Schloss Neuschwanstein -- The Cinderella Castle

I stayed over an extra day on my work trip to Munich so I could take this Neuschwanstein and Linderhof Castle Day Trip (they weren't lying about the small-group / luxury coach – check out how much space we had on this full-sized bus).  Quite a bit more expensive than my usual day tour expenditure, but they literally rolled out the red carpet for us!  Highly recommend this tour!!

This is a castle tour of course, but the first thing I did near the top of the ridge where Schloss Neuschwanstein is located was walk out on Mary's Bridge.

Yes, there is a castle you can see from there, but I'm such a fan of Waterfalls that I wanted to show you the beautiful one underneath the bridge.

That bridge is very high and the long planks have a LOT of give.  Eeek!!  Ok... you want to see some pictures of a castle and the view from the bridge does NOT disappoint!

Leaving the bridge to head over to the castle give some awesome view of the valley and river below as well as Schloss Hohenschwangau down below.

Beautiful views of the snow-capped Alps are also a feast for the eyes!

Continuing down the path present this castle, which Walt Disney himself visited before WWII and modeled the Cinderella Castle after, from a different perspective.

I got to take a tour of the interior of the castle, but unfortunately, they did not allow photography.  From the courtyard you can look back on Mary's Bridge to see how far above the beautiful waterfall it truly is.

After a quick lunch we boarded the bus for a trip to Oberammergau, a quaint little German town at the base of the Alps, where I bought Gretchen a cuckoo clock.  I bought the one on the left, but once I got home I realized it was very close to the one her sister bought for her a few years ago.  Fortunately, the good folks at Barbara Heinzeller were nice enough to let me swap it out for the one on the right!  I know... they're pretty close. 

Last stop of the day was Schloss Linderhof.  It was more of a palace than a castle, but very nice – again, no interior photos allowed.

Very pretty grounds and I though even a picture of me couldn't do this place harm!

As I was about to board the bus, I had to take this quintessential shot; I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

A smooth ride back to Munich where I had one of the best steaks of my life at Andechser am Dom before calling it an evening on my last night in Munich.  What a great day trip and I hope you enjoyed the photos.