day in bavaria

didn't take much persuasion to get me across the channel. was bummed not to spend christmas with family and jumped at the chance for an early celebration on the continent instead. glad to be based on this side of the world and i'd never been to munich. the mister had been twice this year (for BMW driving course and oktoberfest!) so i was more than a little envious. of course the irony is that i get in on friday night and they've booked a whole day out on saturday. we ventured into the country with stops at lindenhof and oberammergau before rocking up to neuschwanstein. tell a lie, while it was my first time in munich, we'd done a similar castle tour about 15 years ago on a skiing holiday while holding out for powder (and not that icky artificial ice). this sort of gave us license to skip the castle tours in favour of food. 

joked that old schwanstein (above) because neuschwanstein (below)

don't usually name restaurants /  cafes unless they're really good because 1) i'm not paid (haha) 2) happy to share if someone asks personally but all too wary that the www is a public space. but hotel muller at the base of neuschwanstein (it's a 30min uphill trek from there!) has the most amazing restaurant. at first glance it looks like a tourist trap and the staff seemed a little overwhelmed by the sudden influx of tourists (weird, you'd think they'd be used to it by now!) and tried to get us to sit in the lobby (???). why on earth we'd want to eat off a cramped coffee table is beyond me. but maybe they thought we were in a hurry to join the castle tour (we weren't). so i held my ground and said, "no thank you, we'll wait for a table inside the restaurant... (bathed in natural light and stunning alpine views)" didn't end up waiting long and the food was served almost instantly. they must have a high turnover! 

so can i just say best. wiener. schnitzel. ever. you know how these things often look deep fried and disgusting? one can almost feel the heartburn from looking at a piccie? well this was different. the veal so fresh, tender and juicy, the breadcrumbs crunchy and fried to golden perfection but not oily (how???)  but it wasn't just that. everything else was amazing. even the salad. salad!!!! frau muller was also a reknown baker so the pudding was worth trying too but i was still reeling from that schnitzel. 

have to agree the best views of a castle are from the outside? or maybe that's me being sour grapes having not gone in but did go in as a teenager and must've been forgettable because i don't remember it now. and i do remember most other things, whether i want to or not! gimme food over culture anytime :)