We arrived at the apartment that we were renting around 4:30 in the afternoon. The girls were all excited again because they had their own room. I had to burst their bubble by explaining that one of the girls would have to sleep in the "big bed" with one of us because they are still a little young to sleep in the upper bunk bed. Other than that glitch the place was great for us.
We had our first experience with a German market soon after dinner. Miss S dropped one of our jars of spaghetti sauce in the kitchen, and Husband had eaten all that I had packed for his breakfast, so we were in need of supplies. That shopping trip was one of the most pleasant I have had in a long time. The store was clean and bright, and it was not crowded at all. I'd go back even if I did need to shop in German.
Here is what I wrote in my travel journal for April 22 - If yesterday was soggy, today is plain W-E-T! And it was our day to go to Schloss Neuschwanstein, or "Cinderella's Castle" as my girls call it. I had a great plan. We were going to take the shuttle bus up to Marie's Bridge, take some pictures, find a geocache, hike down to the castle, take our tour, and ride a horse-drawn carriage back down the mountain. As the saying goes, man plans and God laughs.
We picked up our tickets for the castle tour, and thought we had plenty of time to get up the mountain. Little did we know but the shuttle buses were not running due to road construction. Hmmm ... Plan B? Take the horse carriages. That really got the girls perked up. They love horses. Unfortunately everyone else who wanted to get up the mountain had the same idea. We finally got a carriage up the mountain, but only after rescheduling our tour for a later time (we briefly discussed hiking up the mountain, but Miss S really wanted to take the carriage and it was too wet and cold to argue with a 4-year-old). By the time we got to the top, we had given up on the idea of going to the bridge and just wanted to do our tour and go back to the apartment for lunch and a rest.
The castle was INCREDIBLE! The tours are quick, and there is a lot that you don't get to see, but it was so cool. The craftsmanship was amazing, and the whole place was vibrant. It was so hard to believe that it wasn't ever finished. I wish I had taken the time to learn more about the castle and King Ludwig before we went on the tour. I would have loved to go back for another tour after I read the 3 books that we bought. It was such an amazing place! Check out the website above (click on the blue word castle) to see more pictures as we were not allowed to take pictures inside the castle.
The castle, the horse-drawn carriage, and some happy girls
After some lunch and rest, we headed out again during a break in the rain. The plan was to walk to the other castle to do a little geocaching. We were not planning on taking a tour of that castle, but wanted to have a look around in the gardens. God was laughing again (I am so glad that we offered Him some amusement during our vacation). We got about halfway there and it started raining again. We gave up and decided that our time with the castles was over. Back to the apartment for dinner and some family play time.
I asked the family to tell me some of their favorite memories each day.
Miss M - the horses, and seeing the snow (this dropped off the list as soon as she got in the carriage)
Miss S - the horses
Husband - The waterwheels all over the place, and all of their uses in the Black Forest
Me - watching the girls faces, especially in the carriages, and seeing the splendor of the castle
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