Monday: All the Kings’ Castles
Breakfast early this morning consisted of a buffet of sausages, meats, cheeses, breads coffee and cereal. Hearty Austrian food, I think. It nearly held us through until dinner. We left right at 8:30 a.m. with beautiful sunny weather, and a few wispy clouds, which seem to hang right at the tops of the mountains.
Our route took us into Deutschland – Germany – to see the famous King Ludwig’s two castles, Linderhoff and Neuschwanstein. The drive to the castles took all morning, and we cruised through many picturesque, small villages mostly farming communities. It must be harvest time for hay because everywhere farmers were on tractors mowing tall fields of grass and flowers. We also saw many people using scythes, cutting hay by hand with long, thin curved bladed instruments. These hand reapers were mostly seen on narrow, steep hillsides where obviously tractors could not function without tipping over. Some people we saw had even tied themselves to trees to keep themselves from falling down the mountainside while they worked. Bales were rolled and piled sporadically across the fields at the bottom of the hills. As we came to learn, farmers here wrap their hay to make it ferment. Apparently cattle love it, and our riding companions from farm country in Wisconsin loved speculating about this.
The architecture in the Austrian alps is consistently simple and beautiful. Most buildings are white or a pale color stucco with pale shutters and gingerbread trim around the roofline. Balconies and windows are filled with flower pots — pink and red flowers always spilling over the edges of pots. House after house looks like this, even most buildings in small towns. We wonder if there is a strict building code that enforces this, or people here just have great taste and understand the concept of a cohesive design style for a community, and the graceful impact of well placed flowers. Many buildings also have painted murals and trim around the windows. Against the near neutral stucco, these designs — as well as the flowers and windows themselves — stand out like artwork on a wall. Nearly every scene could be on a postcard.
I am enjoying getting my German back. I took six years of it in high school and college, and lived in southern Germany for a summer as a foreign exchange student. I have worked up the nerve to order in German once and pay a gas bill at a convenience store using my German. So far, no missteps, but then I could be short a couple Euros in my pocket and I probably wouldn’t know it.
In addition to settling back into the language, I am also remembering how it felt to immerse myself in another culture. You have a strong sense of both anonymity and freedom when you do this. No one knows you here, so you can just relax and be yourself. No need to organize people or talk about your life. Just enjoy stepping into someone else’s daily life and be a casual observer or minor participant. The world is a big place, and it takes getting out of your cultural box to remember how small a role you really do play on this big stage.
The king’s castles were ornate and dramatic. As we neared Neuschwanstein on our bikes, I could see the castle hanging on the side of one of the mountains in all its glory. I had seen pictures of this castle since my high school German class days and had always dreamed of seeing it in person. It did not disappoint. We actually toured the smaller castle, Linderhoff, due to the hours of wait and tour time it takes to go through Neuschwanstein. The building was full of extravagances of every kind, including tapestries that took women years to make because of the finery of the stitching. Gold-plated furniture, mirrored halls, tables that were lowered up and down through floors carrying food to the king, even a throne room.
But the grounds were even more beautiful in my opinion. Gardens were filled with statuary, pots, fountains and manicured flower beds and lawns.
Really, this king was over the top in all he did. A loner who let few if any to come into these magnificent buildings. He died young and by himself. Many of us wondered how his subjects felt when they finally got to see his estates after his death. Apparently they came in droves. Think of all the good he could have done with his wealth had he been less ego-centric. Yet the irony is even today people still flock to see the monuments he built, and we thoroughly enjoyed viewing the extravagance.
iPod playlist: Phil Collins, Neil Young, Dave Brubeck, Diana Krall
Want to see more photos? Go to and click on the set “Monday: All the kings’ castles” to see highlights of the ornate buildings and grounds.)
