Notes on our trip to Munich and Neuschwanstein Sept 7 -14. 2019

I enjoyed all the help these community posts gave me prior to our trip. I wanted to repay some, to just give
some random thoughts and observations made to our trip. We took Icelandair route. We traded a direct flight that
Lufthansa would have given us to using the money saved using Icelandair to give us a lot more leg room via some seats, and it not first class. Icelandair offers if you look via
seatguru.com. Note ,that most planes use buses to shuttle to and from the plane which makes often very close transfer times. And oh going outside from 72F in Munich to 30F degrees with 35mph winds was not encouraging to wanting to layover there. . .glad their pilots are used to landing/taking off in very difficult weather.
Unfortunately it rained the day and half we had in Munich. Most people you come in contact with speak English. Also if you are in rain, people in that city are obsessed with umbrellas. Like everyone uses one. Not hats, just umbrellas, just be careful walking.
A lot of the streets by the train station are having major repairs done to them. While nice to be in a place that actually cares about
its streets if you do any driving, there are many streets that are now one way and some turns can not be made. Yes please get the
GPS in your rental car if you go that transportation.The company will make sure it is in English if need be. Or try to save money and drive around for hours trying to find where you thought you could go to. Hofbrauhaus Munich. Hint, you don't have your own table if there is just 1 or 2 or 3 of you. They don't seat you. Just sit down at a table with others yes and enjoy the company. Germany is friendly. By a lot of hand gestures we had a good time with 2 girls from Russia. I liked what she was eating ,some pork dish so just
pointed to her plate at the waiter and said, that's what I'll have. good choice too. Note it is one of very few beer halls that has the oom pah band.

Drove to Neuschwanstein castle Monday morning. I know a lot of locals say bypass this 'fake' castle. That is like going to Paris and not seeing the Eiffel Tower, London to Big Ben., it is one of the world's most famous sites. It is true, it is more impressive on the outside, I agree. It is a lot of planning to see the inside, times are critical and yes you can reserve tickets some 3 months in advance, we did. Monday Sept 9 is not a very crowded time yet there are still tons of people around. Ican not imagine this place in the summer months. We showed up at 10:30am for our tickets for 12:10 English tour. They had a lot of tours available at that time, again do not think you will have that happen to you in Summer months. We were told it was an audio tour but a 12:25 was a live English tour so we agreed. Okay, first it is a very steep climb. We went the bus route not the horses. The bus is like a Disney terror ride. They overcrowd the bus and the driver loves going up steep very winding roads at very fast speed not realizing those with out seats are literally going all over. Welcome to Germany. They all drive a lot faster than we are used to in USA. More later.
The bus lets you of at Mary's Bridge . It is a very steep but short walk up to it. Yes the view is very very good.
I will mention, the path back to the castle and then from castle back to where bus takes you down is very steep up and down.
It is not stairs just a long path and those older or with walking issues so note it.
By the way the tour in the castle starts by climbing some 90 stairs up one of the castle's towers.
The tour was very uninspiring, The tour gal knew her English but was like reading a script. then again yes this castle had one occupant for all of 6 months and being built in 1880 was a feat in itself but was never used in a real battle for any reason.
It is a quick 30 min tour with out much enbellishment. And she never mentioned how to view the courtyard which has been used by many movies. I didn't think of that till we were down.