Castle in the Sky

We were sorry to leave the Filser Hotel. What a lovely hotel, and what a quaint, peaceful little town of Fussen! Our dinner and breakfast at the hotel were both delicious!

But the adventures must continue! On tap for today: visiting King Ludwig's Neuschwanstein Castle. (Neuschwanstein = New Swan Rock.) It was just a short drive from Fussen. The king died before it was complete, and once he died, construction stopped. Only 1/3 of the rooms were complete, and so that is what we saw on our tour. We had a steep hike up to the castle, but some people took a horse-drawn carriage:

Here we are with the picturesque castle in the background:

Here is the castle itself, regaled in fall color:

Here is what the view looks like in the surrounding area:

The lake was just gorgeous, and we even visited a marina with sailboats! Brock declared that he could live here.

From here, we drove just two hours into Switzerland and our next destination, Appenzell! The border crossing was a non-event - we didn't have to stop. And then immediately we were driving on windy mountain roads!

The town of Appenzell is where Appenzeller cheese and Appenzeller beer originate. It's a small town, and our hotel is located right on the town square, with a bar/patio on the first floor and a restaurant on the second floor. Our room was on the top floor in the front of the building.

Here is what the Romantic Hotel Santis looks like:

We enjoyed some shopping around town. This store looked really tacky from the outside, but it had some pretty nice merchandise inside:

We had a gourmet dinner at the hotel; I had the salmon which was excellent. Brock had the perch, but his dish was not seasoned as well as mine. The dining room was lovely.

Every small town we have stayed in has a church that chimes on the hour and half hour. This is pleasant during the day, but not so nice when you are trying to sleep at night. This necessitates sleeping with the windows closed, which is not always optimal. But we have been blessed with great weather so far.

This morning (Friday) we awoke to rain, however. Today (September 29) is our 16th wedding anniversary! Our next stop is Bad Ragaz, Switzerland. Goodbye, Appenzell!