Home of Arnold!

Location: Pinswang, Austria

We stayed at really cute Farm House that was nestled in a valley. We were surrounded by mountains, very reminiscent of what you'd see in the sound of music. The Farm House used veggies from their garden to build the dinner salad, they have home grown eggs, a pygmy ponies in the yard. Down the country road you see an old man walking his bicycle with 4 dairy cows. It’s a very peaceful setting, you see few cars and the houses have a traditional German design.

This was a cute lady bug chocolate that was left on our beds when we arrived. I like how our pillows have been shaped like the Pope's hat in our hotel rooms! The staff at this hotel was so nice and accommodating. Even though we were getting up really early for breakfast (7:15) they still greeted us with a smile all the way through dinner.

Our event for the day consisted of visiting the two castles of King Ludwig (Oktoberfest honoree). His first castle was a modest one as far as castles go. Castle Hohenschwangau sits atop a cliff where he can overlook his town. Built in the 12th century Ludwig's dad rebuilt it in 1830 after Napoleon destroyed it.

This castle was by far the most ornate and luxurious one we've seen thus far. There is a wooden bridge that you hike up to above the castle were you get amazing views of the castle with the farmland and village in the background. Simply Beautiful.

Unsatisfied with his first castle, it became the summer home, and he started construction on another castle called Neuschwanstein, also known as the "Disneyland Castle". This is the castle that inspire Walt Disney's Cinderella's castle, awesome! This castle took 17 years to build and was Ludwig's dream castle. He used a medieval style even though its only 150 years old. Interestingly, only 1/3 of the castle's interior was finished, 17 of the 50 rooms completed. The tour we took in the castle led us through 15 of them. Ludwig died before he could see his dream castle completed, and only stayed in the inhabitable part of the castle for a year. All construction stopped after his death. I was super curious to see what the rest of the "unfinished" castle looked like. The same family lineage still owns the property and oversees the business.