Day 9: "

After a cozy night in the castle-side hotel, we woke up and got to breakfast as early as it opened, 8. We ate our usual meat and cheese and bread before taking the hike (in the rain and cold) to the castle, donning our ponchos and rain coats.

Upon getting up there, we found that our tour did not start until 10:10. It was only 9, so we decided to walk around and enjoy the view and watch the weather improve. We bought a coffee mug at the gift shop and made a few runs back down to the hotel. After taking some pictures for other tourists and staring at the castle from below, we headed around the bend and got ready for our tour.
Once inside, we learned about King Ludwig II and how he built the castle around his own medieval fantasies, inspired by Wagner's Operas. He wanted to live just as a medieval king would have (with all the technology of the 1880s, of course). But, 13 years after the castle started, Ludwig was dethroned and found dead 3 days later. Construction on the castle halted, and it remains about half finished to this day. It's missing a keep and an entire garden, and the whole second floor is undeveloped. The completed floors were filled with beautiful paintings of scenes from legends that Ludwig liked, and he apparently didn't let anyone use the same staircase as he did or enter his Singing Hall.
We then hiked all the way down the hill to the main city and stored our luggage in an information center, before heading to the Hohenschwangau, where the royal family lived during the summer months. The castle was yellow with red terracotta roofing, and surrounding it was a beautiful garden with fountains of swans. Apparently, the swan was the favorite animal of both Ludwig II and his father, Maximilian. There were swan fountains, swans painted in the walls, and swans on the chandeliers. This castle, too, was full of paintings, but of historical events as opposed to legends. Historical events, that is, excluding the woman being eaten by a dragon. It's easy to see why young Ludwig fell in love with fairytales and wanted a world of his own.

After finishing our tour, we made a mad dash down to the bus stop and then to the train station, just in time for the 4:00 train to Munich. After a two hour ride with a transfer in the middle, we made it to Munich. We dumped our stuff and decided to shop around a little in the old city.
And here's where it happened- in the Sports Scheck of the old city, there was a display with the jerseys of all the teams (in ranking order) of Bundesliga. In the number 4 spot there they were- 2 Hoffenheim jerseys. Overjoyed, Abby bought the one with Rupp's name, #7, who plays midfield. Our country wide search for the legendary jersey was finally finished!
We were all tired and hungry, so we stopped at a Biergarten for dinner. It was sort of cafeteria style, so we ate Bratwursts and french fries while admiring the gardens that surrounded us. After dinner, we headed back to the hotel for a good night of sleep. I'll update you tomorrow on our adventures in Austria.