May 20 - Linderhof Castle

We woke up to a cloudy day. Looking at the mountains, we can see the two castles (Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau) shrouded in a white mist. Beautiful and magical, to see those castles peeking out of the mountains.

Breakfast at Monika's guesthouse.... delicious homebaked breads (from a huge covered oven behind the restaurant), homemade jams, delicious cheese and sliced smoked meats. For breakfast every day since we've been in Germany, I've had a sampling of the bread, a slice of cheese, and whatever fruit and jams are offered. Chamomile tea is always there, and it's all been delicious, but Gary still hasn't had a full cup of coffee. No matter where we are, it's all too strong.

We've been waking up with the dawn... around five o'clock on most mornings. I don't know if the early sunrises gets us out of bed, or the anticipation of everything there is to see here. (Or the home-baked breads......)

We decided to drive to the smaller of the castles today--- Linderhof, which was the favorite of Ludwig II. When we get to Linderhof, I can see why. This castle is like a jewel box, both from the outside and the inside. Plus, due to Ludwig's fascination with the operas of Richard Wagner, there is an underground grotto, complete with hidden caves, a stage for the performance of the operas, and an elaborate boat in which Ludwig could glide through the underground spring of the grotto. (Ludwig was as prolific as Walt Disney, with his fantasy-inspired creations.)

The statues in the water fountains outside Linderhof are gold. Gold-leaf? Solid gold? I have no idea, but the brightness of those fountains was like a sunburst on that cloudy morning. In the reflecting pool in front of the castle, there is a burst of water, a la Old Faithful, rising up around the largest gold statue. It is just the beginning of the castle tour.

Inside Linderhof, once again, we don't know where to look first. Each room is magnificent in its beauty. Paintings, lush furnishings, embellishments, statues, fabrics, tapestries, carpeting, inlaid wood floors, marble columns, candle-studded chandeliers. Rich colors, bright golds, delicate porcelains... and once again, the "hidden" dining room table that can be lowered to the bottom-floor kitchen so the table and the food can be set without disturbing Ludwig. I found myself appreciating all the over-the-topness of this small castle, and feeling sorry for the sadness of the King's life. No matter his wealth, Ludwig II led a solitary life. (In my opinion.)

Every castle has a gift shop, and it was here that I found the little silver charm for my bracelet, which is growing and bursting with tiny charms from every place we have visited over the years. I chose a tiny silver crown for my bracelet, to commemorate our trip to Germany. I thought a crown was just the perfect thing, since it would remind me of all the castles, palaces, and churches that we had seen. (I had seen other silver charms during this vacation, but I didn't want a tiny pretzel or a stein of beer dangling from my bracelet.)

We left Linderhof reluctantly. So far, this has been my favorite of the castles, and at the end of our trip, after we had seen Ludwig's other and larger castles, Linderhof was still the best, my favorite. It was the smallest of his castles, but Linderhof was also the only one that was complete, from top to bottom. Ludwig II ran out of money, and out of life, before the interiors of the others were finished. During the castle tours, we learned that Ludwig's family had amassed a huge fortune which spanned many generations (over 800 years). Ludwig II, with his opera-esque fantasies and his French-inspired over-the-top tastes in everything that was embellished and gilded, managed to spend the 800-year-old fortune is about twenty years.

In the car again, driving around the mountains..... snow still tops the Bavarian Alps, but the weather is spring-like, complete with a warm drizzle of rain. We went to the Kloster Ettal, a monastery in a small town called Ettal. Once again, a small town gifts us with a huge cathedral, with the most glorious of painted ceilings. The dome of this church is breathtaking, both inside and outside. I believe this church has the most gold, the most gilding, the most handpainting, of any that we have seen so far.

After that, we drove to Oberammergau. This town is famous for their re-enactment of The Passion Play, which is done every ten years. (This was not the year.) There are hundreds of wood-carvers in this town, and the main market streets of the town are filled with their shops. We looked at hundreds of carved wood items, and even met one of the carvers, who had a life-sized carved wood horse in his shop. There was just too much to look at, and after the lushness of Linderhof, we didn't even buy one piece of carved wood. One wood-carver's shop had hundreds, if not thousands of Nativity sets--- some of the smallest, and the largest, that I've ever seen. We also noticed that many of the houses and shops in Oberammergua had hand-painted designs on the outside of the buildings. The houses looked like plain ordinary stucco to me, but with the elaborate painted designs, every home looked like a doll house. Very quaint, very cute.

Before leaving this town, I bought more post cards, which I had been buying all along, from every stop along our trip. My pile of post cards was continually growing, and I guessed it to be about four inches high by this time. At the end of our vacation, my collection of post cards would be nearly nine inches thick. I also bought earrings in Oberammergau... a fair price for sterling silver heart earrings, each with a dangling pearl. I thought they would be the perfect reminder of our 13th anniversary trip to Germany. Plus we were driving along the famous Romantic Road, which offers the most castles of anywhere in the country.

On the way back to the guesthouse that evening, we drove to a small church (Saint Coloman) on the outskirts of Schwangau. Once again, a tiny church in the middle of a field of wildflowers. And, once again, the seemingly plain white church with a red roof was holding a magnificent surprise inside-- elaborate leaded windows, an ornate embellished ceiling, a glorious gilded altar, beautiful statues. Behind the church, the Bavarian Alps, and Ludwig's famous Neuschwanstein Castle peeking out of the mountainside. My husband said we needed to pinch ourselves to see if we were really here and seeing all of this.

Dinner at Monika's guesthouse-- again delicious. I ordered the fish again, feeling the hot sizzle as it cooked on the hot stone on my table. My husband ordered one of Monika's specialities-- wienersnitzel (and I hope I'm spelling that correctly). The veal used for this dish is locally grown, and it was the most tender veal, breaded in what must have been Monika's own homemade breadcrumbs. She also made a side-dish of cooked onions with bits of bacon, which went with the veal. During our trip, after leaving this guesthouse, my husband ordered other veal dishes, none of which compared to Monika's meal.

This was our second and last night at Monika's..... we would miss her hospitality, her cooking, and the view of the two castles on the mountains behind her guesthouse.