Castles!!!

Today was very magical! We woke up in the morning and took a 5 minute shuttle to the Hohenschwangau and Schloss Neuschwanstein castles. They were absolutely gorgeous! The first was the summer home of King Maximilian II's family. This was no cabin on the lake. I have posted a picture of both castles on Facebook. We went on a guided tour. All the walls were painted with scenes from history and a lot of the original furniture was still there. There were many birthday gifts that the royal family had received decorating the house. Most were elaborate gold table centerpieces and other unbelievable treasures. The second castle was his son King Ludwig II's. He was in the process of building it when he died mysteriously while walking around a lake and was only able to live there for 6 months. This palace was absolutely breathtaking! It is so magical that they modeled Sleeping Beauty's castle in Disney Land after it. Ludwig was declared insane before his death, but I'm pretty sure he just had an amazing imagination. He built a mystical cave in his castle! All of the paintings on the walls depicted scenes from different Operas by Richard Wagner. Ludwig also built 3 other castles and had made plans for a fourth before he died. After the trip to the castles, we took the shuttle back to Fussen and walked around the lovely little town. It was our last day in Germany and we have had an amazing time. We are now looking forward to Venice, where we will be traveling to tomorrow.