Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Around Munich – Lake Cheimsee, Tegernsee, and Schloss Linderhof

Our hosts Sonny and Fe also showed us some of the wonderful places surrounding Munich, including a lake, a mountain, and a palace in the forest.


Lake Chiemsee is a large lake nestled along the German Alps. It is fairly remote and definitely beautiful. There is a ferry on the Lake that transported us to the various islands.


The biggest island on the lake is Herrenchiemsee, on which sits Palace Herrenchiemsee, one of the three palaces built by King Ludwig II (who also build the famous Neuschwanstein castle and Schloss Linderhof described below). It was an homage to Versailles, but was never completed and some of the areas of the palace remain just brick foundations. Other parts were completed, most interesting were a dining room with a dining table that could be lowered to the kitchen and giant bath tub room.



Another little island on the lake included a monastery and a bunch of cool Bavarian homes. We also got to eat some delicious freshly caught fish at a lakeside restaurant.


Another day, we traveled about an hour and a half outside of Munich to the area around Lake Tegernsee, where we took a ski lift up a apx.2000m peak, that is part of the Alps. During the winter, it is a popular ski destination.

At the top of the mountain, we had some the traditional German soups. Apparently every mountaintop in Germany has a restaurant, which makes good sense. From there we had some amazing views of the valley below and saw some paragliders take off and float down. Then we proceeded to hike for 3 hours down the mountain.


On our way back to Munich, we stopped by to check out the town around the lake. It was a really nice town with some traditional Bavarian buildings and homes, with expensive stores and clientele. The lake was especially pretty as it neared sunset.


We visited the town of Oberammergau, which is famous for the Passion Play they perform every ten years. The tradition of this play of the Passion of Christ started as an homage to the town being spared during the bubonic plague. The actors and everyone who puts the play together is comprised completely of town residents.


We also got the chance to visit Schloss Linderhof, a small palace built by Ludwig II in the mountainous forest about an hour from Munich. The setting is spectacular, nestled in the foothills and surrounded by a large park and garden. The palace itself is ornate, check out the interior photos found on Google.

Ludwig II bought this Moorish Kiosk that was initially built for the World Fair in Paris. Inside is an elaborate peacock throne and colorful Moorish decorations and stained glass.


No palace would be complete without a Grotto. Apparently Ludwig II would have musicians play his favorite music in the Grotto for him privately, as he sat in the boat. He was a little crazy to say the least. He mysteriously died in a boat with his physician and his brother that succeeded him was completely crazy, and was only the king in name. We were told that there was a lot of close family marriages which led to a lot of defects.

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