QuintonLyndsey: More Munich

Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau were two amazingly large castles near Munich where King Maximillian II lived with his Prussian wife Marie and they lived in their summer hunting castle Hohenschwangau. Mad King Ludwig II inherited next at 19, because his dad died early. Ludwig is super interesting, broke off an engagement to Princess Sissy's sister Sophie, obsessed with the composer Wagner who Hitler liked, and mysteriously died in a lake near Munich at 40. Rather mysterious. We have our theories, but no one is really sure what happened. Our friends in Munich say he was the Michael Jackson of the 19th century. He was very artsy and interested in music and building his new castle, Neuschwanstein. We loved the castles and walking around. They were so particular with style and architecture, it was very interesting.

Neuschwanstein- stands for new swan stone

Ice swan Land- or Hohenschwangua

We later went to the Hofbraeuhaus, which is a traditional Bavarian drinking house. The food was great. Really good spaetzl and pretzels. We stayed there for houses drinking in...the atmosphere of the whole place, of course. We had a crazy Bavarian drunk man yelling at people right next to us. Our German friends were getting mad at him, and they tried to calm him down, but instead he tried to explain the Bavarian rules for these houses from 600 years ago! ha...Apparently, you can have a locker with your beer stein and you are assigned a spot due to tradition. You can basically stay there all night if you wish. Some Bavarian men are nicer than others. We then had a personalized tour of the city with our friends. It was great. We were so grateful to hang out with them and reconnect. We saw the opera house, the main piazza, beautiful gardens, and the town hall that looks like a church at MarienPlatz. It was a great night. Off to Italy now via train.