Munich Day 2

Today was a lot of fun. Got up, showered and stuff in the small hostel bathroom and then went down for breakfast at 7:45 with Liz. There's a breakfast buffet here thats really good. I thought we had to pay for it, like they advertised, but it ended up being free which made it even better. Also, I sat next to this old man at breakfast who had slept in the bunk over top of me. His name was Sebastian and he was homeless and just kinda roams Munich from hostel to hostel. He spoke really good English and was a really interesting guy. We chatted about things for awhile before we parted ways for the day. Liz and I caught a train a bit before 9 and went to Fussen- the transfer point to see the Neuschwanstein Castle. It's been a dream of mine ever since I was a boy to see the caslte, so I was stoked. We got to Fussen around 11 and then jumped on a bus to take us to the small town of Hohenschwangau which seems to only exist because of the castles. We got tickets to take tours of both castles there, Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein. We first had a nice lunch on a bench up overlooking the town which was nice and relaxing. After lunch our tour of Hohenschwangau was at 12:45. The castle inside was really cool. It seemed like more of a house than a castle inside- it was really chill and homely. The ceilings were low, the walls weren't overly decorated and there were lots of windows so it wasn't dark and gloomy. I liked it a lot. :) After that tour, we leisurely walked around a bit and made our way up to Neuschwanstein to make the 2:45 tour. Neuschwanstein is set up on the mountainside, so the walk up was beautiful. Tons of snow and huge evergreens covered in snow and even a couple quiet streams. It was very relaxing. :) Then we made it to the castle, and it was very cool. It was so huge and long too. Got inside for the tour which was neat. This castle was a lot more castle-like than the first one; tall ceilings, extravagant decorations, tons of gold. It was cool to see although slightly a letdown. They didn't have the inside all lit up and the gold all shimmering like in the pictures and you can't see the front view well unless you climb way up on the mountain in front of it and risk your life. So, they do a good job of advertising but regardless, it was still cool and I was happy to see it finally. :) So that was fun, then we got in the bus and got back to Fussen around 4:40 then quickly walked around the pretty town for 20 minutes before our train back to Munich left a few minutes after 5. The ride back to Munich left a few minutes after 5. The ride back was fun talking with Liz and we had bought some great pastries and a soft pretzel back in Fussen that tasted awesome. :) Got back in Munich a bit after 7, then went out to dinner. We found this cool Turkish place and got a Turkish pizza and a salad which was very different and fairly good. Liz and I had a nice chat there, then wandered back to the hostel by about 9:30. Chilled with the rest of our group in the kitchen before heading out across the street to a beer hall a little after 10. The beer hall was madness- a huge hall with long tables and mass amounts of Germans sitting at them being loud and drinking massive 1 liter "jars" of beer. It was insanity and quite the experience. :P Left there just a bit ago and now I'm off to sleep.