The Fairy Tale Castle (by Rob)

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Transport yourself back to yesteryear. It's Sunday, 7:00 pm. The family is sitting around the TV. The images appear on the screen. The familiar music and song begins:

When you wish upon a star
Makes no difference who you are . . .

Tinker Bell waves her wand, pixie dust is scattered over the screen, the fairy tale castle appears and you are transported into the land of dreams. Where did Walt Disney find this castle? Did it exist? Lo and behold, the fairy tale castle does exist and it is located near the town of Hohenschwangau, in the state of Bavaria, in the land of Germany. It was built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria between 1869 and 1886. He never finished it because he died under mysterious circumstances at the age of 40. He was also known as "Mad King Ludwig" and may have been mentally ill (no formal diagnosis was ever rendered).

On Tuesday, September 14, Vanda and I went castling. First up was getting our tickets. They had been bought on-line before we left the US. We had tickets for English tours of both castles: Schloss Hohenschwangau, where Ludwig was raised, and Schloss Neuschwanstein, his dream castle and Disney's fairy tale one. Because these castles are visited by over one million people annually, they have a very organized system for running the tours. Pick up your reserved tickets one hour before your first tour (Hohenschwangau) and get there before your number (on the ticket) appears on their tote board. After the tour, you have a little over an hour to hike or ride to Neuschwanstein before your number comes up on that tote board.

I had never been to Hohenschwangau before so I was really looking forward to it. Because Vanda's knee was acting up, and the walk was 15 minutes uphill, we took the horse-drawn carriage ride to the castle. As large as it was on the outside, the Schloss was rather small on the inside. There were basically two floors -- the Queen's floor (second) and the King's floor (third). (There was a hidden stairwell from the King's bedroom to the Queen's.) The furnishings still remaining were period pieces from the 1830s. There were also numerous mementos that had been presented to Prince Regent Leopold, Ludwig's uncle who took over the role of king after Ludwig's death. (Ludwig's brother, Otto, was unable to assume the role and duties of King because he was diagnosed as mentally ill.) The items in the Queen's chambers were of silver and those in the King's were of gold. The King's rooms were also larger. The views of the lake and valley below the Schloss were stunning.

From Hohenschwangau it was on to Neuschwanstein, a very steep 40 minute walk which I had taken before when much younger. I had been here at least four times before and found the Schloss enchanting. It was never finished and Ludwig only spent a few days there during his lifetime (he is not buried there). Again, because of Vanda's knee, we got in line for the bus ride up the hill. It let us off just above the castle and we took the 10 minute walk to the entrance. We arrived within minutes of our tour number appearing on the tote board. Once inside, we hoofed it to the second floor for a quick orientation. Then it was 63 winding steps to the next floor and the start of the tour. The throne room was regal, except that there was no throne on the raised dais -- it was never made. The mosaic floor, which consisted of over 1,000,000 tiles, and wall decorations in the throne room reflected a strong Byzantine influence. As we went from room to room, each one seemed more stunning that the previous one. The top of the canopy in the King's bed chamber was carved wood that took four years to complete; below the canopy and above the mattress was a night scene containing stars that shone at night. Another room was made to look like a cave with stalactites and stalagmites.

Both castles use the swan motif extensively in their decors, some rooms incorporating a swan up to 100 times in the woodwork, wallpaper and porcelain figurines. In fact, each Schloss has the word "swan" in its name, as the German word for swan is "Schwan."

Once our visit with Mad Ludwig was over, we had time to high-tail-it to the Wieskirche (Wies Church), which is about 30 minutes away from the castle area. This magnificent Late Baroque, Rococco-style church is the subject of another blog entry.

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Comments

[Christine]

Glad to read that you all are having a fabulous time! The castle pictures are amazing and I am assuming those are your personal photos?!

[Rob61]

Response about the castles
Yes, we took all of the photos shown. It was an overcast day, so they are not as clear and bright as we had hoped, but at least it wasn't raining!