Queen for a Day (Tues July 17)

Today was Everlie’s Birthday so we decided to declare her “Queen of Bavaria” and shop around for a suitable castle. 

Hohenschwanstein Castle.  We are +/- on the color, and might consider a new paint job.

Three Knights declare their loyalty and bow before their sovereign. 
 The sign says “I am 37 years old today” (in German of course).

In the gardens of Hohenschwanstein.  They seemed adequate, although not quite the layout of Versailles. 

More Gardens

We moved on to the next of Mad King Ludwig’s castles, Neuschwanstein.  Mad King Ludwig II had quite the castle building habit, which made quite a dent in the Bavarian treasury! 

 

The view from Neuschwanstein.  Location, location, location!

 

Inside Neuschwanstein.

Given the number of males in our family,  the "Fahrt" jokes just never get old.

We took a moment to enjoy her majesty’s country holdings:

Loons in the lake.     

Who is that that dare slay one of her majesty’s deer?!

A Black Forest needs a Black Squirrel. 

Swans in the Castle Lake

Our little Bavarian.

Our own personal Allegra commercial.

Every proper cow has a bell.

Her Majesty's chariot for the week.

We stopped by the Wiese Kirche, primarily for interior decorating ideas.

Wies Kirche

Interior of the Wies Kirche

It all started because of the “vision” of the local shepherd.  If you build it they will come.

The boys were more interested in the free range chickens outside.

Shopping for cuckoo-clocks at a stop in Oberamergau.  Good deals are scarce in this highly touristed stop. We had to shop around, but we finally found one we all liked and had it sent back in the mail (avoids the VAT tax).

We saw more scenery on the way back to the hotel and stopped at another beautiful mountain lake.

The amazingly clear waters of the Plansee (Plan Lake).

The Plansee

What a day of gorgeous views.

We tried one more castle at the day’s end, the Ehrenberg Ruins.  We thought it might just be a “fixer-upper.”

The old fortifications in the valley below.

The climb into the hilltop fortress.  Boys are the little blue dots.
2 mile slog from the valley below not shown!

Higher up and further in.

O.K., so they made it a little touristy!

Roof looks to be in very bad shape.

Parts of this old castle date to 1290, although various sections were added
and remodeled as late as the early 1700s.  It’s a bit of a mongrel, as castles go.

It does come with an amazing view.  Although you wouldn’t want to shovel the 2 mile driveway.

More of the view.  Our hotel is off in the far distance, left.

At Dinner Everlie decided to have her dessert first, in recognition of this momentous day.  The staff at the hotel even found her a candle.

 The after-dinner trampoline session.  Logan states that this “was the most awesome night ever” (the trampoline...forget about all that stuff during the day!).

Tomorrow we hit the road for Northern Italy.  Guten Abend!