7/1/2011 near Innsbruck, Austria 22:00

Early morning again today. we headed out before 8 to germany to see Neuschwantstien and Hohenshwangau. Hohenschwangau was a summer/hunting residence for the royal family and is really very grand inside. there are lots of paintings on the walls and lots of intricate woodwork. The kind nag queen lived on separate floors, as was the custom of the time, with the children in a different building entirely. Ludwig, son of maximillian, was the one who built neuschwanstien. He was good friends with Wagner (the composer) and dedicated each of the rooms to a different one of his operas. He only lived in the palace for less than 300 days before a secret embassy from munich arrived to tell him that he was suspected of being mentally unstable and unfit to rule. they took him up to see a doctor to verify his condition. He travelled up, but before seeing the doctor, was found dead in the shallow waters of a lake. 125 years later we still don't know what happened-murder, suicide, or freak accident. Construction on the castle was immediately halted and it was never finished. This is the castle that walt disney based cinderella's castle off of. it started pouring rain really hard after that, so we just headed home, made dinner, and planned for tomorrow.