We woke up this morning and checked the view from our balcony. Nothing, except a white wall of fog, and a gentle drizzle. After breakfast (very good by the way at this hotel) we checked the print-out of the local weather forecast provided by our host - fog and drizzle at our altitude; 2000 m higher, at the summit of the Zugspitze the visibility was good, but who wants to look at 150 km of cloud in every direction, with a few of the higher peaks sticking through. Obviously, this was not a day to go up to the mountaintop!
In the planning of this trip, I had anticipated this, and so every day's itinerary (of the three days/four nights we were based in Garmisch-Partenkirchen) could be switched with any other. Working on the principle that when in mountains, and the weather is not what you like, go across a range to another valley, and it will probably be different, we decided to go northward, across the foothills range, and visit some of the Bavarian royal castles and other attractions that are just on the edge of the Alps. There the weather, while not spectacular, was dry without much sun.
Our first stop, about an hour's drive from Garmisch-Partenkirchen, was at the Benedictine monastery in Ettal. While Benedictines have been settled in the Et valley (the meaning of Ettal) for nearly a thousand years, the present basilica and monastery buildings are fairly recent. The basilica is an impressive, octagonal building, decorated in the highly overdone rococo style, yet, somehow it works. Inside the church, there are memorials to previous abbots, each with a small biographical sketch, and also memorial to some clergy who sought refuge there during the 3rd Reich who were martyred in various concentration camps. A reminder that German monasticism, Benedictines particularly, did what it could to offer shelter to the opposition to Naziism.
The remainder of the village of Ettal is the usual Bavarian village, except for the very large hotel named "Ludwig der Bayer" (Ludwig [Louis] the Bavarian, born late 13th c.), reminding that Bayern (Bavaria) is an ancient kingdom, which only entered the German federation in the late 19th century, and had its own monarchy until the end of the 1st World War. Even today, as one enters Bavaria from other states of the Federal Republic of Germany, the signs announce that one is entering Freistaat Bayern (the Free State of Bavaria) and there are those in Bavaria who would like to make that Koenigsreich Bayern (Kingdom of Bavaria).
Nearby is the royal residence of Linderhof, the copy of the Petit Trianon in Versailles, built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria in the later 19th c. - apparently at a cost of more than 8 million gold marks, an unimaginable sum even in those days. It was the only one of Ludwig's construction projects that he actually saw completed in his lifetime. Both June and I had visited Linderhof (me just last year) so we gave it a pass, and instead drove on to nearby Oberammergau (which will once again host the every 10 years Passion play next year - 2010). When not overrun by tourists there for the play, it is a pleasant and pretty little village, with many beautifully decorated houses - and perhaps a few too many shops selling wood carvings , the major occupation of the village for 9 out of 10 years. Some of the items for sale are unique works of art, and very expensive; anything affordable is trite, or a mass reproduction. Rather than a carving, we found an Italian ice cream shop, and treated ourselves to a sundae lunch. These sundaes are "adult" sundaes, very elaborately constructed, with many flavours of ice cream, and finished off with very definitely alcoholic liqueurs. If there was any doubt about the freshness of the ice-cream, it was dispelled by steady stream of tubs full of freshly churned ice cream arriving from the back of the shop.
Leaving Oberammergau, we thought we would take a look at what a real (non-tourist attraction) village looked like in this area. We drove down the Ammer valley, to Unterammergau (Oberammergau means upper Ammer valley or area, Unterammergau means lower Ammer valley or area) The houses here are also decorated with paintings and sayings, but it is obvious that most of them are farm houses or small businesses as well as residences. We stopped at a bank to get some cash from their instant teller; no more than 10 m behind the bank entrance was a working farm, complete with dung heap and wood pile.
From there, it was about a 45 minute drive, mostly west-ward, to the Wieskirche (the church in the meadow). This very beautiful rococo (high baroque) style church is literally in a meadow, far from any town (the nearest is Steingaden). The backstory is that some hundreds of years ago a local farmer bought a statue of the scourged Jesus and placed it in the fields, where it deteriorated. Rumours of tears being seen on the face of the Saviour began to circulate, and the place became a pilgrimage destination, and a small chapel was built to house the statue. Very quickly it became apparent that this was too small to house the numbers of pilgrims, and the monks of nearby Steingaden Abbey commissioned the building of the present elaborate church in the late 1740s to house the statue, even though the old chapel remains. There are reports of miraculous healings from prayers before the statue.
The church was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983. It is still in the meadow, the only nearby buildings are a recently built restaurant and gift shop, offering washroom facilities (at 50 Euro cents per entry, but very welcome nevertheless), and a large parking area for buses, as most visitors no longer walk in the 3 or 4 km from the nearest main road. The other change from my last visit, decades ago, is a very new wide access road from the main highway, replacing a narrow winding path.
Onward from there to the twin royal palaces of Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein. Schwangau is the nearby town (the name means swan district or swan valley) and the prefix "hohen" can be take to mean "heights of." Hohenschwangau is the royal hunting lodge, built by Maximilian II of Bavaria on the ruins of an old castle, Schwanstein, located high above the town. Ludwig II, the son of Maximilian, lived there during his youth. Apparently, even as a boy he wanted to improve the view by building a romantic castle across a valley on a high promontory, and as king he did so, Neuschwanstein being the result (the new Schwanstein - actually, during Ludwig's life it was called Neu [new] Hohenschwangau; the name change was made after his death). Its model, in the king's mind, was the castle of Lohengrin, the swan knight of Richard Wagner's opera of the same name.
It is of course a very familiar building; Disney's Cinderella castle was inspired by it. While some of its facilities are in fact usable, chiefly the state rooms, other rooms are too low in ceiling or too small to be practical, as rooms were fitted into the inside of a building designed to be "romantic" rather than usable. Ludwig never saw its completion (in fact, it was never finished, a planned "keep" in the upper middle courtyard remains unbuilt). Ludwig's palace building projects (the renovations to Nymphenburg and to the Residenz in Munich, Herrenchiemsee - a full-scale reproduction of Versailles on an island in the Chiemsee, Linderhof, and Neuschwanstein, and another half-dozen or so projects that never got beyond the planning stage) had effectively bankrupted Bavaria and was threatening the private fortune of the Wittelsbachs (Bavaria's royal family). He was declared insane without any medical evidence and deposed. The next day he and one of the physicians who had declared him insane were killed in a mysterious accident in very shallow water despite both being strong swimmers. Ludwig's death was declared a suicide, despite no water being found in his lungs, and the physician's death was never explained satisfactorily, all of which has excited conspiracy theorists ever since.
Seeing both castles is a walking project! We parked in the village of Schwangau, and then walked first up to Hohenschwangau, an easy walk on well-kept roads with good views of the nearby Alpsee (a lake on which wild swans nest, which gives the district its name.) From the castle itself the view across the valley towards Neuschwanstein is spectacular, and indeed without the castle would not be nearly as romantic. While one can tour some of the interior of the castle, we chose not to, as it is dominated by its hunting lodge past, with an endless collection of mounted stag heads, a hunting weapon collection, and period furniture. There are lovely formal gardens fitted into the mountain crag on which the building is located, and westward the Alpsee provides a spectacular mountain lake view. There is also a newly restored royal chapel, with a very modern interior. As an aside, Hohenschwangau is still owned by the head of the Wittelsbach family, currently, Franz, Archduke of Bavaria. Neuschwanstein, on the other hand, is owned by the State of Bavaria.
The descent back into the valley is down some staircases and winding paths; quite steep but easy in the downward directions. From the valley the climb up to Neuschwanstein is several kilometres, on good roads and paths, but a good climb. At this point we were glad that the temperature was not too warm, and that there was not much sun. The alternate transportation up (and down) are horse-drawn wagons with seats, which we did no use. At various places along the climb up alternate paths are offered, most shorter but steeper; we chose to continue on the well-paved roads that were longer but with more gently gradients. Near the castle is also a "Gaststaette" - a pub with outdoor seating, if rest and refreshment is needed.
The Neuschwanstein castle, once one reaches it, is actually less spectacular than from a distance, as it is so massive that is cannot be seen as a whole. Again, one can tour the inside, we chose not to do so. Instead, we continued the walk for perhaps another km to the Marienbruecke (St. Mary's bridge) which spans the Pollat gorge which forms the other side of the promontory on which Neuschwanstein is built. From there the castle is again in full view, on the side not facing Hohenschwangau. Unfortunately, as parts of most public buildings in Germany are, that was the side being restored this year, so much of the view was covered by scaffolding. The bridge itself is spectacular, bridging a deep gorge with a mountain stream with several waterfalls and deep pools. The walk to and from the bridge also gives several good views of Neuschwanstein, Hohenschwangau, the Alpsee, and the entire valley to the north.
There are several routes back down to the village and car park. One is simply to retrace the way up, but now some of the shorter, steeper routes become attractive, as they are a lot easier down than up. In any case, the return trip to the valley takes a lot less time than the climb up! We were glad to get back to the car, and settle in for the short trip (~20 km) to the village of Eisenberg and the Pfeffermuehle (Peppermill) restaurant. Having g had nothing but ice cream for lunch, and done a lot of walking and climbing hills, we were ready for a good supper!
Scott and I had found the Pfeffermuehle the previous year by the simple expedient of getting lost trying to locate the Wieskirche. Ending up miles away (we never did go there) and with the prospect of more than 150 km driving back to our hotel, we decided to stop at the first place that looked good for supper, and this was it. The meal we had then was outstanding, and worth another visit.
As the year before, Spring lamb was on the menu, and so June and I, after the usual German salad to start, ordered lamb chops. One rather odd "appetizer" also arrived, the usual almost black German farm bread, accompanied by a spread which turned out to be roast goose drippings. It took me back to my childhood, when this was considered a delicacy, and I quite enjoyed it; June passed. The lamb chops were as good as I remembered them, and the quantity was more than adequate, a rack of six chops each! We agreed that this might have been the best lamb we had ever eaten.
Last year I had asked where the restaurant got its lamb, and the somewhat puzzled reply (sort of, how stupid are you to ask) was that it was local, from the local butcher, and that everything else, other than the beer and wine, was local too. That points out one of the features of eating in family-operated restaurants and small family-run hotels in Germany; many of the customers are local, and if the food is not good, they don't come back. And, as many of the customers are local merchants and farmers, the raw materials are also purchased locally, and if they are no good, the restaurants find another supplier. This virtually guarantees the excellence of meals. Another illustration of this; for dessert we had ordered fresh strawberries with icecream and whipped cream, and after some time our waitress came back and told us she couldn't really recommend having the strawberries, as it was near the end of the season, and the ones they had were beyond their prime.
After supper we returned to Grainau and our hotel by a route that was almost all through Austria, and thus we got at least a taste of the northern Tirol region, although we didn't stop, and thus got back to our starting point just as the light was failing. The route we took was south of the one that Scott and I had taken from Linderhof to the royal castles area, much of it through the Loisach river valley; spectacular mountain scenery and very pretty villages and countryside, which would have been worth a much more lingering trip, for which we unfortunately didn't have time.
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