3 & 4 Jun 11 – Day 1 & 2 (Munich & Fussen)

Left the house at 9pm and waited at the pickup point for Kim. Reached Changi Airport Terminal 1 about 9:30pm and Mag was already there with a small cabin bag and a Fila sport bag. Found the tour guide Cecilia and went to Row 2 to check-in our luggage. Kim’s luggage weighed about 15kg while Mag and mine weighed about 10.5kg each. After that, we went to Ruyi for some food. Kim and I had hot and sour seafood noodle soup while Mag had red bean soup with rice balls. After we were done, we walked around more and Mag bought some mini sausages to eat. She also bought a magazine and a small bottle of Tiger balm.

Checked-in about 11:50pm and waited at the designated gate. Boarded the plane at 12:55am and it took off around 1:10am. We were given light meals which consisted of pan-fried parrot fish with red pepper, mashed potato, blueberry cheesecake, dinner bun and orange juice around 2:50am. The plane landed at Colombo around 4:40am before taking off again to Dubai around 6am. Watched a little of the movie “Unknown” but was snoozing most of the time coz was simply too tired.

Landed in Dubai about 6am and by the time we gathered it was already 6:30am. Followed the tour guide to do security clearance and then it was F&E time till boarding at 8am. Walked a few rounds in airport, browsed some shops, looked at prices of gold before going to the toilet and boarded the plane at the stated time. The plane delayed close to an hour before finally taking off at 9:30am. It was terrible waiting for the plane to take off while inside the plane in Dubai coz of the glare and also the heat sipping into the plane (I was allocated the window seat).

Shortly after the plane took off, we were served breakfast which consisted of cold cut, croissant, bun, fruits, coffee etc. Slept for a while and then watched “The Resident”, rest a while and continued with “Season of the Witch”. Suddenly my left arm brushed against something rough and I was shocked to find a foot on my arm rest. Fortunately after a few minutes, the uncle put his foot down. About an hour later or so, lunch was served. Gosh, I was eating non-stop since boarded the plane.

A couple of pictures of the meals I ate during the journey

Finally the plane touched down in Munich around 1:10pm but we only gathered about 2pm coz our luggage came out late. We moved off from the airport at 2:30pm to go to the Neuschwanstein Castle in Fussen. It took us about two over hours to reach the village of Hohenschwangau and which is dominated by car parks, restaurants, guesthouses, hotels and souvenir shops. By then it was 4:30pm so took some photos of the Hohenschwangau Castle (Schloss Hohenschwangau) and the Neuschwanstein Castle (Schloss Neuschwanstein) from a distance. We walked around the village while waiting for Cecilia to get the tickets for the bus to go up to Neuschwanstein Castle. The castle was up on the mountain and while looking up, saw some people doing paragliding.

The village of Hohenschwangau

Neuschwanstein Castle from afar

Queued up for the shuttle bus and there were three members missing. Cecilia panicked and went to search for them and only to find them coming out from the toilet coz there was a very long queue. The three of them ended up behind the queue with some other people between us and them. The tour guide dare not moved the three forward to join the rest of us coz she was afraid that those in between would start scolding her.

It started drizzling while waiting for the bus and it got heavier. By the time the bus came for us to board, it was pouring. A lot of us had to squeeze into the bus coz it was the last bus for the day. The road was winding and when we got to the top, we alighted and headed for shelter to wait. None of us brought umbrella coz Cecilia told us there was no need to since it was sunny at the time we alighted from our coach. Waited for the rain to get smaller and Cecilia went to get us some ponchos. All members except Kim, Mag and me put on ponchos. The three of us walked briskly towards the castle and along the way took some photos.

Reached the castle and waited again for 6:35pm for the guided tour so in the meantime, we took more photos. Went to the ladies and when I came out I saw Kim bought a postcard with stamps on it but I didn’t have the time to get for myself. Soon the guided tour started and we were not allowed to take photos inside the castle. Couldn’t really hear what the guide was saying coz there were a lot of talking and the guide wasn’t loud enough. The tour ended about 7pm and since it was raining and there was no bus, we had to put on our ponchos and walked down. It was really taking a toll on me coz I have phobia of walking down slopes on rainy day. I kept thinking if I would slip on my pair of sneakers while walking down.

Some photos of Neuschwanstein Castle :

Finally reached the base, Cecilia was pissed with a few members coz they walked on down another path on their own when came to the intersection half way down the mountain. Headed to the restaurant at 8pm for dinner where we had vegetable clear soup and sausages. Sat with a family of three consisted of a mother and two daughters in their twenties. Dinner ended at 9pm and we checked into our hotel. The room only had the basic things, no kettle and the shower space was really small such that I had very little room to maneuver.

My dinner :

Thoughts: The bad weather and long flight made me very disappointed with the trip. Would have been good if we were given more time in the castle to explore.