Yes, we’ve been pretty bad about updating the blog. But we can’t all be as attentive and awesome as Ed and Carrie, now can we?

But here we find ourselves in our last city in Germany with some catch-up to do in the virtual world. So here are some highlights and snippets for you:

MUNICH:

The streets are freakishly clean and this might be the safest city we’ve ever been to. Biggest. Pretzel. Ever. (and tastiest). They also specialize in amazing apple strudel in vanilla sauce, yummy hefeweizen and loads of green spaces.

Mike samples the Oktoberfest hefeweizen

It’s amazing that in the middle of a city this big you can stroll down tree-lined streets, complete with biking and walking paths, and there are recycling bins everywhere.

Naturally we visited the requisite gorgeous, Bavarian castles of “crazy” Ludwig 2. Herrenchiemsee is situated on an adorable green island, meant to outdo Versailles and express Ludwig’s obsession with Louis 14 and a lesser obsession with Louis 15. While there is an impressive but overwhelming amount of gold everywhere, it was things like the “magic table” and an intricate porcelain chandelier that charmed me. The table (below said chandelier, designed by Ludwig himself) would lower down to the floor below through a hatch (which would close so the king didn’t fall to his death waiting for dinner) and reappear completely set with dishes and food. This way, the king was never bothered by servants. Alas, although it was supposed to be larger than Versailles upon completion, it was left with 50 rooms unfinished.

Of course, we also had to visit Neuschwanstein, the castle that inspired Disney’s castle (despite my irritation with all things Disney- with the exception of Alice). First we saw Hohenschwangau, the small castle on the small hill, which seems cozy and actually comfortably inhabitable. While most castles seem drafty and freakishly huge, I was ready to move in there if they’d let me.

Then we saw the big daddy, Neuschwanstein, on top of a pretty serious hill. It’s called Ludwig’s fairytale castle for good reason- it was built to look like it came from the 13th century, even though it was built in the late 1800s.

Neuschwanstein

It is here that we meet with Ludwig’s foremost obsession: Richard Wagner. Each main room or series of rooms is meant to reflect a specific Wagnerian opera, with amazing wood carvings, beautiful paintings and intricate tapestries- this includes a hallway/room made to be an artificial cave. I can see why Disney was inspired and how he really copied Ludwig. The real crown jewel however, is the singer’s hall, which has a stage at one end, some serious acoustics and countless gigantic candelabras, and was designed specifically for the king to watch Wagner’s operas. While Ludwig was gaga over dead French kings, he actually knew Wagner, who often would visit him, stay with him at the smaller castle (where Ludwig spent the majority of his life) and play music on a piano in Ludwig’s private chambers.

I like Ludwig. He loved music and art, and used his power and money to create beautiful living fairy tales. He was engaged to a woman for about 10 months, but they broke off the engagement… could that possibly be due to his obsession with a certain composer? I feel sorry that Ludwig seems to have spent a lot of time in fairy tales because his real life didn’t live up- a political coup robbed him of power, he was declared “insane” to make that transition happen, he was probably murdered at 40, and possibly suffered through intense, passionate, unrequited love for much of his life. I can only hope that when the guide showed us the small guest bed in the castle and said “this is where Wagner slept”, that he was mistaken.

Alas, Neuschwanstein was also never finished, as it bankrupted Ludwig, and no one took up the mantle after his death. There are a couple more tragedies associated with the castle- Ludwig never saw a Wagnerian opera performed there, as the performance room was not finished before his death, and Wagner died before he ever saw the castle. Neuschwanstein is a passionate love letter that was never read.

And we have no photos from inside, because they weren’t allowed. I guess that means you’ll just have to visit Bavaria yourself!

Tags: Bavaria Germany castles Munich