We were intending on getting up early so we could get going to the castles today ... but ... that didn't happen & we didn't wake up until about 8.00am!  Oops!  They start serving breakfast at 8.00am!

So we quickly chucked some clothes on, hoped no one would notice & went into the dining room .  It was mostly French people around the table today: the parents of one of the girls who works here, plus another girl who is travelling through here (but has to interrupt her holiday for some work in Prague ... how terrible!)

Fortunately, nearly all of them spoke English so we were able to converse pretty easily.

After breakfast, we headed off to Neuschwanstein (or "my castle" as Mum refers to it since this was one of the main things she wanted to see). 

Fortunately, we had a nice day for it: some cloud but also some quite large patches of blue sky!

I went & stood in line to get our tickets (shame their online ticketing system wasn't working) while Mum went to look at the shops (there are a LOT to look at).  The queue for un-reserved tickets was 30min long ... the queue for reserved tickets was about 2 min long.

Anyway, booked ourselves to go to both castles as the first available Neuschwanstein tour was in about 3 hours time!  Enjoyed visiting both castles and seeing all the crazy things Mad King Ludwig did.

Wow!  They REALLY love swans in that place.  I'd forgotten just how many swans there were!  On the curtains, in the paintings on the walls, a Swan humidifier, swan taps, swan fountains, and even swan door handles (yes, I'm not kidding!) .

No expense was spared here!  But what an amazing attraction he created!  People from all over the world come here: approx 1.5m every year.

Next, we had a quick bite to eat then took the bus up to Marienbrucke Bridge & waded through the throngs of tourists up there.  OMG ... it was a sea of selfie-sticks!

After a brisk walk to Neuschwanstein (that 15min estimate is obviously for slow walkers), we made it to the castle with 5 min to spare!  Heaps of time!  The thing is that they allocate you a specific time for your tours but if you're not there, they don't wait for you & they won't refund you if you get it wrong ... it's just too bad for you!  So here's the lesson kidlets: be on time!

The castle was just as impressive as last time I visited (shame you can't take photos inside). A few interesting things from the tour:
- King Ludwig was nocturnal so they can estimate how many days he spent in the castle by looking at the Candle Journal (yes, they kept a record of how many candles they went through)! According to their calculations, he was only there for about 172 days over a 2-year period (i .e. less than 6 months!)
- there are 120 rooms in the castle but only 20 have been finished
- 2 days after his mysterious death at age 41 in a lake near Munich, all work on the castle was cancelled as his family didn't want to spend the money (hence the throne room has no throne!)
 
After the tour was over, we wandered back down the hill at a much more civilised pace, made our way through the forest & popped out right next to some souvenir shops.  This was perfect as Mum wanted to look at some more shops before we left.

Drove into Fussen, such a cute town!  Sherry & I had spent a short amount of time here a few years ago, but it was great to see a bit more of the place.  Mum & I had dinner here (Mum still can't get over how big the portion-sizes are here ... although seriously, she eats like a sparrow!)

While at dinner, we could hear a band playing so when we'd finished, we went over to check it out & found about a 20-piece band busking in the mall.  Watched with great fascination as they placed all the normal instruments plus 3 Alpenhorns (those 3m long wooden horns you see).

Was half-expecting to see Heidi coming running in from the meadows ... but had to settle for some older German ladies playing the tuba.  Not quite the same!

Then back home to our Alpine Retreat for bed.