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Bavarian Castles
From Munich, it took a few hours by bus to reach southern Bavaria to see two of "Mad" King Ludwig II's castles: Linderhof and Neuschwanstein. Bavaria used to be a kingdom but became a German state in 1871. Two Bavarians we met on our trip, Herbert and Rosie, told us that their dialect is so different that Bavarian school children learn German as a second language. We enjoyed blue skies and sunshine for the first castle stop, Linderhof, but by the time we got to Neuschwanstein, the weather had turned cold and rainy. The rule about less tourists in the off-season doesn't apply to Neuschwanstein: it's crowded year-round. On the way home we stopped at Oberammergau, home of the decennial passion play, where we bought an authentic cuckoo clock.
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| Castle Linderhof was the home of "Mad" King Ludwig II. Though quite small, the inside is definitely fit for a king. Ludwig built four outlandish castles but spent most of his time in this one, living as a recluse. | King Ludwig's stomping grounds. He supposedly went crazy and drowned in a nearby lake, but more likely he was murdered for nearly bankrupting Bavaria with his lavish spending on fairytale castles. |
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Neuschwanstein sits on a hill. A horse-drawn carriage can take you to the top, but the line was too long so we walked instead. The views of surrounding mountains from inside the castle are breathtaking. |
| Neuschwanstein Castle is also known as the Disney Castle because Walt Disney is said to have used it as a model for Cinderella's castle. It was built in the late 19th century. |
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