Zoe Kieta at Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany

The foundation stone for Neuschwanstein Castle was laid on September 5, 1869, yet the King of Bavaria wasn’t able to move in until 1884. (That’s fifteen years for the math-challenged.) Rumor has it that Ludwig II killed a lot of that time by studying the themes and metaphors of my early writing.

The book in this photo (taken by Raquel Hicks) was unearthed during a recent excavation of the castle grounds.