Grabbed a brochure from the hotel lobby for a tour of the Neuschwanstein castle – you know the one mad King Ludwig the 2nd of Bavaria had made at the end of the 19th century because he fancied himself living in the middle ages. This is the castle Disney used as a model for the Snow White castle. Set the alarm for an early wake up and went to the bonhauf after breakfast. Saw a lady hawking tour tickets to the castle in English. Not the same company as the one from the hotel brochure. She was North Irish and her partner from Zurich. The tour left an hour later, so I had a second cup of tea. Sat by a college student from Texas, studying abroad in Austria. The train took us to Fussen (mit ein umlaut). A bus took us to the foothills of the headlands surrounded by the snow-covered Alps – not to be confused with the snow-covered apps you can get for your smart phone. The guide told us the whole history of the area of Bavaria on the ride up. If the Bavarian people love their king, they erect statues of him as they did for Ludwig’s father who died of syphilis (he was well loved by many) and his father before him. Ludwig was good friends with Wagner and dedicated much of the castle to him with paintings all over the castle depicting scenes from Wagner’s operas, or as the 20-something German guide pronounced it: Oprah. Wagner refused to set foot in the castle. Ludwig himself never slept there. But did sleep in a little bungalow just down the road he had built for his lover. Ludwig died at 40-something without producing an heir, of course. His uncle became the next king. The people never erected any statues to Ludwig, but they did allow him to keep his head. He was shot in the back while running away. Before going up to the castle, we stopped for lunch. I had a couple of hot dogs, a roll, and a cup of tea with an older couple from Australia and a schoerne madchen, Jo, from London traveling with her 11-year-old son, Sam (I wonder if his father’s name was Sam too). They stayed with me throughout the tour while the guide told us a tourized version of Ludwig: he slept in the castle for a few months, was engaged to be married, but died of mysterious circumstances before this could occur. In concert news, Cocoa Batons stayed in Munich. We were joined by German band, My Leather Shorts who rocked Fussen. Stay tuned for our next exciting instalment as we meet up with 2 touring Iraqi bands - Sunni Or Later and No Double Header