Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the Sound of Music


Well, Tuesday I headed 2 hours south of Munich to the town of Hohenschwangau.  The tour leader was slightly bizarre and it was like being led by the Crocodile Hunter, but like he was leading small children.  Anyway we went to the castle of Neuschwanstein, built by the ever so crazy Ludwig II.  Ludwig spent tons of money trying to build castles that were inspired by sets for the composer Wagner’s operas… that seems like a good use of time.  Ludwig, as a grown adult, liked to hide in the woods in the hills at the base of the Alps and have his staff try and find him.  Ludwig died under mysterious circumstances at the age of 40… spooooky.
Anyway, the castle… hiked up to the castle from the town and then we went over a bridge where you can get really good views from the castle.  The interior of the castle looks like it was based on a children’s book.  The castle itself was the inspiration for the castle at Disney World and is the castle from… CHITTY CHIITY BANG BANG!  One of the best yet most traumatizing movies EVER!!  The child collector is creeeeeeepy!  I think I saw the movie (rereleased in the theater) with my mom, sister and brother (but I think he was an infant and it may have been his first movie).
After the tour of the castle we hiked down a small gorge along the river that had some pretty cool waterfalls.

Wednesday… I decided I had to go to Austria!  This morning I headed to Salzburg, home to Mozart and The Von Trapps.  Now, let’s discuss some inaccuracies in the movie…. That scene, when they’re crossed into Switzerland to escape the Nazis… IT IS ON THE GERMAN SIDE OF THE ALPS!!  They went back into Nazi territory!!!  Well, that was just the beginning of the fallacies of the movie.  However, no one can prove that Maria wasn’t fond of brown paper packages tied up in strings, so at least that song still holds water….
We had lunch at the oldest restaurant in Europe (804 I believe).  Then, because it was on a hill and I like hills, I hiked up to the fortress.  I think I have developed a problem where if I see something on top of a hill I must hike up to it, despite the buses, carriages, trams, etc.  that could take me up there.
Tomorrow is my LAST DAY in Europe!!  Ahhhhhhhh!!  So I will be exploring Munich a bit.

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