Not Bavaria Christmas Markets: Day 9 the Legacy of the Not So Mad Ludwig II

 I'm kind of exhausted now, so I'll give you the quick and dirty version and may expand on it when I have time. 

Today was my tour of two of Ludwig II's castles, Linderhoff and Neuschwanstein.  He actually built 3 castles, but the third, Herrenchiemsee, was on the other side of Munich...so not a good inclusion in a day trip.  

Apparently, I booked the VIP tour and I wasn't mad.  The bus was *fancy* with larger seats and extra leg room.  It also included a snack area and a coffee maker as well as a bathroom.  We were traveling in style. 

I managed to take a few scenic photos on the bus on the way to Linderhoff.  It was starting out to be a rainy day.  It had snowed the day before, but the rain was melting it all. 

We got to Linderhoff and had to take a bit of a hike up a slight incline to the palace.  The rain was mostly gone, but it had changed the snow to slush...which was slippery.  It was a slow walk.

This is the royal hunting lodge that originally occupied the property. Ludwig actually had it moved downhill a bit. 

Scenery on the hike

More scenery

And here she is.  Actually, it's a lot smaller than I thought it would be.  This is the place where Ludwig spent the majority of his time.  It is the only one of his castles that was completed.

The front

A little chapel on the grounds

Close up detail

The gardens were pretty much closed up for the winter and many of the statues were sporting protective covers.

Not Diana though...

There were no photos allowed inside, of course, but this is the closed up bit that I will someday have to come back for. A bit behind this area is the Venus Grotto  Ever since I heard of Ludwig's artificial grotto and lake with the shell boat, I've wanted to see it.  It's been closed quite some time for refurbishment though, so I didn't even bother trying to go up there.

After the tour, back down the slippery slope past the hunting lodge

One last scenic view before we hit the bus to Neuschwanstein.  We did get to drive through Oberammergau, the town that is famous for putting on a huge performance of the Passion Play every 10 years.  

It's a pretty little village

And is also known for it's painted houses

There are fairytale houses, all but this one were on the other side of the bus.  This is little red riding hood.

But there were other cool houses

This building is celebrating what the town is famous for.

And here is a blurry look at the local church and graveyard.

We settled in the bus for another hour...

And I eventually spotted my prize in the distance.  We parked the bus, got our tickets, and were set free to get lunch.  I got a quick sandwich and hit the souvenir shop

And checked out the town.

You can walk up the hill, take a horse drawn carriage, or take a shuttle bus.  I got the shuttle and the skill of the driver amazed me.  Hairpin turns in a full sized bus.  

We still had to walk up a little bit and were given the option of also going to a lookout point of a bridge overlooking the castle.  I did that and took some awesome photos.

Donna the Happy Camper,

By the way, this is the bridge.  Yes, it was *that* scary.  Wall to wall humans on that thing and the boards you were standing on were BENDY.  Did that stop me....Hell No!

By this time, the skies had cleared a bit and I got this stunning shot.

And this one...

And a happy Donna after the bridge, getting ready to hike the rest of the way up. More shots as I climb...

I needed a zoom in for these guys

I kind of felt like I was approaching Hogwart's at this point.

The mountains looming over....

This is the front entrance, and it doesn't look like you thought it would, does it.  Who knew that the white, Fairytale castle had a brick front facade?

I got inside and this is kind of the first view of the rest of the castle from the courtyard.

This is the other side of the front entrance.  Yellow stone...

Climbed up the stairs to the upper courtyard and its Christmas tree.

Happy Donna again....

I spent a bit over an hour wandering around outside.  Of course, no photos inside. Only the second (servant's floor), fourth, and fifth floors had completed rooms.  Of course you had to climb spiral staircases to see any of it.  It was just as awesome inside.

You exited through the servant's stairway, which led through the kitchens and TWO gift shops.  Yeah...I bought more...

The other side of the castle on the way down

The road down curved back and forth a bit

This was also the road used by the horse and carriages

Back with the horses in town

But before I get ahead of myself, there were some spectacular views from the castle

Very pretty, right?

Wait!  Is that another castle I see?

It is indeed.  While not one of the castles built by Ludwig, it was reconstructed during his father's reign and Ludwig spent a lot of time there while growing up.  This is Hohenschwangau and is still in the control of the former royal family of Bavaria. Ludwig's castles are all owned by the government due to all of the debt he racked up building them.

This is actually looking at it from the town, it's closer that Neuschwanstein. 

The bright yellow color really makes it stand out.  Tours are also available for this castle, but doing both would have taken the entirety of the day. 

Headed back to the bus to find this lovely scene.

And this very tasty beer provided by our bus driver. I had very little food that day and this had a slightly higher than American alcohol content.  Perfect for a 2 hour bus ride back

Shot out the bus window as we were headed back to Munich.

Well, that was a bit more detailed than I had planned.  I'm beat.  I actually got some groceries earlier and ate in my room.  Next is jammies and bed.  Weather is supposed to suck again tomorrow (frozen mix) so cross your fingers for me!