Christine Visits Castles

Germany is full of wonderful, old Schloss (castles).  I love them all.  And want one.  Except it would be ridiculously expensive to heat.  And Europe is kinda cold.  And I love being warm.  More than living in a castle.  So I only visit them.

Last weekend I visited a castle less than an hour outside of Stuttgart.  Burg Hohenzollern is private property.  It sits atop a hill, and you can see it well before you arrive.  But like most winter days in Germany, there was no sun.  Or great visibility.  So no spectacular pictures this go round.

 

You walk up thousands of steps to visit.

Or you can take a shuttle (but not if you are me-you walk).
And then you see:

I also drove 2+ hours south, in snow, to visit Neuschwanstein Castle.  This castle is different in that an artist designed it, not an architect.  Which is why it looks like a fairy tale.  Mad King Ludwig built the castle.  He died in Lake Starnberg, with his doctor.  Many think it is because he kept spending the kingdom's money on beautiful castles.  But where would Germany be without them?

As you can guess, it is being renovated, and has scaffling up spring-fall.  So I thought, I should visit now.  This is my 2nd visit in snow.  Years ago, I visited and toured the inside.   To be honest, kind of a let down.  This go round, I took pictures with my new camera.  I will visit again in the fall, with all the beautiful leaves.  Assuming it stops snowing one day.

My camera is so amazing you can see snowflakes.

Just inside the brown doors (you see above lower left corner).

Across the valley sits Hohenschwangau.  Which King Ludwig built as well.  This is at a slightly lower elevation, in that you do not have to walk 30 minutes straight up hill to visit it, like Neuschwanstein.  (There are horse carriages that take visitors to Neuschwanstein, but that seems cruel to the poor horses.)

I still have to visit the nearby Ludwigsburg Palace (waiting for spring because of the garden there) and maybe I'll visit Schloss Solitude, which is practically on my way to work (though you cannot see it from the road or anything), to take pictures as well.  I just wait for a nice, sunny day.

Christine