German Castles

Yesterday we did our last trip on Marcail's European tour. We drove Thursday night to take a Friday tour of a few castles. We went to Fussen, Germany, and then from there took a tour of Neuschwanstein Castle (which Disney used as a model for Sleeping Beauty's castle), and Linderhof Castle - both of these the homes of King Ludwig II. We also visited the villages of Hohenschwangau (where we saw WiesKirch) and Oberammergau, and drove through Austria. During Marcail's visit she has been to Switzerland, Germany, France, and Austria - 4 countries in 2 weeks - not too shabby! We have enjoyed having her and Aunt Betty and we will be sad when they go home on Monday. 

Neuschwanstein Castle

 View under the bridge we were standing on

 Another Castle in the distance

 We couldn't take pictures inside the castle, but it was incredible

 This is WiesKirch (white church). This church gets over 1 million visitors a year. At the center of the Church of Wies is the figure of the Scourged Savior. It is said that the tears, which the Savior shed became precious pearls from which the glorious rococo jewel was created.

 he alter in WiesKirch. The Christ statue in the center is the one that supposedly "cried". And now people pilgrimage to this church to see the miracle

 This was the original WiesKirch. This was where the statue originally was, but due to people wanting to come and see it, in 1740, the bigger church was built and the statue moved

 Village of Oberammergau. We could have spent a few hours here - all the buildings are painted like this - it was really neat. Also every 10 years this town puts on "The Passion" for 6 months and millions come to see it.

 Outside our seccond stop - Linderhof Castle. This was Ludwig's favorite place to stay. He modeled it after Versailles in Paris