Castles (for real this time) and Churches

Hey, I am back to finish up talking about Munich like I promised. I believe I left off after Saturday night which brought us to Sunday morning...

We met up with a tour bus that took us out to two castles of King Ludwig II´s, Neuschwanstein and Linderhof that are out in the countryside south of Munich just shy of the Austrian border. Our ride out there was GORGEOUS! When we started seeing the German Alps in front of us I was amazed at how huge they were! And how much snow some of the higher ones still have on them...so before I tell about the castles I should explain a little about their creator. King Ludwig II ruled over Bavaria and was a great patron of the arts. He loved the compositions of Richard Wagner and became his benefactor which enabled him to compose and put on many of his operas such as Tannhäuser, Tristan und Isolde, and his opera cycle of Der Nebel des Ringes. Anyway, Ludwig loved these stories and appeared to live in his own little dream world at times, for people thought him to be mentally insane or not quite all with it. He decided to have 3 castles built to aid him in the process of living out his dream life. Linderhof was the only castle that was completed and that he lived in during his lifetime...and this was our first stop of the day. It is small in comparison to the second castle we visited, but it was cozy and had beautiful gardens and fountains surrounding it. (I would post pictures of these places we are visiting, but I forgot my camera cord....sorry! If you are really interested you could google them!) Also we were not allowed to take pictures in inside the castles...which almost forces you to buy their products! After Linderhof, we had a quick 45 min. stop in a towm called Oberammergau which is located between both castles and where one could buy fairly priced Bavarian souvenirs that were cheaper than in Munich at least....several students bought cuckoo clocks! So your son or daughter may have a surprise for you when they come home! (don´t worry Mom, I did not buy one since we already have one at home :) ) Then we drove for another 45min. to Neuschwanstein, which I will abbreviate as (Neu) from now on because it is too long to type out each time.

At Neu we ate a quick lunch at a hotel recommended by our tour guide Mark (who was decked out is lederhosen and the socks and everything that is stereotypical Bavarian, by the way). Four of us at my table orderedthe Weißwurst, which is a bavarain specialty that is eaten in the morning or for lunch and that you do NOT eat the casing of...because apparently if you do, everyone knows you are a foreigner...or at least that is what we are told. We then had several options to make our way up to the castle. We could walk up, take a horse carriage most of the way, or take a shuttle bus. The last 2 options required a nominal fee, though. About half of us walked and the other half took the shuttle. Now, our info sheet told us that it should take us an average of 40min to walk up, but we made it in about 25?min. I guess all that walking in Berlin paid off... We actually kept pace with the horse carriages that took the same path most of the time. I was a good workout, though. And it started to rain about a third of the way up to hill and I did not have my umbrella...oh uh. But it cooled me off and felt good. Once we got to the top, we had a beautiful view of the mountains around us as well as the valley below and the castle before us. Our tour inside lasted about 35-40min. and during the tour it started raining harder outside and we heard little rumbles of thunder now and then so it was sort of spooky, but it all added to the atmosphere, so it was cool. The inside was decorated with paintings of scenes from Wagner´s operas...like there was a Tristan und Isolde room and a Tannhäuser room. Very neat. Apparently Ludwig never lived in this castle (if I remember correctly) because it was never finished. After our tour some of us quickly ran over to the Marienbrücke, a bridge, where we had an awesome view of the castle with 2 lakes behind it. Plus, the bridge was near a waterfall which was pretty loud actually. So we got some nice rainy shots of the castle and headed back down to meet our tour bus and make our way backto Munich.

Trivia time! Did you know that the castle at Neuschwanstein was Walt Disney´s inspiration for several of his classic cartoon movies? Well, now you know!

So once we got back to Munich, we went to the Höfbrauhaus, where we had resevations, which is world famous for its Bavarian cuisine and show. We were treated to a full buffet of German specialties as well as traditional dances, songs, yodeling, music, and other fun surprises. Several of us students even got to help out. Kristin was chosen to help lead us in the chicken dance and Luke got to help ring the Glocken (bells) for a song. It was lots of fun! but after a few hours of the dancing and singing it got slightly repetitive and it was a little, what you would call "kitschy", but it was all in good fun.

Monday morning came all too soon and we had our last opporutunity to see the sights in Munich before we left. Several of us went to the Residenzmuseum which is a palace of sorts in the city, while others went to the German Museum, which had a lot to due with science and technology. I visited the former. Now, if Neu was a stereotypical castle, than I would call the Residenz a stereotypical palace. That place was HUGE! They had some 70 + rooms on display to look through, including a long hallway that was filled with antique busts of Roman and Greek historical figures and massive paintings on the ceilings. It was overwhelming to look at. Many of the smaller rooms and chambers also had intricate tapestries that were hung on the walls and depicted historical scenes. We also went through the Schatzkammer, the treasury that held the jewels and expensive belongings of the Bavarian royalty. Very old and very shiny...While I probably could have spent all day at the Residenz, we kept moving and visited 3 churches before meeting up with the group. We saw the Frauenkirche, Marienkirche, and the Asamkirche. They were all different in their architectural approach. One was gothic, while the other 2 were baroque. And the Asamkirche was so ornately decorated that it looked like someone exploded a baroque bomb inside of it. There was hardly a smooth surface that did not have an angel or pattern on it! I know that sounds harsh, but it was very different from anything I had seen before...

So, that about wraps up our trip to Munich! Today we had classes again and are busy working on our final projects that are due a week from Friday on our last day of school. Tomorrow we are missing class, actually, to spend a day in Cologne (Köln), so we have to meet at the bus stop at 7:00am! Needless to say, most of us will be getting to bed early tonight.

Also a quick note: there might be one or two other students that will post some of their thoughts about the trip thus far on the blog here, so just to warn you it might not be me...but I trust them...for the most part. :)

Tschüs!