Castle Day - King Ludwig II

On Sunday we had to say goodbye to Garmish, we had a wonderful time and were sad to leave.  We decided in true Vandeway fashion  - well at least me - to hit two castles on the way home.  They were both castles built by King Ludwig II.  The first one we went to was his summer palace call the Linderhof Palace.  It was absolutely amazing!!!  We couldn't take pictures of the inside, it was prohibited.  But every square inch was covered by a mural, carved wood covered in real gold, or tapestry's, etc.  I don't think there was any wall space that wasn't covered.  It was so elaborate.  One of the chandeliers was made out of ivory, 400 individual pieces that took 4 years to build.  Another chandelier hanging in his bedroom was over 1000lbs.  He had these two mirrors in there that were made out of a special kind of porcelain that was very rare.  One tea cup would cost around $500 and he had two full mirrors with it and also a HUGE chandelier in his dining area.  His bedroom is the size of two apartments here in Germany.  And this was only his summer palace, which he stayed in for about 2 weeks out of the year.  The outside I think would be beautiful in the spring.  All the statues were crated for the winter, the fountains weren't on and of course no flowers.  We are thinking we want to go back and check out the grounds in the late spring.  I bet it is gorgeous!!  Here is a little history on it:  It was completed in 1878, and only one of his four castles that were completed while he was still alive.  This palace with is Baroque façade was influenced by French architecture, and the interior is decorated with Rococo motifs from the time of Louis XV.  Ludwig also incorporated many aspects of the south German Rococo style of his own ancestors.   The dining room possesses a table that could be lowered into the kitchen that was located below. The servants in the kitchen could then stock the table and have it raised back up into the dining room. This was all done so that Ludwig would not have to see his servants.  We were told that he was a very private man and never entertained at the castle and didn't like even talking to his servants.  These are some pictures I took from the Internet so you could see the inside of the castle.  If you see the peacock here in the first picture, when the king was actually at this castle there were two peacocks that were put outside of the castle to let everybody know.  The piano in the left corner of the picture works, I would have loved to get my hands on it!!



He had a king size bed above - all the walls are carved in a soft wood and painted with real gold over it




This is his dining table that disappears into the floor and back up.  That is the chandelier made out of porcelain.

 

Aren't they too cute!!

 

They had a lake with two swans in it - they were very beautiful, but I think used to being fed because they were coming after Michael looking for something

 

The front of the palace

 

The view from the front of the palace.  All the wooden boxes are statues and the frame is a fountain

 

I couldn't resist this one!!  Behind him is part of the grounds

 

My poser!!

 

Then after this, we had to Neuschwanstein Castle - some of you might know this as the Disneyland Castle.  It is the one that they modeled theirs after.  Between the two castles was more beautiful scenery!!  A lake that was so smooth I wanted to water ski on it even though it was only 38 degrees outside and probably a glacier fed lake.  :-)  I can see why King Ludwig II chose the site for this castle, up on the hill you could see for miles and miles and it was gorgeous!!!  It was commenced by Ludwig II in 1868 high above his father's Hohenschwangau Castle (we didn't go over to that one, just ran out of time--maybe on our next trip) and was never actually completed.  It was his monument to the culture and kingship of the Middle Ages.  Designed in a medieval style but equipped with the latest technology of the day, it is one of the most famous buildings in the world and a central symbol of German idealism.  He only lived in the castle 172 days and during that time it was still under construction.  Neuschwanstein was found at the vote on the new wonder of the world in 2007, where it finished eighth.  He went into quite a bit of debt trying to get the castle built.  He never let the public in to see the castle.  Two weeks after his death, they started letting in the public at a cost to make up some of his debt.  We did not go in and do the tour due to time constraints, but we did take the bus up, it is a mile walk almost straight up. The boys were complaining walking out to a bridge to overlook the castle, so I am glad we took the bus.  We decided to take the horse and buggy on the way back down.  The kids thought it was really cool!  It was also kind of funny, with the boys wearing their hats, many people had their picture taken with them or touched their hats.  Luckily our boys were good sports about it.  It was a good end to a great weekend!!!  We didn't make it home until 8 pm that night and so both boys were a little worn out this last week, but today I think they got their gusto back!!  Just in time for the weekend too!! 

 

 

 

The bridge a little ways away from the castle - just look at the color of the water

 

The boys with the castle behind them on the bridge

 

Check out the scenery behind it

I had to put in some scenery of the view from the castle

 

One of the sides, it is really tall

 

The interior court of the castle

 

It does look like a fairy tale castle

 

The bridge we were standing on

 

Our ride down the hill

 

Michael past done

 

Innsbruck, Austria

On Saturday we started our day off with a jaunt over to where they held the 1936 and 1940 winter Olympics.  In 1936, when they had the first one, the ski jump was made of wood.  When they found out after 1936 that they were going to have move, the took that one down and made one of cement.  The first one in 1936 had more thank 500,000 visitors to the stadiums.  It is amazing to think that that many people actually came into the little town of Garmisch.  They also built an ice rink that is still in use today with different hockey leagues and teaching people how to ice skate.

 

The entrance into the ice rink

 

Statues by one of the entrances into the stadium

 

The other entrance and their statues

 

The actual jumps

 

This shows how big it is - that is a 747 Boeing jet on the right side of the picture

 

The boys hanging out

 

The view from the Stadium

 

After that we headed into Austria to a town called Innsbruck.  It was our first Christmas Market.  This one was spread out over four different areas.  There were so many different items being sold.  Some beautiful carved pieces, glass pieces, and so many more.  Of course there was the famous gluwien and yes I had a glass!!  I had the white instead of the red.  I like it a little better.  I have now started my gluwein mug collection!!!  I have seen some of my friends collections that are huge, we shall see how big mine gets.  But anyway, there were people everywhere and I thought it was busy.  We bumped into somebody David knew and she said that it was a light day and usually there was three times the amount of people there.  I would for sure lose Michael if there were that many people.  He was fascinated with many things and would just walk to go check it out without seeing where we were.  There are days a leash might be nice, but we haven't lost him yet.  :-)  The boys each picked out a great hat and we had people taking pictures of them, complete strangers the rest of the weekend.  Their pictures will end up in many countries.  The boys did get a little tired of the walking and shopping, not as much fun for them, but lots for me!!!  I found one thing that we bought for ourselves, but we have at least three if not more that we are going to go to this year.  I can't hit them all, but there is always next year!  I did let the boys ride the carousel at the end and they went away happy!!  That and some cotton candy and fresh made pretzels.  :-)  The drive was absolutely beautiful there and back!!  It took us about an hour one way.  The scenery was amazing, we went way up into the mountains and then back down into Innsbruck.  We didn't have one place we drove to that didn't have absolute beauty every step of the way.

 

 

Our first sight of the Christmas market

 

The river that runs through the town - check out the color and the birds flying on the right side

 

We were not sure what this statue is - but we thought it was interesting

 

Walking through the market

 

They had many of these "statues" throughout the market - the boys didn't know if he was real or not until he smiled

 

That dog didn't move the whole time we watched them and it was a long time

                                                          My new look - what do you think?

 

AJ and his new hat

 

Michael and his new hat

 

We saw this on the drive and had to take a picture - we found out it was built as a play castle.  It is now closed down, but it still looks cool!

 

Zugspitze

On Thursday when we got there, it was cloudy and  you couldn't see the top of the mountains.  The land lady said if it was clear, to get up to Zugspitze quickly because that is the best view.  So I went to bed praying that it would be clear in the morning when we woke up.  God answers prayers, it was absolutely gorgeous on Friday morning!!!  It was really kind of neat because there was some fog on the ground and the mountaintops were clear as a bell!!!  So we got up and went to find a way up the mountain.  There are two ways, the fast way in a gondola and the slow way on the train.  We took the fast way up.  It was fun, but you were up really high above the ground and praying it would hold.  At one point at the very end it was like you were going straight up and trying to run into the mountain.  When we got up there the view was breathtaking!!  It was so beautiful that words just can't quite describe it.  God really knows how to paint a beautiful picture. It really did look like a picture, almost surreal.  We were so blessed with the sunshine and good weather.  Of course we had to have some hot chocolate up there too!!  It was a little windy, so it was nice to get something warm in the body.  It was also one of the best hot chocolates I have had!!!  Zugspitze is the highest elevation in all of Germany.  The Zugspitze, at 2,962 meters above mean sea level and the highest mountain of Wettersteingebirge. It is located southwest of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and its western summit is the border between Germany and Austria. South of the mountain closes at the Zugspitze, a karst plateau with numerous caves. On the flanks of the Zugspitze are three glaciers, including the two largest in Germany.   At the peak of the Zugspitze lead three lifts. The first, the Tyrolean Zugspitze Railway, was built in 1926 and ended on a ridge below the summit before the end station was moved in 1991 to the peak. A rack railway, the Bavarian Zugspitze Railway, runs through the interior of the northern flank and ends on the Zugspitze where another cable car climbs to the summit. With the Bavarian Zugspitze Railway and the Eibsee, the third cable car, an annual average of 500,000 people reach the top.  In winter, a ski resort operate nine ski lifts on the Zugspitze.  AJ was really disappointed that the ski lifts weren't open, but we will get him up sometime soon. 

 

Our Thanksgiving dinner

 

So had to take a picture of this, do you see the hose to the left, it is to clean the toilet after you use it and that is because it is an

 

Arabic toilet - there were two other toilets that didn't have this sign or the sprayer.

 

Headed up the mountain

 

In the gondola

 

The boys holding on

 

Beautiful view on top of the mountain

 

A lake that is nearby - I guess you can swim in it during the summer time

 

During the summer you can climb over to that cross, it is closed during the winter because of all the ice

 

Having our hot chocolate and desserts (before lunch)  :-)

 

Daddy and Michael enjoying their time!!

 

A little church up on the hill

 

I am king of the world!!!

 

Our view from the balcony - we were up on the right side of the picture