Europe 2010 - Fussen and Austrian Alps

First off, sorry for not posting in a while. I had intended to do these more regularly, but having a sick, pregnant wife (morning sickness + a cold the last few days) has been taxing on the whole family.

So, to catch up a bit today you'll get a double dose that starts with us visiting a couple more castles in Germany and then our train ride across the Alps and arriving in Venice.

Also, it might help to be encouraged by recieving a comment or two. It'd be great just to drop a super quick note that tells us you read it. I made it possible to do anonymous comments as well, so you don't even have to register anymore. (if you do leave anonymous, please sign it though) :-D

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8-31-2010
Fussen / Hohenschwangau

Once again our day started out with an early morning train leaving Heidelberg at 8am. After many transfers we were greeted in Fussen by a nasty rain storm. We were hoping we had left the rain behind in Hamburg.


The view of Neuschwanstein from across the street from our hotel
We caught a bus from Fussen to Hohenschwangau which is a tiny village (mostly tourist shops and hotels) at the base of the two castles. We then dropped our stuff off at our hotel and proceeded up the hill to get our castle tickets. We decided to check out both castles since we had the entire afternoon to kill and they were much closer together than we expected.


Schloss Hohenschwangau
The first castle was Schloss Hohenschwangau ("Schloss" means castle) which was the childhood resort home of King Ludwig II who would later build the other castle, Neuschwanstein. Both castles are relatively young (only dating back a couple hundred years, long after castles like this were a practical matter). They were built during a time when the medieval period was romanticized and you can see that in a lot of the decorations and paintings on the walls.


On the grounds of Schloss Hohenschwangau
Hohenschwangau is still a privately owned museum by the Bavarian royal family (now the Duke of the region) while Neuschwanstein is the property of the Bavarian state.

We had been having very mixed weather throughout the day with heavy rain followed by breaks of warm sunshine so we were constantly putting on and taking off our coats. However, when we got up to Neuschwantstein, it started pouring and, being up on a high hill, there were cold winds and so we froze. Adding to this was the fact that we were early for our tour and had to wait around for it to start.


A dramatic view of the walls from outside Neuschwanstein
However it was well worth the wait and the cold as Neuschwanstein was even more impressive than Hohenschwangau. The scale was larger and the rooms and decorations more opulent. One room had a 2000 lb chandelier!! Unfortunately the castle was never completed because Ludwig II died during its construction. In fact he only spent about ½ year in the castle before he passed away at a young age.


One of Neuschwanstein's front towers
The castle was quite a marvel with the woodwork in the King’s bedroom alone taking the dedicated work of multiple wood carvers several years to complete. Additionally, King Ludwig II had a flushing toilet with running water (remarkable for that time) as well as an artificial cave complete with stalactites. The cave was built because he was so in love with Wagner’s operas that he had rooms themed after them and the cave was used to sit and listen to them alone. In fact the entire castle was a dedication to Wagner’s works and the opera.


Looking down on Hohenschwangau and the Bavarian country side
Overall it would be hard to choose a favorite between Heidelberg and the castles of Fussen. Heidelberg was rich with history and substance while Neuschwanstein was over the top luxury and opulence. We would suggest both of them to anyone visiting Germany!

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You can see the Bavarian colors (white and blue) adorning the castle


Some fun with the fountain


A beautiful lake near the castles


A bridge spanning a large canyon behind Neuschwanstein


Tracy making the trek up to the castle


We weren't allowed to take photos inside the castles, but we could take them from inside looking out!


Our Bavarian hotel room

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9-1-2010
Fussen to Venice and the Austrian Alps

Before we went to bed last night we thought we had this nice plan of where we were going to be and how we were going to get there. When we woke up, all was well until we got to the bus stop and discovered we had not read the schedule well enough! This meant that we now had less than an hour to get to the city to catch the train we were taking to Munich.

We decided to just walk to town because it was such a nice morning. We knew it was going to be a pretty good sized walk and we would be cutting it close so we started walking quickly. It was not long before we came to a sign that said “Fussen 1 ½ hours“. We would not make it. We then walked back to our hotel to call a taxi…

Finally, we made it to the train station and we had about 20 minutes to spare before our train left so we walked around a bit. Fussen seemed very nice and we were glad to have had to time to wonder.


The town of Fussen
Upon returning to the train station, we came to the next hick-up in our plans. The train is sitting there at the platform and the line at the service desk to get itineraries is long and not moving. So, we boarded without really knowing the exact route and any transfers that we needed. (missing this train would have put us into Venice many hours later than we would have liked)


Boarding the train in Fussen
Everything seemed to be going ok as we chugged along toward Munich. The train announcements were in German, so we couldn’t understand what they were saying, but we were comforted to occasionally hear “Munchen” (Munich in German) several times as we went along. Then we reached a stop and the conductor got out and moved to the other side of the train. And when the train started moving again, it was moving in the wrong direction (back toward Fussen)!!


Bavarian country side on our way out of Fussen
We were already unsure about where we were going, but now we were pretty sure that this train would not be taking us to Munich. So, we frantically made a new plan to get off on the next stop and check the local boards for trains to Munich main station.

When we exited and checked, we found that there was one that was leaving in 1 minute, so we ran across to another platform and jumped on. Despite the drama, we ended up making it to Munich and had a chance to eat some lunch and check email before boarding our train to Italy.


Training through the Austrian Alps!
Alvetazang, Germany! We are now in Austria. The train ride through Austria brought with it huge, snow-peaked mountains and beautiful scenery as we wove our way through the alps.


Large bridge in Austria
This part of Austria seems to be made up of tons of small valleys admist the large mountains. Tunnels and bridges are everywhere and one bridge must have been at least a couple miles long (though it was more like a raised road that followed a hillside). Small villages dot the hillsides, each with their little churches and tall steeples.


One of the many church steeples
Austria came and went pretty quickly and then we were in northern Italy. It is difficult to tell the difference between the two though. However, we are starting to see more Italian on the buildings and signs as we pass through. Continuing further, the landscape continued to change and we began seeing vineyards and classic Italian-looking architecture. There was no denying now that we were in Italy.


The hills of northern Italy
Eventually we left the small valley we took out of the alps and the terrain opened up. The areas we were now traveling in were quite run down though we could see huge mansions and homes on the hill tops.

We were in for a bit of a shock when we changed trains from the Austrian OBB to the Italian regional line we were going to take to Venice. We were still in first class, but the seats were dirty, the car was old, and Tracy’s seat had old gum stuck to one side of the arm rest!! Yuck. Needless to say this was a HUGE step down from our 1st class business couchette on the OBB train out of Munich.


Tracy's review of the Italian regional train we were on (this was first class)
We only hoped that our train experience was not a taste of what was to come in Italy and Venice. To our delight, after getting off the train we felt that Venice was relatively safe and clean (though extremely old).

Of course, now we were in Venice in the dark and now had the challenge of finding our hotel. A person at the train station told us it would be a 30-45 minute walk and when we called the hotel, the man at the desk said to take a water taxi most of the way. So we were standing at the water taxi ticket booth debating about whether to pay the 6.50 each to take the boat when a young Italian guy handed us two partially used tickets as he explained in broken English that he was leaving Venice and had no more use of them.

Finding our boat proved to be a bit tricky in the dark but eventually we were on and heading in the right direction. However, once we got off the boat finding the hotel proved to be yet another challenge and we wandered around Venice for a good 15 minutes before a local couple stopped to ask us if we needed help (apparently, we were getting off the beaten tourist path and we looked lost, though I don‘t know why that would be ;-) ). Their directions pointed us back in the direction we had come and were key to eventually finding our hotel. Praise the Lord for the kind Venetian locals to put us back where we needed to be.

Despite it being past 10 o’clock, there were still a surprising number of people out walking around and dining at restaurants.

The hotel receptionist checked us in and then led us out of the office and down a dark alley across the street (most of the roads in Venice are dark alleys). He showed us a big wooden door and handed us the keys explaining that we were to go up to the second floor through a locked door and our room would be the second on the left.

Horror set in as he said goodbye and we entered this old building with paint coming off the walls and a tight, narrow staircase leading up. We came to what we thought was the second floor and the door was quite old and messy. We tried our key and it didn’t work. Then Alan realized that we are in Europe and the second floor is actually the third floor (two up from the ground floor)! So, we climbed another flight of the uneven staircase.

Thankfully, this time we were greeted by a large dark wooded door and our key worked. Past the door was a very well kept and clean hallway with doors on the left. So, we found our room and breathed a sigh of relief to find it very well kept and tidy (if not a bit gaudily decorated).

Before going to bed, we went back out and grabbed a map from the front desk and had a scoop of Italian ice cream next door.

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