The village of Hohenschwangau is met by a beautiful alpine lake (Alpsee). It is this royal village that is the birthplace and childhood home of King Ludwig II of Bavaria and features both his parent's palace, appropriately named Schloss Hohenschwangau and his fairytale creation Schloss Neuschwanstein which was built toward the end of his life - his reign as king of Bavaria also came to an end in the castle when his court (with the encouragement of the new government of a united Germany perhaps) removed him from the throne citing his mental state as the cause.
Schloss Hohenschwangau - the original palace where Ludwig II spent his childhood.
Schloss Neuschwanstein looms over the town of Hohenschwangau where lazy tourists are pulled to the towering peaks by horse and carriage.
The outside of the wonderous castle rises sharply on its rocky peak, preventing an all-encompassing shot for those of us without wide-angle lenses.
Into the gate reveals the famous castle (said to have been the inspiration for the Disneyland model in Los Angeles).
Looking back toward the entrance.
A castle turret soars toward the sky (the evidence of a makeover - a European fact-of-life as their heritage ages - is evident at the bottom-left).
The home of Ludwig II...
The only shot I managed inside before the tour guide came running at me fist raised.
I can't resist another shot of this beautiful castle. From here one can see the moutain which provides one backdrop for Schloss Neuschwanstein as well as the courtyard.
The other view - no less majestic - of the Bavarian countryside. The town of Schwangau (I believe) appears in the distance. Hohenschwangau is nothing more than a tourist village while Schwangau dates from more ancient times.
The South View - the alpine lake from above and a clearer view of the mountains can be seen from the top floor of Neuschwanstein. Hohenschwangau is visible amongst the trees.
Schloss Neuschwanstein from Marienbrücke (a bridge over a small waterfall behind the castle) reveals the postcard-perfect shot of the castle.
Up-close-and-personal.
The waterfall pours from the rock walls of the Säuling" which provides the scenic backdrop to the castle.
4 comments:
the photos are beautiful
30 seconds after your post completely downloads, Shaw phones me up complaining about my huge use of bandwidth. They started to say something else about a download limit being breached but I had to cut them off cause the vonage phone call was slowing down my MacGuyver downloads.
In any case, you must feel just like David Suzuki did on his first trip to Japan.
Finally an entire country full of people who look just like you!
Europe's not a country - and no, didn't see many people that looked like me. I'm led to assume I'm an alien.
Did you feel like you were in Disneyland?
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