Days since last round up: 7
Days spent looking after children: 1
Estimated fluency: 70% (coped well with variety of day to day interactions)
Major achievements: climbing 1.5km to Neuschwanstein castle while suffering from an aggressive allergic reaction to a wasp sting
Reading: taking a break
Weather: cool and a bit rainy (it’s beginning to feel like the end of summer)
This week brought something a little different: with both girls at their grandparents’, I had the week off to enjoy myself, making it perfect timing to receive a visit. After a quick turnaround on Monday night, getting back into Munich around 9pm after dropping the kids off, I headed to Munich Hauptbahnhof on Tuesday morning to meet Mikey, from where we got the train straight to Füssen, a little village about two hours from Munich just near the Austrian border. Just outside of, or rather above, Füssen is the even tinier village of Hohenschwangau, home to two fairytale castles (Schloss Neuschwanstein and Schloss Hohenschwangau), a few hotels and some daytime eateries and souvenir shops. Buses run frequently for those staying in Füssen to make a trip up to the castles, so shortly after getting off the train we were on our way up to the Ameron hotel in Hohenschwangau. We soon realised we’d made a good choice: the rooms and communal areas were lovely, as were the spa and pool area, and the hotel, with its various buildings and restaurants, subtly dominates the surrounding area.
The first evening was devoted to exploring, first checking out the hotel, and then planning to go into Füssen, until we realised that the buses only run until around 8pm and seem to be primarily for taking day-trippers to and from the castles. Instead we opted for dinner at the Alpenstuben, a traditional Bavarian restaurant which stayed open into the evening.
After that an early night was needed, because the next job was to get to the ticket centre (a 5-minute walk from the hotel) at 7.20am the next morning to try and get tickets for the castle that day. It’s possible to book in advance online, but because of reduced capacity due to corona, August was booked out months ago. The ticket office opens at 8am, so I thought we had left plenty of time, but when I arrived there was a queue of at least 10 people before me. If I’d arrived 15 minutes later I would have been another 200m down the street.
With tickets secured, there was still time for a lie-in before breakfast at the hotel (a very impressive selection which almost lasted us all day), highlights being homemade bircher muesli, real honeycomb, and self-serve loose-leaf tea.
The first stop of the day was Hohenschwangau castle, the less traditionally Disney-style one, which was built as early as the middle ages, and served well into the 19th century as the residence of the Bavarian royal family.
Our tour slot was in German, which meant that I got to try out (almost) simultaneous interpretation, and we were both impressed by the content and length of the tour, which was pitched just right to keep you interested and engaged. After another stroll around the gardens and many photos to make the most of the incredible lighting, we were ready to head back down and up again to Neuschwanstein castle, built in the 19th century by Ludwig II, and apparently the model for the Disney castle.
The fairytale vibes were somewhat interrupted by an initially innocuous wasp sting which turned into a full-on allergic reaction, including a puffy swollen face and white itchy bumps all over my back and chest, which came on as we were walking up the hill to Neuschwanstein. It passed after about half an hour and we were still in plenty of time for our tour, this time with an audio-guide, narrating the bizarre story of Ludwig’s classic 19th century caprice to live in a medieval castle, which culminated in the building of this stunning palace, as impressive outside as it is intricate inside. The castle was never a long-term residence of the royal family, being built entirely on Ludwig’s whim and never completed, but it does feature an artificial grotto, and is a testament to the Romantic spirit of the time.
Next on the list was the Marienbrücke, a bridge between two mountains which gives a perfect view of Neuschwanstein, for a classic tourist photo, spiced up a little in the COVID age by the compulsory mask.
The entrance to the bridge which you come to as you walk from Neuschwanstein was only just about visible through the enormous queue, but we handily overheard a German couple coming from the other direction telling a group of walkers that they could save themselves the queuing by taking an alternative route up and simply walking across the bridge the other way. Armed with a brief set of overheard German instructions, we set off behind the little group, who were also being followed by a couple with a dog, and along the way we took it in turns, without ever explicitly communicating, to lead the way and eventually help each other find the right path. It wasn’t straightforward and involved a few more steep climbs than the mainstream route but we managed it in trainers, and it was definitely worth it. No queue, a great photo, and a little adventure to boot.
On the way back we discovered a walking route along the river, with waterfalls and zen stacked stones, which brought us out directly in Hohenschwangau again.
Catching up from yesterday, we’d decided to go into Füssen for the first bit of the evening, and spent a couple of hours there before getting the last bus back. It’s a very pretty old town but not big at all; we found a lovely little pizza place but weren’t disappointed not to be spending all our time there. After a stroll around the old buildings we headed back to the station and got the bus all the way to the hotel, to spend an evening chilling by the pool.
The next day was our walking and exploring day, setting off shortly after breakfast into the mountains, starting with a walk along the lake but expanding the route to head towards Austria, reaching the border within about an hour.
From there we carried on upwards and got some great views, although still couldn’t say for certain exactly which route we followed.
Three hours and many steps later we were back by the lake to finish off the Alpseerundweg (the popular route around the lake) in the sun, before chilling in the spa area and pool for a bit.
Dinner was at the second hotel restaurant in Hohenschwangau (there are only really three options up there in the evening), which proved a real find, if a little rushed because our sunset stroll up to Neuschwanstein overran a little and the kitchen was about to close.
Definitely worth it for the chance to see the castle in a rosy glow and get some pictures without having to push through the tourists. And my German was even good enough to charm the waiter into making us an apple strudel once the chef had gone home.
Friday was check-out day and train back to Munich, with a prompt change in weather as we headed out after settling into the hotel. We arrived at Bapas, a trendy Bavarian tapas cafe and bar on Leopoldstrasse which I’ve walked past many times and been very tempted by, a little wet but generally happy, and it didn’t fail to live up to expectations (see upcoming favourite finds post for more details).
It wasn’t quite the weather for frozen yogurt, but a stop at i love leo on the way into the old town didn’t disappoint, and neither did the stately grandeur of Leopoldstrasse as it merges with Ludwigstrasse at the Siegestor and leads down to Odeonsplatz, and is just as impressive in the rain as in sunshine.
After a brief pause in the tour for a volunteering information evening I wanted to attend (I’ll keep you updated on my progress with this one), we completed the main sights with a visit to Marienplatz by night, looping round past the Frauenkirche and through the deserted Viktualienmarkt.
We covered the same ground on Saturday, this time by day, a little less wet and a lot more lively, after very fancy lunch at the amazing Tian restaurant, just on the market, as well as some of the high-end bits of town towards Maximilianstraße, and the more artsy student vibes of the Maxvorstadt.
Sunday was brunch and the National Socialism Documentation Centre Museum (on the once site of Nazi headquarters), followed by a walk along the river as far as the site of the 1923 Munich Putsch, which interestingly isn’t commemorated with any visible marker.
On the way we also passed the Eisbachwelle, a Munich institution which I hadn’t yet got round to seeing; just near a bridge where Prinzregentstrasse meets with the English gardens you can see people surfing on a particularly stormy bit of the Isar river. We finished off with a walk back through the Glockenbachviertel, accompanied by some vegan ice cream from the amazing icedate (already featured in favourite finds first edition).
After saying goodbye on Monday morning, I was straight back into it with a four-and-a-half-hour train journey to the grandparents’ house to pick up the girls. My head was elsewhere for most of the journey, but it was lovely to be greeted by Helena and her granddad at the station, and then to be given an excited tour of the (huge) house and garden by both girls. It’s a real country paradise with loads of space for the kids to run around and have all sorts of fun, and I could understand why they were sad to be leaving when the grandparents dropped us off at the station the next morning. This time we had a compartment to ourselves so the journey was quite relaxed, although the girls didn’t sleep this time. We’re back home now, the parents were delighted to see the girls again and it’s all looking good for the return to school tomorrow, and to something more like normality for me, after a week in fairytale land.