Turn Your Own Wheels

After we finally found the trail to the castles, it started pouring and we walked anyway. We got to the base of the mountain that the castles are on and it was so touristy, we decided that we didn’t need to see the interiors. Instead, we spent a couple hours wandering through the forest on the way back to town. Beautiful. Just beautiful. I honestly thought I had taken more pictures because we spent so much time there, but I must have been more focused on enjoying the moment.

I’m posting Füssen in two parts because what we saw in town and what we saw in the mountains was very different and we took a lot of pictures.

The town is cute- a lot like the other places that we had been to, but primed for tourists because it’s the closest stopping point by famous King Ludwig II’s Neuschwanstein Castle. We found a nice bed and breakfast right at the edge of town. It was run by an old woman who spoke no English. While I don’t speak German, we had no issues negotiating a room and I believe we discussed how her arthritis was bothering her.

Then we went exploring. We tried Schneeballen, a pastry whose existence foretold to us by our friend, Greg. He explained what they were in an excited tone, and then concluded the explanation with, “They’re not very good.”  Silly me, being the tourist, got one anyway. They’re not very good.

So we went looking for the castle. We didn’t find it right away. Instead, we found the the beautiful milky azure blue Lech River. I can’t find why exactly it’s the color that it is… something about limestone’s or mineral deposits… I don’t know. All I know is that it’s not radioactive and no one seems to be worried about it.

Beyond that, we also found a Franciscan cemetery. It was still in use, but there were tombstones that were several hundred years old and so dilapidated that it was difficult to even make out the dates.

Oh and ducks. We saw baby ducks.