The Castles of Ludwig
With rain in the forecast, hiking and biking were out of the question, so we decided to take the car Sunday to visit the castles of the region, thinking that at least inside the castles, we would be dry. We did not pack a lunch for the day, thinking we would stop at a restaurant along the way.
Huge carved puppets and wooden figures of old men with beards beckoned us to stop near the town of Ettal. Stepping out of the car, we could smell the wood shavings of freshly carved wood, and when we went inside the store, we saw the lathe and other tools of the owner’s trade. Eduard Fleig, the artisan, is a young man in his late twenties, early thirties, and inside his shop were bowls of all sizes, puppets, and every kind of object that could be carved from maple, birch, ash. He carefully wrapped the items we brought—an intricate, fold-out crèche, delicate oval Christmas ornaments, a bowl carved out of ash, wine corks, two whistles and a top, and we felt better about buying from him than if his wares had been sitting in an overpriced tourist shop.
Next we drove into Ettal, where we stopped for a short visit to the monastery founded in 1330 by Ludwig the IV. We learned from our reading that the monks produce fruit liqueurs and brandies and that their huge monastery is modeled on the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. We walked into the chapel where a high mass was being said—there were more priests on the altar than we have serving all the churches in eastern Kentucky.
Our first goal was to visit the castle at Linderhof, built by another Ludwig, Ludwig the II. Known as the lonely king, he built this small castle as a retreat; one of the saddest things is that he never married and never had guests stay at the castle. His dining room table was a small table that sat one person. The decorations were ornate: golden and silver gilded flourishes around the walls, French porcelain, a bronze equestrian statue of Louis II, woven tapestries, pastoral scenes of the rococo era, silk canopies, malachite tables, and so on. What impressed us the most were the waterfalls and gardens on the outside, and though it was raining, Mark got some good photos. This was the only castle Ludwig finished and that took 9 years. He died at the age of 40 in a mysterious drowning accident.
Since it was nearly 2, we were hungry and stopped for lunch in a café on the way to the other castles. Our menus had no English translation, and our waitress spoke no English, so we winged it with my German dictionary and what we knew from German dishes in the US. Mark ordered the house sausage with sauerkraut, and I ordered a bacon flavored dumpling soup and a vegetable salad. Excellent good luck in our almost blind choices!
We drove on to Fussen where we visited the sites of the other castles also built by Ludwig but never completed. If you have ever been to Disney World, their castle is modeled on the Neuschwanstein Castle. Ludwig loved everything French and built the castle on his memories of trips there. Towering high above the village, this is an imposing castle. Very close to it is the Hoenschwangau Castle which was an old country castle taken over by his father Maximilian II and Ludwig’s childhood summer residence and later his retreat place.
Wet and tired, we decided to tour the gift shops first, and found incidentally a restaurant with delicious looking pastries that were not to be resisted. It was there we decided that just being in the region and seeing these famous castles was enough for us, so we did a little more shopping, drove illegally up to the castle to get a view, and then drove down. We headed home through Austria and did not even know we were there since now there are no border crossings. We knew if it had been the border into any state in the US there would have been a “Welcome to Kentucky where Education Pays” type sign, but we saw none like it. Soon we were back to our hotel for hot bathes and steam rooms to get warm.
Today it is still raining, so we plan to shop for boots and cuckoo clocks, swim, and have dinner at a good restaurant in town.
Huge carved puppets and wooden figures of old men with beards beckoned us to stop near the town of Ettal. Stepping out of the car, we could smell the wood shavings of freshly carved wood, and when we went inside the store, we saw the lathe and other tools of the owner’s trade. Eduard Fleig, the artisan, is a young man in his late twenties, early thirties, and inside his shop were bowls of all sizes, puppets, and every kind of object that could be carved from maple, birch, ash. He carefully wrapped the items we brought—an intricate, fold-out crèche, delicate oval Christmas ornaments, a bowl carved out of ash, wine corks, two whistles and a top, and we felt better about buying from him than if his wares had been sitting in an overpriced tourist shop.
Next we drove into Ettal, where we stopped for a short visit to the monastery founded in 1330 by Ludwig the IV. We learned from our reading that the monks produce fruit liqueurs and brandies and that their huge monastery is modeled on the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. We walked into the chapel where a high mass was being said—there were more priests on the altar than we have serving all the churches in eastern Kentucky.
Our first goal was to visit the castle at Linderhof, built by another Ludwig, Ludwig the II. Known as the lonely king, he built this small castle as a retreat; one of the saddest things is that he never married and never had guests stay at the castle. His dining room table was a small table that sat one person. The decorations were ornate: golden and silver gilded flourishes around the walls, French porcelain, a bronze equestrian statue of Louis II, woven tapestries, pastoral scenes of the rococo era, silk canopies, malachite tables, and so on. What impressed us the most were the waterfalls and gardens on the outside, and though it was raining, Mark got some good photos. This was the only castle Ludwig finished and that took 9 years. He died at the age of 40 in a mysterious drowning accident.
Since it was nearly 2, we were hungry and stopped for lunch in a café on the way to the other castles. Our menus had no English translation, and our waitress spoke no English, so we winged it with my German dictionary and what we knew from German dishes in the US. Mark ordered the house sausage with sauerkraut, and I ordered a bacon flavored dumpling soup and a vegetable salad. Excellent good luck in our almost blind choices!
We drove on to Fussen where we visited the sites of the other castles also built by Ludwig but never completed. If you have ever been to Disney World, their castle is modeled on the Neuschwanstein Castle. Ludwig loved everything French and built the castle on his memories of trips there. Towering high above the village, this is an imposing castle. Very close to it is the Hoenschwangau Castle which was an old country castle taken over by his father Maximilian II and Ludwig’s childhood summer residence and later his retreat place.
Wet and tired, we decided to tour the gift shops first, and found incidentally a restaurant with delicious looking pastries that were not to be resisted. It was there we decided that just being in the region and seeing these famous castles was enough for us, so we did a little more shopping, drove illegally up to the castle to get a view, and then drove down. We headed home through Austria and did not even know we were there since now there are no border crossings. We knew if it had been the border into any state in the US there would have been a “Welcome to Kentucky where Education Pays” type sign, but we saw none like it. Soon we were back to our hotel for hot bathes and steam rooms to get warm.
Today it is still raining, so we plan to shop for boots and cuckoo clocks, swim, and have dinner at a good restaurant in town.
posted by Kathy Sohn | 1:46 PM
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