European Expedition—The Hohenschwangau Castle

We’ve been to the Neuschwanstein Castle several times and were excited to see it again.  We weren’t planning on touring it but we did want to ride up to St. Mary’s bridge and take in the gorgeous view.  But St. Mary’s Bridge was closed.  Darn.  So instead we decided to tour the Hohenschwangau Castle right next door.  It was really fun to explore something new so I’m glad it worked out that way.  I stood in line for tickets while Chris took the kids down to the Alpsee Lake to do some fun videos. 

We grabbed some really good German sandwiches and pretzels for lunch.  Seriously, German sandwiches are the best! For Christmas, Grandma and Grandpa Walton gave all the kids Euros to spend in Europe.  They LOVED being able to decided when they wanted to buy a Magnum Bar.  4 kids decided to get one after lunch – 2 kids decided to save their money.

We wandered up the hill to the Castle for our tour and saw a SNAKE!

A glimpse of the Neuschwanstein Castle from the Hohenschwangau Caste…

It was an overcast day and started raining just before our tour started.  We took cover in this archway and then ran up the hill in the rain to go inside the castle at 2:50. It was pretty good timing!

“Hohenschwangau (literally translated: High Swan County Palace) was the official summer and hunting residence of Maximilian, his wife Marie of Prussia, and their two sons Ludwig (King Ludwig II of Bavaria) and Otto. The young princes spent many years of their adolescence here.  Queen Marie who loved to hike in the mountains created an alpine garden with plants gathered from all over the alps.  King Maximilian died in 1864 and his son Ludwig succeeded to the throne, moving into his father’s room in the castle.   As Ludwig never married, his mother Marie was able to continue living on her floor during the summer months.  King Ludwig enjoyed living in Hohenschwangau until the building of his own castle, Neuschwanstein began high above his parent’s castle in 1869.  He watched the construction from his bedroom window.”

After the tour we hung around the swan gardens and then loaded up and headed to our next stop – Rothenburg.  On the way Chris asked the kids questions about facts learned on the tour and they earned York Peppermint Patties as reward for correct answers.