Castles and More Austria

This weekend I took a trip to some castles about an hour and a half south of Munich. From there I went to Innsbruck, Austria and spent Saturday night. Sunday morning I drove about 20 miles south of Innsbruck to the Italian border (what? Winston hadn't been there yet!). Now that he has a passport, I figured I'd get a couple stamps in it, but he's been to 3 other countries now and nobody has ever been there to check! I literally crossed the border and turned around, but hey, it was close, right. I then took a road about 10 miles south of Innsbruck into the mountains and again was amazed by the scenery.

This one was the basis for the Disney castle (called Neuschwanstein) and supposedly the most photographed building in Germany. It actually wasn't built until the late 1800's.

This one was "across the street" from the one above (called Hohenschwangau) and was built in the early 1800's. King Ludwig had the one above built and lived there. He grew up in the one below. From rags to riches I would say.

This one was near the Austrian and German border. I really don't know if this one is real or just a new "playhouse" version of one. It almost looked fake, so I am reserving judgement!
These are all taken between the German border (the castles) and Innsbruck.

This area was too good to pass up taking a quick video, but think it might be took big to post because it's been freezing up my computer. Maybe it will work if I do it by itself.

This is in Innsbruck.

I ate dinner on the patio of a restaurant in Innsbruck and had Winston with me. This is what the waitress brought out with my beer. HA!

These are just south of Innsbruck.

Here is a video of some of the area where I took the picture above. It's really amazing how many places in Austria there are where you end up in a valley surrounded completely surrounded by mountains.

Back in Germany. This is near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, which if you didn't remember was where the 1936 winter Olympics were (yeah, not sure I remember that one either). Anyway, I went to the ski jump and walked inside the stadium where they land. No way, no how are you getting me to do that! They do let you bobsled at the Olympic stadium in Innsbruck though, so I might have to go back and try that. Innsbruck had the winter games in 1964 and 1976. You'd think I was an Olympics enthusiast as many Olympic sites as I've been to lately. Actually, I really don't even watch them that much when they are on, but just happens to be a lot of them around here.