aka Fear Is the Mind (And Experience) Killer

We departed lovely Rothenberg after a brief overnight and decided to help for the Alps to go look at the very famous Neuwanschtein Castle. My bestie is a big Disney fan, so really, when in Germany...you take the Romantic Road there of course! Maybe it's hyped up marketing, maybe it's cliched, but I liked the drive as we buzzed along surface roads and took a break from the Autobahn.

I got to say mad props to German gas stations though, we had one of the best little pizza pastries as a quick lunch on the go. They had at least four different kind of pizza pastry snacks and since I'm weird and really dig less hot, more lukewarm pizza this was totally my thing.

As you begin nearing Alpine Germany, the grass truly is greener. Literally! The trees starting becoming more and more tall verdant pines and all around you is emerald fields and cows. Soon enough, we remarked with glee at the Alps becoming visible in the distance as we neared Schwangau.

Pictures via my phone don't really do this enough justice, Alpine Germany is astoundingly lovely. I really regret not planning us to spend an overnight there to explore but it's #goals for next time we visit. But even if you have an afternoon it's only a 90 minute or so drive from Munich and easily made into a day trip well worth taking to get a breath of fresh bucolic air.

Because sometimes cities aren't where it's at.

Soon enough, we approached the castle area. It's really like it's own little resort village with a shuttle system that goes back and forth, restaurants, ticket booths, etc. You pay a small free to get bused up to Mary's Bridge or the castle itself, where from the former you can take in and take a photo of the popular view of the castle, and the latter go visit the castle itself if you bought tickets to enter. We chose not to visit the castle itself and settled for the bridge to admire the view.

I mean that's really the thing people come to see, right?

WELL FRIENDS. HERE IS WHERE OUR STORY TAKES A TURN. See things I didn't realize:

1- Mary's Bridge is really, really high up.

2- It is really, really high up spanning across basically a ravine.

3- It is a rope bridge.

4- If one is, say, both acrophobic and gephyrophobic (fear of bridges) then this is going to be a fucking test of your fortitude.

Sadly, because maybe it was the stress of the ongoing crap situation with Enterprise Rental Car, and maybe because really I'm a giant weenie when it comes to heights and bridges over tall heights, but I lasted about three seconds on the bridge with barely a view of the castle before I had to skidaddle off the bridge or face an actual panic attack.

And that completely felt awful. We drove all the way, waited and paid for the bus, waited in line for the bridge, and I couldn't even last a minute. But fears are a real, gripping thing and I don't think these are things talked about enough in travel blogs. Sometimes the panic is going to trump the desire to get that great shot for your blog and Instagram, hell, it wasn't even about that for me at the end of the day, I wanted to see the castle for me.

But my fear won out. My stress won out. But also it's important to me, even if it meant missing out, to let you all know it happens.

Luckily, my friend is far less afraid of these things and got a great shot of the castle. Generally she's a lot braver than me in many ways and even though I couldn't go through with this, I'm glad she got to tick off these awesome experiences considering this was her first time out of the country, and hey, even if I missed out she was able to have a real life Disney moment.