We rode a carriage up that hill. I must admit the view from the castle, overlooking Hohenschwangau and the lake, is breath-taking. Especially with snow glittering and half a dozen hot air balloons floating across a bright blue sky.
Inside the castle taking any pictures at all is strictly prohibited. Not even without flash. Period. They want to sell their own pictures. Of course people are still sneaking out some illegal ones. Easy to do, if you have a digital camera, turn it's sound off and just shoot without looking. Tom did a good job.
The interior of Neuschwanstein is quite a site! Every square inch of the walls is covered with colorfull paintings, wood carving, thin layers of gold. No wonder it took them 17 years to build. And only 16 of the 85 rooms are done. They stopped working on it 5 weeks after King Ludwig II died - and opened it for tourists a week later.