Lately I've discovered a "brand new" way of traveling - you simply rent a car and that's it. I guess living in Switzerland gives you a right to say "that's it", 'cause Europe is not that large, and Switzerland is situated in a very center of it, roads are really nice, and cars are very fast... Well, you get it :)

Last weekend was literally the most colorful I've ever had - partly because of the season, partly because of the weather, partly because of the places I've been to and because of the company I've traveled with, but that's another story.

So, early Saturday morning we've rented a car by Sixt company, right at the airport, turned out it wasn't that hard. It wasn't hard at all, actually. And the journey began...

I was in charge of planning the route and the "cultural" program in general, so guess, where did we go? Yeah, we went to see the most beautiful castle of the world - the Neuschwanstein castle in Germany. And nobody has such a dramatic background story connected to this castle as ... I do.

It all started 10 years ago, when I was really fond of puzzles. My father bought me the most beautiful puzzle I've ever seen - with this amazing castle surrounded by the most stunning views - like green-yellow-red forests, blue skies, blue lake - everything looked perfect on it. And it consisted of 1500 pieces, which was a lot. I was very excited then, spent a whole day just preparing the pieces - there were so many of them they covered the whole floor of my bedroom! I put together about 1/4 of the puzzle back then, but with my relocation to Kiev this work was gently disassembled by my mother and put into some dark place.

Years have past. I couldn't help but thinking that I didn't finish my castle and that meant that I was a quitter (which I am not). So, right before my wedding (that was two years ago) I've decided to finish it. And I did!

Took me a while but I've managed to finish it in time. Oh, I cannot tell you how proud and happy I was... My dream castle looked simply stunning.

So, I asked my dad to frame it and to put it on the wall so everybody could see it. We found a nice spot, bought the wood and my father made the frame by himself. Then I went to Kiev to take another exam and an unexpected thing happend. I've got the most frustrating call ever - "Anna, while I was trying to frame your castle it suddenly FELL DOWN and broke into pieces. I'm sorry"

Well, what do you do but cry after hearing words like that, and I did. For two days. Then I got married.

The thing is: this is my favorite castle, and I've finally seen it and been there, and it was great, really great. Here are some pictures I made, and I wish all of you to go there, 'cause it's simply gorgeous!