We had breakfast at the hotel before setting off to see the Linderhof Palace.  On our way out of Lechaschau, we stopped at a small beach we had driven by the night before, just to soak in the view:

After Linderhof, Chris, Steven and Nick stayed behind to do some more trip planning, and the rest of us went on to Neuschwanstein Castle (otherwise known as the "Disney" castle).  We quickly learned that a visit here should really be a full day event.  We waiting in line for about 15 minutes to buy tour tickets, only to discover the tours were sold out until 2pm.  Since the castle is located at the top of a long, steep, hill, we elected to take the horse buggies up to the castle.  This was another 15-20 minute wait.


We didn't have tour tickets, so we couldn't go inside the castle, but we could explore the grounds and walking paths around it, and stopped at a couple of overlooks to enjoy some fantastic, idyllic views.


After our hike around the castle, we returned to the nearby town and met the three guys at a restaurant.  We then began our drive up the Romantic Road to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, a walled city from medieval times that is still remarkably well-preserved and alive today.  After driving our cars through the very narrow entrance to the city wall, and through narrow, cobbled alleyways, we dropped our bags off at the hotel.  We broke off into groups and wandered around taking in the sights and the shops, the parks, buildings, and of course the city wall.  We met back at the hotel around 7pm and ate at the restaurant there.  After dinner, Robin, Matt, and Amalie called it a night while Chris, Steven, Nick, Ryan, Lori and I went to a bar outside the wall.  We were there until it closed at midnight, and then we came back and wandered the city.

Many parts of the wall can still be walked, by ascending a narrow stairway and walking along a narrow pathway at the top of the wall, connecting the various towers along the wall.  The path is sunk into the wall so that the stone wall rises on each side, with arrow slits on the exterior side.

After a while we were tired of walking, and we returned to the hotel where earlier we had noticed a vending machine full of beer.

Helping ourselves to some vending machine beer (and trust me, it was as tasty as it sounds), we sat on an old well and chatted for awhile.  Ryan learned to open a beer bottle with his wedding ring.

We shortly discovered that a bar right next to our hotel had been open this whole time, and stayed open until 2am.  We abandoned our vending machine beer for the bar, but didn't last terribly long before we decided it was time for bed.