Well today was castles day, as well as a little hiking and LOTS of steps. They definitely don’t have any ADA laws at these castles. Between both castles it was about 500 steps!
Since they didn’t allow me to take pictures on the inside, I shared some pics on the outside showing each castle from the other’s viewpoint as well as some of the gorgeous scenery around there. I’ll also share some of the history on each castle.
So the first castle I toured was Hohenschwangau (loosely translated as “High Swanland”). It’s the yellow one. Originally built in the 12 century, it was ruined by Napoleon and his troops. Mad King Ludwig’s father, King Maximilian II, rebuilt it in 1830. It was used by the royal hunting lodge until 1912. The Wittelsbach family (which ruled Bavaria for nearly seven centuries) still owns the place and lived here until the 1970s. Ludwig was raised here and lived here while overseeing the building of the other castle (Neuschwanstein). There was a telescope still set up that Ludwig actually used that was pointing directly at Neuschwanstein!
I then toured Neuschwanstein (both were guided tours, that’s all they allow). Ludwig dreamed up this fairy tale castle while growing up. He inherited the throne at the young age of 18 so he had the power to make this dream come true. Neuschwanstein roughly translates to “New Sandstone”. It was first designed by a theater set designer and then by an architect. While it was built upon the ruins of an old castle and looks medieval, it is modern iron and brick construction with a sandstone veneer – only about as old as the Eiffel Tower. Built from 1869 to 1886, it’s the epitome of the Romanticism popular in 19th century Europe. Construction stopped with Ludwig’s death (only a third of the interior was finished) and within six weeks, tourists were going through it.
During World War II, the castle took on a sinister role. The Nazis used it as one of their primary secret store houses for stolen art. After the war, Allied forces spent a year sorting through and redistributing the art which filled 49 rail cars!
They said Ludwig really admired the composer Richard Wagner and we saw a piano that Richard actually composed a piece on. Many of the wall paintings were mostly based on Wagnerian opera themes. There were many over the top things within the castle but one of the most exquisite was a two million stone mosaic floor that was a visual encyclopedia of animals and plant life.
So after seeing all these fairy tale turrets built by a fairy tale king in a fairy tale alpine setting, I was feeling like a little kid and needed to do something fun. So I took the bus a few stops away and did a luge ride down the mountain. It was a blast! Yes, those are my big feet in the pic being pulled up the luge course. I couldn’t take a pic on the way down because I was going so fast I thought I’d lose my phone!
So that’s the end of my first portion of my Germany trip. I really loved Germany and never knew it was this pretty. I’ll circle back around to Northern Germany (Dresden and Berlin) in late October (just in time for Halloween! Lol).
Tomorrow I cross the border into Austria. Next stop Innsbruck.
Sounds like Flo has passed thru the Carolinas and I believe all of my family and friends are safe. But we all should pray for all those that are struggling from the massive flooding. I hope they all can get back to normal as soon as possible. Happy Monday!
Jeff
PS: It seems like the Internet is down at my B&B so I had to walk over to the TI to send this email. See how dedicated I am to you folks! Lol. What that also means is I probably won’t be able to reply back to emails tonight. Hope it’s better in Innsbruck!
The Wandering Italian 