So yesterday, Saturday, we booked a tour to Neuschwanstein Castle. Our tour included a really nice coach bus to transport us to Füssen , Germany. The name Füssen translates to "foot" as the village literally sits at the foot of the alps, while the castle, Neuschwanstein, has served as inspiration for the Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyworld as well as an important location in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Part of the tour earlier in the day involved a bike ride around Swan Lake, offering spectacular views of the castle. What neither of us knew much of was the tandem para gliding trips they offered over the castle and alps. So my first move was to get Mike involved and excited so we could sort-of do it together. That didn't really go anywhere. Advice from others and the guides got me too involved not to do it, so I signed up to jump off the Alps. This has, so far, been the highlight of the trip. While the rest of the group carried on with the bike ride, I hurried to a shed to get ready for para gliding. It all happened so fast: I signed some paper, got on a cable car (almost freakier than the flight) and ended up standing on top of a mountain in a wind suit, helmet and some arm straps attached to the seat in which I rode in. There was a line up there- because of the beautiful weather everyone was rearing to go-so we waited patiently. Actually, I waited nervously. When our turn came around, the guide laid the chute out on the platform and set me in position. Now I was seriously nervous as I was facing a downward ramp that led to a cliff at the top of a mountain. Not much time passed before the guide came up behind me, clicked on to me, told me to run and POOF, the chute was aloft and we were in the air. HOLY SHIT, I thought. I had to manually push the seat under me while he was telling me to lean forward and adjust some straps...I though I was going to fall out of the sky. Minutes into the ordeal I was in shock wondering how it was possible...to be in that position, witnessing what I saw. It was absolutely amazing. The guide gently spun us toward the Alps, over the trees and just above the castle Mike & I had booked the trip for. Time stopped while I snapped photos and videos from my camera attempting to capture what it was like to be hanging in the sky. 20-25 minutes later, we made our way to the landing and dropped out of the air.
After that, I carried on with everyone in the group to the castle interior via the ravine hike(which was also beautiful) and the ravine bridge which offered even more spectacular views of the castle and the village of Füssen.
What a day.
Mike and I ended the day with a scrumptious dinner with a member from the tour and a big German beer afterwards. Yum.
Part of the tour earlier in the day involved a bike ride around Swan Lake, offering spectacular views of the castle. What neither of us knew much of was the tandem para gliding trips they offered over the castle and alps. So my first move was to get Mike involved and excited so we could sort-of do it together. That didn't really go anywhere. Advice from others and the guides got me too involved not to do it, so I signed up to jump off the Alps. This has, so far, been the highlight of the trip. While the rest of the group carried on with the bike ride, I hurried to a shed to get ready for para gliding. It all happened so fast: I signed some paper, got on a cable car (almost freakier than the flight) and ended up standing on top of a mountain in a wind suit, helmet and some arm straps attached to the seat in which I rode in. There was a line up there- because of the beautiful weather everyone was rearing to go-so we waited patiently. Actually, I waited nervously. When our turn came around, the guide laid the chute out on the platform and set me in position. Now I was seriously nervous as I was facing a downward ramp that led to a cliff at the top of a mountain. Not much time passed before the guide came up behind me, clicked on to me, told me to run and POOF, the chute was aloft and we were in the air. HOLY SHIT, I thought. I had to manually push the seat under me while he was telling me to lean forward and adjust some straps...I though I was going to fall out of the sky. Minutes into the ordeal I was in shock wondering how it was possible...to be in that position, witnessing what I saw. It was absolutely amazing. The guide gently spun us toward the Alps, over the trees and just above the castle Mike & I had booked the trip for. Time stopped while I snapped photos and videos from my camera attempting to capture what it was like to be hanging in the sky. 20-25 minutes later, we made our way to the landing and dropped out of the air.
After that, I carried on with everyone in the group to the castle interior via the ravine hike(which was also beautiful) and the ravine bridge which offered even more spectacular views of the castle and the village of Füssen.
What a day.
Mike and I ended the day with a scrumptious dinner with a member from the tour and a big German beer afterwards. Yum.
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So sorry we missed your call!!! We were in our child birthing for four hours and had our phones off. We were really bummed when we saw the missed calls.
ReplyDeleteGood gracious...I am so jealous!!! It sounds like you and Mike are soaking up all the opportunities. I'm glad you spent so much time in Munich and Austria. When we returned from our Honeymoon I told David those were the areas I wanted to go spend time in next. The mountains are so beautiful!! Can't wait to see all the pictures.
Love you both!
i am soo jealous!! it sounds like you two are having so much fun. tell mike to loosen up. he needs to live little. cant wait to see your pictures
ReplyDeletemegan