I’m on an August Break from my regular blogging schedule. Here’s today’s pictures.

I finally made it out to Schloss Neuschwanstein this weekend, as a Saturday day-trip with Jenny and her boyfriend Robert.  King Ludwig II’s famous castle was the inspiration for Disney’s Cinderella’s Castle.  Roughly one and a half million people come to the castle every year, and I think about a third of them were present while we were visiting.

I encourage you to click through to the full sized pictures, because I purposely saved them to be huge and awesome.  I may use one of them as my desktop for a while.  The castle is nestled in the Alps, and it makes the views amazing.

When approaching the castle from the roadway into Schwangau, this is your first view of it:

Inside Schwangau, there are sections of roadway that are closed to cars- but open to bicycles and horse drawn carriages.  I love that they have signs for this.

Where a heavy tourism market springs up, so must there be signs.  Lots and lots of signs.   This one tells you that there’s a bathroom 150 meters to the right, and points out ways to reach both castles, the Museum of Bavarian Kings, and the Alpsee (Alp lake).

This is the view taken from the castle ramparts.  This scene includes the town of Schwangau, the other castle (Hohenschwangau,) and the Alpsee.  Plus a small portion of the Alps themselves.

Most everyone who goes to Neuschwanstein walks around back to the Marienbrücke, a small pedestrian bridge that looks over the backside.  On a crowded day, the bridge looks like this:

Fighting those crowds is worth it though, because then you can get these next three shots:

Have you ever been to Schloss Neuschwanstein?  What’s your favorite castle?