The Little Trip That Could...(and Did) Get Much Much Bigger: Neuschwanstein Castle & Austria

Sigh.

I tried to use the bold key, but my whole font is bold so it didn't really work. Oh well, I can try. A little pizazz never hurt anything.

Double sigh.

You ever have one of those months where you wish the blog posts would just write themselves?

WELL THEY WON'T.

Also, MEGATRIP 2010 (as expected) is constipating our blog page in a major, major way. So now it's time to get down to business and whip up some high-in-fiber blog posts. Or, as we say in the biz, blog-prunes.

I like how this is a biz now. I also like how prunes and prune-related issues are forever burned into my brain because (TMI alert!) somebody was eating prunes throughout the entire trip, then providing daily updates on either their extreme effectiveness or complete lack thereof. I name no names. Not that I really have to. Muahahahaha.

Something even more enjoyable than family prune consumption (and there aren't many such things in this life): Neuschwanstein Castle!

Apparently Disney's Sleeping Beauty castle is based off Neuschwanstein. I'll just go ahead and put that out there for the Disney nerds. We got to crane our necks and peek at it through the trees while hiking up a long and winding hill.


But they say you don't enjoy something unless you work for it. And in this case, you don't enjoy that special something unless you trudge uphill through a fine coating of melted snow mixed with Clydesdale poo.
Umm, sorry about all the poo in this story. Also please note that Cenatiempos have notoriously long legs and we were probably going past the 10km/h posted speed limit on this road.

Well, we finally got up there. And to make my joy complete they even had this metal balcony hanging out over the side of the cliff in front of Neuschwanstein. And to make my joy 150% complete, you could see right through the floor of it. So here's us hanging out over a nice little Alpine abyss:


And here's the castle!!!
We didn't take pictures inside until the end because we weren't sure if it was allowed or not. Here's Dustin looking out the window at the end of our tour. Don't die of excitement on me.
The entire castle was designed around Wagner's operas, which I find hilarious, and it was tastefully ornate as opposed to Frenchly foofified. Built by Ludwig II of Bavaria, it was really modern for its time. It has an early telephone, running water, a huge kitchen, and...my favorite part...an artificial cave grotto equipped with a waterfall that lights up and changes colors.

Yeah I know. Random. I hear Bavarians are like that (talking to you, Wulf.)

(If I knew whether he'd gotten past his habit of painting the screens of computers because he's not too clear on how to use them, I'd be more worried.)

Bavaria seems really beautiful though. The sun was out, the sky was blue, none of the Clydesdale-drawn carriages ran us over, and we saw some paragliders floating around the castle towers.
Anyways, Neuschwanstein was a cool experience. Factors that helped this impression: it was the beginning of our trip, we still had plenty of energy and spunk, nutritious food could still be found in the car, and Henry had not yet pooed or peed on anything other than a diaper.

Yep, it all comes back to poo today.

Let's see if I can make it through Austria without mentioning fecal matter, that's not too much to ask, right? We didn't stop for anything except a toll sticker, so here are some shots me and Debbie took from the car. We're the valiant Photo Scouts or whatever we are.

And last but not least, Dustin catches me taking pictures of him and wants to know what the poo I'm doing.
Sorry. I couldn't hold out any more, no pun intended. And neither could the prunes, because surprisingly enough we ended up buying more than one bag. Which, considering their sheer entertainment value, is completely okay with me.

TO BE CONTINUED (AS USUAL)...