Even in Paradise, one has to be Careful

Hopefully, your day of visiting this famous castle will have good weather.  Walt Disney visited the castle known as Neuschwanstein with his wife back in 1955.  Disney fell in love with the castle and thus he modeled all his future Cinderella castles after Neuschwanstein—as the story goes. 

If you stay in Fussen like we did, having the Fussen Card is a good idea—your hotel should provide this for you.  Free bus service is given which is located with an easy walk by the train station.

We stayed in Hotel Sonne for 3 days.  It was a quaint village with a number of walking streets.

We enjoyed going to the local museum and saw a unique library dating back to the 17th century.

The Neuschwantstein bus will let you off by an information center.  This is “not” where you pick-up your tickets.  Follow the bend around the right corner, past a restaurant and then the official center is before you on the right side.  

If you continue down that road, to the right is where the busses can take you up. At our June visit of 2023, it was but six Euros—well worth it if you have any trouble walking up. We took the bus on our second visit the following day.

There are a number of popular hotels in the valley and is something to consider when staying in the area.

The Hohenschwangau Castle is also to the immediate right.  You can walk up the doable 104 steps. There is reservation system for this castle too. 

Most people will take the 30-minute free walk up as we did on our first visit.  

If you see horse-carts, that’s where the road begins.  Only staff and emergency cars will go up that road.  Some people decide to pay the few Euros to be taken up by horse and cart.  Thankfully, the horse carriages are added by a motorized cart behind them. Unfortunately, there is no scooper behind the horses like the ones in Vienna.

 The walk up is actually pleasant.  Not bad.  There is even a small waterfall along the way.   A restaurant will greet you.  Plenty of people have eaten and found something to drink at this place.  The bathrooms are clean. The famous castle is not far up the road.

Along the way are majestic vistas.

I fully object to any historical place that does not let you take inside pictures. One can even take pictures in the Louvre.   We decided the real beauty of Neuschwanstein is the castle itself. Some people that we encountered say they really enjoyed being inside.   

Time entry tickets are on-line, and one should book these well in advance.

Whatever you decide, don’t miss seeing the “skywalk” which is an observation deck.   It is located by the lockers.  Many people keep on going along the trail and miss this sight. This is a lovely area to view the majestic front of the castle.

The transport bus will take you between Neuschwanstein and Mary’s Bridge, “Marienbrucke.”  If you head down the path towards the castle, there is a lovely bend in the paved road.  Majestic pictures of the valley can be taken here. 

Usually, Mary’s Bridge is over-crowded.  My wife does not like crowds or heights. 

Luckily, she decided the following day to go up and conquer her fears.  There were less people that morning.  She went out about 20 feet along that bridge. Many people take gorgeous pictures along this bridge.

The bridge will not fall.  It has been reinforced.  You can still feel the wobble in the planks though.  Even my grandson, who is an adventurist, was a bit taken back with the play of this bridge in 2021.

On the other side of the bridge is an unimproved area filled with roots and trees.  People do continue and find areas to view this famous castle.

On our first visit, we may have seen the man who accosted two young women across that bridge. Troy Bohling from Lincoln Park, Michigan admitted killing one of the two women he accosted.  He was known to be “unfriendly” and “would not directly look at you in your eyes.” He lured the girls into the woods by promising them a “romantic view” of the castle.  The German courts gave him life in prison for these crimes. 

 

We saw several police cars going up the mountain. We also spotted the helicopter in the ravine.

 

He sexually accosted them and threw the girls down the gorge, 165 feet down.  One girl, miraculously, lived.

Unfortunately, Eva Liu from Illinois did not survive.  She had just graduated from college. A pic from LinkedIn. 

  We did see a number of police cars going up the mountain; and the rescue helicopter lifting a person from the gorge.  We knew this was serious. Even in the best of places, one has to be cautious and alert.