Holding on for Dear Life: Hiking in Bavaria

It's been a while since I've updated the old blog and I know my single reader (I'm looking at you, Mom) is probably wondering what happened. Answer: This past weekend I went to Füßen which is better known as the town in which Neuschwanstein is located. Neuschwanstein was the model for Disney's Sleeping Beauty's castle. There is also a ton of stunning scenery-- Füßen (which also means feet in German) is, logically, located at the foot of the Bavarian Alps.

Val and I decided it would be a good idea to explore the surrounding landscape, especially since the weather was amazing. Here are a few pictures that I took. Don't give me too much credit, we were just walking and we'd literally just stumble into a postcard-worthy view. It was very difficult to take an unattractive picture.

15.06 : We did some hiking around the Alpsee and Schwangau. The weather was spectacular and the water was frigid. Here are 2 of my favorite pictures, both taken at the Alpsee.

15.06: Recovery drink of choice after hiking day 1. King Ludwig II was the King that built Neuschwanstein. It seemed appropriate to try his beer. Also, it stormed like crazy this night, but we made it back to the Hostel  right before it really started to pour (Happy Sleep Hotel-- run by a nice Asian lady who spoke German but not much English,  who also gave us free ice cream, so we weren't complaining).

Coming down the other side of Tegelberg

Neuschwanstein from the Marienbrücke

16.06: This is when things got a little crazy. Val and I decided we would climb Tegelberg. It looked like a moderately difficult hike, so we were like, "Sure, we can do this. We're in good shape." Half way through, this hike turns into a legitimate climb. With cables and harnesses and whatnot. After I stopped panicking and Val convinced me to climb this cable-y section with no harness (or experience, mind you) we made it to the top of Tegelberg and signed our names in the log at this cave/grotto thing. It was intense, but completely worth it. I would do that again in a second.

Totals:

Beer: 7 (+1 Löwenbräu, +1 König Ludwig Dunkel, +1 Augustiner Bräu)

Lederhosen: 16 (+1 at Füßen, +4  servers at Biergartens have a penchant for wearing Bavarian clothes)

P.S. there are 2 things I miss most about America-- free wifi and air conditioning. I definitely will not take that for granted when I get back! It has been too hot here for the past 3 days for this 'no a/c' nonsense.