Leavenworth's Report Card

Well, I’ve officially been to the real Bavaria now and have prepared a report card for Leavenworth to see how the tourist trap theme-town compares with the real thing.
Natural Setting : A The mountains here are gorgeous and they actually remind us a lot of home. We kind of miss that place :) .
Touristy gift shop selection : A- Much of what we saw here could easily have come from Leavenworth
Town appearance : B+ Window boxes? Check. Shutters? Check. Decorative details? Check. White and Brown color scheme on building? Check. May pole? Check. Church steeple? Nein. Cows? Not nearly enough. Castle? See below. Horse-drawn carriages? Check.
Castles : F We’ll go with a pass/fail here and since Leavenworth has none…they fail.
Store Music : D In Leavenworth, all stores play German-y type music. In Bavaria (and Germany in general) they play American music…especially ca. 1980’s American music.
German Bands : A- We miss you, Jeff and Crystal, every time we see a German band here :) Leavenworth gets an A- because the band can’t possibly consume as much beer as the bands here did :) .
Climate : Well, it rained on us, so we’re going to say that Leavenworth’s climate is superior. Judging by the ferns and moss, it rains quite a bit here.
Other outer tourist activities: A- Lots of hiking, white water rafting, etc in Bavaria and Leavenworth!

Here I sit in by far the nicest hotel that we will stay in on this trip. We’re in Fussen, Germany in Bavaria. We’re staying at a lovely hotel set in a park-like area of town. The path to town from our place meanders along the Lech River until it comes to the old city wall and then you find yourself in a ridiculously picturesque German village with huge mountains towering over it. As the train climbed the vivid green rolling foothills to this town, you could see the white form of Neuschwanstein Castle on the mountains above the neighboring town. We had a bit of time before the first bus headed out to the castles, so we hefted our packs to our hotel, about a 10 minute walk, got a map from the extremely helpful gal at the desk and then took the path (described above) back to town. We arrived just in time to cram onto a bus with the hordes of other tourists (and this isn’t even peak season!) and take the 10 minute bus ride to the neighboring town. Neuschwanstein actually stands on a mountain directly across from the castle that King Ludwig II (who built it) grew up in. We started by touring that castle: Hohenschwangau (which means Highpoint of Swanland--the swan is the signet bird of the Bavarian royal family). Hohenschwangau was beautiful. It’s current structure and furnishings date to the early-mid 1800’s when it was rebuilt after Napolean had destroyed it. It’s still owned by the Duke of Bavaria and all the furnishings are original which was unique to the castles we’ve seen. It was pretty elaborate, used as a “retreat” home for the Bavarian royal family. The family history is quite interesting. Ask me about it if you want to know more, but I won’t bore those who don’t care with details. :)

Ludwig II modeled Neuschwantstein after the stories told in Wagner’s operas, pretty much a literal “fairy-tale castle“. Wagner was a friend of his. Only 1/3 of the castle was complete when Ludwig was deposed and he only lived there 172 days. What was completed is unbelievable though. It was built in the mid-late 1800’s and again, everything’s original. I’ve never seen anything like the throne room. Throughout the castle, the moldings and floors and furniture and doors all required more man-hours than I can imagine and there’s even a room that looks like a cave, including stalactites! Everything is very grand and every inch of wall space is painted with murals and designs. And the incredible interior cannot compare with the magnificent views! I think I took a picture out of almost every window, but the best views were from the throne room and the king’s living quarters, looking towards Hohenschwangau, Alpsee Lake and the peaks beyond. So beautiful! I was kind of expecting Neuschwanstein to be disappointing, since I’ve wanted to see it since I was a little girl…but it was really, really cool! :)

We headed back to town for dinner and after dinner the sun was actually shining, so we sat at the edge of a fountain in the town square and ate lemon sorbet in the sun. As we headed back to our hotel, we heard music coming from the courtyard behind the Rathaus (city hall) and stumbled upon a free concert. We didn’t stay long as the sun had disappeared and clouds threatened rain again, but it was another lovely and unexpected moment. And now the birds are singing outside our window, I hear the fountain in the pond nearby and I’m going to go take a shower and settle in to this really inviting bed!