Budget what budget? (23rd September)

Before we left New Zealand we'd booked and paid for today's highlight so it was going to be a cheap day - or so we thought. We head to Neuschwanstein castle, which is the castle built by King Ludwig II and is famous because it is the real castle that the Disneyland castle was modelled off. We're heading to the castle with Mike's Bike Tours. It's a good system, Tex meets us in Munich and runs through the details, pops us on the bus to where we listen to a DVD where Brad our guide give a talk about the history of the castle. Brad lives near the castle and so meets us in the car park with our entry tickets. First up is lunch and the chance to do the alpine slide (luge) or go paragliding over the castle. Shona wants to go paragliding but there are a few issues. First up there are only 5 spots, 3 girls jumped off the bus and Brad sorted them out while everyone else was in the toilet and now there are 8 other people who want to go too. The numbers dwindle and eventually we can get another 2 spots so all in all 7 people are able to go. More hesitation as the guide then tells us that we may miss the bus to the castle, therefore missing the walk up the waterfall. There is only one camera, so who takes the photos? Then there is the cost. It's 135euros and our daily budget is 95euros not forgetting that we have already paid for the tour and still have to pay for lunch, souvenirs, entry into the castle (which was not in the tour) and dinner tonight. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity and sometimes you have to say "it's only money!" It does mean that Mike rides the luge on his own (annoyingly there was PLENTY of time for Shona to go too, but she missed out). Paragliding is really easy - the instructor says ready you say ready, then walk two slow steps then run your heart out and into the air, helping to pull the instructor with you. The chute is laid out on the ground and lifted before you take off, so there is no free falling or plummeting to your death feeling involved. It's just one big ride where you sit there and let the instructor do the work, while you enjoy the scenery, take photos and become constantly amazed at how cool this feeling is. I am so totally doing it again and this time Mike is too. I'm thinking a trip to Queenstown might be on the cards... We digress. While Shona was beaming from ear to ear high in the sky Mike was watching Brad our guide do magic. Brad has been studying at the Munich school of magic for 7 years and is a member of the Magicians' Institute. Mike was fascinated by the card tricks and at one point thought he'd caught him out. Brad cut the deck, put the cards on top of each other like a plus and then picked the top card of the bottom stack. Mike said "that's cheating that was the top card". Brad responds, "you're right. How about you think of a card". "Uh jack of ... hearts". "is this your card" and he had just pulled the jack of hearts from the middle of the deck. There were other amazing tricks that Mike can talk about in more detail when we are home. All of this has happened and we still haven't been to the castle - but we can see it perched on the hill. To get to the castle we hike up a track beside a beautiful waterfall. It's hot work as we have a fairly fast pace because our tour time is at 3:35pm and we can not be late. King Ludwig II grew up in a castle pretty much next door to Neuschwanstein. He had a very sad upbringing as he and his brother Otto were not allowed to socialise with other children and also weren't fed very well. Leisel their nanny, had to sneak food into their room at midnight just to make sure they had enough. Not only were the King and Queen dreadful parents they also gave Ludwig no training as to how to be a King. His father passed away when he was 18 years old and he had no concept of money, politics, or how the world actually worked. Plus the country was left on his shoulders because of the strange upbringing his younger brother went mad and was eventually committed to a mental institution. The Bavarians called him Mad King Ludwig because he was estranged. He hated Munich the capital city and preferred to live secluded and away from it all. Despite being Catholic he was gay and loved to dress up in a pink tutu. His boyfriend was allegedly playwright Richard Wagner and he dedicated Neuschwanstein to his works. The funny thing is that the state tour guides are not allowed to say he was gay, they are only allowed to hint at it! He tried to get married and was engaged to his first cousin, but after pulling out three times his Uncle had the engagement annulled. Neuschwanstein means new swan stone and was never finished. King Ludwig II died in mysterious circumstances and because he owed so much money to the state six weeks after his death his three castles were opened by the government for tours. He was declared insane and therefore not fit to be King. Upon arrest for insanity King Ludwig II said, "how can you declare me insane when you've never met me" to the doctor who had signed the insanity document. King Ludwig II was moved to a hospital next to a lake and the next day the doctor talk a walk with the king around the lake, without any guards to protect them. The official story is that King Ludwig drowned the doctor in the lake and then drowned himself. However the conspiracy says that they were shot. This is because the cabinet heard that King Ludwig was going to get rid of all of them and so they wanted to get rid of him first. The only way to do so was to declare him insane. We'll never know the true story! The castle is beautiful and not like any other castle that we've been in. Traditionally castles have wooden panels and dark paintings on the walls and ceilings. Not this one, the colours are bright - blues, greens and red with plenty of white for light. It is extravagant however - his bed is carved in wood which took seven carpenters four years to complete. There is also a room like a grotto but without glowworms which is rather bizarre. The biggest room is the stage room, designed for performances of one of Richard Wagners plays. There are only 16 rooms finished of the 60 or so planned. Unfortunately we are not allowed to take photos inside so you'll have to take our word for this or book your own holiday :-) After the 25 minute tour we race up to the bridge to check out the south view (the Disneyland view) of the castle. Over a two year period they are cleaning the castle and as such it is covered in scaffolding. We still get the picture of what it looks like though. It's an amazing day we've spent well over 200 euro and dinner is yet to come. We get a movie on the way home and strangely the average age of 38 vote to watch Eurotrip. We can tell by the name it's a cheesy American movie about college kids travelling through Europe. Sure enough that is what it is and we don't think many of them were that impressed. It's actually fun for us to watch as they travel through London, Paris, Amsterdam, & Berlin. Of course there is the unreal ending but hey it killed the time. There are two drop off points Oktoberfest and back at the meeting point. We choose the meeting point because it is next door to the Hoffbrahaus otherwise known as the largest pub in the world. All the big German beers have a tent at Oktoberfest and Hoffbrahaus is the one where all the Kiwis and Aussies go. But they all have a proper pub with beergarden, ompa band and traditional fare. The budget's already blown so why not have an all out dinner! We find ourselves at a table next to a group of four English people from Plymouth. Two couples about 50. One guy is trashed and repeats the same thing over and over, but they are really nice and fun to talk with. For example he kept telling us that this was Hitler's local and upstairs is where he gave his speeches to Nazi party members. What did we eat? Mike had the pork knuckle with potatoes which were spongy and weird - but good washed down with a stein. Shona had the white veal sausage with sweet mustard and a pretzel, washed down with a radler (stein, half beer, half lemonade like a shandy). Totally traditional fair. To top it off we had apfelstrudel (apple strudel) because Shona couldn't resist and it was GOOD! The perfect end to a magical day!