Day 53: New Shwanstein Castle!!

 

   Today, we tour King Ludwig's famous New Schwanstein Castle. We are excited for the initial, amazing view, and are a little disappointed to see the entire southwest side covered in scaffolding. We purchase our tickets and have to wait around for two hours before our tour starts.

King Ludwig's boyhood home.

Somehow, the two hours fly by and we are running to get to the tour on time. The bus lady says we'll never make it, but everyone runs and we get there just as the tour starts - phew!

  The castle was built between 1869 and 1886, but, unfortunately, the King died after only living in the castle for 176 days. So there is still much of it that was never completed.

   In his bedroom, we see a very plush chamber pot - which I point out to Kennedi and she says, "I didn't know princesses had to go to the bathroom."

 Afterwards, we hike up to Mary's bridge and find some amazing views.

  On the way back, everyone agrees to hike down in order to earn some ice cream.

   Then we drive onward to our 1 week home stay in Hasliberg Goldern, Switzerland (about a four hour drive).  

The boys crashed!

   
   There are countless tunnels. One was even 17km. long! Our farm house is in Hasliberg Goldern, in the Haslital area. We finally get here. It is an absolutely beautiful valley, but we cannot find numbers on the houses, and they all look the same. We are about to just go find a hotel, when we find a  lady in her car - she does not speak English, but assures us that the address is nearby. 

   We find it. It is great! A cute little old farmhouse with a little toy room, puzzles and games. The only problem is the ceilings again are very low. The kids love to play with the toys and Tanner loves the freedom of just crawling around.