Hi Everyone!

So some of you may know a bunch of this, and others (like me) will have had no clue going into this. Neuschwanstein Castle was the place in the movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang that the baron/bad guys captured and hid the children in. It's also the visual inspiration for the Disney Castle in Disneyland and in the Disney logo/intro to movies. But it's actually the last Castle commissioned to be constructed by Ludwig II one of the last, and certainly the most crazy, king's of Bavaria.

Ludwig II, like many monarchies even today, had a bloodline that could be linked back to Emperors of old like Constantine. His nation of Bavaria at the time though was no empire and was pretty consistently getting its ass beat by Germanians and Prussians and French etc. It all contributed to give this Ludwig guy quite the complex - he thought he was great and deserving of better than he had. His outlet for this frustration was the commissioning of grand works like this castle. The castle is stunning to be fair. The inside, which we were not allowed to photograph, was all golden and wood carved and was a testament to all the emperors of old and all the powers of the world - including religious ones. It was built in the mid 1800s and was way ahead of it's time for many things including running water in every room, custom made electrical lighting that pre-dates the light bulb, and many other advancements for the time.

It was just an overall cool place to visit.

Of course, while I was there it happened to be raining and misting the whole time, but I was in good spirits and made the most of it. I also walked out and around in the nearby villages to breathe it all in and to kill a bit of time for my return bus back to Munich.

Managed, with considerable effort, to get some decent shots :).

Bratwurst was the best and much needed after climbing up yet another giant hill to get to the big shinny thing at the top.

I'm enjoying myself - hope you enjoy the video!

Eric.