Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Bavaria, Germany

Thursday

Yesterday, after hearing the horrible news of the political situation at home, we took the next step in our journey, the drive to Garmisch-Partenkirchen. It was a lovely drive, through amazing mountains and quaint villages.

Here not all of the church spires are the copper-topped, onion domes of Catholic churches, but some are the tall pointed spires of Lutheran churches (of which naturally I did not catch any photos). Towns are nestled in valleys between high, craggy peaks; buildings are shaped in the typical Bavarian style.

Upon our arrival in Garmisch-Partenkirchen we drove up to our flat; our host was out front waiting for us! He showed as around our modern flat before zipping off. Guess what - no stairs!!! We all had a bit of a rest, but when I came back to the kitchen, our gathering spot, Manfred's face was not one of a happy man. Die Zugspitze, one of the two places which were absolutes on my list of places to visit here in Bavaria, is closed! All of the trains, the cogwheel train and the cable cars, to the top of the mountain are closed for maintenance for three weeks. Even the ones on the Austrian side of the mountain. This is terribly disappointing to all of us.

Today we wanted to drive through the amazing countryside of the Bavarian and Tirolean Alps to my all-time favourite place to see here, Neuschwanstein castle. Schloß (castle) Neuschwanstein, as it is called in German, was built by Ludwig II, the king of Bavaria. His life was a fairy-tale and a tragedy.

Ludwig was born in 1845 in Schloß Hohenschwangau, southern Bavaria. Much disliked, his education to assume the throne of Bavaria was strictly regimented, and his parents were advised to keep their distance from the boy and his brother. After failing as monarch in the German Revolution of 1864 Ludwig's father abdicated, and the new adult Ludwig was crowned.

Two years later Bavaria and Austria succumbed to Prussia in battle and Ludwig was forced to unite with twenty-one other monarchs to form the German Empire.

As a boy Ludwig liked to put on plays and live a fanciful life; as a young monarch he did the same. He became known as both the Swan King and the Fairy Tale King. Unhappy with Bavaria's lack of art, architecture and music, he decided to build fanciful castles, one of which was Schloß Neuschwanstein.

Does it make you think of Disneyland?

Fascinated with the operas of Richard Wagner, Ludwig brought Wagner under his patronage, allowing the composer to escape poverty, a typical state for artists even today. Wagner's anti-semitic views caused the local people to force him out of Bavaria, but Ludwig ignored the government and continued his support.

The king's very strange behaviours as well as his insistence of building these fairy-tale castles costing outrageous amounts of money caused him to be surreptitiously observed by a doctor at the Munich Asylum. In 1886 Ludwig was declared incapable of ruling and of living freely for the remainder of his life. On the night following his incarceration he and his doctor took a walk around the grounds of his castle prison. Both were found dead a few hours later under suspicious circumstances.

Back to our tale: when we all got up and assembled in the kitchen, there were low clouds outside. I was very concerned as the last time my family came to Bavaria when I was in high school in London, England, Neuschwanstein was enveloped in clouds. I had a poster of the castle on my wardrobe in London, and was devastated that it could not be seen. Manfred was certain that the clouds would burn off, so I worked on the blog while we waited. As he predicted, a while later the clouds had burned off, so we headed out for a breakfast that turned into a lunch, and on towards the castle.

The drive was amazing! The peaks are rough, with not much time in the geological timeline to wear down. I knew that we were driving around the base of Zugspitze (by the way, it is pronounced 'tsugshpitsah') so I kept looking at the peaks on the east side, but there were lower mountains right next to us. We turned to the west and I looked out the back window and saw a huge mountain. Manfred pulled off the road and we all got out with our cameras (iPhones) and started clicking. Looking at the mountain further I could see a building perched on the top of one of the peaks, then I saw the cables going up the side to the building - Zugspitze!!!

The mountain!

There is the building, on the left peak which is actually higher, but behind the lower peaks which are closer so look taller. If you look closely you can see the cables up the left side of the mountain.

The cables that should have taken us in the cablecar up to the top

This is the top, which we should have visited, with not only amazing views, but a restaurant! That would have been brilliant!!!

Moving on, we saw a few clouds, then some hanging quite low. Uh oh. A bit further and we were enveloped in a dense fog. Praying that it would lift, we drove on, in and out of the fog but the clouds never disappeared. When we arrived at the spot where carriages and shuttle busses take the milling tourists to the two castles of Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein here was our view:

I am crushed. As there was absolutely no point in staying, we drove on while I kept my tears as silent as possible. Manfred suggested a route back to Garmisch-Partenkirchen which would take us by Oberammergau, the location of the famous Passion Play. In 1633, during the midst of an outbreak of plague, the villagers promised to perform the suffering, death and resurrection of Christ every ten years. The following year was their first performance. This tradition has been continued every ten years until covid caused a two-year postponement. Now they are back on track, with performances every second year of each decade, the next one being in 2032. That is quite a track record. I have always wished to attend, but as I hate dealing with crowds, especially crowds of tourists, it is something that I will never witness.

The village is small, with winding lanes through its centre. We drove through, then found a parking place, had a coffee and cake, and went shopping, not at the souvenir shops but at shops with items like gorgeous cuckoo clocks, Christmas pottery, and locally made wood carvings. A few Euros poorer, we headed on down the road to Garmisch.

After a rest and time on the blog, we went to a wonderful Italian restaurant for a delicious dinner. Who knows what tomorrow will bring...