Castles, castles, castles

When I  started to plan our year of travel I asked Matthew, Ethan and Logan to choose a country. Logan chose Norway. I vetoed Norway due to the cost. Her second choice was Ecuador, which we loved. Ethan chose Italy (heading there next). Matthew chose Germany and said he wanted to see the castles there. I had passed through Germany once before and really didn’t care that much to return as there are so many places to go in the world. But I ended up loving our time there… castles, Alps and mac & cheese with beer. What’s not to love.

King Ludwig II liked to build castles. Per our guide at Neuschwanstein Castle, he angered family members by spending the family fortune constructing them, and then died under mysterious circumstances.

Above is Neuschwanstein Castle. It is reported to be the inspiration for a Disney’s castle. I read it is Sleeping Beauty’s but I didn’t even remember that she had a proper castle so consider that tidbit of information unconfirmed.

Fun fact (as Logan would say)… one of the rooms inside the castle is constructed like the interior of a cave.

View from Neuschwanstein Castle (above).

Hohenschwangau Castle (above and below) was the childhood residence of King Ludwig II. It was built by his father, King Maximilian II.

Linderhof Castle (below).

 

Above: Logan and Natalie

I took the picture directly above. Matthew noted that I chopped the swan’s head off. This is why he is the photographer. And in my defense, I was too busy looking at the family I love to notice some swan.

I should also note that Matthew has MANY wonderful pictures of statues and close ups of parts of buildings. But this is my blog and I like trees. So… most pictures are at a distance where you can see the trees.

I am still waiting for Matthew to give me the photos of the last castle we visited, but I think Matthew can check German castles off his to do list.