Christmas in Germany and Czech Part 5 - Neuschwanstein Castle and Munich, Germany

Finally! The last two stops on our Christmas trip! On Monday, Dec 30th we headed from Munich down to the Neuschwanstein Castle, the most photographed building in Germany and one of the most popular tourist destinations.

The Neuschwanstein Castle was build by "mad" King Ludwig II. It's eccentric and romantic design is the inspiration for the sleeping beauty castle at Disney parks.

Next to the Neuschwanstein Castle is the Hohenschwangau Castle, the original summer and hunting residence built by Ludwig II's father, King Maximilian II.

We decided the boys would only make it through one long castle tour, so we decided to do the Neuschwanstein Castle.

Going into the castle courtyard.

The castle from the vantage of the courtyard.

They didn't allow photos inside, so here's the only picture from the castle, the view over the valley and lake below.

The next day, Dec 31st, we headed into downtown Munich before heading home.

It was a cold and rainy day.

So we didn't tour around much. We did stop and take the time to see the Rathaus-Glockenspiel in the tower of the New Town Hall, shown below.
The glockenspiel chimes each day at 11AM, so we waited in the crowds...

For the chimes and re-enactment of two 16th century German stories.

Here the first story, the jousting match plays out.

The boys were a bit underwhelmed at the chimes and moving life-size figurines, but I thought it was worth standing in the rain to watch ;)

Thanks for sharing our Christmas trip! I will try and get some more recent posts up soon!