We awoke early [65] , knowing that Neuschwanstein [66] would be completely packed before too long, and we wanted to beat the crowds. It was about this time that we stopped looking like clueless tourists and started looking like well-informed locals [67]. The other, aforementioned clueless tourists constantly bombarded us with questions of how to get somewhere, what to see, when some bus leaves, etc. I think we were finally getting the hang of this traveling thing.

About to board our horse-drawn carriage..to sit and wait for a while!

It was at least 9:00 by the time we got to the castle, and I was starting to worry about the horrendous lines good ole' Rick Steves warned us about. See, the only way to see the inside of the castle is by the 35-minute guided tour (~$7/each), which is less rushed early on. If you get there too late, you might wait hours in line outside before you even get in, and your 35 minute tour might end up being 25 minutes instead. Hurry, get our tickets before the next bus arrives. Hurry, lets get up there! Wait?!? Sweetie needs to go to the bathroom?! Hurry up hurry up...

When we finally got to the entrance, we were cattled into stalls based on our different languages, indicated by country flags. I was the first one in the "British" line. Then other people, who had been just meandering about, walked into their respective ones...mostly into our line and the German line. A couple of Japanese women decided to come into our line, thinking that it probably would get in faster since there were at least a dozen people. But then we had to wait for the minimum 35 people, which we figured to be any second now...

Then suddenly a Japanese tour group of at least 40 came shooting past us in their stall, and practically went directly in.

Then the German line had enough and went in.

And then here came another Japanese group. Those two Japanese women were cursing themselves for putting themselves in our line.

I started teasing the people in the Japanese line and Stefan, the guard who was signaling the different tour groups into the building. "C'mon, let us in!" "Ahh, you Japanese want to speak English anyway, right, so come over to our line!" "Germans, this way, this line!", etc. etc. Oh well, so I was being obnoxious, but I think everybody thought it was pretty funny.

Doug thought it was cute, too, and gave me a little kiss (oh, how unusual). But this totally freaked out a Japanese woman in the line next to us. I looked surprised and asked one of the Japanese women in our line why this upset the other woman--was this offensive in her culture? She asked her for me, whereas the woman smiled and jabbed the ribs of the man standing next to her. Turns out, she had said that our kiss made her mad, not because she was offended by it, but because her husband has not kissed her at all for days. Boy, did I tease them after that.

We finally got enough people in our line, miraculously even ahead of that other Japanese group, and we finally got to see the inside of the castle[69]. Our tour did seem kind of rushed, but our tour guide still took time out for a sense of humor; for some reason, he kept mixing up "toilet" and "elevator". Remind me to take the stairs just in case.

Neuschwanstein sure is one "huge and immense" castle!

The interior of this "Disneyland" castle was very eccentric--Mad King Ludwig loved Wagner. Each room was in a different Wagnerian opera legend: the swan room for "Tannhäuser," his bedroom in "Tristan and Isolde", the stage room for "Parsifal", and even a hallway made to look like a cave to transcend him into the "Lohengrin" legend. I might be mixing these all up, but you get the idea. Several things, however, struck us even stranger than his love for Wagner (though, that is pretty strange!). For one, the very Byzantine-influenced "throne" room[70] could be mistaken for a chapel because of all the apostles painted on the walls and for the giant Christ figure above the throne--the only problem, though, was that a row of kings were placed in the middle, showing that he viewed kings as closer to Christ than the Apostles! Second, the kitchen was far too modern for the 19th century[71], since it had hot and cold running water, a dumbwaiter, and even a "plate warmer" using the steam from the stove. Third, and most importantly, it seemed to me that Ludwig had twinges of humility in the castle which he really didn't intend for anybody to see; the guide totally ignored the hidden, private chapel in the King's bedroom, concentrating only on the incredible view and the ornate (and short) bed[72]. It seemed to me that perhaps, Mad King Ludwig felt a little guilty for his extravagance, and maybe a little bit of fear for awareness of his mortality. No one knows how much this may have played a part in his unexplained death.

With picnic spots like these, who needs restaurants?!?

We spent the rest of the day rather leisurely (how can it only be 12:00?). We went to the Hohenschwangau castle but didn't go in[75], hiked a bit around the gorgeous trails[76], and then went back to Füssen to do a little shopping. I found a mug-shaped shot glass with "Britta" on it for my friend of the same name. Doug found his Kebap sandwich at last. We went into a bookstore, me in search of an American comic strip, such as Garfield, in German--when the woman didn't understand my request, she handed me an English-German dictionary and asked me to find the key word I wanted....very handy[77]! Once again, we found the Bavarians to be what we expected the Austrians will be...very friendly, warm, and with a great accent!