Day 7: Ludwig
Prepare yourselves again as this will again be long and full of superlatives. What a day! I will never forget it as long as I live.
We were up very early as we had to be in Munich by 8 to catch the tour. By now we are pretty comfortable taking the subway, so we arrived at the starting point for the tour at about 7:45. Ken saw one of the bus drivers and thought he’d ask a question about where we should be or what bus we should take so he approached him with our tickets. The man looked at him coldly and said, “NO! 8 o’clock!” OK--no questions answered until 8. We got the point. Ken was embarrassed of course and I teased him that this would probably turn out to be our bus driver.
Promptly at 8, we came back from the coffee house we had rested at while waiting to find a long line already in place. We jumped into one in front of a bus, and God was with us again. We were the very last people to be accepted into that bus. We got on and at first could not find a single open seat. I was just turning to tell Ken “they are all taken” when the little tour guide called out, “you can sit here.” Here just happened to be the two FRONT seats in the bus with the very best views. How no one had happened to sit there, or how me missed them when we got on, I’ll never know, but we were thrilled to have them.
We discovered that the buses are arranged according to language. We had just happened to line up in front of the correct bus with the English speaking guide. While we were waiting to board, we saw a young Japanese woman try to get on our bus. She was turned away and directed to the bus in front of ours. “That’s the Japanese language bus,” she was told. “But I speak English,” she said. “What is your nationality?” she was asked. “Japanese,” she responded with frustration. “Then, there. THAT is your bus,” said the tour coordinator triumphantly. The poor little girl turned away with frustration all over her face I couldn’t help but suspect that she was a Japanese-American and may not have even spoken Japanese.
Our tour guide (never understood her name, so I’ll call her Anna) got on and promptly at 8:30 our bus pulled out. Anna introduced herself. She had the sweetest, most lilting voice I have ever heard. She then introduced our driver. Anton. But of course, we had met him before. Yep, he was the driver Ken had had the incident with.
Anna told us we would be stopping in three places. The first would be Ludwig’s first castle--Linderhof. Secondly we would go to Oberammergau where the Passion Play is performed every 10 years. Lastly, we would finally go to Neuschwanstein, the fairy-like castle that Walt Disney based his castle on.
To be honest, Neuschwanstein, was my dream. I was faintly interested in Linderhof, and figured I’d be bored to tears in Oberammergau. How my mind was to be changed!
Anna was the perfect guide. She made everything intensely interesting all the way. And something I hadn’t expect started to take place in my heart.
My heritage on my mother’s side is German. My grandmother, Lucy, came over from Germany with her parents when she was just a child. But I have never had much interest in Germany--been a little ashamed of my German blood to be honest. I’ve preferred to think of myself as English/Irish--my dad’s side. But as we began to travel through Bavaria, I felt my heart swelling with pride. Bavaria is beautiful beyond description! The Bavarian Alps rise majestically. And the villages are filled with those lovely homes with the balconies filled with flowers that drape down for yards. I think I had always suspected the pictures were a bit of a sham. I kind of thought they took photos of the same 10 or 15 houses for the brochures, and the rest of the homes were pretty ordinary. But I was wrong. The houses really ARE like that. Picturesque and lovely. The villages we passed were delightful--I wanted to stop the bus and just wander through them. But I was pretty sure Anton would not be amenable to such a suggestion.
Before we knew it we arrived at Linderhof. Ken and I (and only 2 other people on the bus) had elected not to pay the additional fee to actually tour the inside of the castles--reviews I had read had suggested it really wasn’t worth it), so we could only wander around the outside. Let me tell you--we didn’t care a bit. The outside was just staggeringly beautiful. It was all I could do not to gasp out loud! We only had about an hour (as I recall) at this stop and Ken and I needed every second of it to explore the grounds. I’m telling you, Ludwig was a design genius. Linderhof is spectacular.
Eventually we climbed aboard the bus again and Anton swung off. Just a short time later, we arrived in Oberammergau. For those of my readers who are not familiar with the story I will fill you in a bit. Back in the 1600s when the plague was killing everyone in Europe, this little village was hard hit. THe villagers, in despair, fell to their knees and promised God if he would remove the plague, they would promise to perform a Passion Play on the death of Jesus every 10 years. They have kept that promise for centuries now. The play is 7 hours long and over 2,000 people perform in it.
I said I had expected to be bored here. NOT FOR ONE MINUTE. What a gorgeous village! It was the quintessential Bavarian village that you see in the travel posters. Beautiful, quaint homes with flowered balconies everywhere. Little adorable shops. Everything perfect.
Anna had advised us not to buy souvenirs anywhere else stating that everything carried at the castle stops was to be had here and cheaper. Ken and I wandered through, entranced at all the lovely items--many handmade by the villagers. Gorgeous cuckoo clocks. Beautiful wood carvings. I began to despair that we were only allowed 40 minutes here. I needed LOTS more time.
We did have a sort of funny incident. We were walking down a lane and a man was bicycling past with his dog on a leash. The dog was not cooperating. He kept turning and pulling to go the other way. I smiled at the man and said, “He seems to want to go another way.” The man--an older gentleman--rolled his eyes in despair and said, “There’s another dog in town in heat. That’s why he’s pulling to go that way. I tell you, he’s 12 years old and nothing has changed yet!”
All too soon our 40 minutes were up and it was time to head to Neuschwanstein. It wasn’t long before we were almost there and suddenly, through the mists I happened to look up, and there it was! Towering over us, still a ways away, but drop dead beautiful even at the distance.
We had been given close to 5 hours here which included an hour for lunch at wherever we choose to eat.
In reading up on the castle, I had discovered that the very best view was to be had from Mary’s Bridge which is situated above the castle. Anna told us we would be able to reach the castle in a number of ways--by foot (which she recommended) by bus or by horse-drawn carriage. The reason she recommended walking was that there was at least a 30 minute line up for a bus and even longer for the carriages. She admitted that it was a bit of a walk, but she said she, herself, could climb it in 20 minutes. Most should be able to get there in 40. “It will depend on how fit you are,” she said, “but most people can do in in 40 minutes.” One woman across from us (who we later discovered was an American from St. Louis), asked about Mary’s Bridge. Anna explained that there would be a cut off from the main trail with a sign to it. She warned that it was a bit of a climb.
Now here’s the thing. On the way in while describing the climb to the castle Anna had said something that got my American dander up. She said people have different opinions on the difficulty of the climb. “Germans come back to the bus and say, ‘you call that a climb!”, she said, “while the Americans come back huffing and puffing and declaring that they have never experienced such a terrible climb!” Well that did it for me--I was going to climb it. But you see, I didn’t understand that she was referring to the well-paved walk to the castle--NOT the gravel climb to Mary’s Bridge.
Well, Ken and I started off. I was already huffing a bit when we reached the cut off to the bridge, but I was determined I was going to make that climb! So we started up. I am here to tell you that this was categorically the worst climb I have ever made in my life. Straight up! All the way!” I promise you if I had had any idea of how terrible it would be I would have swallowed my American pride and taken the bus! But the further I went, the more determined I became that I would make it. Finally (well more than 40 minutes later), we reached the top and I was so full of pride in myself that when I get back to Randolph, I’m not sure my head will have collapsed back to normal dimensions even yet. I was there. I was at Mary’s Bridge. And now, all I had to do was walk out on that bridge to get the spectacular view of Neuschwanstein that was awaiting me.
Of course, it could not be that easy. There were scores of other people with the same idea. Tour buses of people were parked with hundreds of other tourists determined to get out on the bridge. I had to fight for every square inch! But dadgum it, no one was going to stop Elizabeth Ann Schermerhorn Gorth who had just dragged herself up a mountain from getting on that bridge and getting as many dang photos as she pleased! And I promise you, I got there. And I got my pictures. And it was an experience of a lifetime standing there and looking at that splendid beyond words castle floating in the mist before me. I didn’t care how many people jostled me trying to get me to move--I stood there as long as I liked. (Actually, I feel there should be a special place reserved for those who make the climb--all those pansies who take the bus up cannot appreciate the experience the way the rest of us more hardy souls do!).
I will say I had a little concern about that bridge. It is a suspension bridge placed between two towering cliffs. The drop is tremendous. There would be no survivors if the bridge happened to give way. And there were scores of people pushing and shoving to get on and off the bridge. It truly gave one a little pause.
I was still feeling the glow of pride in myself when we ran into the woman from St. Louis. She had made the climb too--in 25 minutes! I stared at her in astonishment. How was that possible! She laughed and said climbing is her passion--that when she retired she decided that exercise was going to be her goal in her retirement years and she walks and climbs all the time. She said her daughter has hiked the Appalachian Trail (over 2,000 miles) twice and twice hiked from Mexico to Canada. “She’s my inspiration,” she told us.
Finally replete with the glory of the view, Ken and I headed down to the castle itself. I can promise you, it does not disappoint. The grounds are nothing special, but the castle is so beautiful that you can hardly believe it actually exists.
“I never in my life could have believed I would actually get to see this!” I whispered to Ken. We both made sure to touch it to add to the reality of actually standing at Neuschwanstein.
We then made the trip down the regular path which as I said is well paved. Even that would have been quite a climb although it could not compare to the hike we had made.
We had quite a bit of time left before the bus pulled out so we had lunch at a restaurant Anna had recommended. It was delicious. I had a large salad with pine nuts, avocado, dates, and salady things like grated carrots and onions, etc. Wonderful Ken had wieners (the real Austrian ones) with some sort of cold potatoes (looked liked mashed potatoes, but they were cold). I tasted them and they were outstanding. We ate outside even though it was a bit chilly.
At last it was time to board the bus and head back to Munich. Everyone dozed off--even Anna (I could see her in the driver’s side mirror--I’ll bet she doesn’t know that those sitting in the front seat can see her: grin). We pulled into Munich about 6:30 and Anna said if we wanted to leave a tip we could leave it with Anton. I refused. He had been rude to my husband. Fortunately, my husband is made of better stuff. When I told him that, he said, “Oh Elise, let’s not be that way.” He dug out some euros. I checked with Anna to see if she got any of the money. She assured me that she and Anton share equally, so I felt better with Ken leaving a nice tip.
I know this is long, but truly, this was a day that will remain as a highlight of my life. If any of you ever get to this area, please take this tour. I was a little hesitant as it isn’t cheap, but honestly it was worth every penny.
We headed back to the station, caught the subway, and crashed into our comfortable beds in preparation for our next day’s tour of Salzburg.
End of Day 7
NOTE: I'M GOING TO SEPARATE THE PHOTOS INTO THE THREE STOPS SO YOU CAN SEE WHAT EACH ONE WAS BETTER
Linderof
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| Ken does love his hats |
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| The grounds at Linderhof |
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| Looking towards the main castle building |
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| Main Building |
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| This was amazing to me. It was a series of steps that were a waterfall all the way down. I really loved it |
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| Bottom of the steps waterfall |
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| Some of the gardens |
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| Looking towards the main castle building |
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| They turned the waterfall on after we were there for awhile |
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| Some of the beauty |
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| I climbed every step up. Here you can see some of the magnificence from the back waterfall to the front building and gardens. Oberammergau |
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| I am entranced with how they grow the flowers. I asked Anna (tour guide) and she said "I think it is a secret. I've tried and tried and my balcony is pathetic. I grew up in a small town in Bavaria and I still can't figure it out." |
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| An example of the paintings on the buildings Oberammergau is famous for There were much better examples, but we whipped by them on the bus with no chance for photos |
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| Just some of the scenery |
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| Close up of the painting |
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| More flowers |
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| All along the street too |
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| Where the Passion Play is performed--they used to do it outside but rain ruined too many performances |
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| Ken caught this painting--there is a series of paintings in the town of Grimm's Fairy Tales--I think this was supposed to be Little Red Riding Hood |
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| Some more of the town's beauty--OH--I didn't notice myself standing there :) Neuschwanstein .JPG)      |
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