A rainy daytrip (our last in Munich, so there was no choice) to Schloss Neuschwanstein, and what fairytale glory! Only one as flamboyant as crazy King Ludwig II -- "Mad King Ludwig" -- could ever set out to accomplish such a brilliant feat. Forget architects & engineers; first, artists were called in to design the castle atop the German Alps, then the others would simply have to make it a reality. And there it lies nestled in the mountains across from Maximillian's castle, Hohenschwangau, emerging to announce its splendor to passers-by, demanding attention, requiring genuflection (if only in one's mind). How could one's blood not boil up in excitement? How does such a castle exist outside of legends, of Brothers Grimm? Well, it's made apparent what someone obsessed with stories, mythology-based operas (by Wagner, of course) & life's drama might do with a nation's taxes. (Better than war, right?) Is the beautiful Cinderella castle all? Of course not! no, no: add scandle! Only 172 days of inhabitance, and Ludwig was expelled, dethroned & found drowned in the nearby lake. Neuschwanstein was never completed. A sense greater than the unexplained (haunting?) lingers as one moves from one elaborately carved & painted room to the next, important furnishings never created (i.e. the throne room's throne). What would have been, had the castle been finished? It's gorgeous, yet leaves one with a sense of its emptiness. What exactly was Ludwig's fate? Does he still fill Neuschwanstein's corriders, rooms? Ghosts are not logical, but chills of beauty and mystery run through one's bones. Oh, Neuschwanstein! Nothing is left to the romantic's imagination: cliffs, ravines, waterfalls, spires & turrets, paths winding through forests to meet a castle (once only existing in legends) on its rocky throne. It is a storybook castle -- no animators, no cinematographers could surpass Neuschwanstein. A bit disappointed in the rain, but how marvelous to see mists rolling down the mountains, enveloping Ludwig's hommage to Wagner. How thrilled I was to hike through the Alps (me, in the Alps!) to Marienbrucke for the view, clouds so dense they cushioned my steps.

When I return home, I'd like to spend time camping in the Appalacians, hike & write.