München, Deutschland: Day 3

On Sunday, 9/26, it was our last day in Munich. We had made plans with our new friends, Jon and Elissa, to go to the Sleeping Beauty castle in Schwangau, Germany, a 2 hour car ride from Munich. We had to catch a train at 5 pm, so we began the journey around 9 am. Driving there we took the autobahn! The advised speed is 130 kmh or 80 mph, but there is no actual speed limit. On the way we stopped at a McDonld's for breakfast, and if you ever wondered about the interesting items served at a Germany McDonald's, check out the picture below.

 Sausages on a bun... yum

Formally called the Neuschwanstein Castle, it is the inspiration for the castle at the Disneyland Park and also for the castle in the Disney logo. Built in the 19th-century, it is a Romanesque Revival palace on a hill above the village of Hohenschwangau. Across the road is the Hohenschwangau Castle. We unfortunately didn't have enough time to take a tour of both castles, because of the staggering schedule set up and limited English subtitle tours, but we took plenty of pictures of the Hohenschwangau Castle before beginning the tour of the Neuschwanstein Castle. I couldn't take any pictures of the inside, because of copyright laws. You'll have to take my word for it that the interior was very pretty.

Hohenschwangau Castle

The lake

Neuschwanstein Castle

View from the Neuschwanstein Castle

Exterior of the Neuschwanstein Castle

In case you don't recognize the similarity with the Disney logo... this is a picture of the Neuschwanstein Castle on a postcard

Neuschwanstein Castle from a distance

Afterward, they dropped us off at the Munich train station, and Laura and I waited for our train to arrive. We were able to get seats next to each other this time, and the 6 hour train ride back began. We had some interesting conversations with the Boston-ians and Bolivians in our compartment, and the ride went by. And 
by 11 pm we were back in home sweet Praha!

Interior of our cabin in the train

Goodbye München...