Germany

After Austria, we spent a short time in Germany. From our base in Munich, we visited the Neuschwanstein Castle and explored a couple Bavarian towns. We actually did not explore Munich at all aside from a quick drive-through. We focus our time on the natural scenery.

The picture below is from a little town called Mittenwald, which is one of those postcard Bavarian towns. We stopped there only briefly, but we enjoyed it, largely because it was our first day in the Alps where you could see the tops of the mountains.

Our main destination in Germany was the Neuschwanstein Castle. It's quite striking because it has all the features that come to mind when you think "castle". There's the turrets, the courtyard, there isn't a moat actually, but there's a creek, and it's clearly very isolated. It was never finished because the guy who started it died before it was done and no one else wanted to continue financing such a large project. That's why it's owned by the state now and such a popular tourist destination. I felt lucky to have such a nice day for visiting.

Here's a view out one of the windows in the castle. Not bad.