Oberammergau, Germany – September 29, 2012

Like a broken record, we are sad to report that today, the skies were cloudy once again in Germany.  It is getting discouraging at times since many of the sights are so much more beautiful when the sun is shining, and the skies are blue.  Unfortunately, the only thing blue today is our mood from seeing so many cloudy days.

We did get to sleep in a little since we were not in any rush to go out into the cloudy, and at times, cool and drizzly weather.

After eating our wonderful breakfast at the Hotel Gästehaus Richter, we decided to go and visit the Linderhof Castle, which is only a few kilometers from Oberammergau.  Linderhof Castle was the only castle ever completed by King Ludwig II, who was also responsible for the Neuschwanstein Castle.  The Linderhof Castle was really small compared to the Neuschwanstein Castle, which was probably one of the reasons it was actually completed.

We arrived at the parking area about 10:30 AM, and headed to the ticket office to purchase our tickets.  The lady at the desk was less than friendly, and seemed irritated when I tried to use the credit card for the purchase.  She quickly informed us that the purchase amount was too small for them to accept a credit card, and that cash payment would be required.  We paid in cash, and headed to the castle for the tour.

The next English tour was in about 30 minutes, so we had some time to explore the grounds around the castle.  The actual building faces a large fountain area on the front, which is itself surrounded by some gardens.  Then there are steps going up to an elevated area with a stone or marble fixture.  In the back of the castle, opposite of the steps, is a long stepped waterfall that cascades down to the back of the castle, and has a covered gazebo at the top of the hill on that side.

The main fountain at the front of the Castle only operates for about 5 minutes at a time, we surmised it was running on the hour and half hour.

We headed inside for our tour, and similar to the other castles, due to copyright issues, there are no photos allowed inside.  Although the castle was small inside, there were only two floors and the rooms were not that large, it was exquisitely decorated.  The lower floor was the kitchen and servants living area, and the upper floor was reserved for King Ludwig II.  The rooms were spectacular, and well decorated with lavish carvings and gold gilded woodwork.  The castle was just for Ludwig’s personal use, no official royal functions were held here, so even the dining table was only sized for a single person.  He did not like to be disturbed by servants, so the dining room table could be lowered to the bottom floor, set up with dishes and food, and then raised up to the second floor for Ludwig to sit at by himself  and eat his meal.

There were four rooms on each corner, or at least near the corner on one side, that were decorated in their own color, and their main purpose was for use by the servants to be able to be nearby to the main rooms in between the corners of the castle, so that the servants could quickly be available in case Ludwig rang for them.  He was definitely a nut.  He had a room set up specifically for reading, which was apparently a great passion  and he was always up at night, and slept during the day.

The bedroom had a “king size” bed, OK that was the joke the guide used, and looked out at the cascading waterfall in the back of the castle. Another room was for music, and contained a piano that had only been played a few times.

After we left the castle, we walked out to the “grotto”, which was, and I think is still is one of the largest man made grotto’s in the world.  It was under some renovation, but the center room contained a large pond that had a boat in it, and a stage for set up to perform opera scenes on.  Ludwig was a big fan of  Richard Wagner, who wrote a lot of operas at that time.  It was a place that reminded Ludwig of the nighttime, and servants would row him around in the boat, and they would even put swans inside on the water.  Did I say Ludwig was a nut!!!

There was also a hunting lodge on the grounds, but we did not go into that building.  There was also a small building that looked like a mosque, I believe it was built based on a trip Ludwig made to the middle east.  Again, there is just too much to put into this post, but I have added a link to the Linderhof Castle Web Site for more information.  On one of the pages at this official Linderhof Castle Site is a layout of the interior for the second floor.   We just wish it had been a sunny day, the buildings and grounds would have been so much prettier.

From the Linderhof Castle, we drove over to the town of Ettal to go to the Abbey there, which had a beautiful church.  The Abbey is called Ettal Abbey (Kloster Ettal), and  is a Benedictine monastery in the village of Ettal.  It was beautiful inside, mostly with pink colors, similar to other churches in this area.

Then we drove back to to our hotel in Oberammergau, where unfortunately, it started to rain.  We walked back into the town, and we ate a small, late lunch.  After lunch, we spent some time in the Oberammergau Catholic Church taking pictures inside, and of the cemetery that surrounds the the church on the outside, similar to what we had seen at the church in Lucerne, Switzerland.  From there, we walked back over to look inside some of the shops, but unfortunately, they all closed at 6:00 or 6:30 PM, so we did not get to spend much time looking in them.  This is definitely a sleepy little town where all of the shops and stores close early, no matter the day of the week.

We headed back over to the Catholic Church for Saturday Vigil Mass at 7:00 PM, and then after Mass, started our walk back to the hotel.  It was a cold rain, and we were tired of walking around in it.  We did try and stop off at the grocery store near the hotel, but had forgotten that all of the grocery stores close at 8:00 PM on Saturday, and it was now 8:15 PM.

We should have known that since this same exact thing happened to us in Vienna, Austria two years ago.  It was rainy (check), we were walking back to the hotel after Saturday night Mass (check), but that time, we unknowingly walked past the barrier indicating the store was closed, and went into the store anyway, not making the employees happy.  We thought the barrier, consisting of a mop and mop bucket was a warning for a wet floor (it was raining , not something to keep us out!  It was afterward that we looked at the sign showing their scheduled hours for the week.  We learned then that the  European signs giving the hours started on Sunday, and go through Saturday, not our typical Monday through Sunday signage. In Vienna, we thought the information for Saturday showed they were open until 10:00 pm, but in reality, that was the time for Friday.  In this case, we were much too late to squeeze in, the stores were already fully closed, so we had walked the extra distance in the rain for nothing.

Our plan then turned into going to a gas station we passed going back to the hotel that had a convenience store.  We picked up some really fresh and appetizing croissants and a jumbo pretzel for our snack (just kidding on the fresh part).  We proceeded to walk back to the room in the now steady rain,  and were glad to finally be inside, and out of the cold rain.  We ate our purely sustenance convenience store meal, and then we packed up our suitcases once again since we are driving to Munich in the morning, where we will be dropping off our rental car, and staying for one night to attend Oktoberfest.