Oh Schloss Neuschwanstein.

I would say my favorite part was the lovely view of the valley below and Alps in the distance, but it was so foggy we couldn't see anything! From the little town the bus drops you off in you're supposed to be able to see two castles. This one:

Castle Hohenschwangau, build by King Ludwig's father, where Ludwig grew up/took the throne. And Neuschwanstein, but it is much grander and on a much higher peak and was covered by mist. We walked about halfway up the road and it finally appeared:

Here's the view from the little tourist shop:

The inside of the castle tour didn't allow pictures, but I got this one before she informed us of that :)

The castle is actually unfinished so we only saw two-ish floors of it, but that is probably for the best, as I find the inside of castles overstimulating and generally unnerving. Just imagine the above picture as the blandest thing you've ever seen, then add five different types of gaudy wall paper in each of the open beige areas, trimmed with gold, enclosing a scene from a Wagner opera. Add some dark stain woodwork just as busy as the wall patterns, a giant chandelier shaped like a crown, take away half the natural lighting (since small arch windows in 5 foot thick stone walls don't tend to let in much light) and viola! You're standing in the Original "Fairy Tale" castle! Personally I like the version at Disneyland much better, but it was quite amazing to see and I will probably be touring some more completely finished castles, so pray for my sanity :))

After the tour we walked out to Marienbrucke (Mary's Bridge) for the best, most famous view of the castle:

hahaha. But I thoroughly enjoyed the view of the waterfall:

and this gentleman's lovely musical talent:

of which I listened to for probably half an hour. All in all a most excellent day :)