Today was the last true vacation day of the trip with a few final sights to see as well as trying to make some mileage back to Heidelberg. We awoke to another beautiful day and had maybe the best breakfast of the trip at the Eibsee Hotel. This was some kind of spread with a plethora of different kinds of breads, wonderful teas and French toast to boot. Dad and I ate and he told me stories of traveling with Mom in Germany some 40 years ago.
After breakfast we walked up to the Zugspitze tram station and I fully expected to be taking the trip alone, but the weather was totally clear and it was quite warm. The tram was not to open till 9 but they were going to let us on at 8:30 with the supplies going up to the restaurant. It was a great opportunity and Dad relented and took the ride. Once again we were treated to one of the most memorable experiences of the trip and the ride up was exhilarating and the mountain views we had at the top went on forever.
Dad did really, really well. He never complained once and only sat down on the floor of the tram on the way up. Once up top he never got right to the edge of the railing but got very close for some fantastic candid pictures. It was really quite amazing being up there. No doubt it was the highest up we had been on the trip and I think the Zugspitze is the highest mountain in Germany so you are well above all the other surrounding peaks. There are three trams that come to the top which in total covers a space not bigger than a football field. There are restaurants and viewing platforms and inside are souvenir shops and bathrooms and it is all very modern and safe. How they ever built the structure and poured all the concrete is beyond me. I will never, ever, forget my ride up the Zugspitze. We left the Eibsee and headed towards Neuschwanstein Castel near Fussen in Bavaria. We had to travel for about 30k thru Austria and I must admit I found this area of the country much more pleasant. It reminded me quite a bit of Montana with deep river cut valleys flanked by forested mountains rising steeply from the water and every so often a giant rocky peak would show itself around a corner. Once back in Germany it was not long before we turned on the access road to the castle and quickly found ourselves in the center of a tourist nightmare.
Neuschwanstein is the castle that the Disney princess castle is modeled after. It was built by Ludwig II in the 1860’s roughly and he died “mysteriously” in a lake near Munich before it was completed. Considering these were the only crowds we had seen in three weeks and this was a decidedly touristy thing to do I made a conscious effort to take it all in stride and enjoy the experience. 
We took the bus up to the drop off point above the castle and first walked to the bridge that Dad remembered being so scared on many years ago. He told me the last time here was here it was just he and Mom and their two friends and he could barely walk across. Now the bridge was crammed full of tourists from all over the world taking photos and generally being a mass of bodies. Dad made it over the bridge no problem, partly due, I am sure to the fact that there we so many people on it he likely never got a perspective of the actual height. We climbed up a steep ridge and took some photos. I went up above Dad and really scared myself as the ridge got narrower and the drop farther down. I was careful not to ever put myself in danger and was always 5-10 feet back from the edge, but still, it got my heart pumping. I made a quick video and was too nervous to take out my photo camera and made my way back down very slowly and carefully. We took a break for a soda and pretzel as we had an hour to wait for our tour. My feet ware also killing me because I was in my black leather motorcycle boots and it was very hot and sweaty. I was certain I was getting blisters on my toes as there is a lot of hilly walking to and from the castle. Our tour was short but very interesting. As the castle is only a few years older than the Biltmore Estate, most all the open rooms were in wonderful shape and the craftsmanship of the woodcarvings and paintings was incredible. King Ludwig had one of the first telephones in Europe which I found fascinating and unlike other Kings, he was very specific not to have any imagery of himself around the castle. There was only one family crest in the whole place that would tell you who the owner was.
Because my feet could not handle the walk down the hill we took the bus and got back on the bikes heading for and undetermined destination. We figured we’d get somewhere closer to Heidelberg and assumed we’d find a hotel along the way.We ended up in the small town of Pfaffenhausen in a very small Gasthaus where Dad and I essentially are sharing a bed. We went to dinner at a Bier garden down the street and had pizza and some dunkles (dark beer) that were outstanding. I asked the waiter (originally from Kosovo) if the beer was local and he pointed to what I thought was a garden light with some advertising for Storchen Brau. After dinner we took a walk around town and Dad said he thought he saw a local brewery and I realized the waiter was not pointing to the light but rather thru the Bier Garden bushes to the brewery. We walked up to the location and ended up meeting the Bier Master who was watering the plants. We had a great conversation with him, telling him about our trip and how much we enjoyed his beer and he seemed quite grateful. This stop in Pfaffenhausen was one of the more locally colored experiences on our trip. We were obviously the only foreigners in the town and as we walked up and down the blocks the people we passed would greet us kindly with a wave or nod or German accented “Hallo”. The homes were in a simple architectural style and there was no sense that anything was done with tourists in mind. The innkeeper did not speak a word of English although she would talk to me at length as if I understood every word. I feel very comfortable in Pfaffenhausen.
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