After a few great days in Paris, we were off to our next stop- Schwangau, in the south of Germany.It was an early start to the day, partly because it was a 9 hour drive, but mostly to avoid the ridiculous Parisian traffic. So, with a 4:30am alarm and a lighter wallet due to the exorbitant cost of parking in Paris, we were off.
Other than the excitement of crossing the border and entering Germany for the first time, the drive was largely uneventful- until we started reaching the mountains. When one of us first mentioned that the ground outside looked like it had snow on it, the rest of us dismissed the though, saying that it must be dead grass or ash from a fire. Twenty minutes later though, we stopped excitedly on the side of the highway to discover enough snow to allow us to make a little snowman.
Our little snowman
Another twenty minutes after that though, we felt ridiculous at having been excited with such a small amount of snow. As we drove, it got thicker and thicker until all we could see all around us was just white. We could see the storm ahead of us that was leaving the snow, but we didn't manage to catch it. When we stopped again, the snow was so thick and fluffy that all we could do for half an hour was have snowball fights and build a massive snowman that put our previous effort to shame. We then noticed that the snow we were throwing and dirtying was actually the front lawn of an expensive looking hotel, so it was back in the car before they came out to kick us off.
Our big snowman
Me losing at snowball fights
Schwangau is quite a small little town, it's call to fame being it's proximity to the Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles. We spent most of our time in the Hohenschwangau castle grounds enjoying the snow, taking photos of the lake and doing the walk up to the actual castle which looks down on the grounds. This walk would be lovely at any time of the year, but with snow falling from the trees and big icicles hanging from every stable surface it was incredible.
Hohenschwangau castle grounds, from the base of the castle
Hohenschwangau castle
As we were driving back from the castles in the evening, we saw a snow covered field with a small wooden cabin just visible through the thick mist. It was very simple compared to all the fanfair of Paris and the magnificence of the German castles, but for me it was one of the greatest moments of the whole holiday when we stopped and walked through it and took some photos.
Cabin in the mist
On the one night that we stayed in Schwangau, we went to an awesome little restaurant which served massive portions of authentic German food for very cheap prices. I had a huge schnitzel washed down with a stein of Radler- delicious.
We were also planning to go to the Neuschwanstein castle, which is apparently the inspiration behind the castle on the Disney logo, but it was a few kilometers away and due to the snow the shuttle bus was not running and time constraints meant we did not have time to walk or catch the horse-drawn carriage there. Also unfortunate was that the castle had scaffolding all along the side so was not great for photos. We did get many amazing photos, here's just a few of my favourites.
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