August 30, 2015

August 30, 2015

I saw a glow out our balcony and found that Neuschwanstein Castle is lit at night. So I went out with my mini-tripod and tried to get a shot. Nice photo but the castle is just a bright spot in an otherwise dark scene.

With the closing of Mary’s Bridge, I am still desperate for a good photo op of Neuschwanstein.  I had read there might be a trail to the opposite side of the bridge from the ski hill to the north of us.  Aimee and I drive the mile to their parking lot and hike along a path back towards the Castle.  It takes us past a field of loud bell-hobbled cows but only a slightly better view.  We backtrack and take what looks like a seldom used maintenance road up one of the ski hills.  We eventually find a spot high on the meadow that gives us a great view of both Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau.  That will have to suffice.  If there is a trail up the cliff, it is overgrown with vegetation.

On our walk back to the car, we discover the ski company has erected a luge run.  I get a ticket for both of us.  We sit in a little car with rollers and a conveyor system drags us up the hill.  At the top we are released and we roll down the concave metal luge.  A lever controls the breaking system so you can go as fast or as slow as you want.  I go fast, Aimee brakes the whole way.

In the afternoon, we decide to drive south into Austria and visit a real medieval castle.  It is not very far, but it is bumper to bumper traffic almost the entire way winding between tall mountains. After an hour we near Ehrenburg Castle and can see it sitting high on a rock alongside the highway.  The Castle was built to guard and collect tolls on a major trade route across the Alps.

After we arrive, we have a steep hike up to the castle ruins.  Not much of the castle is left.  With the advent of gunpowder, the enemy found a nearby hill to rain cannon fire down on the defenses.  Despite the destruction, it feels more real than Neuschwanstein.