Camping Brunnen am Forggensee

Saturday 4th September
Moved on from Diessen after a short walk along a boardwalk through the reeds to a beautifully-constructed wooden look-out tower to take in the views across the lake and towards the mountains. Shame the cloud was rather low, but still lovely. The plan was to rejoin the Romantic Road at Reottenbuch, but our height restricted us from
approaching it from the way we were travelling. We could have gone back to Rottenbuch but decided to continue to Wieskirche, on the tourist route because it is quite amazing. Full name is: Wallfahrtskirche zum Gegeisselten Heiland auf der Wies. Meaning: Pilgrimage Church to Our Tortured Saviour on the Meadow. It is a very large, plain white church in the midst of fields, not close to a village. The
story is a very long one, but involves 2 priests in 1730 who made a 'Tortured Saviour' from wood for the Good Friday procession, covered it with linen and painted it red, but it upset people, so was put away in an inn-keeper's loft for 4 years before a relative took it home and held it in the greatest reverence. There, the 'miracle of the meadows' happened - tears were seen on the face of the 'tortured saviour' so a field chapel was built. Pilgrims came from far and wide so in 1745 this large pilgrimage church was built. Inside is incredible - ceiling frescoes, ornate sculptured altars and pulpit, gold everywhere, plus the whole church flooded with light because of clear windows. To us, far too OTT as a place of worship, but a wonder to experience. Unfortunately, because 'pilgrims' of the tourist brigade flock here now, there are cafes and the tacky stalls as well - but OK, we did buy one of the doughnut specialities to sample! (Shame Germany doesn't
seem to go in for healthy specialities!!)

Spent the night at a campsite on the west side of Forggensee, but low cloud so views not spectacular.

Sunday 5th September
Beautiful day, so perfect for visiting the fairy-tale castles. Thanks to geocaching, we knew about a free carpark on the outskirst of Schwangau in the woods, close enough to get to the castles without the hassle of the crowds. A German couple getting ready to go off hiking, showed us their map and we worked out that our best bet was to get on our bikes from there and after a mile or so, hitched them up near the ticket office. There, at the foot of the hills, you buy tickets for Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein Castles with time-slots for your tours. We had an hour to stroll up the short hill and steps to Hohenschwangua for 'tournummer 147 Englisch' at 11.55. On the dot, your number is displayed (rather like at the airport) and the ticket machine will accept you and release the turnstile. Woe betide anyone who tries to put their ticket in the slot before their number is displayed! - We did see this being tried!!!
Our German guide's English was great and humourous and we were shown through lots of rooms left just as Maximilian II of Bavaria had lived in from 1832. His son, Ludwig II spent most of his childhood and youth here and he had a close bond to the Knights of Schwangau and their history through the murals of the Swan Knight Lohengrin throughout the castle. Later he entertained Richard Wagner as a guest and became obsessed by his music. Paintings and sculptures of swans are everywhere and the rooms extremely richly decorated. Ludwig wasn't very keen on his kingly duties, but lived for his fantasies, so he had a luxurious castle rebuilt from the ruins post-Napoleon, on the next rock. Only a third of it was built in his lifetime (he died at 40) but his legacy lives on ....

Our visit to Neuschwanstein was timed for 13.55, No. 471, so time for a drink at a cafe before catching the bus up most of the way up the hill. This time our guide was Japanese, so another unusual English accent. Again the swan theme is abundant, even to door handles and the paintings are amazing. We were taken through magestic rooms, sometimes through secret doors and in Ludwig's own suite, through a passage into a cave, complete with stalagtites and stalagmites with rooms and balcony overlooking the mountains and lakes (where he could listen to Wagner's music in private). We don't think he had an iPod - the piano was in the next room! The last room we went to covers the whole of the top floor and is the 'Singing room' with a stage for his beloved operas to be performed.

What a magical day!

Came a very short way to this lovely campsite beside the south-eastern side of Forggensee where we have a lake-side pitch. If we want a change of scene we can turn round and look up at the mountains - perfect.

Monday 6th September
Took a while for the clouds to evaporate off the mountains - another magical scene. After a heartier than usual breakfast, we set off on the bikes through the village and between meadows to a Kurpark between Schwangau and the lake. One of the best kind of geocaches - in a beautiful setting, several questions to answer around the park and a very clever final cache. The hint was 'look up and see if anyone is home' - there was a nesting box hanging in a tree (with the bird-hole covered in mesh) with the cache inside. We had brought 3 Travel Bugs with us and here we placed the last one - a pretty ring (Emilie will remember us finding it in Ashdown Forest) - in view of Schloss Neuschwanstein. Next stop on the bikes was to the Tegelburgbahn - the cable car. It whisked us straight up to 5,700ft. By this time, the sun was hot and the views stunning.
Yesterday we had watched, from the castles,lots of people jump off the mountain - today we stood beside them as they jumped!
Some were paragliders and others hang-gliders. One chap was speaking English to his wife who was laying out his 'para' and I spoke to her after he had gone. He had seen others doing this in Switzerland several years ago and decided to learn back home in Scotland.It was his first time here, but often jumps off Scottish hills and mountains!
Darkness is now falling and we need to pop along to reception for our 15 mins. internet access. We just had long enough to post the blog and photos last night, so here goes ...