Sleeping Beauty

Apart from soccer, I have been able to go out and see Germany from a tourists perspective as well. This past Tuesday, my aunt and I traveled to lower Bavaria once again and visited the Nueschwanstein Castle of King Ludwig II. This castle, which was basically created in homage to the great German composer Richard Wagner, who King Ludwig widely admired is an incredible sight. And yes, If it looks familiar, it should. It is the inspiration for the Sleeping Beauty Castle that is erected at California's Disneyland. The trip, due to construction took about 2-2.5 hours to get down there. Regardless, it was a great stop and something that I am glad to have seen. The tour takes about 30 minutes and you get to see the 16 finished rooms of the castle. The place is huge, but actually seems relatively small on the inside. The architecture and things inside are amazing and created in incredible details. Of the 16 finished rooms, you see the kitchens, the kings bedroom, his man-made cave...which I wish I had one of, the singers hall and more.








It's crazy to think that this guy just kept spending money to essentially create a dream world. The castles owner and creator is not without mystery as well. After spending the families entire fortune and creating a huge debt for the family, he was "declared" mentally insane to remove him from the thrown and was found "drowned" two days later farther North. The family didn't waste too much time "grieving" as they opened the castle to public display just 6 weeks later. The area is a huge tourist area and people from all ends of the world are everywhere to be seen.
Anyways, here are some more facts about the castle:

1. Neuschwanstein means "New Swan Stone". The name of the castle derives from one of Wagner's opera's character, the Swan Knight.
2. The Neuschwanstein castle was built for only one person – the King Ludwig II. Neuschwanstein is so immense though, that in some days it is visited by up to 6000 tourists.
3. Ludiwg slept only 11 nights in the castle
4. Ludiwg was Richard Wagner's patron, and many rooms of the castle were inspired by Wagner's operas. Despite of this, Wagner never visited the castle, as he died before its completion.
5. The castle is one of the most photographed buildings in the world, even if photography is not permitted inside of the castle.
6. There is no throne in the castle, as the Throne Hall was not completed before Ludwig's death.
7. The Sleeping Beauty Castle’s design in Disneyland was inspired by Neuschwanstein Castle.
8. Fourteen carpenters worked for more than four years to make the woodwork in the bedroom.
9. Despite its medieval look, it was built in the 19th century, and it served no defensive purposes.
10. The original name of the castle was New Hohenschwangau Castle. It was renamed as Neuschwanstein castle just after Ludwig II's death
11. The designer of the castle was Christian Jank. He was not even an architect but a theatrical designer.
12. In 2012, the Neuschwanstein Castle will appear on a €2 commemorative coin.

On our way home, we past through the town of Landsberg, which as mentioned in a previous post is home to the prison where Hitler wrote his book, Mein Kampf...here's a pic.