue number to handle the large number of tourists. Hence, it's crucial to arrive at the castles on time. Despite the fact that it's perhaps a 45mins trek to Neuschwanstein castle and a mere 10mins hike to Hohenschwangau castle, we were given ample time to reach our destinations. Failure to do so would require us to purchase new tickets.

A brief introduction. Castle Hohenschwangau was more of a summer getaway for King Ludwig II. He was an eccentric king who ordered the construction of the Castle Neuschwanstein. It was built between 1869 and 1886. Unfortunately, the project was halted when the king died under mysterious circumstances at the age of 41. In fact up til today, Castle Neuschwanstein is only 1/3 complete.



Photos are forbidden inside Castle Hohenschwangau. Decorations and paintings inside the castle are moderate. Our guide, who worked for the Duke of Bavaria (who is a descendant of the former Bavarian monarchy as so claimed by the guide), offered great insights as to what life was like to live like a king.



King Ludwig II loved the mountains and hence this palaces, including this castle is built near the Bavarian Alps and poor people like me had to trek up a 45min slope to get there. As usual photos are prohibited due to copyright reasons (as so they claimed). As if we are going to build a Singapore castle up in Bukit Timah Hill.

Inside the castle, decorations and paintings are lavish, in fact, too lavish. A bit too much over the line and exaggerated. You'll think that it only happens in fairy-tale. The craftsmanship is too astonishing to be true and we were awed by its richness. Despite only having 15 rooms, every fine details from the murals to the wood cravings were done with great professionalism. The bedroom alone took 14 carpenters 4.5 years to complete.