Mrs. OSINT Challenge 5

Hello again! Today we have a very interesting challenge to solve that is full of history. Come join me to discover the castle used as inspiration for one of the largest media companies in the world. I certainly learned something new today and you might as well. With that, let’s get started!

Challenge 5

Tasks:
1. Can you figure out exactly where she was standing when she took this photo?

2. Approximately how many visitors does this location receive each year?

3. What’s the name of the castle?

4. What year did construction begin on this castle?

5. Which royal figure was behind its design and funding?

6. What famous animated movie is said to have been inspired by this very location?

7. What’s the name of the nearby bridge that offers the most iconic view of this castle?

Using the hint from the challenge questions and seeing how similar this is to Disney’s castle, I decided to Google what the source of inspiration was. My results took me to Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, Germany.

Looking at the pictures, we immediately get a match for our castle without needing to do a reverse image search. Now that I have a location, I went to Google Earth and, using the castle as a reference point, started looking for orange roofs.

This is when I noticed there are not many street views available. I still managed to find locations 1 and 2 below to help me geolocate this challenge.

Before showing you what I found in these locations, let’s first review in a little more detail what clues we got from the original image.

Here are our clues. Besides the castle, from left to right, we can see a bush fence, and right behind it, an orange roof. In the middle of the street, we have a carriage and some light posts behind in the distance. To the right, we can see a very peculiar light post with a round pedestrian sign behind it. Lastly, at the bottom, we can barely see a round shape on the ground.

Let’s go now to location 1. Below you can see that we were able to match the orange roof, followed by the bush fence and the peculiar light post with the round sign.

At location 2 below, we found some of the same clues from before, but this time we also see the carriage!

With all these clues, we only needed one more thing to pinpoint where this picture was taken. Going back to location 1 and looking in the opposite direction, we can see a round manhole cover. This is the closest clue to our photographer’s position.

Given the landscape and the surroundings, it did not take me long to find the bridge. Below is a screenshot of what I thought was a really cool view of the castle.

Up to this point, we have been able to answer 4 out of the 7 questions from this challenge. Let’s conduct some research now to answer the rest. A quick Google search reveals that the castle receives around 1.4 million visitors in a year. Definitely a lot more than I expected.

This castle has a very interesting story but is not the focus of today’s blog. The construction of this castle started by laying down the foundation stone on September 5, 1869, when King Ludwig II of Bavaria designed and funded the project.

Lastly, the animated movie said to have been inspired by Neuschwanstein Castle is Disney’s Sleeping Beauty.

Tasks:
1. Can you figure out exactly where she was standing when she took this photo?
Solution: 47°33’16″N 10°44’19″E

2. Approximately how many visitors does this location receive each year?
Solution: 1.4 million

3. What’s the name of the castle?
Solution: Neuschwanstein Castle

4. What year did construction begin on this castle?
Solution: September 5, 1869

5. Which royal figure was behind its design and funding?
Solution: King Ludwig II of Bavaria.

6. What famous animated movie is said to have been inspired by this very location?
Solution: Sleeping Beauty

7. What’s the name of the nearby bridge that offers the most iconic view of this castle?
Solution: Marienbrücke (Mary’s Bridge)

This challenge felt kind of magical… majestic views, castles, kings, and princesses. Each turn revealed a glimpse into history that was captivating and enchanting. As I delved deeper into my research, I found it to be an incredibly interesting journey, one that kept surprising me the more I explored various aspects of this fascinating place.

However, something that I couldn’t begin to understand was how such a famous location, averaging around four thousand daily visits, does not have more street views. It amazes me how a highly visited place remains partially hidden to some degree.

Thanks again to Mrs. OSINT for providing such great challenges for us. I hope you enjoyed reading today’s blog. Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

Resources

• https://www.mrsosint.com/challenge-4-castle/
• https://www.neuschwanstein.de/englisch/palace/index.htm#:~:text=Today%20Neuschwanstein%20is%20one%20of,intended%20for%20a%20single%20inhabitant.
• https://www.neuschwanstein.de/englisch/idea/index.htm#:~:text=The%20foundation%20stone%20of%20the,king%20moved%20in%20in%201884.