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  3. TRAVEL: 2007 through 2011
  4. FEBRUARY, 2007 GERMANY AND SWITZERLAND

SCHWANGAU

Romantic Castles! Intrigue! Mystery! Possible murder! Knights of the Swan and mystical chivalrous power of good deeds! Oh, and inspiration for Walt Disney and his Magic Kingdom. All this, and MORE.......
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It is my understanding that KONIGSSCHLOSSER is German for King's Castles and TICKET is English for the German word Fahrkarte (Bri, correct me if I'm wrong). There are 2 magnificant castles at Schwangau. Photos are not allowed inside them, but you will herein receive a grand tour of the gounds, along with some fascinating history of it all. As you press the "next" button you will be obtaining your virtual ticket for this remarkable excursion. At the real site, you would get a ticket for 17 Euros (about $20) with a number and a time on it. You would visit the castles in the same order as we will in this album, and you would not be allowed to enter either one until your number appeared on meters outside each castle. All viewing inside each castle is by guided tour only, with each tour coordinated so that different ones are conducted in different languages. Most of the people in YOUR tour would understand English (and therefore the tour guide), but for the few who could not, hand-held devices would be provided explaining it all in their language. The whole thing is actually quite remarkably efficient (the German engineering thing, I guess) and tremendous Bavarian fun.<br /> <br /> See (and type in) comments below:
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It is my understanding that KONIGSSCHLOSSER is German for King's Castles and TICKET is English for the German word Fahrkarte (Bri, correct me if I'm wrong). There are 2 magnificant castles at Schwangau. Photos are not allowed inside them, but you will herein receive a grand tour of the gounds, along with some fascinating history of it all. As you press the "next" button you will be obtaining your virtual ticket for this remarkable excursion. At the real site, you would get a ticket for 17 Euros (about $20) with a number and a time on it. You would visit the castles in the same order as we will in this album, and you would not be allowed to enter either one until your number appeared on meters outside each castle. All viewing inside each castle is by guided tour only, with each tour coordinated so that different ones are conducted in different languages. Most of the people in YOUR tour would understand English (and therefore the tour guide), but for the few who could not, hand-held devices would be provided explaining it all in their language. The whole thing is actually quite remarkably efficient (the German engineering thing, I guess) and tremendous Bavarian fun.

See (and type in) comments below:

uaaticketoffice

  • It is my understanding that KONIGSSCHLOSSER is German for King's Castles and TICKET is English for the German word Fahrkarte (Bri, correct me if I'm wrong). There are 2 magnificant castles at Schwangau. Photos are not allowed inside them, but you will herein receive a grand tour of the gounds, along with some fascinating history of it all. As you press the "next" button you will be obtaining your virtual ticket for this remarkable excursion. At the real site, you would get a ticket for 17 Euros (about $20) with a number and a time on it. You would visit the castles in the same order as we will in this album, and you would not be allowed to enter either one until your number appeared on meters outside each castle. All viewing inside each castle is by guided tour only, with each tour coordinated so that different ones are conducted in different languages. Most of the people in YOUR tour would understand English (and therefore the tour guide), but for the few who could not, hand-held devices would be provided explaining it all in their language. The whole thing is actually quite remarkably efficient (the German engineering thing, I guess) and tremendous Bavarian fun.<br /> <br /> See (and type in) comments below:
  • In the 12th Century, the Schwangau Knights (Knights of the Swan) built a fortress in spectacular mountains between 2 lakes, the Schwansee (Swan Lake) and Alpensee (Alpine Lake). Legend has it that one of the founding Schwangau Knights was Lohengrin, subject of one of Richard Wagners most famous operas (THE opera, parenthetically, for which the bridal march used in most western weddings {"Here Comes the Bride"} was written and first performed).
  • The fortress, called Schwanstein (it is my understanding that this translates literally to "swan rock," but really means something more akin to "Land of the Swan") was used by the Knights of Schwangau from the 12th into the 16th centuries. Legends abound about the Knights of Schwangau being the knights of the Arthurian Holy Grail. In fact, Lohengrin was supposedly the son of Percival, the Knight of the Round Table who proved to be pure enough to find the Grail, only to have it slip from his grasp due to lack of seasoned wisdom (the legend varies from here, it seems, in some with the Grail never found, in others Percival is one of 3 knights to finally take posession of the Grail). Anyway, the legends surrounding the Knights of Schwangau assume that the Grail was indeed found and gave mystical powers to the knights to do all sorts of wonderfully good deeds as long as they could keep their identities secret. Those powers were lost if anyone found out who did the kind deed.
  • The Knights of Schwangau (you can tell I love typing that: It just sounds, and even LOOKS, so romantic) used the fortress until the 16th century. Some sources say that they disbanded and spread, others say that they died out. Anyway, the fort fell to disrepair, and was further damaged during Napoleon's conquests. Here you see the view from the site of Schwanstein over Alpensee and into the Bavarian Alps.
  • The castle you see in the distance here is Neuschwanstein. More about it in a bit (in fact, we will walk all the way over to it, and get there before our number appears on the meter!). In 1832, Maximilian, Crown Prince of Bavaria (later King Maximilian II), purchased Schwanstein and comissioned some of the most famously skilled craftspeople and artisans of the day to restore and rennovate it into a stately castle for his retreat. The castle was named Hohenschwangau, which translates to "Castle of the High Swan County" (that is the castle in the foreground, to your left). Maximilian married a Prussian princess (Marie), and the King and Queen used Hohenschwangau as a vacation / retreat home. They had 2 children, Ludwig and Otto. Ludwig, being the first-born, was destined to become the next king of Bavaria.
  • Maximilian II died in 1864, so Ludwig became King Ludwig II. He was 18 at the time. From my sources, it appears that he had a good heart and began his reign with much respect and success. However, while his parents had provided him with much classical education, they had shielded him from politics, governmental dealings, and interraction with "regular people." He was therefore an innocent youth with every reason to trust those around him. Well, you know where this is going......
  • Ludwig did have very lavish tastes. His advisors lead him to believe that Bavaria had the wealth to support him, and that Bavarians would love his investments (he had many music halls and centers of learning built). Then when it became obvious finances were not in order, they publicly blamed the king. He was virtually forced by his parliament to declare war on Prussia, an act which he bitterly opposed. Upon suffering a humiliating defeat (in only 3 weeks), his assemblymen publicly blamed the king. One of the results of the treaty of surrender, by the way, was that Ludwig had to give up the right to control over the Bavarian army, basically loosing his sovereignty and the autonomy of all of Bavaria. Not surprisingly, he became more and more of a recluse, which allowed further gossip and unanswered charges.
  • At age 16 (before he became king), Ludwig attended the performance of the aforementioned Richard Wagner opera (Lohengrin). He fell in love with this type of music. Upon becoming king, he called Wagner to Munchen (Munich, the capital of Bavaria) and entered into a partnership providing generous financial support for the composer. Of this meeting, Wagner wrote about Ludwig "He is unfortunately so noble and brilliant, so magnificant and soulful that I fear his life must vanish like a fleeting stream in this coarse world......If he can only live; he is such an unheard of wonder!" Of course, he wrote this after just being relieved of all fanancial worries and promised the construction of lavish concert halls, basically dedicated to the performance of Wagner's works.
  • Ludwig and Wagner became very close friends, with Wagner giving many private concerts at Hohenschwangau. Meanwhile, this also became a matter of contempt among many Bavarians, who felt that Wagner was receiving way too much of Bavaria's wealth.
  • Here is some bark I liked.
  • In 1868, Ludwig wrote a letter to Wagner. Exerpts follow: "It is my intention to rebuild the old castle ruin of Hohenschwangau....in the authentic style of the old German knights' castles, and I must confess to you that I am looking forward very much to living there one day (in 3 years' time)...the location is one of the most beautiful to be found, holy and unapproachable, a worthy temple for the divine friend who has brought salvation and true blessing to the world." (It was to be dedicated to Wagner).
  • The building did not progress as rapidly as Ludwig expected: Started in 1869, it was not ready for the King to move in until 1884. Even then, it was not finished (and is really not fully finished even today).
  • Following our tour through Hohenschwangau (where Ludwig spent most of his youth), we look back at it as we walk over to Neuschwanstein, as the new castle became known after Ludwig's death.
  • On the road up to Neuschwanstein. No train to photograph, so I had to settle for a horse-drawn cart. It still amazes me how animals can draw with only hooves to hold onto pencils with!
  • Sorry, gotta include one of my trademarks: Photography of potgraphers photographing my photograph........
  • .....and fellow tourists, who add so much to the ambience of a tourist place.
  • It's a bit confusing to me just how long Ludwig actually lived in Neuschwanstein. Some acounts say it was only a little over 100 days, others say that he moved in sometime in 1884 and lived there until June 12, 1886. It may be that it was over a 2 year period, but that he was only there a little over 100 of those nights. At any rate, considering how long he had to wait for his dream home to be built, he did not get to enjoy it for long.
  • On June 8, 1886, a report was drafted by 3 physicians at the request of the Bavarian government declaring that "His Majesty is at an advanced stage of mental disturbance.....which specialists.....designate as paranoia-madness-well-known through experience. Because of the illness, His Majesty is not able to make decisions of his own free will, and these are to be regarded as invalid for practice of government. This invalidity will persist not only longer than one year, but for life." How many of these physicians do you think had examined him? Answer: NONE! In fact, the report contained many pages of testimony from people making many fantastic claims (a large number, perhaps most, of which have since been refuted). It is now known that the three physicians were also given many pages from those who had worked very closely with Ludwig, all of whom declared that they saw no evidence of mental disturbance and that Ludwig had been making very sound and rational decisions all along. However, none of these were referred to in the physicians' report.
  • Finally: after walking up the hill, we are at the entrance to Neuschwanstein
  • I can't remember which numers we had, but ours was not appearing yet. Neither were the numbers of any of the folks you see in the entryway. What a spectacular piece of architecture to behold while we are waiting, though!

  • OptimImagery

    on December 5, 2009

    Comments from the old KodakGallery. Feel free to leave your own comments, too!

    SusanWed Mar 07 2007 15:28:51
    Really? You couldn't take pictures inside the castles? But I took lots of pictures in them. Maybe they have changed the rules.......farfeknuggen!

    tom.Sat Mar 03 2007 08:29:51
    ...sounds like far-out-karate to me...

    BeverLiFri Mar 02 2007 11:48:12
    nice memory

    briThu Mar 01 2007 16:14:36
    Schlo�karten?

    MarkThu Mar 01 2007 06:28:51
    But I don't drive very fahr. What would these tickets be called?

    briThu Mar 01 2007 04:49:11
    fahrkarte does mean ticket but only for transportation, fahr meaning drive.

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