A long drive on a rainy day, a sick kid and lots of palaces

 After a few days, we left Switzerland for a long day's drive to Austria (its actually only 2 hours, but we took the long way to visit the Neuschwanstein Castle and the Linderhof Palace.  It was a pretty overcast and somewhat wet day, which was nice for the drive, but made for an interesting visit to the palaces.

NeuschwansteinNeuschwanstein

 The Neuschwanstein is famous because Disney castles are based off it.  We weren't the only ones interested in seeing this famous palace, nor were we aware of all it entailed.  To go into the castle, you need to book tickets well in advance and to get up to the castle is quite a hike (maybe 2 miles uphill?)  LT wasn't feeling good.  He had a pretty bad cold despite getting antibiotics for what we thought was just strep (I am still not convinced he even had strep...)  B insisted on being carried most of the way up, so Brian got a good workout.

 We had great intentions of taking a different route down for a better view, but the kids were tired and hungry and we knew there were places to stop on the route down that we had taken up. Despite all our effort, we didn't really get a very good view of the castle.

 The whole place was a bit reminiscent of Disneyland itself.  Lots and lots of crowds, many opportunities to buy overpriced merchandise and food (you even had to pay to use the bathroom) and and a lot of long lines.

 We got back in the car to drive to the Linderhof Palace (which was my favorite as a child because of the grotto that King Ludwig had.)  

 While the rain had mostly cleared out for this visit, it wasn't without challenges as well.  Our timed ticket for a guided tour of the palace was for 2 hours after our arrival.  We wandered around the grounds, but quickly realized that the grotto had been closed since 2014 and wasn't scheduled to open until 2021.  This was a huge disappointment for me because I have magical memories of only this palace.  

 These two had a great time running around the gardens, so it wasn't a huge waste.  And I think they learned a bit about the extreme loneliness King Ludwig created for himself from the tour.  I can't say it was the best day on our trip, but I am glad that they saw a little history while we were there.