Mad Ludwig's Castles

Today we said goodbye to Munich and set off on the first of our train excursions - this one to Füssen - (not before tucking into some good Hauptbahnhof curry wurst for breakfast..ooo yes, yum yum says Chris!!) and on to Hohenschwangau to visit the two summer castles of Ludwig 11 of Bavaria. We stowed our luggage in the luggage lockers at Munich Hauptbahnhof and took only an overnight bag up the mountain, since we were going for just one night.


I am excited to be going by train, and to be leaving the city behind for the countryside and the mountains. We change trains @ Buchloe, and soon after this, that magnificent snowy capped mountain scenery comes into view. Füssen greets us with a very pretty yellow station building and gorgeous snow capped mountains in the near distance. We find our bus and it's a short drive to Hohenschwangau where Megs et al are waiting for us... and I had my first glimpse of Neuschwanstein castle. I have to say, on first sight I was a little disappointed .. there over in the distance ( above my head, nestled halfway up the mountain, was a little speck purporting to be a castle, can you see??). .. and not a snow cap in sight. Where have they gone?? Never mind, Christopher drives us up to our mad little hotel right up under the castle and up close , it's looking far more promising. Baz is particularly taken with it, and loves our mad little hotel. He organises us into rooms, then we walk back down the mountain and visit Hohenschwangau.
This was the summer holiday house of the Mad King Ludwig's parents. We climb up some steepish steps and wait for our turn to go in.. Our guide takes us through the rooms..,much of which i can't remember!!, but I do remember the enormous dining room table covered with enormous brass centrepieces that were presents for various birthdays etc. There was much talk of various rooms being decorated and painted to complement various Wagnerian operas, and a piano brought in for Wagner's use in his guest quarters. Mad King L and Wagner were very good friends..Apparently Ludwig was quite obsessed with Wagnerian operas and play acting in general and was Wagner's "patron". We saw the bedrooms..with their strange little single beds pushed against the wall and the castle heating system of stoves fed through narrow corridors in the walls which the servants had to climb through. Finally, we descended the stairs from the top floor of the castle (thankful we weren't servants who would have had to climb up and down the steep spiral staircases many times a day), in to a little courtyard with a little garden , a strange swan fountain and a view across the valley to Neuschwanstein on the mountain opposite.
From here, it was back into the tiny village of Schwangau where we had a quick look at the beautiful lake..Alpensee.
. and the caught a horse drawn carriage up hill to visit Neuschwanstein.



..Another tour,(the views from Neuschwanstein down to the village and lake Alpensee beneath are breathtaking!! ..the highlight of the castle tour!!), and another set of rooms with wall paintings in homage to Wagnerian works. Neuschwanstein is quite different externally from Hohenscwangau - all fairytale and prettiness. The most fascinating thing about these two castles has been the insight into Ludwig who nearly bankrupted the country building his castle and becoming a recluse. He was then subsequently certified insane by the government of the day and was found drowned in a lake the very next day..such a sad and ignoble ending for a royal prince.:(

After the tour we brave the arctic winds and walk up the hill to Marienbrücke for the glorious view down to the castle and the countryside beneath. (The bridge is very high over a gorge..there is a very strong wind and it is all bit scary! and freezing cold, but well worth it for the view!!..and lots of photos and selfies with a castle in the background!!

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So, after the castles, we have a well earned rest and recuperation. .. it's freezing and Barry has taken to bed with a flu.
The rest of us go downtown for our last dinner together
.. - it's a lovely warm little spot with friendly helpful staff who prepare a takeaway for Barry who's back in bed. We have a good meal ( more meat and potatoes!! and some beer .).. before heading back to sleep in our funny little hotel under the castle turrets!

Munich Day 2 - Barry's 60 th Birthday.

For as long as I can remember, Barry has talked abut one day visiting the BMW factory in Munich.. personally I can think of not one more boring thing in this world, but as it is an OCCASION and he has never been to Europe, I decide it would be a great way for him to celebrate his 6oth. The kids organise to take holidays and join us...this is perfect!!!!!!!! family holiday in Munich.. I am delirious with excitement. I contact the BMW world and arrange a factory tour for the 9th April..- Barry's 60th.



We're up early.
BMW world is swish, modern, clean and polished, sculptured and sleek. We wander around the showroom and peer at/sit in our favourite cars. Barry is in 7th heaven. He's found his dream car!! He chose a red one (don't know why -it didn't look special to me!).. I chose the blue convertible....They weren't giving out samples that day though. We go on the 2 hour factory tour -- the assembly robots are fascinating and futuristic to watch.. They conduct their own choreographed dance routine, waving slabs of pressed metal around in sequence. In spite of my misgivings, I find this part fascinating. A car a minute rolls off the factory line. We finish the tour and play on the bikes for a bit


before setting off to wander around the Englischer Garten.

The Englischer Garten is a very large , woodsy park..(think Centennial Park), right in the heart of Munich. We sort of wander aimlessly in the direction of town. It's relaxing and fun. We find ducks and stop to play with them, then amble on til we come across a large beer garden centred around a Chinese pagoda , on an upper level of which is a very German oompah band. With entertainment like that, how could we not stop and wile away an hour or so. It's sort of lunchtimeish.- the beer garden is well patronised. After yesterday's breakfast, I'm wondering how the Germans manage to have this reputation for state of the art technology and state of the art efficiency. The whole country seems to spend it's waking hours drinking very large beers. I'm astounded. Anyway, we're happy to join them - after all we're on holidays!

From here, it's a walk into the Hofgarten
before heading back to the hotel. Management have left a complimentary bottle of bubbles and some chocolate for Barry...This feels good. We toast Barry's birthday, before heading out to dinner at a local restaurant recommended by the hotel. It's another big hunk of of meat, huge pretzel , and ball of glug meal washed down with more large beers..Baz is loving this!!..and more importantly,he's loving having the kids with us to celebrate with him... Happy Birthday Baz:)

Munich - Day 2

Starts with a family breakfast.. ..except we are still missing Chris, who in his inimitable style has turned up at the wrong airport to catch his flight,(???!!!) and so must do some fancy juggling and meet us later in the day.

In time honoured tradition, Tim orders the most interesting and entertaining item on the menu. In this instance it is the Münchener breakfast .. what arrives is a very large beer, a very large pretzle and a bowl of water with two fat white sausages floating in it. He tucks in.. The rest of us munch away on our muesli, secretly relieved to have been safe, and cheer Tim on.


Happy with our respective breakfasts we undertake our first day of sightseeing.. the glockenspiel which encourages dancing from Megs and Christopher..who are simultaneously chomping on delicious strawberries,
followed by a a round of churches. We climb the belfry on Frauenkirche.Oddly, although we had intended to visit a few church belfries on our holiday, this was the only one we did.

The favourite church of the day, and right up there in the top 3 for the trip was the Jesuit Church of St Michael.
It houses the tomb of Mad King Ludwig 11.. we came across this quite by accident, and were very glad we had, as poor mad Ludwig became a focal point of our first week when we visited his castles and we learnt quite a deal about the man, so it was nice to have seen his place of rest.. His tomb was a very simple metal casket without much in the way of embellishments except for a crown on top, sitting on the floor in a crypt under the church, along with many of his relatives. It was a most unprepossessing tomb compared with many we saw later in our travels.



In the afternoon, we ate under the maypole at the Viktuallenmarkt, then visited the Residenz ( a former palace of the Bavarian kings). ( lots and lots of rooms and long corridors).
The highlight of the day comes when Chris has arrived and we all troop to the al frescoe tables at the Hofgarten, catch up on each others' activities and photos and have a couple of beers.



We finish the day with a meal in the outdoor restaurant opposite the rathaus... -more meat and potato blobs, but a great view:)

Munich.. Day 1

..We arrive late afternoon..we have been travelling for days it seems.

The hotel is swish and comes complete with welcoming bath duck..that's useful!!
....We marshall and go downtown for a quick look and dinner.
Dinner is a goodly amount of meat -pork in this instance- , a large glob of white stuff purporting to be potato, however I can scarcely detect any potato flavour and it sticks together like clag..I suspect it is clag, and a side dish of sauerkraut. This is to be the staple diet for the next 10 days... Have the Germans not seen green vegetables? or red? or orange? .. The main mall area in the old city is dotted with cute cheerful colourful fruit and vegetable stalls selling the most glorious strawberries and masses of asparagus which is again white and very large...not like the stuff we get in Australia so I find it hard to identify, but i am left wondering about the vegetables... The strawberries on the other hand are fabulous!!




The beer is good..!!

Europe- April '10. or "Jo and Barry's Excellent Adventure"

To be shown in snippets of daily highlights....
Starting with Day 1 ..We leave for Europe.

Your protagonists! - on the plane.. excitement is rife.




The flight is looong (Australia is a bloody long way from anywhere..except NZ, I suppose)..broken by waits in Bangkok and Dubai..
At this stage excitement has been replaced by mindnumbing boredom and the general discomfort of sitting in one spot for 24 hours... the solution..red wine...

Something fishy???

Timmy's Graduation!!!

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Congratulations Tim......TRW BBa,BComm
Well done ..We are very proud of you:)



So sad we haven't had a wardrobe update in 5 years!!:)