Probably my most favorite day in Germany: the bus tour of the castles in Southern Bavaria. My group and I started off the day meeting at the same spot as yesterday for the bus, having already used one form of transportation (train) to get us to the meeting spot. The bus tour was scenic and beautiful and the tour guide was very amusing with her commentary and history about the places we were visiting. We first went to the Linderhof Palace which was absolutely stunning with the amount of detail that was implementing in the decor of the castle. Next we went to a small town for more exploring and eventually went to Neuschwanstein: the famous castle of the Fairytale King that inspired Disney’s Magic Kingdom. The Fairytale King was named King Ludwig II and he also owned the Linderhof Palace. He was called the Fairytale King because of his love for fine arts and for having fine taste in wanting an extravagant castle that reminded him of fantasy operas from when he was young. Only myself and another student paid to visit the Neuschwanstein castle, but it was well worth it for how large and beautiful it was inside. Yes, there were rooms that were empty and some of the rooms wee dark and sort of dreary however this is what makes it so beautiful. Plus the throne room was brilliant with its dome shape, golden painted walls, and carefully painted religious symbols of Christianity. At the top of the castle, the views were amazing and surreal. Tying this experience back to transportation, the focus of the day was the Renaissance construction techniques of castles and support transit systems that supplied the materials to these areas for the castle construction. I learned that transportation was a key factor in the time it takes for a building, or castle in this case, to be built because of the transportation of materials. Today is the last day of the class in Germany and I had such an amazing time during this course!

Pictured above is the view looking out from one of the castle windows. Pictured below is a view from the top of the castle overseeing the land.