Neuschwanstein

6 June 2013

Happily ever after never felt so close. This morning I was a princess in a fairytale scaling the Alps on the journey of a lifetime. The only thing I needed to complete my story was a prince to come sweep me off my feet and into the wilderness on his white steed…alright that would be a little too perfect.

Neuschwanstein Castle is gorgeous. We hiked through the Alps up to a high-set bridge over a waterfall…what a captivating view of the castle that was. Awe, I wish I could just stand there all day and listen to the sound of the wind, smell the crisp air, and feel the mist from the waterfall pounding the rocks below. Sometimes I just wish I were an actual disney character, like Pocahontas or Snow White, free to explore the beautiful forests all day. Neuschwanstein Castle is known as the “Disney Castle” to many, it is the castle that the original Disney industry got it’s inspiration from. Crowned Prince Ludwig built the castle and it still remains in great shape today. We walked to a bridge above the castle, one of the most picturesque places in Europe, hands down.

The castle is located in southern Germany, right on the edge of the Alps.

I am so tired, I am going to rest for this train ride and write later…

…and I am back! Two trains later with no more sleep than before, but a great vietnamese rice dish in my stomach and the thought of Switzerland lying ahead in the tracks, I am ready to write away about my adventures this morning. I do not know how my mom did it, writing in her journal every evening when she was in Europe. If I don’t write on the trains it would never get done! We sight see late into the evening and then I sit on google trying to research the best things to see the next day. I came here with a plan and actually we have followed it quite nicely. Excluding Switzerland (which we are on our way to now) we have seen everything we wanted to see plus lots and lots of other things. The world is full of so many majestical things and I have been blown away by the mere sliver of the pie I have seen.

Back to the beautiful Neuschwanstein Castle, or as I like to call it, the German Disney Castle…even as a 20 year old I still get butterflies in my stomach being in front of a fairytale place such as that. As a little girl, I dreamed about being a princess. Living in a castle with beautiful gowns to wear, balls to attend, and a handsome prince calling their name out their bedroom window is every young girl’s fairytale. Hiking up through the Alps to reach the castle doors literally felt like a journey out of a storybook. It was an incredible, awe-inspiring experience that I never want to forget. If only the world could remain so innocent as it is in fairytales.

We just entered Switzerland! That is exciting isn’t it! I have heard so many great things about Switzerland…it is beautiful, clean, mountainous, and most of all adventuresome. There are a lot of lakes here, we have already passed over 10 in our hour train ride from Kempton. We are driving along the Alps and it is beautiful. Switzerland really is the dream home for anyone who loves the outdoors…including me!

Stat update from Steven:
We have met people from 33 countries, taken 50 trains, visited 36 cities, visited 15 countries since the 13th of May 2013.

We witnessed our first train fight minutes before we arrived in Zurich. It was so scary and intense! Alright, it was just an old man mad at the lady who would’t move her feet for him to sit down. Another lady got involved and started hitting the lady who wouldn’t mover her feet with her cane… It was quite the display to watch.