I am starting to realize I talk a lot of Germany, which is odd because I never lived there like some of the other places I have been. I think its because it holds a special place in my heart as the first country I visited, the first country I flew to alone, and the place where so many of my favorite people are.
This particular story comes from my third trip to Germany. I was visiting my friend Zoe who I had been trying to find a time to visit since her exchange year in the US when we were in 11th grade. She knew I had been to Germany a couple times before so while she planned a couple days of my visit, she also wanted me to pick out some places I wanted to visit. One of the places I had wanted to go to in Germany forever was Neuschwanstein Castle. It is known as Sleeping Beauty’s castle, which was in fact my favorite princess as a kid. It was like a fairytale for me. This castle tucked away in the mountains of southern Germany. For me visiting it would be like fulfilling the dreams of my little self, who could never have imagined visiting a place liek this was even possible.
The castle was in Bavaria which was a region I never had been to. My first trip to Germany was strictly Berlin and Eastern Germany and my second trip to Frankfurt was just a bit too far. I was going to be near Stuttgart though which was 2 hours south from Frankfurt. When talking to Zoe about what we would do I asked if this was possible. I still had no perception of how close things were in Germany. It ended up being about 2 to 2 1/2 hours, which as an American is not bad at all. Luckily these Germans they thought so too!
So we did the day trip! I was so excited! I am glad I learned to manage my expectations when traveling though, because this visit was not anything I ever expected. I am going to start this by saying I was visiting in April and as a Minnesotan snow in April is nothing. I am used to it. It is just what happens in Minnesota in April. But I did not plan for snow in Germany in April. The last time I had been to Germany in April everything was green and it was 70 degrees. That is the thing about weather though. You can never really expect each year to be the same.
The day started with finding me proper winter clothing. I wore a lot of Zoe’s mom’s stuff. They found my a pair of boots, since I only had sneakers. I also needed a winter jacket because the heaviest jacket I brought was a rain coat. I had a scarf so that was something!
Then Zoe, her sister, and I were on the road. It was late morning by the time we got going. We put on Taylor Swift in preparation for the Era Tour. This is when the two of them really convinced me to come back in the summer for the show. I was easily swayed. As we were driving out of the Stuttgart area into the mountains, the clear green hills became haze and snowy mountains (actually they were still probably hills). It was a confusing moment for me because I had never seen snow in another country before. As a Minnesotan I tend to leave behind the 7 months of snow for somewhere well without snow. It was hard for my brain to comprehend, like was I really in Germany or was I back home?
Eventually we made it to Schwangau the small town that is home to Neuschwanstein and Hohenschangau Castle. It was cute town and would probably be a nice place to explore in the summer time. We drove through the town and up the mounting a bit until we found the parking lot to the castle. Parking is a bit of a ways from the actual castle, which we didn’t mind at all, but definitely something to keep in mind when visiting. They have carriages that go up and down for those that may be a bit intimidated by the walk up the mountain.
We began the walk up. Near the beginning there are a few gift shops. We stopped inside just for the fun of it. I was definitely in stereotypical Germany country now from the lederhosen and hats for sale at the shop. I hadn’t bought anything yet because I didn’t want to carry anything around and risk getting it ruined in the snow. Then we continued our walk trading the paved path to the castle entrance for a trail through the woods for a view of the castle. You know that view, the one of the side of the castle with the landscape in the background and trees and hills everywhere? That is what I wanted to see! We walked up the trail to see this for about 20 or 30 minutes. It was taking us a bit longer with the snow. It definitely felt like Minnesota in that moment. Why was I hiking in the snow in Germany when I could just do that in Minnesota? It had pretty views though. It felt German, with the tall trees and open forest ground. It felt like the woods in the movie Hoodwinked if that makes any sense.
We got to where we needed to take another trail that would ultimately lead us to the look out. We were literally almost there! That is when we noticed the gate and the sign that said it was closed. I was so sad. Not only did I do all that hiking for nothing, but the view I had been waiting my entire life for was not going to happen. I handled it with ease though, accepting it for what it was. There is nothing I could do. That’s just my luck when traveling, so we hiked back down and tried to find another view point. Most of the hiking ones on the hill were closed so we ended up just going to the one in front of the castle for our group picture. Its not the one I hoped for as you could hardly see the castle with the snow and the haze anyway, but at least now I have a great story.
After a bit we headed inside to warm up. We still had a bit of time to wait before our tour started, but we were cold and wet. We just took some time to relax before seeing the inside of the castle. The place was actually surprisingly busy for a snowy day I the middle of April!
Eventually it was time for our tour. They have some in German, but Zoe and her sister were nice enough to let us do an English one so I could understand. It was a different kind of tour though. There was a guide that took us from room to room, but we also had an audio guide that we each held up to our ears to listen to that gave us the information, which I didn’t mind but it didn’t leave much room to ask questions for a more personalized tour. I felt a bit underwhelmed by the tour though. It was short and felt rushed. In total it was about 30 minutes, which wasn’t bad, but I am used to spending at least an hour in most places. They only take you to a few rooms as well, which is disappointing because the only way to see the inside is through a tour, so after those 30 minutes it really was done. You can’t take any photos inside either which isn’t unusual for castles in Europe.
Neuschwanstein Castle isn’t as big as you think it would be which is maybe part of the reason it felt short. It was built in the 1800s as a retreat for King Ludwig II of Bavaria. The king died before it was finished so many of the rooms had never been completed since it became the tourist attraction it is today very shortly after. For this reason the only furnished rooms are the ones the king would have used right when he moved in on the 3rd and 4th floors. These are the ones we got to tour from his bedroom to the throne room. The tour ends on the 2nd floor in the gift shop where I did buy a couple things. The old kitchen is on this floor as well as the modern cafeteria, but we didn’t stop there for food. We opted for German food at a more traditional restaurant.
We took the entire paved way back this time. A little ways down we came across Neuschwanstein Castle Restaurant and decided to stop here for dinner. It was only a little after 5pm which might have been a little early for dinner in Germany but we hadn’t eaten lunch so it was time. I order Käsespätzle because I love it and I hadn’t had it on this trip yet. It actually was exactly what I needed in that moment. Some nice warm and cheesy noodles. The restaurant wasn’t very busy and it had lots of windows, so we were able to get one of the window seats to look out over the German countryside. The snow had let up a little bit, but it still felt like winter.
After some rest and some good food we finished our walk back down to the parking lot taking in all the different views. It was really a gorgeous area and I was starting to appreciate the snow now that I had warmed up a bit. It was still only about 34 degrees when we left which means it maybe only hit 40 that day. To be honest that is a perfect winter day in Minnesota.
Our drive back was a quiet one. Not quite as exciting as the way there now that the anticipation wore off and the sky was getting dark. We didn’t get back until pretty late as we didn’t get to the car until 6:30pm. We told Zoe’s family about the day and then got ready for bed. We all slept well after a long cold day of hiking. We definitely were going to take it easy the next day.
While it was never the trip to Neuschwanstein that I thought it was going to be, it was almost better. It is something about those moments that don’t go expected that make them that much more special because they are unique and not like other experiences. I didn’t get to see and do all the things at Neuschwanstein that I wanted to do and that feeling of “people won’t actually know I was here based of the pictures” dominated my thoughts a few times. But now I can tell people that story about how it actually snowed in Germany when I was there! Its a unique story. It is something that is purely me and I will cherish that for a long time. Maybe someday I will go back and get those pictures that make everyone on Instagram jealous, but for now I appreciate my time with my friend and the adventure we had at one of the world’s most famous castles.
Hope you enjoyed reading about Neuschwanstein and it has inspired you to pursue your German fairytale. Check out more of my adventures in Germany by clicking on the Germany tag. Also look out for more of my day trips in Southern Germany as I continue updating my blog.
The Journal of Wanderlust 