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| At Linderhof Palace |
We left the hotel early to meet the bus to Hohenschwangau at 9 am. We caught the rail at the Hbf which is across the street from our hotel and took a train to Marienplatz in Munich’s Altstadt. We walked the short distance to the bus and checked in with the tour leader. The bus was nearly full with visitors from the UK, Australia, US, Japan and within Germany. The tour was in English, but headphones were available for those needing another language. The tour guide, Gerta, gave us a lot of information on the area as well as about Ludwig II and his family. The two-hour bus ride from Munich to Linderhof went quickly. We drove the small village of Oberammergau that has performed a passion play every ten years since 1633. When the black plague threatened to wipe out the small village, the people there prayed promising to always perform a passion play every 10 years if the village were spared from the plague. To play a role in the play, actors must have been born in the village or lived there for a minimum of 20 years.
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| Linderhof Palace from the rear |
There was rain off and on as we approached Linderhof Palace. However, the previous times we had visited here were all in very deep snow. There was a fair amount of snow at the higher elevations in the surrounding mountains but nothing like when we were here in the past. After putting on raincoats, we took a few snapshots of the beautifully landscaped grounds around Linderhof Palace as we waited for our entry time.
Our guide through the palace was very knowledgeable and shared information about King Ludwig II and his eccentricities. The king lived in the palace for several years before and during his reign. Linderhof is not as large as homes of many monarchs, but the interior is exquisite. Rooms have intricate wood carvings, most of which are covered with gold. Custom porcelain figurines are throughout the palace and weaving depicting events from folk tales, Wagner operas or historical events are in weavings on the walls. One of the most interesting pieces was the dining table. King Ludwig II was so peculiar that he didn’t want anyone to see him eating. To solve the problem, a table was built that could be lowered to the servant's area to have the meals placed then raised for the king's dinner. Perhaps the only negative to our visit is that photographs are not permitted inside the palace. However, we took many pictures outside. As we left the palace, we purchased a small informational book for Peter at the gift shop that includes photos and descriptions of the inside of the palace as well as the grounds.
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| Peter's Schnitzel und Pommes |
We boarded our bus again and drove the 40 minutes to Hohenschwangau where we would tour Castle Neuschwanstein. By then it was after 1 pm and we were getting hungry, so we went to Alpenstuben for lunch. This restaurant was recommended by Gerta for large portions of well-prepared food at fair prices. I had a local lager, Peter had orange juice and Mary had Apfelchorle which is a mix of apple juice and sparkling mineral water. For our meals, Peter had a Wiener Schnitzel with fries, Mary had goulash made with venison from red deer and I had Kasespatzle with cheese made in the Bavarian Alps. We all enjoyed our meals and shared bites of each other’s lunch, but Mary’s goulash was the favorite of everyone. The venison was very tender and flavorful.
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| Castle Neuschwanstein |
After lunch, we stopped by some of the gift shops in the village of Hohenschwangau to look for souvenirs for Peter. Since he lost his water bottle in one of the museums we visited earlier in the week, he found a bottle with the FC Bayern logo which pleased him. He also got two snow globes for himself and Nicholas with Castle Neuschwanstein. He all got some postcards to send to family back home. Peter was especially happy to find a lenticular postcard showing a goldfish jumping in and out of a bowl that he thought Nicholas might enjoy.
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| Peter and Oma at Castle Neuschwanstein |
There are three primary options for getting up the mountain from the village of Hohenschwangau to Castle Neuschwanstein. The only way that we have ever taken up the mountain in previous trips is to walk up the mountain which takes about 40 minutes. Of course, there was heavy snow on the ground in all of our previous visits. A second option is the horse drawn carriage that takes about 20 minutes but only goes about 2/3 of the way to the castle. The third option is a bus that goes to Marienbrucke (Mary’s Bridge) a short distance from the castle. We had never been to the bridge, so we decided on that option.
The bridge was very crowded and looked over a very deep gorge. We walked out on the bridge and took a few snapshots but neither Mary nor Peter are especially fond of heights. We walked over to the castle taking a few photos as we walked and stood on the road just outside the castle chatting with other visitors from our bus. I especially enjoyed talking with a gentleman from Costa Rica who now lives in New Jersey working as a chemist for Colgate-Palmolive. Since our tickets were for a 4:10 pm tour we didn’t go through the gate until nearly 4 pm. A board posted the tour times that were boarding with groups leaving every five minutes.
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| Village of Hohenschwangau |
Our guide at the castle was very good. His English wasn’t quite as good as the guide at Linderhof but he had a lot of personality and communicated the information and stories of the castle and King Ludwig II very well. As with Linderhof Palace, photographs are not permitted in Castle Neuschwanstein. The interior of the castle is not as lavish as Linderhof, but was certainly lavish. Ludwig wanted the castle to appear as a Medieval castle even though it was not built until 1886. In fact, King Ludwig II died young under mysterious circumstances before the castle was completed and never lived in the castle. Two weeks after the death of the King, the castle was purchased by the Bavarian Bundestag and used as a tourist attraction. Additions, improvements and renovations have been made to the structure in the 160 years since the death of the king.
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| Horse drawn carriage in the village |
After the tour, we walked down the mountain then revisited the gift shops in the small village where Peter pressed an image of Castle Neuschwanstein into a 5-cent coin. We made our way onto the bus in Hohenschwangau and began the two-hour drive back to Marienplatz in Munich. Peter was hungry when we arrived at the Munich Hof so we went to one of the food vendors in the train station and bought a bratwurst and brotchen (roll) for him. The wurst was over a foot long and stuck out well beyond the roll on both ends. Much to our surprise, he really liked it. The vendor provided two small ketchup packets that were traditional tomato ketchup rather than the curry ketchup that has become so common in Germany.
Before turning in we played a few games of Farkle with Peter then turned in and slept well.
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