This is an image of one of the 3 castles built by "mad" King Ludwig of Bavaria. This castle, called "Linderhof" is the smallest of the three, the only one that was completed before his death, and the only one the king actully lived in for more than a few months.
This is an image of the fountain outside Castle Linderhof. It's one of the most ornate (and guilded) I saw on the trip.
Here's a picture of the surrounding countryside around Castle Linderhof. As you can see, the fall colors were really good when I was there (the week before Halloween).
This is an image of the second of Ludwig's castle, Neuschwanstein. This is the castle that was used as the basis for the castle in Disney's Snow White. The castle itself was built as a monument to the composer Richard Wagner, whom was good friends with the king (and possibly a bit more if you believe the rumors). Only 1 of the 3 floors of the castle was even mostly finished before Lugwig's mysterious death.
This is a picture of the bridge that I took the previous picture from. The bridge is actually older than the castle.
The next few shots are from Saltzburg Austria. Saltzburg is generally known for two things. The first is that it was the birthplace and boyhood home of Amadeus Mozart. This is the status of Mozart from one of the city squares. You'll also notice several bizarre looking cow statues scattered about. Apparently this was an art school project by the local university - they were EVERYWHERE.
The second thing Saltburg is know for is that it's the area where they shot most of the scenes for the movie "The Sound of Music". This is a picture of the Fortress of Hohensaltzburg which was one of the places shot. The fortress was originally built to protect the local Archbishop (the primary landowner and religious leader for the area). This particular line of Archibishops was known to be particularly ruthless, so the fortress was not only to protect from outside invaders, but also from the local people...
Here's a shot of the city of Saltzburg from the fortress itself.
The nothern part of Austria likes it's painted houses as much as Bavaria. Here's a shot of one of the coolest painted builds I saw.
The next few shots were from the "lake region" outside Saltzburg. These shots were taken from a half hour boat ride we did across the lake.
