During our weekend in Münich, I accomplished one of my lifetime goals: visiting Neuschwanstein Castle. When I was about six or seven years old my dad was sent by the Army National Guard to Nuremburg for about two weeks. While he was there he visited the castle and brought back postcards. It was so pretty that I vowed to someday go there.
Neuschwanstein Castle Photography by April Magneson |
It’s located on a mountain in the mystical Alps, a bit of a hike upwards. Luckily
for visitors there are three ways to reach the castle: by foot, by bus, or by
horse carriage. The cheapest way is by foot, and so we hiked what they
estimated to be a thirty to forty minute hike in about twenty minutes. Take
that, mountain!
One side of the exterior part of the
castle was under restoration, but it was still beautiful—as pesky as it is to
see buildings under renovation, it makes it possible to see them still
beautiful twenty, fifty, even one hundred years down the road. More than half
of the group continued to climb higher to the Marienbrücke, where there are
dreamy views of Neuschwanstein. A lot of people love to have their pictures
taken with the castle in this area, and we were no different, having individual
and group photos. Being on the bridge is a somewhat nerve-wracking
feeling: the bridge connects two sides
of a ravine a few hundred feet off the ground, and if there are many people on
the bridge, you can feel the bridge swaying a bit from the weight, like a
suspension bridge. We quickly descended back to the castle so we could make our
tour slots on time.
Mary, April, Zach, Will, Josh, Maren, and Brianna |
The tours run for about an hour, and
aren’t necessarily cheap, but it is worth seeing the lovely rooms and designs.
No photos or recording are allowed inside, so unfortunately the only images we
have are from postcards or books. Ludwig II took ideas from mythology and the
composer Wagner’s operas for designing the rooms, such as a bedroom with scene
depictions from Tristan and Isolde, a
tragedy of ill-fated lovers. The Singers’ Hall was based on the singers’ hall
at the Wartburg Castle, where the legendary Tannhäuser singing tournament took
place in medieval times. It all is very beautiful, but I do pity Ludwig and his
plight: he was a dreamer stuck in a position with a strong sense of realism and
practicality, and his heart couldn’t bear that. He mysteriously died when he
was only forty years old, but it would have been amazing to see what else he
could have accomplished.