Ascension Weekend Part 1

Thursday was Ascension, a national holiday in Germany. Because it falls on a thursday, friday is sort of a holiday too. Four day weekend, woohoo! (Side note: school was still in session on Friday, which I know because a whole bunch of high schoolers got on the train out of Fussen with me and then deboarded a few stops later in front of a large building). Anyway, I used my holiday to go castle-hopping. First Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau, both near Fussen Germany, on Thursday and then Herrenchiemsee near Prien on Friday. There so much to talk about so this is going to be a three part posting.

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I love traveling by train, watching the scenery glide by your window. You get a wonderful feeling for what a country looks like when you travel by train. They're so convenient in Europe too. I left Paderborn at a quarter to 8 on Wednesday evening, so I got about 2 and 1/2 hours to see by.

Germany is so beautiful. Sparse pine forests cover the somewhat ungently rolling foothills of the mountains. Quaint villages nestle between the folds of the land looking in all probability just as they did a hundred years ago. When night came and I could see nothing more, it was as if the lights had just come on at the end of a movie.

When I finally arrived in Fussen the next morning I was exhausted, freezing, and dying to find a bathroom. (For the record, there are free public WC's at the Fussen train station and at Hohenschwangau). The bus to Hohenschwangau (the town) was pretty short (3.80 for a two way ticket, saving you about 50 cents), and the bus driver was super nice about my butchered pronunciation. Correct way: Hoshvangow. Traveler's Tip: get the royal ticket and see both castles. It doesn't take that long to do them both and Hohenschwangau is just as deserving. Also, go early. Most of the large tour groups come in the afternoon, but there were no lines when I got there. Sadly, no pictures inside the castles (this is becoming a recurring theme).

You have to do a guided tour to see the castles and they assign you to a tour based on your language of choice. It was great getting to be an American tourist amongst other American tourists for a while. Plus the tour guides spoke very clearly so I can tell you a whole bunch of neat stuff.

First a little history lesson. Hohenschwangau literally means the High Swan District. According to ancient legend, this is the Swan Knight's lake. Considering the fairy tale is of French origin, I think this a whole bunch of medieval hooey, but if there really were some medieval knights who built a castle here and were known as the Schwangau knights. The castle was called Schwanstein and swans later became a symbol of the Wittelsbach family (Ludwig II's family). Ludwig II is also sometimes called the Swan King. Anyway, the Schwangau knights died out by the mid-1500s, the castle switched hands several times (and fell into major disrepair), and King Maximillian II of Bavaria scooped up the property and built Hohenschwangau on the ruins. Max and his wife Marie had two sons, Ludwig and Otto. At 23, Otto (the younger son) developed a mental illness (probably schizophrenia). Ludwig became king at 18 when his father unexpectedly died of illness following a trip to Italy. His grandfather was still alive by the way, but he had abdicated the throne ages ago to let his son do all the work while he enjoyed retirement. Ludwig II built (or started to build) some of Germany's most famous castles and palaces. For obvious reasons I'm a major fan. He was also good buddies with Richard Wagner. Anyway, after he lost the war with Prussia, he got demoted. He was still King, but because Bavaria was no longer a sovereign nation, it really didn't matter. He responded by spending inordinate amounts of money to build his fantasy castles. The bank threatened to seize his properties, but the government sort of stepped in. They got a foreign doctor who had never even met Ludwig (they didn't even use one of the doctors who were tending Otto) to declare him "crazy", sent out an official proclamation telling everyone he was not fit to rule and formally deposing him, and they forced him to leave Neuschwanstein and come to Munich. The next day he was mysteriously found dead by the lake. No cause of death. Otto already being on the not-allowed-to-rule-the-country list, their uncle Luitpold ruled as Prince-Regent for 18 years until he died. His son Ludwig then took over and got the government to make him King instead of poor, crazy Otto (who at least got to keep his titles until he died). Draw your own conclusions.

Hohenschwangau, from the town below

The main entrance into the court yard

Ya'll know I have a thing for funny statues

Neuschwanstein, coming through the clouds,
 as seen from Hohenschwangau

Anyway, Hohenschwangau is where Ludwig grew up when the family wasn't in Munich. He spent a lot of time there as an adult as well. The family still owns this castle, and to my mind it's more of a "real" castle, a little more authentic. They have a lot of the original furnishings and decorations and stuff. The walls are covered in murals (depicting a variety of things but frequently the story of the swan knight) that still have all their vivid color because Maximillian had the good sense to have a clear protective coating applied on top of the paint. Apparently the way they lived was the queen had her floor, the king had his directly above it, and they put the kids in a separate building. Nice right? Max travelled to Turkey and loved it so much that he had his wife's bedroom fitted up with columns and Turkish-style decor so she could experience it too. He was very romantic: in his bedroom he had stars on the ceiling with tiny crystals so the stars would glow if you put a candle on the floor at night. Sound strange for a guy sleeping on a different floor than his wife? No worries: there's a secret door in the king's bedroom that leads down to the queen's. Most of what I marveled at though were the ornate pieces they had on display. Gigantic solid gold centerpieces, silver replicas of famous fountains, an ivory and gold cabinet with the coat of arms of each Bavarian district. One of the Russian czars gave Ludwig a cross for his chapel made entirely out of lapis lazuli. Someone gave Luitpold (the uncle) a gold statue of Diana the huntress on a green marble mountain because he like hunting.

I had some downtime before my next tour, so I wandered a bit, looked around the shops and such. Then after buying my mommy a present (it's a surprise! so she'll just have to guess) I started up the mountain. This is no wussy hill. This is a mountain and it is quite a trek. It's not very far, but it is very steep. Either bring a water bottle with you or be prepared to pay for the shuttle or horse-drawn carriage. I was especially glad to have my water bottle after I decided to go see Mary's Bridge. What can I say, my parents have raised a hiker. I'm sure it has magnificent views, but it was so cloudy all I saw was white. Down in the ravine some 150-200 ft below us (my mother would have hated this bridge), there was a nice waterfall. You can get an even better view of the waterfall if you go down a gazillion stairs to this sort of lookout point. I was quite glad I went down the stairs until I started to go back up them again.

Hohenschwangau from the bridge (it was really really foggy)

The waterfall, from the bottom of the gazillion stairs

Apparently this is the thing to do.
I however refrained because I am a girl scout
and I leave nature the way I find it.

Clouds were pretty much the order of the day. They made it somewhat difficult to get good pictures. It did add to the whole fairy tale aspect of it all though. Neuschwanstein is literally like walking into every fairy tale you've ever heard. The windows of one room were open and some clouds billowed in: I seriously felt like I was in heaven. God, if you're taking requests, I would like my room to look like Neuschwanstein. The sad thing with this castle (and most of the castles Ludwig built) was that it was never finished. Ludwig only lived there 172 days and he never saw it without scaffolding. The parts that he did finish are beyond description though. The throne room looks like a Byzantine church and its floor has a mosaic with over 2 million tile pieces. There's no throne though; it never got built (stupid stingy government). The Singing Hall is also amazing. The walls are painted with murals telling the story of Perzival the Grail King (the father of Lohengrin the Swan Knight). Actually most of the walls in the castle are depicting the story of somebody. St. George and the Dragon was clearly a favorite. The king's bedroom is probably my favorite room. It took a team of woodworkers 4 years to finish all the carving in that room alone. You can see into his bathroom and it gives new meaning to "the porcelain throne". It literally looks like a wooden throne with a leather seat except that there's a lid. That's the other thing about Ludwig: he liked his modern conveniences. The whole castle was built with modern plumbing (for the time), electric lighting, and central heating. He also had a telephone, but the only place he could call was the post office since nobody else in Bavaria had one. He also had a state-of-the-art kitchen and a nifty way of calling his servants. He would press a button which would sound a bell in the servants' waiting room and turn on a light telling them where to go. Not bad for the 19th century. I spent most of the tour with my mouth open; Ludwig had a flair for the ornate. It's sad he didn't really get to enjoy it. I mean, he built a fake grotto complete with waterfall for the acting out of of Wagner's operas, and it never got used. He never saw a performance in the Singing Hall. He never got to hold a banquet there. He never even got to finish building the thing, let alone decorating it. The guy created something beautiful but never got the chance to see his vision come to life.

It was not this hard to see I swear,
but my camera skills are lacking.

The front entrance to the castle

Around noon the clouds dissipated a bit and
I got a better view of the  castle from the town below

Before we feel too bad for him though I will tell you this funny story. He and the sister of Empress Elizabeth of Austria (Empress Sisi), Sophie, had a thing for like forever. They got engaged and then after 8 months he broke it off. By mail. Without a reason. Can you imagine? "Dear Sophie, It's over. ~Ludwig". Jerk. This may have contributed to the insanity accusations. Oh and the cinematic romance between him and Sisi? Completely made up.