Bavaria (Part Four)

The kids decided to go through Hohenschwangau Castle in the morning.  They took little Jonah through this castle.

Hohenschwangau is the castle that King Ludwig II grew up in. This is where he spent his childhood.

We have been through both castles many times so we opted to walk to the suspension bridge

Marienbrücke.

The cliffs around the bridge have sheer dropoffs.  It didn't bother me too much from the bridge until something moved up on the cliff.  You can't really see what I saw here so let me blow the image up for you.

Yes, you are seeing what you think.  There is indeed a man walking around on this cliff.

You see folks this isn't brave, this is just stupid.

This is the view of Neuschwanstein Castle from Marienbrücke.

The view down into the Pöllat Gorge from the bridge.

This is for my adventurous mountain biking friends.

This picture does not do this bike trail justice. It was the steepest trail I have ever seen.

This is the lovely walking path to and from the suspension bridge.

This is the amazing view from the path. Beautiful snowcapped alps in the backround. Shame it wasn't a better day. In this picture you see Hohenschwangau Castle, Alpsee and the Schwansee.  Alpsee is to the left and the smaller Schwansee is to the right in the picture. Schwan in German is swan and see in German is lake.  So those of you from Belfast will greatly appreciate that there is also a Swan Lake here near these fairytale castles.

We decided to come back and wait for the kids in the "waiting area" for the tourists waiting to get in to see Neuschwanstein.  Mac asked for the camera and was off. I busied myself with reading about King Ludwig.  I did think that Mac was off snapping breathtaking scenery.

He soon arrived back to our bench with a cheeky grin.

"What have you been up to?" I asked.

"Got something to show you and you aren't going to believe it," he said.

He pulled out the camera and smiled.

"Look at this, " he directed.

"You took a picture of a urinal!" I exclaimed. "Have you lost your mind?"

"No, look carefully.  Someone has come up with an idea to improve aim which might in turn keep bathrooms cleaner," he said.

"Look, it's a fly etched into the urinal," he proclaimed with a smile.

"Mac," I said, "May I remind you that this is a cultural and culinary blog."

"This is culture," he insisted. "We have to give your readers the full experience."

So dear readers, now you know more than you want to about the guest toilets in the men's room in the waiting area at Neuschwanstein.

The kids walked up the hill from Hohenschwangau and we took our little grandson for an ice cream while they toured Neuschwanstein.

The Schlossrestaurant (our hotel) serves the nicest conconctions for children.

Jonah enjoyed every bit of his treat almost as much as we enjoyed watching him eat it.

Mac gives our day a thumbs up.

Tomorrow I will tell you about Wies Church.