Rained during the night again and the morning is quite cool. Look around the Schloss park before the egg and bacon hotel breakfast. Pretty soon we’re on the road again heading to the castle that inspired Walt Disney’s Cinderella Castle. It gets warmer as the day goes and the clouds clear.
We’re finally off the autobahn and stop by Forggensee lake to let Cooper take a pee. From the shore you can just make out Schloss Neuschwanstein in the hills across the lake. It’s tempting to go for a swim but it’s not possible with a dog. At the launch site of a sailing club Cooper can at least cool his paws off. A ferry full of tourists drifts by. A man sits in his boat half naked under a red and white umbrella fishing. Have we found holiday heaven?
A charging station later and we’re at the world famous landmark. It’s crowded but we find a parking spot and walk up the steep path to the castle. It’s quite a hike in the heat. We didn’t buy a ticket to go inside but it’s pretty impressive just walking around. We queue for about 20 minutes to get onto the Marienbrücke to the best view (and most photographed). The reason it takes so long is because only 200 people are allowed on the bridge at the one time, and it is closely monitored. There is actually a LED screen informing exactly how many people are on the bridge. German precision. 200 people is still really crowded and it doesn’t feel really safe, but the view is truly amazing. A beer and some lunch in the restaurant on the way down gives us some energy to continue.
The next stop is Innsbruck in Austria where we will spend the night. Now we are up in the mountains and the roads are winding and the views spectacular. The hotel in Innsbruck is a modern ski resort hotel in an industrial area too far from the old center to walk. We take the car and go downtown to have some dinner and take a look.