Day 7--Neuschwanstein and Hochschwanstein

I have been learning more than I thought possible about the Bavarian kings, the folks in charge in southern Germany for several hundred years.  They need to make a Masterpiece series about these guys. Yesterday I saw the homes of some of the earlier Wittlebachs, and today we headed 2 hours out of town on a bus to see two more 19th century homes. When you see the pictures, they look older, but that was because the kings wanted that look.   

Our first caslte was Hochschwangau, or Highland Swan Castle.  The main character we followed, the star of Bavaria, is ´Mad´King Ludwig II.  His father added this yellow castle to the family collection in the early 1800s, and I have to say it is the most livable castle I´ve seen.  Small rooms, pretty homey. Nearly everything is decorated--the walls are painted with scenes from legends and inspiring words--and I saw lots of the four leaf clovers common at the Forks of the Brandywine. That´s because both are neoGothic style buildings. 

Ludwig II grew up without much parental affection, even living in a separate building from his parents, rarely seeing them or other children.  When his father died, he became king at 18 and pretty much devoted the country´s taxes to building neoGothic castles.  His ministers had had enough 22 years later, and they had him declared insane, and then he died mysteriously.  He had workmen building his famous Neuschwanstein for 17 years, and he lived in it for only 172 days before he was committed to an asylum and murdered {most likely} 2 days later. 

We hiked up to the castle through a gorge. This is a shot from halfway up the hike. We then hiked the rest of the way up to that bridge for an amazing view of the castle. 

 

It is very picturesque from the outside, but the inside didn´t thrill me quite as much as the smaller castle. It did have a pretty, enclosed outdoor garden and reading chair on a balcony perched at a startling altitude, and a surprising faux grotto with fake stalagtites.  The interior is supposed to channel Wagner´s operas. 

Then we walked down the mountain and drove back to Munich. This is our last night here.

Lunch today was a filling pork mushroom dish (they love pork and ham here) and spaetzle, or noodles. 



Some other neat sites from our hike are below.  Tscuß!