Day 7: Royal Castles and a Luge
Daily Briefing
Today was a big day. No, today was a really huge day packed with excitement and adventure. Pam's FitBit showed that we had taken 24,343 steps, walked 10.19 miles and climbed 184 floors, challenging to say the least. It began with an optional 3 mile hike through the Austrian/German woods to the castles of Mad King Ludwig. The scenery and the weather were both beautiful. Ten tour members plus Reid took the hike while others preferred to have a more leisurely breakfast and a bus ride to the parking area. We had hiked for several miles when we came upon Alpsee, the lake that fronts Ludwig's castles. We stopped at the German border for a group photo then proceeded for another mile where we met the rest of the group. Pam and I choose to skip the shuttle and climb the hill to Neuschwanstein Castle which was a steep and strenuous grade. I was more than a little disappointed to learn that photos were prohibited in both of Mad King Ludwig's Castles and wondered whether this photo prohibition was what made him so "mad". But in the spirit of the "no grump" policy, I decided to roll with the punches. The castles were crowded but the buildings and their history were interesting. The day was just beginning and included a wonderful picnic lunch on the shore of the lake.
Next we went on a luge ride. View the video on the right to see how much fun it was. After we completed the luge ride, Rick took us on an optional tour of the Ehrenberg Castle ruins where we met Armin Walch, who is working hard to make the castles an historic and meaningful experience. Both of us ranked Ehrenberg as our top experience of the entire tour. Back at the hotel we had a group dinner and a special birthday celebration for Rick and Aynsley. We were very glad to go to bed this night. As a side note, this was our first of two laundry days. In the morning, we gave the hotel a bag with our dirty laundry and miraculously it returned to us clean and folded in the evening. This was an enormous aid since you feel like you have a fresh start clothes-wise. From Pam's Sketchbook
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A Few Words About: A Special Treat
After you've walked through alpine woods to see a mad kings castle, and after you've gone on a crazy luge ride that is fit for people half your age, and after you've climbed up to an abandoned castle built in the 13th century, you're pretty tired. So Reid and Trish came up with a solution: