Fussen: Beckon Me, oh Castle.

// Neuschwanstein Castle, It's a boss. //

Fussen. The Castle Town.

Allow me to tell you a precious fairy tale. The Neuschwanstein Castle was built by “Mad” King Ludwig in the late 1800's in the mystical, sleepy town of Fussen, Germany. Ludwig's family ruled the region of Bavaria for a thousand previous years, so he had a rich heritage of ruling and reigning in his blood before he ever took the throne. At the ripened old age of 18, he took over for Dad and began constructing the ultimate dream castle. The castle to take the cake. Little did he know that his design would inspire another man of vision: Walt Disney. Disney returned to the states after his inaugural visit to Fussen, armed with specific ideas of how to build his own version of a kingdom (and a mildly influential one), Disney World. Enter Cinderella's dream home, AKA the epitome of all little girls' dreams. Ever. In the universe. Way to go, Ludwig. Way to inspire, quite literally, drillions.

// We toasted. Give honor where honor is due, right??//

Cheers to the King.

Fast forward to my participation. Stevie and I took a 2-hour train, a 30-minute bus, and a steep 30 minute hike to summit this castle's entry. WORTH IT. I wasn't allowed to photograph the inside of the castle, but let me just tell you that it was majestic. Tapestries decorated the walls, jewels crowned each chandelier, and portraits displayed both Jesus and dragons (not in immediate vicinity of each other, but still a humorous juxtaposition) and also displayed throughout was the most intricate woodwork I have ever seen. The really unfortunate part of the story is that Ludwig only lived in his dream castle for a total of 6 months until he unexpectedly drowned in a lake outside of Munich. I know. It's really awful. People have been touring his impressive abode ever since.

After our royal tour, we hiked up to Mary's Bridge where we could get better views of the breathtaking castle. Hence the sick photos. All via iPhone! Bless the Lord for Apple products.

Fussen: Castles and Cameras from Kristen Hale on Vimeo.

// Um, yeah. I know. I half expected water nymphs and fairy angels to emerge from this lake dream.//

Swiss Mist.

It rained on us a bit, but that only added to glorious atmosphere. Because then there was mist. It was a castle set in the misty, mysterious mountains of the Swiss Alps. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh the freaking glory.