“Stuff your eyes with wonder, live as if you’d drop dead in ten seconds. See the world. It’s more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories.” – Ray Bradbury

The final scheduled day of our “Europe’s River’s and Castles” adventure did not disappoint. Each day I think, well yesterday was just incredible, and the next day turns out to be equally magnificent. As promised we wound our way by bus through the Alps and the countryside of Bavaria.  The hills were rolling and I swear they were alive with the sound of music if you let imagination be your guide.

Fortunately, we had a tour guide not just the voices in my head,  and we headed to Linderhof Caste for a tour and view of the grounds.

The grounds and the castle interior were spectacular and we were prohibited from taking photos  inside. None the less we did an impromptu photo shoot outside!

There was a magical grotto, a man-made cave, that was unimaginable.

After this our merry band made our way back to the bus for a trip to Hohenschwangau.

We sat outside as it was a beautiful sunny day and spectacular views of the Alps (and insane hang gliders)  while we enjoyed German lunch at Alpenrose am See.

We had a reservation to tour Schloss Neuschwanstein. It is a nineteenth century Romanesque Revival palace built on a rugged hill ( trust me it is a hill).  It was commissioned by Ludwig of Bavaria as a retreat and homage Richard Wagner and built out of his own personal funds.  It was built as a personal refuge for himself and opened after his death in 1886 to the paying public. It served as the inspiration for Disney’s Sleeping Beauty Castle!

The castle had hundreds of stairs but was worth the trip.  My Fitbit finally gave up on me after 13,942 steps and 72 floors and asked to be returned to its rightful owner!

We returned to our hotel weary but happy opting for dinner at the restaurant adjoining the hotel as we were all exhausted and looking forward to a relaxing unscheduled day on our own tomorrow.

A rare sighting of Linda and Skip!

“To me, the magic of photography, per se, is that you can capture an instant of a second that couldn’t exist before and couldn’t exist after. It’s almost like a cowboy that draws his gun. You draw a second before or after, you miss and you’re dead – not them. To me, photography’s always like that.”

~Mario Testi