The Castles

From Munich we took a day trip to Fussen where the royal Maxamillion family have two castles. 

The more famous of the two, was built by "Mad" King Ludwig II. But let's start with his King Ludwig I.  

His father's castle (the orangish one) was used as a summer get away for the royal family.  His mother loved mountaineering (pretty original for her day for a woman to love hiking and the outdoors) and so she took the family there every chance she got.  And I would too!  Isn't it gorgeous? The inside of this castle was had servants quarters, hidden staircases and rooms, wardrobe rooms, dressing rooms, bedrooms, guest rooms, a large dining hall, a chapel, and tons of elaborate wedding presents, birthday presents and hostess gifts.  They were obsessesed with the coat of arms back then and so we saw many gold-plated displays of coat of arms of Maxamillion as well as other prominent families during their time. No photos were allowed inside this castle..bummer! Guess you'll have to go yourself to see it!

King Ludwig II started building the castle (seen below), but he was found drowned in a lake before it was completed.  Nobody knows if it was a susicide or murder...very strange!!  But the caslte was out of this world. Again, no photos inside the castle allowed.  But, one thing I found pretty interesting, is all of the jewels in this castle were actually fake!  Ludwig II had a strange obsession with Wagner and so had many of his operas painted on the walls and ceilings.  He had a guest room built for Wagner (which he never stayed in) and a mini chamber hall for Wagner to perform.  The outside of the castle is pretty recognizable--mostly because Disney used it to create their castle....look familiar?

We ended our long fun SUNNY day with some Wener Sniztel and Fanta. Then after learning about europeans' disregard for waiting in line, we finally got the last train ride back to Munich.