Crazy King Ludwig's Castles

We saw 3 of the crazy kings castles while we were there. One that was the model for the Disney castle and one that was patterned after Versailles. All 3 were beautiful in their own way, as well as majorly over the top.

Our first visit was to Neuschwanstein. The hike to the get to this baby was 25 min. all up hill. I was huffing and puffing a little more than I would have liked, and making it even harder to breathe were the horse bombs along the way. When we got there it was really foggy and so disappointing that we couldn't see the top, but trying to keep a positive attitude we looked at is as "ambiance". We also used "the secret" together as a group to bring on better weather...and it worked!






We had to wait in line for our turn so we had time to kill taking lots of photos. Inside we weren't supposed to take pictures, but I did get a few. Mostly it was gaudy, gold and covered in swans. He had a really weird obsession with swans, Wagner, and was a total night owl, recluse. No wonder they called him crazy.





The view from this castle was breathtaking. I was more interested in that than the decor.




The sun came out just in time!







The surrounding area was really beautiful even on the walk up. Even though it was still cold, the sun made it that much more amazing.





Castle 2 was Linderhof. I really loved that the sun was out again illuminating the gardens, which were my favorite part...and that we didn't have to walk uphill to get there :)














Again, inside I only took a few pics, it just wasn't my style. One thing I did find interesting about this guy is he didn't like to eat with anyone in the room with him, so he built a table that you could lower into the kitchen below through a trap door, and raise back up again with the food set on the table. Out back there was the Grotto, which was a fake cave he made to recreate a Wagner opera he'd seen. There were lights that changed color and a big swan in a tiny lake. Odd.






The last one we saw was on an island, which made it a little challenging to find. There were signs to the town where you catch the ferry, but from there we were kind of on our own. We parked at the train station thinking the ferry would be close by, it wasn't. I ended up asking a man on the street where to go and he pointed us in a direction 3 possibly 8 km away. Since his info wasn't clear, we got back in the car and drove the direction he pointed instead of walking and found our destination. I was glad we did because it was more like 10 km...which is kind of a long walk. There were a lot of bugs on the ferry.



Herrenchiemsee was patterned after Versailles. A much, MUCH smaller version.







The minature hall of mirrors was my favorite part. I also really liked seeing the unfinished portion of the castle. Many of the castles were not finished, but this was the only one that actually let you see it. I was amazed at the difference from stark nothing to over the top ornate.