Bavarian Castles, Munich, Dachau, Salzburg

Since I didn't feel like I got a really good look at Munich when I went with ITT and was kind of not happy with the organization, or lack thereof, I asked around at work and was told about Nikki Travels. Nikki is a former wife of a former Air Force member who was assigned to Aviano. She started organizing tours with her girlfriends and ultimately turned it into a business. On the advice of a co-worker, I looked up her tour list. She had a weekend tour planned to see some Bavarian castles, Munich, Dachau, and Salzburg. That's a lot for a weekend. The flyer advertised 4 guided tours, wow. So, I emailed her and asked and she said that she spends time showing us around and all the important sites. Awesome!!! Well, I should have known it was too much for a weekend.

The weekend started out at 0030 on Saturday morning. Meeting at the parking lot of a bar near base. That should have maybe been my first sign of things to come. Turns out not many people had signed up so the usual bus was not rented. Nikki herself did the driving. Loaded the 6 of us (one in the front seat) into her own minivan for the drive. She had cancelled 2 people for lack of room. I wish she had cancelled me. As I learned who I was spending the weekend with ... I was the only female (other than Nikki), the only officer, and I have been in the military longer than some of these boys have even been alive. Yikes. Even the oldest of them was young enough that if I had started young, I could have been his mother. Oh boy!!!. 

I'm glad I'm not squished in the three-seat backseat with the teenaged boys

We drove through the night and arrived at Neuschwaunstein and Hohenschwangau Castles at 0630. Unfortunately, the ticket booth doesn't even open until 0830. So, more sleeping in the car. It was pretty, though, but very very foggy. The views were limited.

Although at the same location, Nikki informed us that our tour included only Neuschwanstein Castle and that if we also wanted to see Hohenschwangau that it would be an extra 11 Euros. She recommended it because it was more authentic. We all agreed. At 08:30, she got in line for tickets and found out the schedule. You can only go into the castles on tours and the next English tour for Hohenschwangau was at 0945 and Neuschawnstein at 11:30. So, we did a little more waiting. I climbed the stairs and hill to Hohenswangau and looked around a bit. 

We had our guided tour. This was actually a liveable castle. Yes, very nice inside, but not crazy extravagant the way I imagine Castles. This is a 19th century residence built by King Maxmillian II of Bavaria. He seemed a good king and had a wife and 2 children. The most famous of which is King Ludwig II. Ludwig is known as the castle builder. That was his hobby. He never married and from the stories I heard, he seemed like perhaps he had schizophrenia. After squandering his money on building castles, he mysteriously drowned one night on a walk around a lake. One of the castles he built, but was never finished, and never lived in was Neuschwanstein. This is the castle that Disney based his Cinderella castle after. He also built the Residenz in Munich that I saw from the outside last time I was in Munich.

After Hohenschwangau, I did a little looking around at the gift shop. Apparently, the guys and Nikki were looking for me. Nikki had taken it on herself to buy us 2 euro tickets on the bus up the hill to Neuschwantstein. I was actually planning to hike up myself, but she rushed us into the bus and I thought that maybe we were short on time. When we got to the top, we had to wait awhile for our tour to start and she took us partially down the hill so we could get food and drinks at a bar. But, we eventually went to the castle and had our tour. It's really hard to get a great picture of the huge building from close. And the bridge that allows you the best view is closed for renovations. But, the way we were being rushed, we wouldn't have had time to cross the bridge to see it anyway. And, I'm not sure we would have had a great view with the fog. It was beautiful, but eerie. 

It was not a clear day. 

We had our tour and were taken through amazing extravagance. I can see why the political leaders thought Ludwig was a madman. He spared no expense for a castle that he was not going to live in. He had a massive throne room, but no  plans to actually hold court. He had a music theater built, but only planned for private concerts (he was a particular fan of Wagner, so he did have good taste in music), no guests. He hated having any people around him.

After the tour, we ate lunch at the bar and after I finished, I decided to walk down the hill to the parking lot. Had a decent view of one of the sides of the castle, but not the full front with all the towers and spires.

We were then given the option of going to see the next castle or going straight to Munich. This castle tour was included in our tour and the guys had no strong opinions. I wanted to see the castle that Ludwig II designed after Versailles.  So, we made the drive to Linderhof. And what a beautiful drive it was.

Ludwig II lived at Linderhof part time. Much has been maintained as it was originally, or restored. It's still winter, so the fountains were off and the trees and statues were covered. Still quite impressive. Different than Medieval castles which were really fortresses, these castles were what I imagine when I think of castles ...royalty and opulence and excess.

We had to wait here also for the English tour at 3:30 PM. So, by around 4:45, we were heading to Munich and arrived around 6:30. We checked into our hotel and I was bunking with Nikki to save some costs for a private room. Also, because not enough rooms had been reserved. Around 8 PM, we piled into a couple of cabs for our 20 euro ride to the city center. This was not included in the weekend tour price. It was already getting dark and we were hungry. So, off to the crowded Hofbrauhaus. I did manage to find a vegan salad and the pretzels were huge and amazing. Service was slow because it was super crowded. And surly, but I think that's just the German way. One thing I did not know was that began his rise to infamy by his speeches on the second floor.

 

 Well, it's about 11 PM now, so our "guided" tour of Munich was really a quick walk to the Marienplatz. Turns out I know more facts about the city than Nikki, who did know where to direct the boys for the nightlife. They stayed out. I paid another 20 euros to cab it back to the hotel for sleep.

 We were meeting the next morning at 8:30 to head to Dachau. Had some snafus as some of the guys didn't even get back to the hotel until 3:30 or 5:30 or 7:30. One was sound asleep in his room and we had to wake him up, or leave him behind. Apparently this happens on Nikki tours ... and then you have to figure out your own way home. All the guys were tired, hungover, and not very excited to start the morning.

We were told at the beginning that our seats might change on the way back.
I was not about to give up my seat and be squished between hungover teenage boys.
So, I took my seat and let them crowd in. No one said anything.
I did hear about the strippers, though. Talk about uncomfortable.

 We drove to Dachau. Now, I have just been to this evil place a few weeks ago and was willing to miss it. But, I went along. Nikki routed us through the museum and then back out. We didn't even walk the grounds. If I hadn't been there before, I would have been pretty disappointed. I know more about Dachau than she does also. Since I have been there, I wasn't disappointed about our less than an hour stopover.

 

 Back in the van and we are heading to Salzburg. We arrived at Salzburg shortly after  noon. This was supposed to be our 4th guided tour (2 castles, Munich, and Salzburg) as one of the castles was "extra." Anyway, Nikki hustled us through Mirabelle Gardens
 

 Across Mozart's footbridge

 And through part of the old town. We didn't go to the fortress. And, no way to stop for many pictures. She kept walking. At one point, I wanted to stop at a kiosk for postcards (since they always have the best pictures) and she told me that I could get something later, we had to keep moving. One interesting sight was the grave of the only American buried in the old cemetary. That's kind of cool.

The primary focus was to get in and out fast, find a place to eat ... Sushi ... and get back on the road. The guys were zombies so I don't think they cared. We had a grand total of about 3 hours in Salzburg, including about an hour for lunch. And we were back on the road. Honestly, I just want to get home at this point. I do admit, though, that nowhere else in the world will you find random castles on hilltops as you are driving the freeway.

 If you haven't figured it out, I'm unimpressed with Nikki Travel. I have since learned that she is known for being unorganized and that it's all about the party. Not just the party, but getting s#!^faced drunk. Even young Airmen I work with won't travel with her. It's all about just finding another bar, the location doesn't really matter. When they heard I went on one of her tours, even the young ones were like ... whoah, really? We would have told you not to. I had thought about getting refunds on a few upcoming ITT trips and going with Nikki. Glad I haven't done that already. I will keep my previously scheduled trips. What I did get out of this was that I do want to really go to Munich one day. And I do think Salzburg has a lot to offer and would like to spend more time.