OUT OF A FAIRYTALE

Most small towns and villages in Switzerland (and all of Europe for that matter) have a church, an old town, and a castle. As the boys have articulated on several occasions, not all castles are created equal!  Understandably, they have a very specific impression of what a castle should be...drawbridges, moats, high towers, lookouts, knights in shining armor.  It isn't surprising then, that several of the smaller and more house-like structures that are still classified as castles have not lived up to the boys' expectations.  So, Chris and I decided to take them to a castle that would meet...and in this case, exceed, their expectations.  We headed to Fussen, Germany to visit Neuschwanstein (and it's neighboring castle, Hohenschwangau)-both inhabited by King Ludwig.   Although the area is a bit tourist trappy-it is worth fighting the crowds to get a tour of these impressive castles.  There were no pictures allowed inside, but Neuschwanstein (only partially finished due to Ludwig's untimely death), was a spectacle of royalty and wealth that had not only the boys mouths hanging open, but mine as well.  We stayed in a cute little hotel with a view of Neuschwanstein and enjoyed a delicious traditional Bavarian dinner.  We rode a horse-drawn carriage to the top of the mountain to reach the castle, and the boys really got a kick out of the fact that the horse directly in front of Chris was experiencing some bad gas...I thought they were going to laugh their little selves right off of the buggy! (poor Chris wasn't as amused) 
The only drawback of the trip was during our drive to Germany.  We got pulled over at an Autobahn checkpoint, only to find out that we were in Austria (surprise! Chris turned to me and said, "did you even know we were in Austria?"...nope!), and that we were driving without an Austrian vignette.  (a sticker you must buy and post on your windshield to drive on the highway)   The fine was a whopping 120 Euro!  OUCH.  That's a hefty fine to pay for a 10 minute trip through a teeny tiny corner of Austria. (especially when the cost for the vignette is only 7 Euro!)  Guess we should have paid closer attention to the map.  Again, a lesson we hope to only have to learn once.  Once we hit the Autobahn in Germany Chris really enjoyed opening up our little BMW wagon to see what she could do...and lets just say that her reputable German engineering didn't let us down!