Munich for Christmas (and Salzburg stop)

Munich was a new destination for me, and I was excited to be somewhere totally new. I was especially excited about our day trip the next day to Neuschwanstein Castle. It was somewhere I had been dreaming about visiting since seeing realising that the castle from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was a real place.

We arrived late, and in the rain so we did not venture out that evening, and in the morning headed straight for the train to take us towards the castle. We were anticipating a bus journey and were conscious of time - knowing we might have a tight turnaround. However, when we arrived at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, all inquiries into transport to the castle were met by befuddled looks and confusion. There was a daily bus, but it has left some hours ago. We were in the wrong place and had caught a two-hour train to get there. We had a cup of tea and caught an early ride back to Munich. Despite the inconvenience, the trip into the Alps was beautiful and we enjoyed it. 

We got back to Munich with enough time to explore the Christmas markets and have dinner, so the day was not lost completely.

That night, I did some research and booked us on the right train. We were too late to reserve tickets to the castle and were a little nervous about doing it on our own, but we were keen to try again.

Feeling optimisitic.

Success - the first sight of the Castle in the bottom left.

We caught a carriage up the hill.

Neuschwanstein Castle was built by the Bavarian King Ludwig II in homage to the medieval castles of Germany. He was also inspired heavily by Richard Wagner (murals inside show scenes from Wagner's operas such as "Tannhäuser" and "Lohengrin") and religious and local legends. The incredible Throne Hall worships the Byzantine style, which visitors are not allowed to photograph. The mish-mash of ideas and styles, all executed to a larger and more impressive standard that those that inspired them makes for a totally unique and wondrous place.

That night we treated ourselves to so Augustiner beers and traditional beer hall food. We sat with some US guys studying their PhD's at CERN.

We went to the Tollwood Winter Festival after dinner. It didn't quite meet our expectations - it was very commercialised, but there were some cool sights.

Christmas Eve was a very quiet day - everything was pretty much closed. We had an excellent dinner overlooking the New Town Hall and it's magnificent Glockenspiel Clock, before joining a walking tour for the afternoon.

Early the next morning, we caught our train to Salzburg, where we followed our own walking tour of the city.

The Mirabell Palace Gardens - the arches on the far right were the setting for a 'Sound of Music' scene.

We caught a funicular up to the Hohensalzburg Fortress. Towering over the city, the castle and grounds is the largest 'fully preserved' castle in Central Europe, and was founded in 1077. Its fortification is such that it has never fallen to an armed invasion, though Napoleon Bonaparte got it just by asking.