A terrible picture of Schloss Linderhof that does not do the castle justice
I originally
intended this post to be a full account of my first full day in Germany.
However, I have so much to say about each stop (and so many pictures I want to
plaster all over this blog!) that I’ve decided to make it a multi-part series.
I hope you enjoy it!
When I first
learned I was going to Germany, one of the first things I did was plug into
Google maps how close Neuschwanstein Castle was to Munich. I had wanted to see this
castle in person since I was 13, so I guess you could say it’s a half-life long
dream. Imagine my surprise to find Munich is perhaps the closest large major
city in Germany! Without hesitation, I booked myself onto a day tour to see the castle.
On my tour bus in the Alps - this is where fears of the big bad wolf came to be, and I can see why
I’ll confess:
I read a lot of travel blogs and reviews before I went abroad, and a common
theme seemed to be that guided tours were evil. Alright, evil is perhaps too
strong a word, but in a world that appears to emphasize how organic their
explorations are, a guided tour was considered, well, touristy. Perhaps I’ll cover in a later post why I think guided
tours have a valid place in this world. For now, I’ll just say that I chose to
take the bus version of the tour (there is also a train version). Not only did
it take me to two (!!!) castles, but I also appreciated that I could pass out
from jet lag and still wake up at my desired location. I also had some fun
trying to remember my high school Spanish, as the tour was conducted for both
English and Spanish speakers. One thing I do want to mention, for anyone
interested in taking the tour themselves, is that the cost of admission to the
castles was not included in the tour. I still felt like I got my money’s worth though!
Gardens at Linderhof and the encroaching clouds
Our first
stop on the trip was not Schloss Neuschwanstein, but Linderhof. I didn’t expect
that Neuschwanstein could be supplanted in my dream castle list, but it was. Set
high in the German Alps, Schloss Linderhof was that day surrounded by clouds
and mist. The castle (or perhaps more accurately, palace) had a dramatic reveal
because of the combination of this weather and the short walk from the parking
lot. It is the smallest of King Ludwig II’s castles, despite it still being
larger than my childhood home.
My golden ticket!
Because the castle
is small, the tour inside focused mostly on seven rooms. This included the
entry way, the King’s bedroom, the East and West tapestry chambers, the
audience chamber and the dining room. The dining room is the home to the
infamous disappearing dinner table. Also on the tour were the “cabinets”, small
rooms that served almost as hallways between the rooms that were each painted
in a different color and featured portraits of important people in Ludwig’s
life (read: his many mistresses).
However,
hands down, my favorite part of the tour was the hall of mirrors. Almost every
inch of the walls are covered in mirrors, and what isn’t covered in mirrors is
covered in gold. Scattered around the room are small vases but the show stealer
was the giant chandelier. Through the windows, the view onto the front gardens
was gorgeous. According to my tour guide, the room was one of Ludwig’s favorite
places to read; I imagine he wasn’t distracted by the view through the windows
though, as he apparently was a bit of a night person.
I would have been distracted from reading by this view
Photos were
not allowed during the tour, so sadly I can’t add any of my own pictures of the
interior. Suffice it to say, opulence doesn’t even begin to describe this
castle!
Up next: Schloss Neuschwanstein
No comments:
Post a Comment