We woke at 5:30am and we got up and got going. Breakfast was again in the hotel restaurant on the 15th floor. It was OK but certainly nothing special. We checked out of the hotel and walked across the street to the train station. It was about 8:25. We were originally going to take the 9:05 train to Munich but there was a train leaving at 8:35 which we chose instead of waiting. We arrived back in Munich 2 hours later and found the train to Fuessen at 11:25 instead of the 2:00pm train that we had originally intended to take.

We got to Fuessen shortly after 1:30pm and took a cab to the hotel. It wasn't raining! In fact the weather was beautiful. The taxi cost DM 17,50 about $8. We arrived too early for check-in and our room wasn't ready yet. We decided to have lunch here to kill some time. We put our luggage in a room next to the front desk. There was no one looking after the room and I asked if our luggage would be safe and they said "Yes, most definitely."

We sat down in their café and I ordered the fish roll and Barb had some sort of mushroom 'soup.' Both were absolutely delicious. By the time we finished lunch it was time to check in and just as promised our luggage was still there. We were in the 'Sophie' junior suite, which was on the second floor and had a magnificent view of Neuschwanstein. It is so far the nicest and most comfortable room that we have had even compared to the five-star hotel that we had in Vienna. It was not especially elegant like the Hotel Imperial, but it was very comfortable and charming.

We got unloaded and decided to go back in to Fuessen. The hotel called a taxi for us. We walked around the city. It reminded us of Salzburg and the old city. We expected a small town but found that it was much bigger than we thought that it would be. The train station also rented bicycles and was doing a brisk business.

We didn't even try to do the castle tour today. We had double-booked hotels for tomorrow night, and as soon as we got back to the hotel here we called the hotel in Zurich and canceled our reservation for the night of September 28. We definitely wanted to stay here another day, mostly because we had not yet seen Neuschwanstein, and the hotel was the nicest and most comfortable place that we have been yet.

Dinner was at 6:00pm and tonight it was the homestyle 'Bavarian Buffet' which offered choices of veal, pork, smoked sausages, Leberkaese, and other meat dishes- all home cooked. Also available were potatoes, potato salads, cheeses, and lots of desserts. This was one of the best meals that we have had, including the 5-star hotels. We both ate way too much but it was absolutely delicious. After dinner we inquired about the bicycles which were offered by the hotel but they had none available that evening so we went for a walk and came back to the room to rest and catch up on our journals. We called home and talked to the kids for a while and went to bed about 10:00pm.