Another Trip to T.H.E. C.A.S.T.L.E.

I don't know that I could ever tire of going to Neuschwanstein.  The castle itself is iconic, but the setting it's in is like heaven on earth.  I love the granduer and majesty of mountains.  I love the gurgling streams, the rushing waterfalls, and the glassy tranquility of pristine lakes.  I love the patchwork grid of farmland newly planted, rich in the life of growing crops, or ready for the harvest.  I love the rich, lush green of the forest.  It's all there in that one place and you can see one or more of those things as you look in any direction. 

Wednesday morning we headed up the hill.  Unlike our trip there last fall (here), we road the bus to the top instead of walking.  We wanted to get a lot done that day so time was of the essence.  I must admit there were moments when I experienced a bit of anxiety as our huge tour bus moved up the fairly narrow path to the castle, but we were there in no time at all.  We got out of the bus, got Katelyn all ready to go in her new backpack, and hit the trail. 

Actually, we didn't go directly to the castle.  We went up higher to Mary's Bridge which was above the castle (up there in the clouds!)...

 so we could get pictures like this:

   



Yup, that bridge was up there quite a ways.  Up higher than the castle, up above the stream and some waterfalls, and just up there---out in mid-air way above anything solid.  If that wasn't enough of a trip, there were some loose planks on the floor of the thing.  Just a little S.C.A.R.Y!

But, oh, could you catch some awesome views.  Like these:






Here's a close-up.



After some picture taking, we hit the trail again, going downhill, and then back up to the castle.  Along the way, we caught some different views of the castle and some different views of some of us!

Once we were at the castle, we had to wait until our appointed tour time so we got some shots of the castle exterior and our surroundings:

We even got some shots of us waiting in the courtyard:

We had a wonderful tour of the castle.  It's still just as amazing as ever.  Little Miss Katelyn was a trooper as we listened to our guide.  All too soon, we were ready to go back down the hill.  We were going to take a carriage ride, but we were enjoying our walk so much that we decided to keep going.  We then left the area for new places to explore and said good-bye (can you believe those clouds---par for the course, we travel, it rains and/or visibility is cruddy!).