Day 4: Schloss Linderhof and Oberammergau

Wednesday. Another beautiful, snowy day in Bavaria. Once again, Russ is off to work, so the kids and I chose to check out Linderhof Palace and the town of Oberammergau. First, off to Schloss Linderhof, another of King Ludwig II's lovely little homes. Once again, I am adding a link to the official website so that you can check out the inside of the castle as well as get more information on it. (They don't allow photography inside this one, either. Same reason.) Here is a bust of King Ludwig II on the castle grounds. On the walk from the parking lot up to the castle, you pass by this pretty little pond. I thought there were some statutes on it. On closer inspection...I noticed that they were alive. The swans were patiently waiting for Spring. Poor swans. I'm not entirely sure that their rears weren't frozen to the surface. Once again, King Ludwig had great taste in locations for his castles. The views were spectacular. He had lots of gardens on the hillside behind the castle. These arches are entirely covered with leaves in the summer, making a nice cave-like walking path through the woods.I admit I was a bit bummed that the fountains were all covered up for the winter. I would have loved to have seen the gilded statute of Neptune in the center of the pool. The castle was beautiful. It's the only one of Ludwig's castles that was actually completed. It's the smallest of all of them, too. Inside, there were wonderful things such as a hall of mirrors (Brandon's favorite room) as well as a huge bedroom with a beautiful blue canopied bed. Literally King-sized! Jess chose that one as her favorite. There were a pair of huge peacock statutes in the castle that the servants moved to each side of the entry when King Ludwig was in residence. The King was impressed with them, because he thought that showed how much his servants loved him when they moved them into the entry just for his arrival. In reality, it was a signal to the rest of the household to be careful and watch their behavior. If the swans were in the entry, then the King was around, so no joking around. If the peacocks weren't by the front doors, they could relax and have a good time, with no worries of the King catching them. These are the front doors to the castle. There are actually two sets of doors. The outer set if the black iron with gold accents, and the inner doors were solid wood. Another view of Schloss Linderhof. This is a tiny private chapel beside the castle. I loved these statute at the entry of the castle. The details were very realistic. The muscles and material were so perfectly carved. My favorite thing about them is how hard they are straining, trying to hold up the rest of the castle. Check out Guys #1 and #2. They are giving it their all. Guy #3 is straining to hold it all up, but he's starting to have his doubts. Guy #4, on the other hand, seems to be taking a coffee break. You can practically hear him thinking, "Man, I've really got to get a better job. This stinks! What on earth am I doing here?"My question is this...what good is a helmet going to do if he's wearing a dress??? Nice legs, though.After touring Linderhof Palace in Ettal, we headed over to the town of Oberammergau. This town is known for two things: wood carving and the Passion Play. This is the official Passion Play Theater. In 1633, a plague was approaching the town of Oberammergau, and the villagers pledged to perform Christ's Passion if the plague passed them by. It did, and the first play was performed in 1634. The play is performed every 10 years, with 100 performances between May and September. The 2,000 performers in the play are all amateurs, and were either born in Oberammergau, or have lived there for at least 20 years. The next performance is this summer, and the tickets went on sale in 2008. If you have really great connections, you might snag a ticket or two. Odds are, you will have to wait until 2020. The back of the theater is open to the heavens. After all, He does get the best seat in the house. It's His play. The town of Oberammergau is very pretty and has lots of buildings painted in the traditional Luftlmalerie (tromp l'oeil) style. Some paintings are religious, and others have scenes from fairy tales.

Whatever the theme, the building are beautiful and interesting. The shops were fun to explore as well. The wood carvers are very talented. It was another fun day in beautiful, snow covered Bavaria.