Day twenty-eight and we started with a hearty breakfast from the kitchens of the Courtyard Marriott.

We made our way to the station to organise our days tour to Neuschwanstein Castle and to arrange our tickets to Paris. While at the station we had a bit of time to kill so we took the opportunity to use Burger King's free wireless.

Our guide arrived for Neuschwanstein and we set off following him and his umbrella. On the train ride to the castle he was quick to inform us that he was an historian rather then a guide and that he was also Swiss. He had a very odd presentation style (in fact he was just a very strange man) and was a complete contrast to the American guide the day before. I found him rather amusing, Sallie found him to be too much like a Deakin lecturer.

He did provide us with countless facts about Bavarian history and all the history behind the castles.

A quick little snippet on Neuschwanstein Castle, for those that may care. It is only one third complete. When King Ludwig II died, all work on his castles ceased. Even today he is not very popular amongst the Bavarians for the amount of money he wasted.

The castle itself is spectacular inside and out. Looking at the castle from the bridge offers the best angle to admire all the towers.

The master bedroom offers stunning woodcarvings that took eight men forty years to carve and yet the king never spent a night in the room. All the decorations in every room are incredibly bright, colorful and entertaining. The castle was built to honor the work of Richard Wagner and all the illustrations are influenced by his music. Wagner never visited the castle as he disagreed with Ludwig II building yet another castle.

We were also taken to a nice little place for lunch where we had time to mingle with some of the other people in our group. We had a great mix of nationalities from Romanians to South Africans (who had voices straight from Lion King) and a couple from Canada.

Sallie fell in love with some Bavarian Cheese Dumplings. Surprisingly, they are very similar to hot donuts and we enjoyed a few to many.

We stopped in the medieval village of Fussen for an hour on the way back and strolled the cobble streets.

The train ride back seemed to take a lot longer then the one in the morning. Everyone fell asleep and watching the heads bobbling around was rather amusing.

Back in Munich and we headed straight to Marienplatz for dinner. Our guide had recommended a restaurant to us called Donsil, and it turned out to be a great recommendation. The prices were affordable and the meals were a good size.

I went for a pork dish which came with a massive amount of crackle - which in Big Kev style had me very excited!

As we started eating Laurentiu and Elena, the Romanian couple from the tour, walked into the restaurant. They joined us and we had a great night learning all about Romania. I think they also liked hearing about our wildlife. Especially the daily gym session boxing with a kangaroo! (Sorry Sticko, in hindsight I should have said a giant Caramello Koala.)

Another strange coincidence from the night was that Elena works in accounting and Laurentiu works in advertising - very similar to us and somewhat amusing.

The beers and night went very quickly and before we knew it the restaurant was closing its doors and pushing us out. We said our goodbyes and jumped on the metro back to the hotel to prepare for Paris.