Neuschwanstein Castle

I was recently looking through my pictures and realized I never did a post on the Neuschwanstein Castle. 

So here it is! During RC's last weekend here we decided to make the drive down to Garmisch-Partenkirchen for a nice & relaxing weekend. The Neuschwanstein Castle was only an hour away from where we were staying. So after seeing the Zugspitze we decided to drive over to the town of Schwangua where the castle was located.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Neuschwanstein Castle was built by Ludwig II, the King of Bavaria as a place where he could retreat. Construction began in 1869 and the architecture was based off of medieval castles and the operas of Richard Wagner. However Ludwig II died in 1886 before the castle could be completed. Only 15 of the 200 rooms were completed prior to his death. Since the castle was so far from being finished it was opened up to paying customers for viewing. Those revenues were used to balance construction debts, and later became a large source of income for the Bavarian family. Ludwig II was a popular king after his death because of the amount of money he brought into the state of Bavaria.

I think the most interesting part revolves around King Ludwig II's death. The construction fees of the Neuschwanstein castle ended up almost doubling the estimate and Ludwig began to run into serious financial problems as he was also building two other castles. Along with his financial problems there were also claims of mental insanity. In June of 1886 Ludwig was deposed of his power by reason of mental illness and removed from the castle. Just a few days later he was mysteriously found dead in the shallow waters of Lake Starnberg. 

WALT DISNEY'S INSPIRATION

Okay. So here's the thing about the Neuschanstein Castle. Before we actually visited I kept hearing about hearing how it inspired Walt Disney. TRUE! And about how the Cinderella castle was modeled after it. WRONG! Apparently it inspired Sleeping Beauty's castle. Being an east coast girl I've been to Disney World numerous times. I'm not going to lie. I didn't even know Sleeping Beauty had her own castle in Disneyland. 

THE TOUR

Now, the tour. You cannot go inside the castle without taking a tour. That was kind of strike one for me. I'm more of a fan of going at our pace on our own time. But it was not too expensive and while we're in Germany why not!? Y'all, I'm not going to lie the tour was gawd-awful. The tour guide spoke "English" which was more like Germish... maybe. So I had no clue what he was saying the entire time. His accent was very thick, echoed in the large rooms, and our group was so large I couldn't try and read his lips. So that was kind of strike 2. It was also unclear on whether or not you could take pictures which was strike 3. So I have no pictures of the inside, but I think I'd rather be safe than sorry. So while the tour wasn't very good I would still recommend going! I found King Ludwig II's story interesting and I loved the ties back to Walt Disney.