Wanderlust: Schwangau

Bags packed so as soon as breakfast is over we are in the car and are off once more. Driving in Europe does take a little getting used to - at least today I'm driving during the daylight rather than at night, through heavy fog on my first day! On the smaller roads I pull over on a few occasions when I see the traffic start to build up behind me - on the freeway though, I gain my confidence and often I'm cruising at 140KPH - mind you, there are still cars that zoom past me like I'm standing still! The initial idea was to drive down the Romantic Road - which is a series of quaint German towns, all with their own Christmas Markets - the GPS has other ideas though and I'm heading straight down the freeway! Dinkelsbuhl - that name looks very familiar from our last trip - so off we go to check it out. These German towns are absolutely beautiful, clean, colourful - the houses are all pastel hues - and their markets have wonderful handcrafts, confectionery, Christmas decorations, food - always Bratwurst sausage on a fresh crunchy bread roll and .... gluwein - a spiced wine (red or white) served hot! They have a very good system where they charge and extra 2 - 4 Euros deposit on the cup which you redeem when you return it.

I'm a little tired and we still have a further 2 1/2 hours of driving, so we opt for the freeway for the remainder of the journey till we finally arrive in Schwangau where I have booked the Villa Ludwig Suite Hotel - beautiful rooms with a view from the balcony straight up to Neuschwanstein. It's a ten minute stroll into the town centre where we buy tickets to visit Hohenschwangau Castle. This castle is first mentioned in history in the 12th century and has a varied background. It was purchased by King Maximillian in 1832 who did a rather splendid 'reno' which is what you see today. King Ludwig, his son, grew up there and could watch from the window the construction of his castle, Neuschwanstein, which Walt Disney used as his inspiration for the castle in Beauty and the Beast. It is built further up the mountain and overlooks his father's Hapsburg yellow home ..... maybe he had some 'daddy' issues. :)

We visit the Christmas Market which is situated beside the lake, Alpsee - the egg nog in the edible cup is delicious!

A drink at the new Ameron Hotel - very chic but lacking the atmosphere of the regular Bavarian establishments. Dinner at a local restaurant, then tiredness takes over and it's back to the hotel. People everywhere brought in by the tour buses during the day but it's 8pm and the place is dead!

NB: I think all the photos have downloaded in a random order ..... sorry about that :(