How many people can cross off 2 things from their bucket list in one day at 23? I'm one! This morning I woke up at 7:45 to get ready for a Mike's Bike Tour to Neuschwanstein Castle. For everyone who is as naive as me, Neuschwanstein Castle is the inspiration for Walt Disney's famous castle. Before I even hop on the bus I meet this couple from Calgary who were super friendly. We chat a bit before the guide got to te hostel to pick us up. Nothing too crazy here. We hopped on the bus and I fell asleep. I woke up after maybe half an hr to find we're driving on the autobahn!Tick! Well... I wanted to drive myself on the limitless highway but close enough!
It was a 2 hour bus ride but it was fine, I needed my sleep. When we got there our guide, Brad, came to meet us and took us to our bikes. I wanted the cool ones with the baskets but there were none left when I got mine. We ride around the town near the Neuschwanstein Castle which is a lot of farm lands. Our destination was Swan Lake, a really pretty lake that we could swim in, but we only had 20 minutes so I didn't bother.
We ride back towards the castle and one of the girls on the tour gets smoked by an oncoming cyclist. That asshole cusses and yells at the girl, who btw was 14, calling her a dumbass and all, but no worries Germans! The guy had an English accent so he wasn't yours!
It was lunch time and I was starved and parched. I got a spaghetti (Italian food in Germany? Comon now Jeff). After I finished we went over to the alpine slide, which is like a mini bobsled for the summer. I didn't get any photos because I left my camera behind with the guide. I thought it was gonna be some hardcore ride and I would somehow drop it. It was fun, but yea... it's just a slide with a cart and it wasn't big at all.
When we met up with Brad again he gives us a magic show with cards to kill some time and then we were off to hike the alps to the castle! Tick number 2.
It was so nice! We walked along a waterfall for the first bit, then the second bit was kinda like the grouse grind a little. Not as hardcore but it had a few steps.
At the top there was this cool bridge called Mary's Bridge, where you get an awesome view of the castle. There were those locks again! O btw if you ever wondered what all the locks are, they are put there by couples who write their name on the lock and throw the keys away. They're almost always near a river or a fountain.
We tour the inside but only 6 of the intended 19(?) rooms were finished since te king who built it died early mysteriously so it was short to say the least. Every room I kept thinking, "I think this was part of a Disney cartoon." Each room was inspired by King Ludwig II's idol, Richard Wagner. Apparently there is a rumour that he was also gay with him. Who knows.
We finished just in time before the storm caught up with us. It started raining a bit but we got to the bus ok. For the 2 hr ride home we watched Spaceballs, which is a horrible parody of Star Wars. Anyway, near the end of the movie they use Neuschwanstein Castle as one of the locations, so that was kinda cool.
When we got back to Munich, the couple I met in the morning asks me to joim them for a doner and how can I refuse? We chat a lot about jobs, economy, and where it is best to live now, and I'm totally scared and I think I want to live in Alberta now. Btw this couple came from Calgary so they were selling the city to me, which worked. We exchanged contact info because they said they will be in Berlin when I'm there and we plan to meet up again. Well, I hope so because this couple seems real fun!