Day 9: Neuschwanstein and Salzburg
This morning we took the road for Neuschwanstein Castle. The weather was amazing when we got there! We were so glad everyone would get a good view of this magical, fairy tale castle. Before heading up to the castle, we snapped some pictures by the local lake. The clouds were reflecting off the surface, and it was a beautiful setting.
When the bus dropped us off at the top, we went directly to Marion Bridge to get some pictures in case the clouds decided to roll in. We were not disappointed! Abby and Lori were amazed by the stunning views from the bridge. It almost didn't seem real to them! After our stop on the bridge, we walked down to the castle and looked around for awhile before our guided tour started. |
Magical castle visit
We toured the castle as a group and witnessed the overwhelming extravagance and beauty of the finished portion. One of my favorite details was the mosaic floor in the throne room with it's more than two million tiles! Incredible! King Ludwig was enamored with the composer Wagner, so all the walls were decorated with tributes to his operas. The art was amazing! We learned about the king's untimely and controversial death. It makes us recall our guide's frequent words: "In the end, it's always about the money." I suspect it was this time too.
On to SalzburgWe headed out for Salzburg, and Iris gave us some more context and history. I found it interesting when she said that Germans were sarcastic to make up for their lack of humor, which she said they feel they had to give up after WWII. She also talked about how Austrians do not like the sound of music because of how they were portrayed as Nazis in the film. Apparently, Austrians largely abdicate responsibility for the war and see themselves as victims.
We had schnitzel with potatoes for supper. It came with soup with pancake strips in it for bread. That was amazing! Yes, it was another awesome day on our trip! |
"Hit it, Wim!" Thanks for taking such good care of us!
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Day 10: A full day in SalzburgIt was another beautiful day, and we headed out about 9:00 for our walking tour of Salzburg. Bridgette was our guide for the morning. She is a veteran tour guide and really knows her stuff. We spent about two and a half hours seeing the heart of Salzburg and learning its history. Our hotel is so centrally located. It's amazing! Very near to us are so many of the main sights and attractions like the gardens, the university, the famous churches and more! It's interesting how much religion dominates the German and Austrian cultures. We were surprised to hear that in Austria, Catholics pay a 5% taxes to the church. No separation of church and state here!
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After our morning tour, we explored on our own. We started by heading up through the cemetery to the funicular which would take us up to the fortress high on the hill over town. We bought our tickets and headed up. Wow, this funicular was FAST! It was Abby and Lori's first ride on one, and they got a good one!
The views at the top were spectacular! We could see for miles! The ride up included entrance to many parts of the fortress, so we spent quite a bit of time up there exploring. We went through the really extensive museum and history loop through the building as well as a climb up the tall tower for even greater views. We loved our time up there! |
After a bite to eat, we explored the city some more. Our guide had suggested a few locations to visit in the later afternoon. She pointed out that the sun was in perfect position for some of those postcard photos. Wow, was she right! The views of the gardens and hillsides were amazing!
All that and Mozart too!
After supper, it was time for our Mozart dinner. It had been a great day, but we were really looking forward to this show held at the oldest restaurant in Salzburg in a part of the former monastery. As expected, it was a great evening with excellent company, food and entertainment. In fact, Pam said this was the best meal she'd had on the trip so far, and we'd had some good ones! The show was a Mozart sampler which was perfect for us. The first two numbers were in Italian and the last one in German. We couldn't understand many of the words, but we were dazzled by the musicianship and singing. The male lead was very funny and and interacted with the crowd well. It was a great night, and we were glad we took advantage of this opportunity to attend. The actor even took a picture with me!
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