The Chit Chat Chit Chat Thread

21stamps

21stamps

Well-Known Member
I just typed an entire post but it disappeared immediately. So weird!!

@Songbird76 Just wanted to quickly say that I’m not ignoring your posts. I post a lot, but I open then close the site fairly quickly.. I’m on the 3rd installment of your TR.. and this thread moves way too quickly 😂.. I actually need to sit and have a few minutes to pay attention, I am looking forward to reading all of it, don’t want to spoil the adventure by jumping ahead!
 
MySmallWorldof4

MySmallWorldof4

Well-Known Member
Songbird76 said:
We really hadn't made a whole lot of plans....just kind of an outline. We knew we wanted to go to Legoland, but that was a couple of hours from Frankfurt. After having arrived an hour late to Phantasialand opening, we didn't want to make the same mistake for Legoland. And Munich is in the South, but the van wasn't there for a couple more days. I knew DD wanted to see Neuschwanstein, and it's only an hour from Munich, so we decided to go to Füssen and go see the castles. DH booked a hotel. It was pretty expensive, but it was the cheapest one in the area. And it was close to the castles.
I want to say it was supposed to be a 4 hour drive? We slept in a bit because we didn't have any set time to be somewhere. We figured we'd get there early afternoon and maybe get to see one of the castles before going for dinner. We got onto the highway and we were immediately delayed 30 mins due to construction...oh well...no biggie. 30 minutes isn't that big of a deal. There were a couple more slow patches, and we decided to stop and get some lunch and go to the bathroom since there was a McDonalds right off the highway and DS had just informed us he needed to GO. We got back on the road. Then we hit a complete standstill. Our GPS was trying to reroute us off the next exit, 4 km away. It took us an HOUR to make that exit. As we approached, we saw the problem. The entire highway was closed. EVERYONE had to take that same exit and take a detour...3 lanes worth of traffic all had to exit into one lane, and turn LEFT with no stoplight. We ended up being delayed by more than 2 hours.
I took a few pictures as we headed South:

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By the time we got to our hotel, the reception desk was closed, but they had left the key for us in the mailbox. We got out to unload the car and stretch our legs. It was way too late for the castles that day, but we had the whole day tomorrow.

The hotel sits on a hill, and down the hill is a lake, and across the lake are the mountains. So these are taken from the hotel.
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You can see both castles from our hotel.
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The hotel, taken from the beach.
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Our room:

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I took this from the window in our ROOM. We had a view of the castles from our ROOM!
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Well this hotel is far cry from your first one. Great room and the view is just priceless!!!
 
MySmallWorldof4

MySmallWorldof4

Well-Known Member
Songbird76 said:
There was another double bed in the room, too, but I figured one picture would suffice.

Bathroom 1:
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There was a 2nd toilet in the room, but it wasn't a full bathroom, so I didn't actually take a picture of that one as this was the main one. Everything seemed brand new..I don't know how old it is, but it was immaculate, and the whole area was so serene. I just wanted to grab my book and go lie on that hill and read...it was so peaceful and beautiful. Even the view out of our room....wow. We wanted to stay longer, but the room was already booked up for the next few days, so we only had the one night to enjoy it. But we decided we'll go back in a couple of years and book a whole week there. I didn't realize there are actually a couple more castles built by the same King, and a lot of history, so we'll go back and see the rest and have time to enjoy that gorgeous view. AND eat at this fabulous restaurant!!
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A little back story:
DH and I came to Füssen back in 2009 for our anniversary. I had always dreamed of seeing Neuschwanstein castle, having seen pictures of it. So DH brought me for a long weekend. We stayed at a vacation house, which was also really nice, but we couldn't remember the name of it...in any case, it wasn't nearly as nice as the one this time, so it's ok. Back then, we asked the guy who did our checkin if he had any recommendations for restaurants....something nice, but not too fancy and expensive. He suggested Il Pescatore in Füssen (there are a few little towns around there) if we liked Italian food, which we do. So we went there....and fell in love with it. So good! We came back every night to eat there that weekend.
Back to 2018, we thought we'd see if it was still there, and still as good. It is!!! We were lucky with our timing....we got the last table and they were turning people away. There was a nice English family sitting next to us who were struggling to get a picture, so I offered to take one of them, and they returned the favor. As they left, they asked if we had seen the castles, we said not yet, but we would the next day. He said we'd really enjoy it and boy was that king an absolute nutter!
The menu:
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DD and I decided to share 2 dishes. We do this often so it's easier to choose. So we chose the Tagliatella al Contadino and the Calzone. Now, in 2009, you got to choose the kind of pasta you wanted, or you could choose gnochi...there was no more gnochi on the menu and you didn't get a choice, but that's ok...it was still fantastic. The Pasta al Contadino was what I had loved the last time.
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Love the restaurant story and the food pictures made me go get a snack! Definitely not as delicious as what you ate, but it will tide me over until dinner.:p Kiddos are looking as adorable as ever!:)
 
Cesar R M

Cesar R M

Well-Known Member
Songbird76 said:
I don't even remember if we had wifi here because we didn't bother with it...it was beautiful weather, gorgeous surroundings...who wants to be glued to an electronic device?
Public Service Announcement: If you ever want to visit this area, BUY YOUR TICKETS IN ADVANCE!!!
You guys know I'm a planner. I don't usually do the fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants thing. When we decided to visit the castles, I was in luck in that we had internet in Frankfurt, so I spent the evening looking things up while DH was out playing Ingress. The website for the castles said you could only buy tickets at the ticket center in the village of Hohenschwangau, and only on the day of your visit. BUT, if you scroll down, there IS a way to buy tickets 2 days in advance. There's a form to fill out, but then you can show up at the will call window and don't have to stand in line the day of. I had looked up the opening time for the ticket office..7:30am. So we planned to be waiting outside at 7 before they opened to be the first in line for tickets. We would get the ticket that was good for a tour of both Neuschwanstein AND Hohenschwangau castles. The kids were free. I woke up early and the kids were still sleeping. We tried to wake them up, but it wasn't happening, so DH decided to go by himself so they didn't have to get up. DH was in line BEFORE they opened. It took him an HOUR to get through the line that was already there, and it was backed up way out the door behind him. So much for being first!! But he got us tickets.

I got the kids up and ready and DH came and picked us up for breakfast.
If you get the tickets for both castles, it's cheaper per castle, and you start with Hohenschwangau. You have to pay for parking, but you only pay once for the whole day...you can come and go as you please and not have to pay again.
A panorama of the whole area.
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So you park right there at the base of Hohenschwangau...but you have to hike up the hill and it's steep. It only takes about 10 minutes, but it's good exercise!
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Climbing up the hill, if you look to the left, this is the view.
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A fountain at the top.
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Another fountain...there was a girl who actually drank from this....I don't think it's meant for that purpose. Hopefully she didn't get sick.
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Ok, I think this is so neat...it's an outdoor bath. If I remember correctly, it's fed by a natural hot spring, but this wasn't mentioned on our tour, so I don't know for sure. View attachment 301374View attachment 301375
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The view of Neuschwanstein from Hohenschwangau:
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Damn, that looks like right from a fantasy movie!
 
Songbird76

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
Cesar R M said:
OMGGGG THATS GORGEOUS!!!!

I WANT TO GO.. GIVE ME THE INFO ASAP!!! D:
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I know, right? Tell me what info you need, and I will gladly share. I could have cried....after all that time stuck in traffic (and I was SO glad we had JUST eaten and gone to the bathroom BEFORE the traffic jam or we'd have been in real trouble), getting out and seeing THAT view, and just breathing in the fresh air...and it was so quiet, but not an eerie quiet....just a completely peaceful calm. It was just what we needed and we even put off going to dinner for a few minutes in order to enjoy the surroundings a bit longer.
 
Songbird76

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
MySmallWorldof4 said:
Well this hotel is far cry from your first one. Great room and the view is just priceless!!!
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I think that the first one certainly made us appreciate this one all the more. The one downside to this one was there was still no air conditioning. Most places over here just don't have it. The exceptions are the big chains like Holiday Inn. But the windows worked in this one so we left the window open for the night and it was fine. There was no traffic to keep us awake or to look in through the window, and our bed actually faced the window, so I could see the castles from bed...how amazing is THAT? There's just no comparison to the first one.
 
Figgy1

Figgy1

Premium Member
Gabe1 said:
This shower curtain would make me smile everyday.
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THNX now the boys want to redecorate their bathroom:rolleyes:
 
Songbird76

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
Hey, it's only 85 degrees downstairs in my house...so probably only 87 or 88 up here. At almost midnight. :rolleyes:

Shall we continue? I'm certainly not going to get to sleep any time soon.

So, we went to lunch and then headed back to the castles for our afternoon tour of Neuschwanstein. They warn you that tours begin promptly and they MEAN it. Tours leave every 5 minutes and you choose the kind you want (language, audio or regular, etc...) and the one that leaves after yours will not be the same and you can not just join another group because your ticket won't let you through the turnstyle. So you need to be there a few minutes before your tour.

Neuschwanstein sits atop a huge hill/mountain. The climb, which is not allowed for motorized vehicles, is about 40 minutes. It's not as steep as the climb for Hohenschwangau (Thank goodness, because 40 minutes of THAT climb would have killed me), but it is still pretty steep. If I didn't walk for my job and exercise, I would have had trouble with it. You can take a carriage ride up, which takes about the same amount of time and costs 12 Euro per person, but the line to wait for the carriage is about 2 hours wait time, plus the 40 minute ride up, so you're better off walking if you are able. If not, I'd say get one of the later tours and get in line for the carriage right after lunch so you are sure to make it by your tour time, or go up first thing in the morning and just commit to staying there for the day. There are souvenir shops and stands that sell pretzels and such, so you won't starve. There's also a glass deck viewing area, a trail that leads to a bridge, and there are some signs with original sketches of the plans for Neuschwanstein, which was never actually finished. You can read about its history outside...there's plenty to see.

This was on the trail leading up...I am not sure if it's a growth on the tree, or some sort of wasps nest or something? It looked weird.
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A little waterfall on the trail.
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There's a hotel and restaurant just before you reach the top...I wonder how much THOSE rooms cost. I probably don't want to know.:
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DD took this one from the viewing deck...I could not get out there with my fear of heights. I couldn't even watch her as she went out there. And it's not like it's too far out there, but just...you are suspended out there over a cliff. There were some rude people who were taking up the one spot where you could get a good picture of the castle, and they were just kind of camped there. DD waited patiently for them to finish, they finally put down the camera and start to step away, and as she starts to step closer, they decide they're not done and push her back. So this is looking straight down.
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Not the best picture, but there are these signs outside by the viewing deck where you can read about the original plans.
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There were a lot of these signs and pictures, showing different aspects of the castle. I didn't get very good pictures because there are benches in front of every one of them and people were sitting there....it's not designed very well.

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SteveBrickNJ

SteveBrickNJ

Well-Known Member
figmentfan423 said:
Sorry but we've never been. When going down 95 we either do DC/Baltimore area or we keep going to Florida with reservations waiting for us. By the time we go home we're ready to go home or at least our wallets are;)
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Of course no one would do both on the same trip. You would have to make a decision to try Busch Gardens one year and do that instead of Disney. :eek::eek::eek:Does such a family exist on this forum???:D:D:D
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Please see my future post down the page a bit.....I backed off of this post licketee split.:cool:
 
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