Day Three-Monday: The Bavarian countryside and Oberammergau, Germany
Rain Rain go away! What is with this rainy and chilly weather? Europe is completely underwater! We woke up to drizzle which turned into downpours which turned into drizzle...and that's how it went the rest of the day. But we were certainly not going to let a few raindrops interfere with the exciting day we had planned. Bill arranged a car to drive us out into the greener-than-tree Bavarian countryside, and our destination was two of King Ludwig's castles:
Hohenschwangau Castle - where King Maximilian and Queen Maria raised their two sons, Prince Otto and Prince Ludwig (the soon to be King) - and nearby the more famous
Neuschwanstein Castle.
This is a photo of a typical farmhouse, where the barn is connected directly to the house!
Notice Neuschwanstein Castle
(the inspiration for Disneyland's castle in The Magic Kingdom)
in the background.
Since Bill and I had already toured Neuschwanstein Castle last January when we were in Germany with Lulu, we decided to tour
Hohenschwangau Castle this visit. Unlike Neuschwanstein, which is known as the Fairy Tale Castle, Hohenschwangau has a distinctive yellow exterior and convey
s "the solidity of a medieval castle, a defensive bulwark on a chain of hills above the Alps". Nobility had settled in the Schwangau area since the 12th century and the castle changed hands many times before it became King Maximilian's and his young bride Maria's home in the early 1800's. The first floor was the Queen's apartments, and the second floor the King's apartments...but there were two "secret" doors that led from one bedroom to the next! The children occupied the third floor. The interior decor has a Swan theme - they are everywhere in the paintings, the chandeliers, the furniture, the frescoes, and the china.
Because the King did not like the sight of blood, the battle scene portrayed in this painting,
full of wounded and dead warriors,
shows not one drop of blood.
A "before its time" Lazy Boy Chair !
At the completion of our castle tour, we were indecisive about whether to head on back to Munich due to the rain-rain-rain, or venture forth to the nearby town of
Oberammergau, where every ten years the villagers put on the immensely popular
Passion Play. I said to our driver,
"What's with this rain? Will it ever stop? I feel bad for the business owners...they must be losing a ton of money during what should be a high revenue time in the summer months." He looked at me and said,
"Well, shit happens."
We decided to head on to Oberammergau.
Feeling a duty to help out the suffering business owners of the many crafts and artisan shops in Oberammergau, we parted ways with Bill and Willie heading into the closest pizza parlor they could find (Willie is not a fan of the German food to say the least - and we'd had plenty of veal the past 3 days) while I wandered off the main drag to see if I could find some hidden treasures. I came upon the town's cathedral which had a gorgeous graveyard (anyone else love graveyards?) so I decided to do a little look-see before I opened my wallet in the shops across the street.
The town of Oberammergau is full of shops, inns, and restaurants with a full-flung Bavarian look.
Onward to another church, but first I had made the driver stop so I could take a closer look at these street signs:
Last church of the day - this one called simply
The Pilgrimage Church of the Scourged Savior. Built between 1745 - 1754, the story goes that a farmer in the area witnessed a statue of Jesus crying, and to pay homage to this, the villagers, farmers, and a few priests in the area, built a cathedral. The inside is done in a very elaborate rococo style, which makes one pause - such an ornate building in such humble surroundings.
Attitude is everything! Despite rain and cold weather (in late June!) we had a spectacular day!
