Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Wednesday July 06, 2005
The weather was turning out to be nicer than it was the day before, and most of my snifflies were gone. Thankfully, it looked like I would not be getting sick. Today was going to be my last full day in Munich, and I wouldn't even be spending it in the city! I checked out of my hotel, and headed on over to the main train station for my next tour. I was taking a combination train/bus tour into the Bavarian Alps to see some amazing sights.
The first site on the tour was the Weiskirche, a church built at a pilgrimage location in the 18th century. No pictures were allowed to be taken inside the church, but the view outside was pretty nice. Here's a picture of me, and my buddy, Zugspitze, the highest mountain in Germany (I think):
The bus continued on towards the town of Füssen and the famous fairy tale castle, Schloss Neuschwanstein. This castle was built in the late 19th century by Mad King Ludwig II of Bavaria, but was never finished. He lived in it for about 100 days before he died mysteriously in a lake near Munich. This castle inspired the castle built by Walt Disney in Disneyland.
We spent some three hours in the area around the castle. The tour of the castle itself was very short, only 30 minutes. But, the castle is very small, so this understandable. Not all the rooms inside the castle were completed, either. The rooms that were in the castle were very beautiful.
I also took some pictures of the landscape around the castle:
After Schloss Neuschwanstein, the tour continued on... the bus took a surprise shortcut through Austria! We were only in Austria for about 30 minutes, but I'm going to count that as country number FIVE for this vacation!
After our jaunt through Austria, we travelled to another of King Ludwig II's creations, his palace at Linderhof. Ludwig was a great fan of Absolutism, and King Louis 14 of France (the "Sun King"). Ludwig, in the spirit of the Sun King, tried to create a smaller version of Versailles in Bavaria at Linderhof. This palace was even smaller than Neuschwanstein, but it was just as beautiful.
King Ludwig would place the peacock looking out the window when he was at home to let the people outside know when he was home:
The Hall of Mirrors at Linderhof was one metre longer than the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles! Take that, Louis!
King Ludwig had the first electrical plant in Bavaria plant to power the coloured lights at his own private opera grotto in the hills directly behind Linderhof:
After Linderhof, the bus quickly stopped at the fortress/church/monastery/school at Ettal. At this church, we were allowed to take pictures:
The bus then continued on and took us to the train that would take us back to Munich. I only had a few hours before I was supposed to catch my night train out of Munich. I had my dinner and walked around the Altstadt a bit more to pick up some last souveneirs. My night train left Munich at 11 PM bound for Berlin...
The first site on the tour was the Weiskirche, a church built at a pilgrimage location in the 18th century. No pictures were allowed to be taken inside the church, but the view outside was pretty nice. Here's a picture of me, and my buddy, Zugspitze, the highest mountain in Germany (I think):
The bus continued on towards the town of Füssen and the famous fairy tale castle, Schloss Neuschwanstein. This castle was built in the late 19th century by Mad King Ludwig II of Bavaria, but was never finished. He lived in it for about 100 days before he died mysteriously in a lake near Munich. This castle inspired the castle built by Walt Disney in Disneyland.
We spent some three hours in the area around the castle. The tour of the castle itself was very short, only 30 minutes. But, the castle is very small, so this understandable. Not all the rooms inside the castle were completed, either. The rooms that were in the castle were very beautiful.
I also took some pictures of the landscape around the castle:
After Schloss Neuschwanstein, the tour continued on... the bus took a surprise shortcut through Austria! We were only in Austria for about 30 minutes, but I'm going to count that as country number FIVE for this vacation!
After our jaunt through Austria, we travelled to another of King Ludwig II's creations, his palace at Linderhof. Ludwig was a great fan of Absolutism, and King Louis 14 of France (the "Sun King"). Ludwig, in the spirit of the Sun King, tried to create a smaller version of Versailles in Bavaria at Linderhof. This palace was even smaller than Neuschwanstein, but it was just as beautiful.
King Ludwig would place the peacock looking out the window when he was at home to let the people outside know when he was home:
The Hall of Mirrors at Linderhof was one metre longer than the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles! Take that, Louis!
King Ludwig had the first electrical plant in Bavaria plant to power the coloured lights at his own private opera grotto in the hills directly behind Linderhof:
After Linderhof, the bus quickly stopped at the fortress/church/monastery/school at Ettal. At this church, we were allowed to take pictures:
The bus then continued on and took us to the train that would take us back to Munich. I only had a few hours before I was supposed to catch my night train out of Munich. I had my dinner and walked around the Altstadt a bit more to pick up some last souveneirs. My night train left Munich at 11 PM bound for Berlin...
# posted by Rob Szumlakowski @ 1:00 p.m. 
